Kiss Crush Collide
Summary:
When we meet Leah, she is a junior in high school. It is the end of the year and her sister is valedictorian, just like her sister before that. She has a cute boyfriend that plays on the football team, and her life is fairly predictable. All she has to do is follow in the same footsteps as her two older sisters. Her mother has orchestrated the family so that each girl knows exactly what is expected from them. Leah is not happy, but not altogether unhappy either, until they go to the club to have dinner and celebrate her sister's achievements. At the club, Leah runs into a porter. When she sneaks away from her family, and drunken boyfriend, she is swept up into the porter's embrace as he is "borrowing" Leah's sister's fiancé's car. They end up making out in the grass and being reckless. It's something that Leah is not used to and it exhilarates her. Unfortunately, she has to go back to her normal life and help her oldest sister plan a wedding that will happen before the end of the summer.
Leah also works as a lifeguard at the local pool. While working, she has to deal with her competition for valedictorian, Valerie. Valerie brings all of the recommended reading with her each day to the pool and follows Leah from station to station. At first it is beyond annoying, but eventually Leah begins to expect and possibly enjoy their meetings. Porter also shows up at random times in a different car each time. Leah and Porter's relationship is constantly hot and heavy, but she continues to go home and act like the good daughter that she is supposed to. When everything catches up to her, what will she do?
My thoughts:
I think I would have liked this better if Leah was not so one dimensional. She literally reads like a robot. I understand that the "perfect" girl situation means that there is not a ton of depth, but even goody goods need to have some internal personalities. Most of this book takes place in Leah's very boring head. There is supposed to be this ongoing tension between family, what she thinks is right, and rebellion, but the tension is flat. There is nothing gripping to keep me wanting to read the book. The mother is vilified, but the author only tells us about the fear Leah seems to have of upsetting her, there is no connection made between the reader and the characters. Why should I care if Leah upsets her mother or not? I usually like these types of stories because I like seeing characters break away and make their own lives, but it's because those character driven stories are often the ones that make you really fall in love with the characters. This one just did not deliver.
Summary:
When we meet Leah, she is a junior in high school. It is the end of the year and her sister is valedictorian, just like her sister before that. She has a cute boyfriend that plays on the football team, and her life is fairly predictable. All she has to do is follow in the same footsteps as her two older sisters. Her mother has orchestrated the family so that each girl knows exactly what is expected from them. Leah is not happy, but not altogether unhappy either, until they go to the club to have dinner and celebrate her sister's achievements. At the club, Leah runs into a porter. When she sneaks away from her family, and drunken boyfriend, she is swept up into the porter's embrace as he is "borrowing" Leah's sister's fiancé's car. They end up making out in the grass and being reckless. It's something that Leah is not used to and it exhilarates her. Unfortunately, she has to go back to her normal life and help her oldest sister plan a wedding that will happen before the end of the summer.
Leah also works as a lifeguard at the local pool. While working, she has to deal with her competition for valedictorian, Valerie. Valerie brings all of the recommended reading with her each day to the pool and follows Leah from station to station. At first it is beyond annoying, but eventually Leah begins to expect and possibly enjoy their meetings. Porter also shows up at random times in a different car each time. Leah and Porter's relationship is constantly hot and heavy, but she continues to go home and act like the good daughter that she is supposed to. When everything catches up to her, what will she do?
My thoughts:
I think I would have liked this better if Leah was not so one dimensional. She literally reads like a robot. I understand that the "perfect" girl situation means that there is not a ton of depth, but even goody goods need to have some internal personalities. Most of this book takes place in Leah's very boring head. There is supposed to be this ongoing tension between family, what she thinks is right, and rebellion, but the tension is flat. There is nothing gripping to keep me wanting to read the book. The mother is vilified, but the author only tells us about the fear Leah seems to have of upsetting her, there is no connection made between the reader and the characters. Why should I care if Leah upsets her mother or not? I usually like these types of stories because I like seeing characters break away and make their own lives, but it's because those character driven stories are often the ones that make you really fall in love with the characters. This one just did not deliver.
