Finding It by Cora Carmack

Hey everyone,

I’m not sure why I decided to read this book now, but the time felt right. Finding It by Cora Carmack has been on my TBR for a long time, so long I can’t even remember when I brought. Only that it must have been after or during 2013 as that’s when my edition was published.

The book:

Sometimes you have to lose yourself to find where you truly belong...

Most girls would kill to spend months traveling around Europe after college graduation with no responsibility, no parents, and no-limit credit cards. Kelsey Summers is no exception. She's having the time of her life . . . or that's what she keeps telling herself.

It's a lonely business trying to find out who you are, especially when you're afraid you won't like what you discover. No amount of drinking or dancing can chase away Kelsey's loneliness, but maybe Jackson Hunt can. After a few chance meetings, he convinces her to take a journey of adventure instead of alcohol. With each new city and experience, Kelsey's mind becomes a little clearer and her heart a little less hers. Jackson helps her unravel her own dreams and desires. But the more she learns about herself, the more Kelsey realizes how little she knows about Jackson.

My thoughts:

 Firstly I should mention that although I have read the first book in Cora Carmack’s Losing It Series, it was a long time ago and I haven’t read the second one (yet). Therefore I approached this as a stand-alone novel, and it totally worked! Although Bliss appears as a minor character, Kelsey and Jackson are the stars of the show as they travel across Europe.

"The best parts of life are the things we can't plan. And it's a lot harder to find happiness if you're only searching in one place."

Part of the reason I wanted to read Finding It is because I’ve done the travelling-to-find-myself gig; rather than Europe though I chose Canada and America. From that angle Cora Carmack perfectly tapped into hostel life and the emotions Kelsey went through regarding them.

“Most hostels were devised so that you met other people, and yet they were the loneliest damn places in the world. Everything there is tempoarary - the residents, the relationships, the hot water. I felt like a flower trying to plant roots into concrete”.

For Kelsey travelling is the start of the rest of her life. She wants to live it all, see everything, experience every emotion, so that when she returns to the States and her emotionally distant family she can use those memories to survive. Yet when she meet her in Budapest she’s looking for those memories in all the wrong places. Mainly men and alcohol. She isn’t experiencing anything new, but has instead merely transplanted her life in the USA to Europe. I really liked Kelsey as a heroine, because she was so strong, brave and independent yet completely insecure, vulnerable and damaged at the same time. She’s trying to out-run her past and her future simultaneously 

“The hum grew into a roar, and the wind whipped my hair around my face. And for a second... for one tiny second, I felt good. The worries rolled off my back, and it hit me where I was and what I was doing. I was in a gorgeous European city, where most people didn’t speak English. The train station was so grand, it was easy to imagine how magnificent it had been when it was first built. There was a wide, bustling world out there, and I was a part of it”.

Enter Jackson, a smoking-hot male who refuses to take advantage of Kelsey, even when she begs him. He instead proposes they be friends and even challenges Kelsey to travel with him for a week. No more clubs, bars and alcohol. He shows Kelsey how much more there is to travelling than getting drunk in every capital of Europe. Yet all the while the chemistry and connection between them keeps growing. Kelsey doesn’t understand why he won’t take that final leap. Of course she’s also terrified of what it’ll mean when he does. Because Jackson isn’t like her normal boyfriends, he won’t accept just a small part of her. He wants it all and Kelsey isn’t sure she has anything worthwhile left to give.

“Say it.”

I arched my body into his, pulling at his shoulders.

“Say what?”

“Say that this is real. Tell me it counts.”

I loved reading Kelsey and Jackson’s story. I loved the journey each character went through, both physically and mentally. Even though we never read from Jackson’s viewpoint, I felt I understood him. His wants, desires and fears. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves character driven romances and has a spark of wanderlust in their soul.

My rating:

Happy reading and see you next time!