Review: Crash by: Lisa McMann

Crash by: Lisa McMann (Visions Book 1) (2013)

Publisher: Simon Pulse

233 pages

Genre: YA/Paranormal/Mystery

Goodreads Summary: 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.

My Review

Crash wasn't a big hit with me. I was really looking forward to reading an exciting book about a teenager who gets a vision of a crash and must find a way to stop it. Sounds exciting right? Well it isn't nearly as exciting as the synopsis implied. Now I don’t want to be overly negative, there were some good parts of this book as well. So here we go… what I thought were the hits and misses.

What I enjoyed:

• The family dynamic is really great. Jules works at her parents’ family pizza shop and of course there is a pizza rivalry with another family in town. This part of the plot was fun. Her older brother was quirky, her sister was mysterious, her mom was interesting, and her dad was troublesome, but for some reason it just worked.
• Lisa McMann does a great job at adding a great amount of details, especially when breaking down and describing the crash scene that Jules continuously has visions about. My favorite part of the book is when Jules breaks down and takes apart the scene to try and figure out what she can do to sop it.
• There was some quirky cute writing and jokes that made me laugh.
• It was a quick read. Which not to be overly rude, but I’m glad it was quick because at times it was very unenjoyable.
• The ending was good and set it up nicely for the second book.
• Plus, that cover is pretty awesome. I love the fire burning in her eye, a reflection of the crash.

What I wasn't a fan of:

• Everything was predictable. I didn't feel any shock factor when reading Crash and that made me really sad. Considering that Jules is trying to solve this puzzle of how to prevent the deadly crash from happening, it was a let down that there were no big twists.
• The main character Jules was slightly annoying and too juvenile for my tastes. She acted more like 14 than 17.
• Crash did remind me somewhat of Final Destination and Mara Dyer, but not nearly as good. I’m not even sure I will be reading the second book. I would probably pick it up at the library if I didn't have a huge TBR pile always looming in the background.
• The whole book seemed somewhat repetitive and it is a short book to begin with.
• The love story was nothing to write home about. I don't think the romance aspect of a story is the  most important thing in a novel, but this one just didn't do anything for me. 
• The book/plot doesn't do the cover justice.

Overall I didn’t think Crash was great, but it wasn’t horrible either. It was just eh for me, but that doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy it. If you are looking for a quick young adult novel with great details with a paranormal and mystery element then you may enjoy it just fine. 

RATING 2.5/5    Buy Crash