Faking It

By: Cora Carmack

Narrated by: Emma Galvin, Dan Bittner

Mackenzie "Max" Miller has a problem. Her parents have arrived in town for a surprise visit, and if they see her dyed hair, tattoos, and piercings, they just might disown her. Even worse, they're expecting to meet a nice wholesome boyfriend, not a guy named Mace who has a neck tattoo and plays in a band. All her lies are about to come crashing down around her, but then she meets Cade.

Cade moved to Philadelphia to act and to leave his problems behind in Texas. So far though, he's kept the problems and had very little opportunity to take the stage. When Max approaches him in a coffee shop with a crazy request to pretend to be her boyfriend, he agrees to play the part. But when Cade plays the role a little too well, they're forced to keep the ruse going. And the more they fake the relationship, the more real it begins to feel.

©2013 Cora Carmack (P)2013 HarperCollinsPublishers

Much more than I was expecting!!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book made me laugh and cry, lust and ache in my heart. Worth the credit! Fun and sexiness like you'd hope but much deeper and more touching than the genre would imply :) loved it!

words cannot explain how much I enjoyed this book

I loved how with each chapter it would be another characters point of view .there voice changes with each person. also the story like flowed perfectly and it keeps you always wanting more. ..the author let's you discover something new about the characters little by little. .you can feel what they are feeling and picture the senses of the book so vividly.

It was nice

Would you try another book from Cora Carmack and/or Emma Galvin and Dan Bittner ?

I really enjoyed the first and last book in this series be Cora Carmack. I think this one doesn't rise to the level of enjoyment I had with those. I thought Emma Gaivin and Dan Bittner did a terrific job.

If you’ve listened to books by Cora Carmack before, how does this one compare?

I liked her other works better. This was my least favorite of the trio.

Which character – as performed by Emma Galvin and Dan Bittner – was your favorite?

I liked Cade the most. He’s smart, hard working, good-natured, call’s his grandmother, and volunteers with disadvantaged youth. It was easy to root for him getting the girl after the first book where he doesn’t get the girl. I ended this book hoping his intelligence and good humor would rub off on Max.

Do you think Faking It needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No not really, it's a stand alone.

Any additional comments?

I liked the mismatched romance and the fast build of affection between Max and Cade. The bodice ripping scenes were great fun.
Then it goes south. Both protagonists suddenly loose any and all self confidence and forget how to have a hard conversation like the ones seen at the front of the book. The overall romance conflict was stretched and the pacing of it made no sense at all to me. I can handle a good conflict of misunderstanding, but their conflict was ridiculous. It was all unfounded self-doubt nonsense, and did not fit into the action's taking place.

Fun story.

Really enjoyed this story and series. Each installment is unique. Plus excellent narration. I’ve always loved Emma Galvin’s voice.

A modern love story

Any additional comments?

Not quite sure how but in this story she Cora manages to make tattoos sexy! Ok. I am not one who has ever liked permanatly altering my body by painting it and I'll have to say growing up with a very conservative family and holding an even more conservative job, I have never found body piercings or tattooing appealing. Fine, I still don't but now I understand the reason behind it better. I liked the story but am tired of whiny women (or men) who are always looking for excuses to feel bad about themselves. The story is about a girl who after the loss of her sister feel like she has to fill the older sister's shoes and become perfect however after a few years she decides to be herself by getting piercings and tattoos and let's not forget the punky hair. She meets a good old boy from Texas and they have an instant connection. He agrees to play as her boyfriend so that she can continue the charades she has going for her parents and through the process they fall in love. I felt a rush at the end to finish the book so that was not satisfying.

Good, but too short.

loved it, but i wish she would have made them each a series. too short and went extremely fast. I enjoy getting to feel a connection between the people in the bpok but these books go by too fast. but still a good story line and i liked it.

Witty New Adult Romance

It’s great to see that nice guys don’t finish last in Faking It. Through a humorous chance meeting; Cade has to pose as Mackenzie’s (call her Max) boyfriend to meet the parents. Max tends to go for rocker types and her parents don’t approve. Cade, however, is every parents dream. He’s polite, clean cut, in grad school, and volunteers with under-privileged youth. Cade is the golden boy, and Max is the angry girl, but opposites attract and soon sparks are flying.

Max dreams for her band to make it big, and has a series of odd jobs to support her habit. With her tattoos, dyed hair, and piercings, she’s not Cade’s usual type. But he feels more himself when he’s with her than he ever has. Max has some family demons in the closet, and puts on a mask in front of her parents, playing the perfect daughter role. But Cade is helping her to embrace her true self. The story is in dual narrative format so we get to see how Cade and Max are feeling about each other.

I read the book first, but wanted to give a listen to the audiobook when I saw one of my favorite narrators Emma Galvin performs it. The performance is actually split between two narrators, with narrator Dan Bittner reading Cade’s portion of the story. It’s cute because both Bittner and Galvin perform Travis and Abby in Beautiful/Walking Disaster and now they’re a couple again in Faking It. Galvin’s voice is perfect for edgy characters so she’s a good fit for Max. And Bittner has the Golden Guy voice that’s very appropriate for Cade. The reading pace is good, and I was entertained for the 7.5-hour audiobook. Both the book and audiobook are equally enjoyable, so you can’t go wrong.

Cora Carmack has a great knack for dialogue and writing romantic comedy. There is a good mix of relatable life and career issues, family drama, and romance. The romantic situations are totally in keeping with the story and don't totally take over like some NA books.

Cute story, predicable ending

My wife liked it but she said the ending fell flat. She records it to fans of light romance novels.

Good story and performance!

Easy listening; well-performed. My favorite of the series; enjoyed all three books and their relationship.

Entertaining!

I am a little too old for the YA books but this was still good. I was totally involved and loved the characters. Although not shown, there is a male narrator for the male character. Both narrators are great which always makes the story just that much better. The story was fun with some drama and I couldn't stop listening. Typical in some ways with the new YA craze but still worth it if you have liked them in the past.