REVIEW: Crash, by Lisa McMann

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 she sees. 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.

After thoroughly enjoying the Wake trilogy a few years ago, I was looking forward to reading Crash. It was....okay. Not great. I may have been reading with my analytical-reader hat on, though. Instead of my YA librarian hat (which is a different hat, I swear.)

The story is supposed to be about the recurring vision Jules has, and how she's trying to prevent it from coming true. It's a honest to goodness mystery, what with trying to figure the who, what, when, and where--and then how to stop it. The premise works.

However, McMann's execution of it doesn't work. Jules practically stalks her long-time crush (who isn't allowed to speak to her because their families own rival pizza parlors). The angst is dripping heavily in this book. And it could've been laid on less heavily and made for a better story. The supernatural bit felt like an excuse for telling about the romance.

What do you think??

Disclosure of Material Connection: I purchased this book for my own pleasure reading. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.