Book Review; Finding It by Cora Carmack

When We’re

After reading Losing It and Faking It, I had high hopes for Finding It and so I was hugely disappointed when I felt so disconnected from this book. It had so many elements that should have made a fantastic read but instead I truly struggled to find that spark with this book. Don’t get me wrong, I did like reading it and I am glad I did, but it simply wasn’t as amazing as I thought it was going to be due to my prior love of Cora’s first two books in this series. However, I also feel me lack of love for this book stems from the fact that I am not overly fond of Europe travelling books. Having only read a few, I still haven’t ruled them out completely but I often don’t enjoy them as much as other contemporary books.

Struggling Within

Kelsey feels lost and is willing to do anything to find herself and so after graduating, she leaves America and starts to travel around Europe. In every new town, she meets new people and tries to have a good time until she meets Hunt and realises that she is still just as sad and lost as she was in America. Only when she learns to face her past, can she truly be free enough to move on. I loved the concept of this plot. It sounds like it has everything I would love and yet, for me, it just fell flat. While there were twists and turns, it felt too generic and “samey” for me to truly appreciate it. I feel my disappointment in this lacking plot made it that much harder to enjoy the book.

Ourselves We

Possibly the biggest problem I found with this book was how little I cared about the characters. Personally, I found Kelsey to be a very irritating character and so even when she changed, I still didn’t particularly like her. I felt no pull of emotions for her, and as she was the protagonist, it definitely made this book one that was hard to enjoy fully. I understood why she was the way she was but I just simply struggled to sympathise with her. Hunt was also not a character I instantly connected with, which is odd because he was dark and mysterious and the kind of guy I love reading about but I just found myself not caring about him all that much. Together, however, I felt they worked ell and definitely made the story worth reading.

Must Learn

As mentioned earlier, I am starting to come to the conclusion that travelling books – or at least those set in Europe – just aren’t for me. This book was set across Europe where the main protagonist was seeing a lot of the tourist and local sights. I can see how this is likely to be an appeal but can’t actually see it that way myself. I’m not sure if I would have enjoyed this story more if it wasn’t set around Europe but just in one city or state but I do know that I just really struggled with the setting of this book. But if you enjoy books like this, I am sure you would also enjoy this book more than I did.

How To Live

Overall, Finding It does have a good storyline to it and I can see how other people could enjoy it immensely but unfortunately, it just wasn’t the right book for me. However, while this review feels mostly negative, I did still like the book and would recommend it to others. It still has Cora Carmack’s style and humour, and the characters are well-developed but it just did not give me the same enjoyment and happiness that Losing It and Faking It did. But I am certain that this is largely based on personal preference and nothing more. So if you haven’t yet read this book but enjoy a good romance and backpacking book then you should really pick this book up and give it a try.