ARC Review: When We Collided

About The Book:

  Title: When We Collided

  Author: Emery Lord 
  Pub. Date: April 5th, 2016 
  Publisher: Bloomsbury USA 
  Pages: 352

  Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance 

  Rate: 3.5/5 stars

Synopsis :

Meet Vivi and Jonah: A girl and a boy whose love has the power save or destroy them.

Vivi and Jonah couldn't be more different. Vivi craves anything joyful or beautiful that life can offer. Jonah has been burdened by responsibility for his family ever since his father died. As summer begins, Jonah resigns himself to another season of getting by. Then Vivi arrives, and suddenly life seems brighter and better. Jonah is the perfect project for Vivi, and things finally feel right for Jonah. Their love is the answer to everything. But soon Vivi's zest for life falters, as her adventurousness becomes true danger-seeking. Jonah tries to keep her safe, but there's something important Vivi hasn't told him.

Review:

When We Collided was one of my most anticipated books of 2016! I have to thank Nicole from Paperback Princess for sending it to me as a part of a super adorable Christmas package she sent me this past year. So after finishing When We Collided, I had to let my thoughts about it settle for a few days. I wasn't entirely sure what I felt when it ended. On one hand, there are things about it that I was completely taken with. But on the other, there were small things I wasn't sure about which was why I had to let my thoughts kind of come together about the book days after I finished. 

"Let me wake up in a different life or not at all" 

The first thing I want to say in this review is that Vivi has a mental illness in this book. One of my favorite things about this book was seeing the changes in her as a result of not taking her medications. I'm sorry if you think I'm spoiling this for you - but this happens in the first chapter so I honestly don't think that I am. Vivi's personality is so vibrant, and she is super new-agey. Jonah is adorable and perfect. He was kind of forced into responsibility very young and he cares about his siblings more than anything else in the entire world. Which by the way, he has a HUGE family - it was a huge plus for me when reading this story. There wasn't anything I didn't like about him and I realize that is the point of his character. His life was already so full of hurt and he was taking care of his entire family all day long, but he still found time to fit Vivi into it and love her as well. 

While I like both of the characters, I don't like them as a couple. I understand that Vivi is kind of a breath of fresh of air of Jonah, and I feel like he wants something new in his life - but she controls him in a way that I just don't like! Maybe because I caught the feelings for him and I don't think she treated him right? I don't think the controlling nature of her was a result of her mental illness, but the other aspect of why I didn't like them together definitely was. Half of the time she just didn't care about his problems! It just broke my heart because he cared about her all day long on top of caring about his countless other problems at home. For some reason, I feel like Jonah would really be good with a girl like Scarlet from The Lunar Chronicles. As for Vivi, she seems like she could be happy with anyone ... 

The main thing I didn't like in this book was the pacing/repetitiveness. I didn't really notice that it was moving so slow for the majority of the book because I was enjoying the writing the so much, so it didn't bother me right away. However, after I started noticing that the days kind of started just repeating each other more or less - I started getting a little impatient. 

"Even the constellations can see us now: we are seventeen and shattered and still dancing. 

We have messy, throbbing hearts and we are stronger than anyone could ever know." 

So really, I was definitely impressed with When We Collided! I 100% recommend it for those lovers of contemporary literature! Personally, I love darker contemporaries and despite the beautiful, bright cover - I do believe this runs a bit on the darker side. I did really enjoy the ending, I thought it was pretty realistic for a YA novel, and definitely made me tear up. I ended up giving When We Collided 3.5 stars because while I did like it and it absolutely had it's adorable points, I didn't love it. I'd love to read more of Emery Lord's books and I think I'd like to give Open Road Summer a try! Have you read it? What were your thoughts? 

- Jocelyn