Thursday, November 22, 2012

Book Review: Kiss Crush Collide by Christina Meredith



Title: Kiss Crush Collide
Author: Christina Meredith
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Publishing Date: December 27th 2011
Length: 320 pages
Keywords: YA, contemporary romance
Source: Gift

Kiss
What Leah did—only she really shouldn’t have—one hot night at a country club party.

Crush
What Leah has—only she really shouldn’t have—on the guy with the green eyes, the guy who is not her perfect boyfriend, the guy who does not fit in her picture-perfect life, the guy her sisters will only mock and her mother will never approve of. Not in a million years.

Collide
What happens when everything you always thought you wanted—having cool friends, being class valedictorian and homecoming queen—runs smack into everything it turns out you really do want.

Kiss. Crush. Collide.
For Leah and Porter, summer is only the beginning.

Summary by Goodreads 



  

The major conflict in KISS CRUSH COLLIDE is about the perfect life of a sophisticated family which stands in conflict with the personal preferences and wishes of single individuals, like Leah their youngest daughter. In general exactly that conflict made me want to read the book in the first place. Leah falling for the poor boy. I hoped for a story like PERFECT CHEMISTRY which circles around an unwanted love between a girl who is supposed to be perfect and a boy out of her league, that overwhelms you with its awesomeness.

For my taste the romance came way too short. Sometimes scenes between Leah and Porter were totally irrelevant and not well-integrated into the whole story. I was frankly disappointed by the love story. No chemistry, no insight into the characters feelings for each other, only some inexplicable hook-ups from time to time.

It’s not only that we don’t really get an insight into Leah’s thinking, but the fact that from the moment she starts seeing that new boy, Porter as she calls him, she not once feels shame or guilt for betraying her boyfriend Shane with another boy. That trait of character let her appear like such an unsympathetic person to me that I couldn’t really enjoy the rest of the read.

A friendship between Leah and two old friends and one girl she dislikes is sketched, but I don’t believe in a very close relationship since Leah is such a careless character. She is one of the few YA contemporary protagonists I didn’t like. Sometimes a spark of sympathy tries to push its way through, but mostly I just didn’t get her way of thinking. She blames other people for her misery first and starts thinking about her own part in the story after only a while, if at all.

The whole family of Leah, her sisters and mother are so shallow, it started to really annoy me. I cannot tell you how bored I was every new time Leah mentioned her oh so perfect boyfriend who bothered her, the colour trio her sisters and her are always supposed to wear or her analysis of every single chest in that book! It’s all about the looks and very few about the inner strengths of people. The family has issues, but they are mostly ignored and are not discussed.  

Christina Meredith has a convenient writing style which is fitting for a contemporary romance novel. Cover and writing are really nice, but the content couldn’t convince me at all. I expected the romantic conflict between Leah and that boy at the country club to be so engaging, some sneaking around and sizzling romantic scenes between the two. The premise was so promising and I liked the general constellation of characters and the setting, but their interaction didn't convince.





  
1) of experiencing a whole new way of living
2) of your own four wheels
3) of sneaky meetings
4) there’s always a difference between doing the perfect and doing the right thing
5) of sisterly triple power






2,5/5 **/* KISS CRUSH COLLIDE- Pretty cover, dull content. They kissed, expectations were crushed and opinions collided.

This is the story of a well-established (in this case: shallow) family trying to break out of their habits. Definitely no PERFECT CHEMISTRY. If the premise draws you to the story like it did with me, just pick up this book and just see if it works for you. I’m a fan of YA contemporary romances, but this one unfortunately didn’t really work for me. 






* Read an excerpt of KISS CRUSH COLLIDE here

* Visit www.christinameredith.com for fruther information about Christina Meredith and her books.


3 comments:

  1. Oh I have seen some reviews around all have been not entierly happy with the book just like you! I always wanted to read it, but I think I should rather read something more exciting. .. It's too bad though, it sounds cute!

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  2. A good friend of mine read this recently and was disappointed overall too. This isn't always my genre either, so I think I'll skip it! Great review!

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  3. That sounds like a book I won't be reading. Thanks for your opinion, I might have been tempted by the premise. But to write a book on romance and then fall short on the emotional side of it - to me that's unforgivable. After all I read these books so that I can have a look inside the character's head and heart - not just the bedroom, to hear about her feelings and how they are in conflict with what she believes to be right or did until she met that gorgeous boy.
    I guess I'll just read 'Perfect Chemistry' instead ;)

    Cheers, Katarina :)

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