Book Review: Crash

by Nicole Williams

Book Description:

Southpointe High is the last place Lucy wanted to wind up her senior year of school. Right up until she stumbles into Jude Ryder, a guy whose name has become its own verb, and synonymous with trouble. He's got a rap sheet that runs longer than a senior thesis, has had his name sighed, shouted, and cursed by more women than Lucy dares to ask, and lives at the local boys home where disturbed seems to be the status quo for the residents. 

Lucy had a stable at best, quirky at worst, upbringing. She lives for wearing the satin down on her ballet shoes, has her sights set on Juilliard, and has been careful to keep trouble out of her life. Up until now. 

Jude's everything she knows she needs to stay away from if she wants to separate her past from her future. Staying away, she's about to find, is the only thing she's incapable of. 

For Lucy Larson and Jude Ryder, love's about to become the thing that tears them apart.

Book Review: 5/5

“You can’t be friends with the person you were meant to spent your life with” 

I can summarize Crash in these three short wordsL Crazy. Passionate. Intense.

At first I was like: How did this amazing girl who tries to save the world end up with this guy? Love works in mysterious ways, that's for sure. Because Luce - a normal teen age with a bright future fell in love with Jude - a not-so-normal teenager with a bleak future. 

Lucy wanted to save the world - after she failed to save someone important to her. She loves to dance and wished to go to Julliard. Her family was never the same again after the incident, her dad shut the world, and only came to life in his chef uniform and she can no longer talk to her mom without starting an argument. Everything was just the way it is until she met Jude - then her life went topsy-turvy. Nothing was the same again. Her reputation was always questioned in school and she was even labeled as a slut. It didn't help that a juvie was her boyfriend. BUT: I love that she gives everyone a benefit of a doubt and that she gave her trust to Jude - until insecurities ate it all up. Lucy is a strong person and fiercely loyal - she stood up for someone she greatly cared for despite of what everyone around her tells her. I love the fact she believed in him when he didn't.

But can the ultimate bad boy stick to one girl? Can he ever change? The million dollar question is: Can he stay out of trouble? 

Yes, Jude's rap sheet is indeed long and is continuously growing. It didn't help that he grew up in a boy's home and was abandoned by his father who was put to jail. The first time he saw Lucy, he already warned her off: but to no avail. Soon, he found himself attracted to her as well. And when a bad boy who had his shares of woman finally found THE ONE there's no stopping him. Or he thought so, until the both of them uncovered something that can change both their lives. 

The road to happiness for these two seemed to be a long way, because just as the time Lucy and Jude become happy: something will turn out to be wrong. Jude wanted what is best for Lucy and he didn't think its him. The latter however, tries to make him realize that he is enough for her. 

My favorite scene: the father-daughter scene in the near end. Because this is where I finally see some emotion from her father: that her father actually care for her and somehow he explained all his actions in the past. It sounded like both like an apology and an assurance that everything will turn out right in the end. I guess a father knows when he's needed and knew the right (or ratherperfect) words to say.

The ending: *sigh* I think the ending was subtle compare to the rest of the book which makes it more perfect - because my heart could no longer take another jolt from these two love birds. The whole scene will make you think: it was really meant to be .

Favorite Quotes

• “You can’t be friends with the person you were meant to spent your life with” 
• “This man was the pope, president, and god of dodging the topic. Too bad for him he was dealing with the queen, holy mother, and empress of seeing through a man’s stream of shit.” 
• “You’ve got all my firsts,” he said. “All the ones that matter.” 
• “It’s not hard to recognise something special when life’s thrown a lotta shit your way” 
• “I’ll be here, each day and every day on, as long as you want me to be”
• “It was silent, but a silent that was so loud I wanted to cover my ears.” 
• “I’d found boys were fairly simple creatures to figure out, at least on a primal level—on a mind, heart, and soul matter they were about as confounding to me as thermal dynamics—and since primal was just a nice term for raging hormones, I decided to use their overabundance of teenage boy ones to my advantage.” 
• “I’m cancer, Luce. And not the kind that you can kill off with radiation. The kind that kills you in the end.” 
• “Our reputations weren’t who we really were, they were who people told us we were. Some of us fell into that trap, while others fought their entire lives to break free of them. Jude was no more the bad boy with a dead end future than I was the skanky slut everyone said I was.” 
• “It always amazes me how when we’re sure we’ve lost something for good, it winds up finding us.” 
• “How does a guy like you promise someone forever at eighteen?”
  “Easy,” he said, pressing a soft kiss into the corner of my mouth. “He finds a girl like you.” 

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Book Review: Such a Rush

by Jennifer Echols

Book Description

A sexy and poignant romantic tale of a young daredevil pilot caught between two brothers.

High school senior Leah Jones loves nothing more than flying. While she’s in the air, it’s easy to forget life with her absentee mother at the low-rent end of a South Carolina beach town. When her flight instructor, Mr. Hall, hires her to fly for his banner advertising business, she sees it as her ticket out of the trailer park. And when he dies suddenly, she’s afraid her flying career is gone forever.

But Mr. Hall’s teenage sons, golden boy Alec and adrenaline junkie Grayson, are determined to keep the banner planes flying. Though Leah has crushed on Grayson for years, she’s leery of getting involved in what now seems like a doomed business--until Grayson betrays her by digging up her most damning secret. Holding it over her head, he forces her to fly for secret reasons of his own, reasons involving Alec. Now Leah finds herself drawn into a battle between brothers--and the consequences could be deadly.

Book Review

Review Grade: 5/5

“I remembered what Mr. Hall had told me when I first asked him for a lesson: the kids who watch planes are destined to be pilots.” 

Jennifer Echols never fails to give me such a rush.

I love this book because of...

1. The Cover - Who wouldn't fall in love with the girl with her straight hairbeing blown by the wind in a nice cute white dress? Only that we were alldeceived by it - Leah doesn't have a straight hair unless it was run over by an iron. She possesses curly hair that Grayson adores.

2. The Characters 
At first, I was ambivalent on my feelings with Leah . I wanted to hate her, at the same time love her for everything that she is. She can be annoying at times, then adorable the next - it confuses me. She's very pragmatic and acts like she doesn't care about anything at all or what anyone says about her. She's a complex character whose perseverance and determination to become a pilot - and to change her life in general I greatly admire. She quit smoking at 15 in lieu of flying lessons. I was glad that she was persuaded to quit an unhealthy vice in exchange of a brighter future. Her fears, insecurities are palpably real and I can easily spot one in the crowd (although I doubt if the one I will spot has planes in her mind). 

Molly and Leah's friendship is very unconventional. It started when Leah'stole' Molly's boyfriend. Then I stop and thought: Is this another case of make your friends close and your enemies closer? . Leah always thought that she was Molly's charity case - they were the exact opposite. Molly was rich and lives in a mansion - while Leah was poor and lives in a trailer. The former was popular and the latter was hated. Yet, they formed a close, tight bond where apology doesn't have a room. In the near end, their unusual friendship is once again tested - can it survive?

Mr. Hall . I love him! And I think he's one of the most amazing character in this novel for believing in Leah and giving her a chance ( although he has his doubts ) to fulfill her dreams and changing the course of her life. He was a like a father she never had.

                                  

Alec and Grayson Just like Leah, both brothers received their license at 18. These two brothers are way to different - nevertheless, ILOOOOOVVVVVVVEEEEEEEE how their character develop all throughout the story - how they grow up at a certain point in their life when they were needed to, how they try to remain steadfast against the odds. Alec, I like his character. His obviously calmer than his brother and worries less. I liked how he handled the situation, although he didn't like the consequences that affected him and his happiness as well. Grayson I love bad boys! Among the twins, he was the adrenaline junkie. But this one needs professional help! At 18, he can already blackmail and manipulate. Sheeesh! He blackmailed Leah with a secret she had kept for a long time, in exchange for doing him a favor which was really outrageous or she can kiss her dreams goodbye. Of course, Leah had no choice but to agree. Yet, I fell in love with this adrenaline junkie when he grew up and faced responsibility head on. I may not like his ways, but I'm glad everything went well in the end.

3. The Plot . The girl in the trailer park who wanted to change her life by flying and would do anything to achieve it. I love Such a Rush in every freaking way. I have always loved Jennifer Echols' novel - she writes in a fashion that can inspire and tickle your brain cells. Her characters are excellent and almost real. I am just so sure that you can't put this novel down because I haven't - I wanted to finish this as soon as I started it. I wanted to know what will happen to the characters - and how the whole charade will end. Well, it ended with a big CRASH and an amazing prom night that was sweet but not cheesy. 

Would I recommend this one?
OF COURSE! It will give you such a rush that you will not have the time to put this book down. 

I sure couldn't wait for the next Jennifer Echols book. 

Favorite Quotes

• “If I were stepping down from the bus at the rich end of town instead of the trailer park, I wouldn’t have to watch every word I said to make sure it wasn’t slang for an orgasm.” 
• “The TV said you should ignore bullies and they would stop harassing you. In practice this worked about half the time. The other half, you ended up with two tall boys shadowing you through a trailer park, their fingers taking little nips at your clothes, like dogs.” 
• “I guess’ will get you killed.” 
• “You’re not a whore. You’re a chick who hasn’t exactly grown up with every advantage, and you’ve learned to use what you’ve got. You don’t do it on purpose. It’s second nature. You act girly and helpless and make men think you’re harmless.” 
• “It was better that we never apologized to each other. Then we’d be admitting that we were wrong and we owed each other something. That’s where people got into trouble.” 
• “I remembered what Mr. Hall had told me when I first asked him for a lesson: the kids who watch planes are destined to be pilots.” 
• “When something awful happens, sometimes people get stuck.” 
• “Sarcasm was a weapon for children.” 
• “Men always do that to women when they feel threatened. They tell everybody the woman must be giving out blow jobs because there’s no way she could be successful otherwise.” 
• “Love isn’t something you have to deserve.” 
• “It’s easier to remember your lies if they’re close to the truth,” 
• “Most people hear an airplane in the sky and think, ‘There’s an airplane,’ and go back to what they were doing. A few folks look around for the airplane, try to figure out what kind of plane it is, and watch it from the time they spot it to the time it disappears on the horizon, maybe after that. Those kids are the ones who will be pilots." He pointed at me. "I knew that about you. I’ve just been waiting for you to show up.” 
• “I had wanted something from him. Even expected a confrontation. To be ignored was a sentence without a period.” 
• “We wanted to enjoy the afterglow and we were trying our best to bond, but it was difficult with so many people between us, even though most of them were ghosts.”