Crash (Visions #1) by Lisa McMann

Crash (Visions #1) by Lisa McMann
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication date: January 8th 2013
My rating:  3 stars

If what you see is what you get, Jules is in serious trouble. The suspenseful first of four books from the New York Times bestselling 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 bestselling author Lisa McMann, Jules has to act—and act fast—to keep her vision from becoming reality.

My Thoughts:

Crash was a book I was really excited about.  I love mystery, suspense and action stories, especially if a little swoony romance is thrown in.  Crash was exactly that.

The Demarco’s and Angotti’s have been rivals for years. Each have an Italian Pizza restaurant and competition and old accusations keep the bitter rivalry going.  This isn’t good for Jules Demarco because ever since she can remember, she’s been in love with Sawyer Angotti.  They were once thick as thieves growing up, having all kinds of fun together.  This is when Jules longtime crush on Sawyer developed.  When their parents find out about their friendship they are not too pleased, and Sawyer drops Jules like a hot potato. So in the here and now, they both attend high school together, but Jules must content herself with pining from afar. *sniff*

I’d imagine us in Bulger Park on a blanket, ignoring the tree frogs and the pigeons and little crying kids. I’d touch his cheek and push his hair back, and he’d look at me with his gorgeous green eyes and that crooked, shy grin of his, and then he’d lean toward me and we’d both hold our breath without realizing it, and his lips would touch mine, and then…

Suddenly, Jules starts having a vision of a terrible crash involving the Angotti’s.  At first she thinks she’s going nuts, but as details become clearer Jules knows she has to warn Sawyer, because she couldn’t bear it if she didn’t speak up and she lost him for good. The visions amp up in intensity and in frequency and Jules wonders if there’s anything she can do to prevent a horrible tragedy from happening.

I really enjoyed this story.  It had twists and turns and was pleasantly entertaining.  Jules is a typical sixteen year-old, but she faces quite a few heartbreaking problems.  Her dad is a train wreck, and when I found out everything behind his story I was surprised and angry for the whole family. Selfish man!  The men in Sawyer’s family are no better, and I think everyone would be better off if they all just went away! Unrequited love is a romance that always gets to me, and this one was sweet. 

Crash was an entertaining and fast read, but I can’t help but think that there was just a little something missing.  It was enjoyable but lacked the “wow” factor.  I will continue with the series because I want to know what happens.   There is a cliff, not a horrible one, just a more like a “to be continued…” sort of situation.  No worries, I have Bang on hand and plan to pick it soon!