Review: Faking It by Cora Carmack

You know how sometimes you have no idea what drew you to a particular book? That was definitely the case for me with Cora Carmack's Faking It. I mean, I like a good romance as much as the next person, but a dyed, tattooed, and pierced heroine? Not generally my thing. Maybe it was the suggestion of steamy sex on the cover that inspired me to bring this one home. Or maybe it was the idea of two opposites masquerading as a couple.  Or maybe I was just trying to find something different.  And this was different, for sure.

Mackenzie Miller, known as Max, thrives on being edgy. She's tattooed and pierced, working as a bartender and dancer and trying to make it as a singer. Her current boyfriend, Mace, is quite possibly 180 degrees from the sort of guy that her very conservative parents would have chosen for her, heavily tattooed, not terribly intelligent, with large gauges in his ears. When those same buttoned-up parents spring a surprise visit on Max, she has to think fast to keep them from meeting him at the coffee shop where they are sitting.  She ditches Mace when her eyes light on Cade. She propositions him because she knows he is the epitome of everything her parents want her to choose. Cade, still hurting from the women he loved finding someone else, agrees. The fact that Cade completely charms Max's parents and lobbies Max for a real date turns the limited time acting  job as Max's boyfriend into something more. And as they get to know each other, they find that not only are they explosively attracted to each other but they appreciate each other for the real, uncovered, unhidden, deep down person that they each are.

Cade and Max are very much a good guy and bad girl couple. Cade is tired of being quite so good, looking to cut loose a little bit with Max.  Max discovers that having a knight in shining armor, a guy who treats you well, respects you, and encourages you to live in the skin you're in doesn't have to be a bad thing. Max clearly has a lot of baggage with her parents, always feeling inferior and conscious that she is not the golden child. The novel is told in alternating first person perspectives so that the reader has the chance to see into both Max and Cade's heads. Unfortunately, inside Max's head is an immature, insecure, childishly annoying character. She's just not likable enough for Cade, who is drawn as lovely, perfect, and thoughtful. The end resolution with Max's family is too pat and easy, making a lie of her years of hiding who she was from them and solving the requisite estrangement between Cade and Max far too quickly.  Over all, the pacing and narrative tension are off and the writing is unspectacular. There are frequent grammatical errors (and not just during the dialogue) and the too plentiful similes and metaphors were over written and often ridiculous. Perhaps I'd have been better served to take note of the things that didn't appeal to me right in the cover copy and leave this one for a reader who wasn't already on the fence who might have been able to overlook these issues.