Review: When We Collided by Emery Lord.

 

Blurb: 
We are seventeen and shattered and still dancing. We have messy, throbbing hearts, and we are stronger than anyone could ever know…Jonah never thought a girl like Vivi would come along.

Vivi didn’t know Jonah would light up her world.

Neither of them expected a summer like this…a summer that would rewrite their futures.

In an unflinching story about new love, old wounds, and forces beyond our control, two teens find that when you collide with the right person at just the right time, it will change you forever.

My Review: 

So, I am a little bit behind on reviews. I read When We Collided by Emery Lord in February of 2020. I have had this review (and a few others) written in my content planner for a while, but I have neglected to type it up, therefore I have neglected to post it here, for you guys.

The beginning of When We Collided hooked me pretty much straight away. The story is told from two points of view. Vivi and Jonah.

We begin with our lead female Vivi engraving ‘Vivi was here’ on a tree in a park in the middle of town she has just moved to for the summer. This slogan ended up creating a kind of familiar warmness for me. As she goes through the motions of her day, she meets Jonah and his little sister Leah who became just as captivated with Vivi as Vivi did with the pair of them.

The setup of Vivi and Jonah, in the beginning, appeared to me as ‘bad girl tarnishes good boy’ scenario. When I got further into the novel, I realised it was a really good novel about two people who had been through life altering trauma’s and were both avoiding dealing with them until they were absolutely forced to.

Emery Lord built a captivating world. I was taken on a hard-hitting, yet beautiful journey through the trials of adopting new norms. However, there were several scenes or sequences throughout the novel that could have been left out or glazed over. More than a few, but less than many but they made the novel drag a little.

Having said that the author was trying to put across a story of hardship, loss, and the struggles that one can have with their own head. All the while pretending that everything is okay on the outside. This, she covered Flawlessly/Faultlessly.  

In my opinion, Emery Lord wrote a great book that dealt with grief and mental health in an honest way. From her standpoint, research & experiences, and that, again, in my opinion, should be the takeaway from this novel.

I rated this book 4 stars on Goodreads and recommend it to anyone who wants something a little harder-hitting to read.

 Check out When We Collided on Goodreads to find out more about the book and author.