Review: Collide by Shelly Crane

Collide (Collide #1) by Shelly Crane

Release Date: June 12, 2011

Genres: Paranormal, New Adult, Romance

Pages:360

Source: E-Book

My Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 Stars

Goodreads Description:

Sherry has always known there was something out there. She's eighteen, works for a tabloid newspaper in Chicago and has a brother, Danny who is a lazy mooch. They live a pretty normal dull life with hippie parents and a normal existence. Then the moon disappears and people start to go missing only to reappear later, but different. Sherry has an abusive ex-boyfriend who shows up and claims to be one of these beings that have been showing up around the world. He's no longer the same person in that body. He tells her he has come to protect her and her brother and takes her underground, against her will to save her, where they meet others like them. She begins to unravel the truth about Merrick, about what he's really doing here, about the way he looks at her, about the crazy dangerous world they live in. Can he convince her that he's here to help? Will she like what she finds when she opens up to the truth? Will he be the one to love her when everyone else has failed her? Will he be able to protect her?

Notes about the book:

This is the first book in a four-book series. 

This book contains humans and non-humans. The non-humans are named (Keepers, Lighters), but are never right out called Aliens. So at this point I'd say the interpretation is up  to the reader.

This books  does contain sex, but it is only discussed in the vaguest terms and I don't believe the word "sex" is even mentioned in the book.

Book Quote:

The one quote from Merrick that I love would give away spoilers. So instead I'll share two lines from the book that I loved.

"We’re not fighting each other. We’re fighting... extinction."

"We may live forever, but what’s the point if you don’t actually live?"

My Review

This book was Shelly Crane’s first published book. It contains things that I’ve liked about her Significance series, but I could definitely tell it was her first book. One thing I like about the Significance series, which this one also contains, is the fact that at every turn there’s something new that the characters are learning they can do (or it's just being revealed) - some new ability. I really like books where the characters have other-worldly abilities that no normal human should be able to do. I’m not sure why, but I do. I especially like it when the love interest characters are able to communicate with each other in their heads. We don’t get the full mind communication in this book, but Merrick is able to speak to Sherry in her mind.

I have to admit that I liked Merrick better than I liked Sherry. Sherry was constantly doing things that I knew wouldn’t be good for her or for the people around her. But she did have several redeeming qualities. When she loved someone, she loved them with all her heart. She was a very giving and caring person. Sometimes I think she was too nice for her own good as she seemed to attract all the bad seeds. I enjoyed the chapters that were told from Merrick’s point of view.

I actually think that the story had too much going on. I tended to get confused easily with terminology (Keepers/Lighters) and I think maybe this was because there was so much introduced in this book. The story also seemed to drag on a bit too much.

Overall, I liked the idea of this book and will probably continue the series because there is so much left to find out. It will be interesting to see if the writing gets better because I know Ms. Crane can write. I absolutely LOVE her Significance series! I’m slowly making my way through that one.