Review Detail

The amazingness of this book was spectacular! I got it on release day and started it the day after. It finished it at 1:30 in morning. Less than 24 hours after starting. It was that good. Crash Into You was everything that Dare You To wasn't. The first book, Pushing the Limits, was perfections incarnate. Dare You To was good, but just didn't interest me as much. Crash Into You basically exploded into my mind and wouldn't let it go. I had to know what happened next. I'm not a huge contemporary reader, there are only a few on my shelves, most by the same couple authors (Katie McGarry, Ally Carter, and Simone Elkeles). But Crash Into You blew them all away! It focuses on drag racing and cars as its central theme, something I'd never read about before. I swear, I learned more about cars in that one book than I have in my entire life.

The book is dual POV, between Isaiah and Rachel. Rachel is awesome. She is kick-butt, she has a bunch of awesome over-protective older brothers, and she knows way more about cars than I do. She had a slight problem with panic attacks though. And have I mentioned her family life? It kinda stinks. The one thing I hate about Rachel is that she refuses to tell her parents about her panic attacks, which are a risk to her life. I wish that she'd just realize that, despite how much she wanted to please everyone else, she had to put herself first. Her parents could only be happy if she was. Her family comes out of a good place, and they really do love her, but they have a really hard time of showing it.

Isaiah is, I can't even. He is simply spectacular. We've known him since book one, and the entire time, we the readers have been wanting a happy ending for him. Isaiah grew up in foster care, which has not treated him well. He's best friends with Noah, the protagonist of book one. Isaiah can fend for himself, and knows cars like nobodies business, but he has a hard time admitting he needs help. He also doesn't know the full story, and tends to make hasty judgements. Overall, I find Isaiah an awesome character, who grows into a wonderful person by the end of the story. He's complex, which is something I love to read about. The romance between him and Rachel was a bit sudden, but it also built at the same time. It was like an insta-attraction that built into something more.

Has anyone heard the Avril Lavigne song 17? If not, check out the lyrics here. This song is basically Rachel and Isaiah's relationship. The feel of the song is how they are. How they're living free and in love. A few of the lyrics really stood out to me though. "Flicking lighters just to fight the dark. My favorite place was sitting in his car." "We were running red lights." The first line immediately makes me think of when Isaiah gave Rachel his lighter, which had great sentimental value to him. The whole purpose of the story was cars, and that was where they would hang out together. We were running red lights could reference the drag racing, or just plain ole driving that Rachel would do. What do you think? Do any other songs come to mind?

The end of the book (before the epilogue). I swear, my heart stopped. I did not believe that Katie McGarry would do that to me. I had only recently suffered through the end of Allegiant, and my heart was still healing. Thankfully, the author saved my heart from total destruction and the book did not end in weeping, though it definitely hit the feels in the heart. The writing of the novel was superb. It couldn't have been done better. Oh, and I forgot to mention Abby. She was easily my favorite character in the novel, and I demand that she get a novella or novel all to herself! She was in such deep trouble, I just had to see how she dug herself out. Actually, I have a list of characters I want to see with their own story, with Abby on top, closely followed by Logan and with Ethan coming in for a close third. The characters are so original, deep, and intense. The plot was non-stop action, and I couldn't help but squeal when old characters came back into the story. There was a lot of squealing. Basically, read the book. It will be worth every second you have it in your arms. Crash Into You easily gets a full five stars!