Crash

Visions, Book 1

By: Lisa McMann

Narrated by: Allyson Ryan

Length: 5 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

If what you see is what you get, Jules is in serious trouble. The suspenseful first in a series from the New York Times best-selling author of the Wake trilogy.

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.

In this riveting start to a gripping series from New York Times best-selling author Lisa McMann, Jules has to act - and act fast - to keep her vision from becoming reality.

©2013 Lisa McMann (P)2013 Simon & Schuster

boring to start

personally I had a hard time keeping my attention on the book, it kinda seems bland is the word? but towards the end I really began to grow on me. my favorite book of hers is still cryers cross

Not my favorite McMann book

Review originally posted at YA Love

Audio Review:

I chose to read Crash with my ears because reading it traditionally wasn’t holding my attention. I write this first because the audio swayed parts of my enjoyment of this book, but not all of it. Overall Allyson Ryan did a good job narrating the story. Her voice is believable as a teen girl, and I was able to discern most of the other character’s voices. Ryan did a great job expressing the emotions of the characters which really brought the story to life. This is weird, but something I noticed about Allyson Ryan’s narration that bothered me. Every now and then she awkwardly pause while speaking and it reminded me of William Shatner’s quirky speaking. Do you know what I’m referring to when I mention his speaking? That. Awkward. Pausing. It didn’t happen often, and usually I’d giggle when it did, but it was slightly distracting.

Book Review:

Lisa McMann is one of my favorite authors. She writes engaging stories that hook my students and leave them wanting more. So when I found out about Crash and its premise I was really excited. I loved the idea of the visions because I knew it would make the story exciting with that added supernatural twist while still feeling realistic. When I started reading it traditionally, I couldn’t stay with the story. I wasn’t engaged. Thankfully the audio kept me engaged, but I still found some key faults with the story.

First, I have to say that my absolute favorite part of Crash is Jules’s relationship with her siblings. Trey and Rowan are wonderful supporting characters; they’re full of life and really add something extra to the scenes. I think I even liked them more than Jules!

The problem I have with the story is that it’s more of a spin on Romeo & Juliet than a story about visions of a crash. I like that Jules has a love interest and the reasons why she can’t be with him. I simply wish for more balance in the story. Jules starts seeing the crash visions at the very beginning of the story, and they’re dragged out until almost the very end. That’s not completely unexpected, especially since Crash is a short book, but most of the focus is on Jules worrying about and pining over Sawyer. When I was hoping for an exciting story about visions, that left me disappointed.

The sequel to Crash, Bang, releases this October, and I’m sure I’ll read it. Crash ended with a twist, so I’m curious to know how that will play out. I’d also like to read Bang because so much wasn’t explained in Crash. I have mixed feelings about the unexplained elements because if less time was spent on the Jules/ Sawyer love aspect, we could have learned more about the visions themselves.

Most of my friends really enjoyed Lisa McMann’s newest YA novel, and I’m positive many of my students will love it as well.

I love love love this book !

I look forward to reading the rest of the books! such a good plot and story line, kept me on my toes I just bout got emotional towards the end. I highly recommend.