Review: Losing It

Here's a book written by a good friend of mine she mailed to me this past Christmas. I finally got to reading it, and I'll try to give you as unbiased a review as possible of:

Losing It, by Chelsea Kumka

This is Kumka's debut book, which she first started writing while in high school. According to the introduction, she wrote Losing It because nobody was writing books that she wanted to read. After several years of constant writing and rewriting, she finally decided it was done, self-published several copies, and sent them off to friends and family.

Losing It is the story of a girl named Lexanne, and the sexual pressures she and her friends deal with during the twilight of their highschool years in a small Manitoba town. Lexanne, a virgin, is dealing the constant questions, self-doubt, and pressure from her sexually active friends.
After a near-rape experience at the hands of her good-looking and popular classmate, she falls into the arms of the new boy in town, whose mysterious charms and too-cool-for-school attitude instantly attracts Lexanne.
All the while, her friends are deal with things like safe-sex and budding relationships.

It was an easy read, especially for someone like me who takes forever to finish a book. I mowed through this in a couple of weeks easy-peasy. The story moves along at a steady pace, but some of the content seems lacking. There's definitely more that could have been added certain sub-plots, such as Lexanne getting a job, or about the lives of several secondary characters.

Which brings me to my next point, this is at least a PG-13 book. There's lots of content about the feelings and thoughs of the characters before, during, and after sex. This is just about the most sexually explicit book I've ever read. I can tell though that this is a book better suited to the teen-girl, young post-secondary female demographic. Even regular fans of the romance genre would like this.

More than anything else, this a teen sex-romp. It's quite realistic though in its presentation of the pressures of sex on high-school kids. We've all been there, right? Anyone who picks up this book will be able to see themselves in at least one of the characters, which is why it's such an engrossing read.

Overall it give Losing It:

8/10

It loses points for not delving as deep as it could have in some parts. To put it straight, the book could have been longer. One character disappears after a wild party, and I was left wondering what he had gotten up to afterward, but no closure is given there. The book is mainly about sex, but the lives of the people who are having sex are interesting too, and would have like to hear more about them.

It gains points for being a book anyone could read, regardless of age, attitudes, or experience. It had me chuckling as well as angry. I tend to shout at things at lot, and I definitely yelled at some of the characters in this book. It's a good strong effort on the part of the author, especially for her first book.
It also benefits from having an interesting, if somewhat after school special-esque, plot. This could easily be adapted into a show for teens akin to Degrassi.

I recommend reading Losing It. While can't just grab it at your local library, you can however order a copy here at lulu.com, or, talk to author herself here at her blog.

Good work Chelsea, I look forward to seeing more great writing from you!