Friday, August 30, 2013

Review: Crash (Visions #1) by Lisa McMann

Crash (Visions, #1)Release date: January 8th 2013
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Jules lives with her family above their restaurant, which means she smells like pizza most of the time and drives their double-meatball-shaped food truck to school. It’s not a recipe for popularity, but she can handle that.


What she can’t handle is the recurring vision that haunts her. Over and over, Jules sees a careening truck hit a building and explode...and nine body bags in the snow.

The vision is everywhere—on billboards, television screens, windows—and she’s the only one who sees it. And the more she sees it, the more shesees. The vision is giving her clues, and soon Jules knows what she has to do. Because now she can see the face in one of the body bags, and it’s someone she knows. Someone she has been in love with for as long as she can remember.

In this riveting start to a gripping series from New York Times bestselling author Lisa McMann, Jules has to act—and act fast—to keep her vision from becoming reality.


*a copy was provided by the publisher for an honest review.



I actually thought the story had the potential to be good. In fact, I had high hopes because I always enjoy a plot where the main character has premonitions, like, final destination or somewhat. But sadly, Crash disappointed me. 

One of my issues with the story is that I couldn't relate to the main character much less warm up to her. Jules' behavior in regards to her visions and to the cute boy from the opposing family annoyed if not turned me off completely. There was nothing that left a good impression on me and I'm a bit hesitant to start the second book if that's the kind of character I'm going along with. What bugged me most was how repetitive she was at times with the things she said, how silly some of what she did was, and then there's her intense feelings for Sawyer, which I thought were a bit too much and seemed extremely odd. Maybe if he had a stronger voice in the story, which wasn't really possible since it's told only from Jules' perspective. Then I would understand Sawyer more and get an idea of his thoughts for her, but throughout the book it seemed like his feelings weren't as strong as Jules' no matter how unfazed he was supposedly trying to be whenever she approached him around others. 

The other characters didn't really stand out to me much either, with the exception of her little sister that seemed more mature than Jules at times, and her brother who appeared more like a non-family member. But those things aside, I wasn't really affected by their presence and hope for further character development as the series continues.

Anything else? The writing was good, very youthful, scenes were decently described, but again, the story could have been stronger. Initially, I went into the book with hopes of unraveling a paranormal and mysterious story, along with enjoying a bittersweet and forbidden romance. I wanted to learn about the main character and understand her family situation and why she was unable to be with the guy she loved. And indeed, the writer gave answers early on, which was good, because that's how fast paced it was, but that aside, the rest of the pages felt flat until the end. 

In conclusion, good but needs improvement to be greater. I like how Crash ended and would like to see how the author picks things up in Bang after that reveal. But once again, I reiterate that the first book has me really timid about continuing the journey. 


17 comments:

  1. I liked the cover and synopsis...too bad about the story. Wish I had those eyes!

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  2. It's too bad that you didn't end up liking this one! Thanks for the honest review!

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  3. It's frustrating when you don't relate to the MC at all but sometimes it helps if there are other that you do. It doesn't sounds like this one does that. Too bad too, it sounded good. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it.

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  4. Aww such a shame this didn't live up to expectations, it sounds so awesome from the blurb!

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  5. I hear you, Shane! It's really hard to enjoy a story when we couldn't feel connected with the MC :( Glad to see that you liked the ending and would consider picking up its sequel. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Henrietta. Let's just hope the second picks things up :)

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  6. I've heard some mixed things about this one, but I'm probably going to stay away from it, I'm sorry you couldn't connect with the characters, though! That's always a huge turn off for me. I'm sorry you didn't really love this one as much as you wanted.

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    1. Thanks, Eileen. But don't let my review scare you away it'll probably be different for you.

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  7. Many of the reviews Ive read for Crash have expressed similar feelings towards the story. I'm sorry you were disappointed, Shane. Thanks for the helpful review!

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    1. Yea, I've noticed that too so i guess it's not me :)

      Thanks for stopping by, Drea!

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  8. Well, thank you for your very honest review! The book sounded quite interesting at first, but after reading your opinion I'm not too keen on reading it myself!

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  9. It's a shame you didn't like this one as much as you wanted to! I hope your next read is better!
    Thanks for the honest review, Shane.

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  10. I've been going back and forth about reading this one. I think I'm leaning more in the direction of not after reading your review. Relationships between characters - romantic or otherwise - are extremely important to me when I am reading, and I think Crash might be a problem for me. Maybe I'll change my mind if/when you ever review Bang.

    Thanks for your review!

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