Review Detail

Finding It wasn’t what I expected at all. If you’ve read any of her previous books, you’d expect a light and comical romance with endearing female leads and swoonworthy male counterparts. That wasn’t the case so much in this installment. I’ll admit, this one was borderline “meh” for me, which is surprising because I have loved all of Carmack’s books so far. What finally pushed this into the “really liked” category for me was Jackson. He had his moments where I just didn’t get him or feel any sparks, but a lot of the things he did helped me to really enjoy this, especially towards the end. Things were pretty much hot and cold between him and Kelsey, and I’m not a fan of that at all, so when you couple that to the fact that this book dragged on exceedingly slow for the first half, it doesn’t make for such a great read.
Thankfully, Carmack saved the day in second half of the book. Not only do we get a taste of adventure and wonder as the characters travel through Europe, things finally pick up between Kelsey and Jackson, and instead of just telling us about the chemistry and mutual attraction, Carmack finally shows it. I was beginning to worry there for a minute. The story dragged on for so long, with nothing happening that by the time I was at the 50% mark, I didn’t even know what I had read or where this was going. Not that it was confusing, it was just that the first half was so boring, it was just a big blur to me at that point. But again, I say, Carmack did somewhat of a 180 in the latter half and I was finally enjoying the read.
Kelsey didn’t’ do it for me that much either. She has a family that sucks butt and a past event that haunts her, which I totally understand and appreciate. She’s also crazy and vivacious, the seemingly carefree friend who you would love to party with. All of that I can get, but as far as being inside her head? Yeah, I didn’t care for it. There wasn’t even much of a resolution or revelation to her problems once it was all out in the open. Things do change and she makes some key choices in her life that I appreciated, but still, it wasn’t all that.
As far as Jackson goes, I think I would’ve liked to have been in his head. I wanted to know what he was going through as he interacted with Kelsey and throughout their adventures. I definitely couldn’t see his appeal at all, even though I pictured him as a pretty sexy guy, I couldn’t get a grip on his personality, therefore, didn’t care for him as a character. I did like how he got Kelsey to try new things and live life, but I just didn’t feel the swoon factor. When he finally let go a little though, I started to like him more and that ending and what he did was pretty sweet, so I’ll give him that.
If you’re expecting something along the lines of Carmack’s other books, like I did, you might be a bit disappointed. Finding It get a little more intense and the characters are way more damaged than her previous ones. I’ll give her credit for trying to change things up, and she still adds that bit of humor and awkwardness to the story that I have come to love so much from her. If it wasn’t for the humor, albeit whatever little there was, and Jackson’s eventual appeal (not my favorite Carmack boy, I’ll tell you that right off the bat), then I wouldn’t have enjoyed this book at all. If you can manage to get through the monotony that is the first half of the book, I’m sure you’ll end up liking it, too.