• Collide

  • Collide, Book 1
  • By: Gail McHugh
  • Narrated by: Mary Kowal
  • Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (816 ratings)

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Collide  By  cover art

Collide

By: Gail McHugh
Narrated by: Mary Kowal
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Publisher's summary

A missed first encounter....

Colliding with a second chance....

On the heels of graduating college and trying to cope with her mother's death, Emily Cooper moves to New York City for a fresh start.

While harboring secrets of his own, Dillon Parker takes care of Emily through her grief. Knowing he can't live without her by his side, he's sweet, thoughtful, and everything Emily has ever wanted in a man.

Until she meets Gavin Blake - a rich and notorious playboy who is dangerously sexy and charming as hell. Emily tries to deny the instant connection she feels, but Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome is not inclined to let go so easily. Recovering from his own painful past, Gavin will stop at nothing to win Emily over.

This unexpected encounter compels Emily to question her decisions, forcing her to make a choice that will destroy friendships, shatter hearts, and forever change her life.

©2013 Gail McHugh (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: Erotica

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Collide is an addictive love triangle!

I have a serious love/hate relationship with this damn book. This book had me on an emotional roller coaster! I loved it , I hated it, it made me laugh, cry, I screamed and shouted, the twists and turns had me frustrated- I was all over the place, but I loved every second of it! The summer after her senior year of college, Emily moves from her home in Colorado to New York City to be closer to her boyfriend Dillon. Since her mother died of breast cancer, she has nothing to keep her there. She moves in with her best friend and college room mate, Olivia and gets a job waitressing for the summer while she applies for teaching jobs. On her first day at the restaurant, Emily makes a delivery on her way home... To Gavin Blake’s office. Gavin and Emily both feel an instant attraction, a spark right away. There's an instant connection between Emily and Gavin, but of course she avoids and rejects all his advances, the problem is, Gavin and Dillon are friends (not best friends but friends) never the less, it still means that it's impossible for Gavin and Emily to avoid each other... As time passes by, the feelings they have for each other just intensifies. The connections and friendships you don’t expect and the events that have a domino effect on the entire story line. Normally, I am not the biggest fan of love triangles. I always feel bad for someone... except when a member of the triangle is a jerk. That always helps. Certain things about this story reminded me of Thoughtless, the angsty love triangle and all. Seriously. If you hate love triangles or wishy washy heroines who've got men falling over them, this book is not your cup of tea. If you can handle all that, then you must BUY THIS AUDIOBOOK!

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38 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Aggrivation, a heart attack, and the cliffhanger.

I honestly don't know what to type as I sit here and ponder the responses I just read over to this book. I just feel... slimy. Uncomfortable. Discombobulated.

And I'm gunna have a moment to Woosah. So. Spoilers.

Obviously.

There's something I failed to truly appreciate in Lizzy Bennet, despite loving her for years. Her backbone. She's sure of herself, and when confronted with security in the form of handsome Darcy, she'd rather stay single than deal with douchbaggery.

Not Emily. Emily is dating a creeper. All the signs are there. Like, waved in our face. He's like Mr. Wickham with money. And to make sure we notice them, the second voice of the story is the OTHER guy. So we know from the beginning Gavin and Emily will end up together. We just have to wait. And wait. And watch this girl make one bad move after another. It's like some cross between a boyfriend and Stockholm syndrome and she just CAN'T get away. Even after meeting her love-at-first-sight guy.

On top of it, there seems to be a lot of women who love answering doors in their underwear. This abnormal occurrence plays a role in this story. And to be honest. The whole "misunderstanding" could have been understood if homegirl had a backbone and simply stepped inside her recently claimed domain, and confronted the situation.

But she's a doe. A heart-bleeding doe. That's her spirit animal.

And when she finally gets what she wants - I knew something was up because there was too much book left. So enter the evil ex who is there just to be a drunken, panty-wearing, door-opening, plot device. Boom. "Shot thru the heart, and you're to blame.."

I was so off balance during my yoga class today because I was so ANGRY at this heroine. Laugh if you will, but yoga is that calm place. A happy place. Instead, I was stuck on pause while the last hour (like 8 hours in) of listening and my warrior pose sucked because I was pep-talking myself how I would NEVER let a guy abuse me like that. Or would I let things get so out of control like she did.

My heart is tight even now just thinking about it. Don't ever let a man treat you like that, reader, Christian Grey is better than this guy. Seriously.

Woosah.

I came here hoping the reviews would mention how broken this heroine is from the first minute of the book to the last. Nope. Everyone loved it. Apparently heartbreak for 11 hours is fun!

It's not. Nothing about this book is FUN. It's a heart attack. With bad narration. I love Elizabeth Bennet and that story has just as much heartbreak and mishaps and you ENJOY reading it. This book was a big bunch of frustration, aggravation, and to top it off, it ends right before the climax!

You want to know what happens? Me too. You have to get the second book because authors these days didn't listen to their English teachers. They listened to their pocketbooks. Luckily because of all the rave reviews, I bought both books while they were on sale so I can suffer through another 11 hours. I'm guessing these two will continue to have misunderstandings and heartbreaks - as if they aren't already puddles of goo on the floor.

I will say it's a decently written nightmare of an abusive relationship. I'm hoping she grows a backbone in the second book so I'll continue on. Tight heart and all.

Oh. And just because this review isn't long enough. The narration was a joke. She had half of them down okay but Fallon? Hah! She had a deeper voice than the guys! The accents are pretty terrible too. Still, not the worst I've heard... so... 2 stars.

Listen at your own risk. And you are a risk taker. Aren't you. Cause you read these spoilers.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Narrator almost ruined it for me

I am going to review Collide and Pulse together here since they are both available on Audible. I was glad for that because the cliffhanger in Collide was frustrating and sad.

As a love story, my heart resonated with this one because I, too, had a love at first sight experience that is now into its 40th year of marriage. That's about where the similarity between my life and Emily's life ends, but it was enough for me to know that while romance novels are generally escapism, sometimes there are some very real aspects to the stories they tell.

Overall, the story was satisfying because I like good to overcome evil and HEA's. Even though there were moments in this story that were frustrating or made me roll my eyes, there was enough realism to the story that made it a cut above the typical rich young billionaire hero falls in love with beautiful but broken heroine.

There were some details in the story that didn't make sense. Here a few examples. If Emily (who definitely did not come from money) lived in CO, why did she go to Ohio State for a teaching degree? Likewise, why did her wealthy roommate/friend Olivia from NYC go to Ohio State for a degree relating to art? Why did filthy rich Gavin live in a fabulous penthouse that didn't have security at the building entrance that would prevent people from just showing up at his front door? These are minor details (and there were more), but they bugged me nonetheless. Stuff like that detracts from my enjoyment of a story.

The story flowed fairly well, but when Emily had an awful nightmare, I thought the author dropped the ball by not transitioning into that scene. It was just dropped into the storyline in a way that felt very manipulative. I thought she could have handled it better. The story had enough emotional highs and lows without that particular flashback to the original TV series "Dallas" to be thrown in there.

As for character development, the hero (Gavin) was very well fleshed out. A reader would have to be brain dead not to fall in love with him. Likewise for the villain, which rhymes with his name, Dillon. Of course, there was nothing likable about him; it was very easy to hate him. Very black and white dynamic with the hero and villain. I have mixed feelings about Emily. I think her relationship with her mother needed more detail in order to make Emily more empathetic.

The narrator was pretty bad. She did a fairly good job when she was reading in the 3rd person or doing Emily's voice. But that's about the only praise I can give her. Almost all the other characters' voices were so annoying that it almost ruined the books for me. Her NY accent was absurd. I wanted to push pencils in my ears whenever Trevor or Fallon were speaking. There were also numerous mispronunciations of words and glitches in the sentence or dialogue flow that made her narration of the story less than enjoyable.

The sound quality was pretty bad, too. For example, I could hear the narrator inhaling deeply between sentences in many places. Somebody on the production team should have made sure that the sound was properly mixed.

Lastly, since these books are under $10 each, don't use credits to purchase them. Paying cash for them is more economical, and despite my criticisms, I think the books are worth the money.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

WHAT AN AWESOME BOOK AT AN AWESOME PRICE TOO

It's all been said before in all the positive reviews but this is what happens when love at first sight is ignored because Gavin knew from the start Emily should be his but instead she was with Dillion. She felt the pull, the chemistry and the attraction too but she was sure she loved Dillon. As soon as Gavin, Emily and Dillon's love triangle begins your swept away with the romance, the secrets, the temptation, the manipulation and the heartbreaking bitter devastating consequences of assuming things rather than just talking things out.

I loved every minute of it and I'm now desperately downloading book 2 Pulse to see what other anguish, angst and drama will befall these three because I'm sure there's more turbulence to come in their love life before there will ever be any hope of a HEA ending in sight for three broken and battered hearts.

Worth a credit? Dual POV's, a narrator who had many interesting characters and emotions to do and she managed to do it with ease and a story that'll have you pulling you hair out at the end with the wrongness of it all. That's why I'm off to listen to Pulse now..... I need the emotional high of a HEA ending. This would easily have been creditworthy but for under $8 for nearly 12 hours of undiluted bliss this was the bargain of the year as I just bought it saving a precious credit.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Angnst and Emotional

Never have I ever listened a book with more emotional angsty goodness than Collide. From the very beginning, I bought every single word Gail McHugh was selling and then some. And, you know what's weird? I'm usually not a fan of love triangles. Or cheating. Collide has the love triangle to beat all love triangles, as well as some cheating. And, I just could not get enough. So, bravo to Ms. McHugh for doing what few authors have been able to do.

Emily moves to New York to be near her boyfriend Dillon and her BFF Olivia after her mother passes away in her home state of Colorado. After only a few days in the city, Emily meets Gavin completely by chance. And, it's sorta love at first sight. Except Emily's already in love with someone else. As time moves on and Dillon and Gavin both show their true colors, Emily has to decide what is more important - the past or the future.

I'd heard nothing but amazing things about Collide from many other new adult fans. I bought the audio version from Audible and it sat there. For months. I'm not sure why. I just didn't get to it. Then, I started listening And, I was like, WHOA. I am such an idiot for not reading this sooner!

Initially, I wasn't a big fan of Emily's. It was glaringly obvious who the right guy was, and yet she spent the entire span of the book denying it, even in the face of some pretty convincing evidence. This was one of those books for which a padded Kindle cover is a good thing - you know - for the times you want to throw it across the room because you're so damn frustrated. On one hand I wanted Emily to realize what was doing from the beginning. On the other hand, her self-denial made for some pretty amazing sexual tension between she and Gavin.

OMG - it was beyond delicious. Gail McHugh knows how to write the heat. I'd classify Collide as a mature NA book. And the heated tension between Emily and Gavin is the best part of the book. It was palpable on every single page. It doesn't hurt that McHugh made Gavin this amazingly perfect specimen of a man. I think any encounter between him and a woman would overheat my senses. But with Emily - the woman he loves more than his next breath - swoon city, baby.

Dillon is the biggest jerk EVER - I kept waiting for the moment when Emily realized what the reader had known for awhile. It was a very long wait. Gail McHugh was able to weave a powerful message into her epic love story - a message about finding your inner strength and beauty when someone all but rips it away from you. Other reviewers called it "stupidity" or Emily being a door mat. But, I get what Gail McHugh was trying to say. Sometimes, especially in the face of a tragedy when you're at your weakest, others are able to convince you that you need them and are not able to make it on your own. It sucks, but it happens all the time. This book was very real in that aspect. By the end of Collide, Emily has finally started reclaiming her voice and her life, and although you don't get to see Dillon's comeuppance, you know it's coming.

Collide ends on one of those good kinds of cliffhangers. Most of the loose ends are tied up and the story comes to a close, but there's one big thing left undone that absolutely compels you to read the next book in the series. By the time the end rolled around, I was very glad that I had had the foresight to purchase the audio version of Pulse (Collide #2) and had it waiting for me. Because, although the ending was good, I was left wanting to know what came next.

The banter between Emily and Gavin is many times lighthearted and sweet. Olivia's and Emily's restaurant is funny and real and amazing. Those moments were the lightest of the book. For the most part, Collide is angsty with a capital A. It's perfect for when you want one of those super emo romantic books. Just, trust me when I say, have Pulse ready to go before you finish. You'll thank me for that bit of advice.

Mary Kowal was fanastic with the delivery of the story.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Ugh! It was 5 stars, then 2, settled on 3.5

This is one of those books that really ticked me off. The first 75% I was in love, ready to sing its praises, to download the sequel in actual reading format because its not available in audio yet....thank goodness I waited.

The things I loved were:
1. Alpha males galore
2. Totally hot scenes
3. I really respected the drama...in the beginning....the female lead lost her mom to breast cancer, her boyfriend helped her emotionally and physically, he even held the moms hair while she threw up....so no matter what she feels for another guy how do you ditch the man your dying mom approved of???

Then the writer just flipped a switch, the wonderful boyfriend becomes anything but wonderful.....how does a man who held a dying woman's hair while she was sick complain to a waiter about a crying baby? Huh?!?!? Then the 24 year old super hot model like female lead never had a boyfriend before this guy? Huh?!?!?

Throw in some fake made up drama towards 85% through and I turned it off with an hour ago.....ugh! Ruined a great book and ticked me off! If you like fake drama go for it, at least the hot scenes were hot.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Love this story !!

If you could sum up Collide in three words, what would they be?

It's great how the right guy gets the right girl and the bad guy gets what he deserves. I really enjoyed it.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Gavin was determined but still gave Emily space. So definitely Gavin.

What does Mary Kowal bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her voice is easy to listen to, she did a good job with changing her voice with caricature.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It was hard to have to put the story away for the night. I wanted to continue listening....

Any additional comments?

Well done!

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

i almost gave up because of poor narration...

i wanted to throw in the towel so many times i lost count, and it had everything to do with the narrator. she was just sub-par. maybe this just isn't her type of storyline, maybe she should stick with more victorian-type novels or just stop narration altogether. it was that bad.

she butchers the new york accents so horribly, that every time one of the characters began to speak i would cringe. lots of eye-rolling. i wish i didn't have to be so harsh but honestly, she can only seem to do TWO voices... harpy female and old man. it was bizarre. i could never tell dillon and gavin apart but worse than that, they both sounded like they were fifty year old men, not men in their late twenties/early thirties. yuck. and emily was "ok" most of the time, but fallon? dear lord. BAD.

HOWEVER, the story was great and that's why i stuck it out, and i even purchased the sequel (Pulse) and by that time i was fairly used to the lacking narration. oh well. can't win them all.

the story has a lot to offer, especially if you're someone who continues to make the wrong choice in men and can't seem to break that cycle of abuse. i thoroughly enjoyed it and loved book two as well.

i bought it on sale. don't waste a credit.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

It was ok...

The whole love triangle thing really is upsetting if nothing happens until the very end. I like the story...very angsty, but I wish Gavin and Emily could have got over their dumbness sooner...

Emily was just plain dumb I think... she knew Dillon was cheating on her and she just stayed with him, when she was in love with Gavin... Soooo angsty with all those almost moment between Gavin and Emily too... but extremely hot smexing with Emily and Dillon... Sooo ... IDK... it was ok...

A sale... not a credit or buy... A good sale... under 5 bucks sale!

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

The narration is so awful

I guess I only read the "great" reviews. I am having trouble with this story and narration so I came back to see what others thought. Worried I am becoming a narration snob. But she is just awful...sounds like a prude Victorian prissy and the male voice is so unattractive you cannot imagine these men are well attractive or magnetic....I appreciated the reviewer that gave the overview of the prequel...I don't care for this writer's turn of phrase.

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