Series Saturday: Review: Crash (McMann)

Title: Crash
Author: McMann
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural, Family
Pages: 233
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Ages: 7th-10th grades

We were so lucky to host this author (along with Jennifer A. Nielsen) at Evergreen this past March. You can read all about the AMAZING experience here. Since I am also a huge fan of both of these authors, I was especially excited for the event. It definitely did not disappoint.

The "Wake" trilogy is a popular series in my library, and Cryer's Cross (previously reviewed here) is also the perfect creepy tale. And this year I will be promoting her new "Unwanteds" series. Because she obviously doesn't have enough to do, this series starter was also published this year. 

From the Publisher: 
If what you see is what you get, Jules is in serious trouble. 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.

As soon as I read this book, I knew just the student who would enjoy it. And I was right! I'm including her review below, but wanted to add my two cents first. This book has mystery, suspense, and romance. It is a page-turner that is hard to put it down because you desperately want to find out if Jules is able to save the day. I really liked Jules and her narration is spot on. The supporting cast is also well-defined. This is definitely an exciting series starter (there are supposed to be 4 books in this series; the 2nd book, "Bang" comes out this fall), and one that we will have on the shelves for the fall.

Jenni's review:
Loved Crash! It kind of reminded me of Romeo and Juliet- but still really original seeing as how there was resistance from Sawyer's part. I liked how different Jules is from me because as I've said before I usually subconsciously (now I'm actually aware of it though *laughs) try to identify with the protagonist of the books. I found myself cringing a lot when Jules would do something like approach Sawyer or even tell him she loves him. Yeah, this chick is way more ballsy than I ever will be. But I liked seeing how her actions played out in the end. 

Sawyer was frustrating too. The story in general was frustrating because like Romeo and Juliet I find it completely idiotic for parents and kids to allow feuds to be passed down and to live by them. I liked how Jules, although she kind of abided by that old fight, basically said, "I don't give a damn, I'm gonna try to save these people." 

The ending was satisfying because it made sense, but as all good authors do, it didn't leave me too satisfied since I felt like there is still more to be said of Jules and Sawyer's story. All in all, I can't wait for the next book to come out!