1.5 FINALLY!! Gah, I thought I'd never finish this one ( )

Recommended (if you have extra money)

Leah is the 3rd sister in her family and her mother has completely created her life. There is no question that Leah will be valedictorian, prom queen, get into the right college and have the perfect boyfriend. Her mother makes sure she looks perfect and has the same expectations of each of her daughters. She has blond hair, blue eyes and is just gorgeous.

There are a few frustrating elements to the story. The first, is why Leah decided she did not want to drive and made herself totally dependent on her boyfriend or her mother. The second is that she completely let her life be shaped by other people. The one thing she kept for herself was swimming. Leah meets Duffy one night at the country club. She was there for a party and he was there working. They end up making out and they fall for each other. Leah still has her “mom approved” boyfriend, but she does not really like him. Duffy makes her realize that she wants more from her life. Perfection is just a façade. Leah soon makes a realization that her sister is getting married because she is pregnant. Leah’s mom made the same mistake when she was young. Perhaps she was pushing for perfection so hard because she was not perfect herself. But she wanted to be.

This is a pretty tame romance. I think it is appropriate for high school libraries. There is not much that is objectionable. I don’t think this book can be used within a Common Core curriculum. It is good to put on the library shelves for pleasure reading. It was a quick read, and once I got into it, I wanted to know how it ended. I would book talk it to girls wanting to read a high school romance novel. Students who like to read about the popular girl falling for the wrong guy would appreciate this book. ( )

I enjoy reading YA fiction and expect it to be as smart and interesting in its way as adult fiction. Unfortunately this book was neither smart nor interesting. The characters are 1-dimensional and a little inconceivable - I understand that Leah wants more from her life than what she's been handed on a silver platter, and more from her family and friends than they're capable of giving her, but she is as passive and as boring as a robot. The only thing she manages to accomplish in this last summer of high school is to cheat on her boyfriend, and even that she doesn't handle very well. I just wanted to scream at her, 'do something! say something! grow up!'

I was looking forward to a little romance, a few steamy moments, and some sort of satisfying resolution to the tried-and-true "girl meets boy from the wrong side of the tracks" plot. It could have been cliched, I was expecting that. What I was not expecting was such a flat and boring non-story. I give this book only 1 star, I recommend other readers go looking for teen romance somewhere else. ( )

Kiss Crush Collide

by Christina Meredith
Product Details
ISBN-13: 9780062062246
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 12/27/2011
Pages: 320
Sales rank: 132,138
Age range: 14 years
Product dimensions: 5.76 (w) x 8.54 (h) x 1.06 (d)
Summary:
When we meet Leah, she is a junior in high school. It is the end of the year and her sister is valedictorian, just like her sister before that. She has a cute boyfriend that plays on the football team, and her life is fairly predictable. All she has to do is follow in the same footsteps as her two older sisters. Her mother has orchestrated the family so that each girl knows exactly what is expected from them. Leah is not happy, but not altogether unhappy either, until they go to the club to have dinner and celebrate her sister’s achievements. At the club, Leah runs into a porter. When she sneaks away from her family, and drunken boyfriend, she is swept up into the porter’s embrace as he is “borrowing” Leah’s sister’s fiancé’s car. They end up making out in the grass and being reckless. It’s something that Leah is not used to and it exhilarates her. Unfortunately, she has to go back to her normal life and help her oldest sister plan a wedding that will happen before the end of the summer.
Leah also works as a lifeguard at the local pool. While working, she has to deal with her competition for valedictorian, Valerie. Valerie brings all of the recommended reading with her each day to the pool and follows Leah from station to station. At first it is beyond annoying, but eventually Leah begins to expect and possibly enjoy their meetings. Porter also shows up at random times in a different car each time. Leah and Porter’s relationship is constantly hot and heavy, but she continues to go home and act like the good daughter that she is supposed to. When everything catches up to her, what will she do?
My thoughts:
I think I would have liked this better if Leah was not so one-dimensional. She literally reads like a robot. I understand that the “perfect” girl situation means that there is not a ton of depth, but even goody goods need to have some internal personalities. Most of this book takes place in Leah’s very boring head. There is supposed to be this ongoing tension between family, what she thinks is right, and rebellion, but the tension is flat. There is nothing gripping to keep me wanting to read the book. The mother is vilified, but the author only tells us about the fear Leah seems to have of upsetting her, there is no connection made between the reader and the characters. Why should I care if Leah upsets her mother or not? I usually like these types of stories because I like seeing characters break away and make their own lives, but it’s because those character driven stories are often the ones that make you really fall in love with the characters. This one just did not deliver.
3 Stars ( )

When I first came across Kiss Crush Collide I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Based on the synopsis, I just knew I had to read it. I was super excited to finally have a copy and started it immediately. I guess my expectations were a little too high being that the book was compared to Perfect Chemistry, which I adored.Leah has huge shoes to fill. Her family is rich and they only want the best for her and her sisters. But her mother is a little too controlling and pretty much runs their lives. She has very high expectations when it comes to her daughters. To her mother, it's all about what’s on the outside. You look at them and you would think "Perfect Happy Family." Her sisters were Valedictorians, dated the captain of the football team, prom queen, you name it, they did it. So all this was expected of Leah as well, but when someone is telling you what to do with your life, who to date, how to dress, you begin to get bored. Leah didn't even have to study because she wasn't going to fail. That is how popular her family is and that also tells you just HOW rich they are. So what does Leah do? She begins to take things into her own hands. She tries things she's never done before, like cheating on her boyfriend with someone her family wouldn't approve of. It just happened. But what she didn't expect was to actually fall in love. What I had a problem with was I felt that Meredith focused a little too much on Leah's life and gave too little about the romance. According to the synopsis, I am expecting this huge forbidden romance and lots of drama, but I did not get that. You get a couple of chapters of Leah and Porter together, but nothing that would WOW you. I liked them together, but I just didn't feel the connection in the beginning. It wasn't until almost the near end that you finally get a feel for them. The way it all played out though, was put together really well, but I would have liked a lot more. There was just way too much of Leah's life and memories than there was romance. Now the book isn't bad, but it just wasn't what I was expecting at all. Christina is a great writer though and excellent at describing things. It wasn't hard at all to picture what Leah was feeling, or picture a scene in my head. Again, I just wish there was A LOT more of Porter and Leah.Would I recommend Kiss Crush Collide? Yes. Other than what I listed above, it actually has a good meaning behind it.Will I read any future books by Christina Meredith? Yes. I really do like her way of writing.I give Kiss Crush Collide 3 out of 5 Stars! ( )