Review: Finding It (It Girls #2) by Leah Marie Brown

Anything can happen in a year! Unemployed, homeless, and left at the altar, Vivia Perpetua Grant could see her future as a flannel pajama wearing spinster—or worse, a bag lady shuffling around Golden Gate Park. But for a girl obsessed with rock music, Chinese take-out, and the color pink, misfortune is another word for opportunity. Vivia has found her niche as an international travel writer and the long-distance lover of Jean-Luc de Caumont, an über-hot French literature professor and competitive cyclist.

Still, even with so much going right, Vivia can’t help but wonder if something isn’t missing. The long distance thing is taking its toll on a girl who didn’t have that many tokens to begin with. And fate seems to be tempting her at every turn, first with a hunky Scottish helicopter pilot, and then with a British celebrity bad boy... Will Vivia continue to keep it real or will she discover some old habits die hard?

Paperback

Expected publication: September 29th 2015 by Lyrical Shine

Terri's Thoughts

** I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.  The expected publication date is September 29th, 2015**

This is the second book in the IT Girls series and I was lucky enough to read the first story Faking It (review found here) and I loved it so I was really looking forward to this story to see where Vivia's adventures will take her next.  The first book was absolutely hilarious so I was anxious for Finding It

This story did not disappoint.  Vivia was still what I would term as a "hot mess" from beginning to end of the story.  This is part of her charm as she travels from one misadventure to the other.  It is so refreshing having a character who doesn't have it all together but is still interesting in her efforts to get it all together.  This stayed consistent with the first story.

While I believe it would be possible to read this as a stand alone I think it is much better served to read it in order.  The story will make a lot more sense and the investment in some of the characters will be greater.

While the general theme remains the same in the two stories, the pop culture references are turned up a notch in this story.  From the raunchy British leather clad comedian who was previously married to Kitty Kat to Tay Tay (Taylor Swift) references.  Anyone familiar with today's celebrities and pop culture will easily see the references to people whose names have only slightly been altered and some whose names were not.  It keeps the story current and can perhaps act as a time capsule twenty years from now.

While I found this story humorous I didn't find it held the same hilarious factor of the first story.  This could be that the first one caught me off guard while I knew what to expect with this one.    It just felt a little bit like a little more effort had to go in to making this one funny while the first one was effortless.  All the same it was still funny and entertaining.

I am so glad that I was introduced to this series.  While at its core it is a love story, the massive amounts of misadventure along the way make it surprising, refreshing and unique.  I am not sure if there will be more to the series however if there is I will be reading.  I'm just not sure how much more of a mess Vivia can make out of her life!

About the Author

(From Goodreads profile)

I am an American writer with a penchant for Paris and all things pink!

Before writing novels, I worked as a print journalist for a Pulitzer prize winning newspaper and served in the United States Air Force as a Radio and Television Broadcaster.

An avid traveler, I have had adventures and mishaps from London to Tokyo, which I write about on my blog, On Life, Love & Accidental Adventures, and in my contemporary romantic series, The It Girls.

I was once a collector of truly useless bric-a-brac and cheesy tee-shirts. My cheesiest? A tee with a cartoon Jesus riding a surf board and the words, "And on the eighth day, Jesus went surfing in Greece."

Today, I prefer to gather friendships and memories as travel souvenirs.

I live in the shadow of Pike's Peak Mountain, near Colorado Springs, with my family and shamefully pampered poodles.

In my free time, I like to watch movies, read, and snap photographs.

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