Crash Review

I've been a Lisa McMann fan for a fairly long time now. There hasn't been a YA book of hers I haven't really liked. Unfortunately I think Crash is the first.

Jules keeps seeing a vision of a car crash play out on a billboard. Not just any crash--a plow crashing into her family's rival restaurant. So when she tries to tell Sawyer, the employee/son/Jules longtime love, he blows her off. But the visions just get more and more intense. Jules is beginning to think she's crazy, like her depressed hoarder dad, or her grandfather that committed suicide. But what if she's not?

Frankly I just felt like McMann went around in circles throughout the book. The first half is just Jules going, "oh no, what does it mean, why me, am I crazy," and such. Yeah, I get it. Move along please.

I would've much rather McMann focus more on the family element of this book. She created some nice characters in Trey and Rowan, and the line of depression in her family added an element of urgency to the story. I would've liked to have more of that than wondering what was going on for 150 pages and swooning over Sawyer, who didn't seem like he was that great.

Anyway, there wasn't many fantastic things about Crash, and it was all very average in the end. However, I will say that I found myself very invested at the climax of the story. So I guess it did something right that I was unaware of.

Plot: Meh. Could've been great but was just a lot of filler for book 2.

Characters: I loved her siblings.

Writing: Not bad.

Ending: After the climax, everything got very over-dramatic.

Content: Some swearing and mentions of sex.

Overall:

Meh.

People seem to be split 50/50 on this book. I am part of the 50 that was unimpressed.

I received my copy as a surprise from SimonTeen for review. Thanks!
Jessica