Book Review: "Losing It: A Collection Of VCards"

Losing It: A Collection of VCards by Nikki Jefford
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Losing It is a collection of chapters from various authors. Each chapter is either an extension, or another point of view or, an addition to a previously written book. Each one of these written chapters is about the loss of virginity of a character and in some cases, the characters.

I admit, the first chapter I read was the chapter written by the author I was most interested in reading because I'd read all of her novels. Her chapter was the couple's first time from the other party's point of view. Because I read the novel, I didn't need set up or backstory. For the rest of the chapters, the backstory or set up worked sometimes. Sometimes, it simply didn't and there were some I simply couldn't read because I didn't know enough.

One particular chapter, if I had to guess, was the first time the author had ever written a sex scene or love scene. Because the use of language by the characters was immature and a huge turnoff. From the female character's point of view, being full of cheer because her boyfriend was rubbing her "boobs" blew the mood for me. I read the whole thing just to see how many immature terms for the human body were used. You buy it and read it to find out how many times that is.

Overall, it wasn't a bad idea for these authors to join forces to create this type of book. On the other hand, there are various reasons why it might not be for everyone. For example, some don't like various genres. This doesn't mean you won't like the book. In the case of one particular chapter, where one of the characters is a newly created vampire, I got interested in an author I'd never read before and will be interested in looking into reading that particular book/series in the future.

3.5 Stars!

I was given an advanced reading copy in return for an honest review.

Star Scale:
5 Stars: Excellent! Skip all of the other reviews. Run and buy this one. Right NOW!
4 Stars: Very Good! Read a few more reviews just to see that I'm right. Then run and buy it.
3 Stars: Good! If you waited to get it on sale or was able to get it through your local library, you won't exactly die without it.
2 Stars: Fair. Read more reviews. Maybe I missed something that most others did not. If there are more good reviews than bad, give it a go.
1 Star: Poor. Don't bother. It's simply not worth your time.


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Book Review of "Disconnected" by Jennifer Weiner

Shannon is an addict who has been in and out of rehab more times than she can count. When she finally decides that she's going to get herself together, she goes to get herself a new cell phone. However, when she starts receiving weird texts that seem to be encouraging her to meet with drug dealers and buy drugs, things start to get weird.

This dark, short story/novella is about as far from what I expected from Jennifer Weiner's usual "chick lit." Having read most of her books and loving "Good In Bed" through several reads, I never saw something this dark coming from her. Even though it was unexpected, it was still really good. It was this particular work by JW that caused my head to flood with memories of imagery used in her past books. It was the first time I realized how GOOD her use of imagery actually is in her writing as a whole. I could see where Shannon went in my head. I could picture those dark places. And when you get to the twist at the end, that imagery comes in handy.

I'm kind of hoping there is a future full length novel coming that features this character. Even with the twist at the end, it can still be done.