**REVIEW** Crash by Lisa McMann

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.

Release Date:  January 8, 2012

Published By:  Simon Pulse

Review Copy: ARC

*provided by publisher in turn for honest review

Review

  So this is my first Lisa McMann novel.  I have wanted to read her Wake series but haven't gotten around to it.  After reading Crash I plan on fixing that issue.  Visions seem to be something I just never noticed or are becoming more popular.  Personally I believe that there are so many ways that you can go with them that the stories can all have their own unique values.  Despite some things being fairly predictable, I did enjoy this one and actually read most if it on my four hour drive.

  Jules wants the impossible, Sawyer.  He is the son of her fathers family enemy and not aloud anywhere near her.  Problem is Jules is seeing a vision of a fiery crash and nine body bags, in one of those bags is Sawyer.  The boy she has loved for as long as she can remember despite the family history that keeps them apart.  Even knowing he is a part of to she questions er sanity but when the visions pick up and become more persistent she realizes that she has to do something about it.  She stops caring if people see her as crazy and is determined to stop this from happening.  Problem is how do you stop something that only you can see and no one but you believes will happen.

  Jules may have been a little insecure but she also knew who she was and for the most part accepted it.  She wasn't and was never part of any real crowd in school and to be honest there wasn't even a mention of her having any friends outside of her siblings, I did find this a little odd(I mean everyone has at least one friend right?).  The biggest problem I had with her was that I just couldn't connect with her.  She wasn't a bad character and I found myself often smiling at little things she said and did but she just wasn't easy to relate to.  There isn't really much I can say here but in the end I did feel that as a character she grew and being honest with all of you this is an important thing for me.  she grew out of being whiny and became someone that did what they had to do regardless of the consequence.

  The supporting characters were awesome.  Sadly enough I found myself more drawn to Jules brother Trey.  He was honest and easy to read about and like.  The relationship that he has with everyone just seems natural and I enjoyed the fact that he was different when it came to his attitude.  He cares about everyone in the family but also tells Jules flat out what he thinks.  There was also the tie in of Sawyer.  He is the romantic interest but is also part of the rival family.  He seems to be an all around nice guy despite the fact that him and Jules used to be super close but now he pretends to not even notice her existence.  I did find myself swooning a little bit over him as he just seemed to be the one in a million good looking guys that was sweet and worth it.  There are also Jules parents and sister that are worthy of mention but I don't want this to carry on forever, so just know that they are worth the mention.

  The story itself was honestly the best part.  It was interesting, past paced, tension filled and easy to follow.  Though you never quite find out what started these visions or why, the way in which they are presented and brought about in an increasing pace and more detail is wonderfully done.  You are never given too much information at one time and are pulled through the pages just on sheer curiosity or urgency to see how things happen.  It's an edge of your seat kind of read that's for sure.  The only doubtful thing on my mind was the ending romance.  Reason for forgiving it is that there was kind of a mini line that seemed to be there the entire time just it had to be avoided.

  Crash was an enjoyable read and I am really anticipating book two.  I mean the shoe is on the other foot now and well more people are going to believe what is happening because well Jules set the facts straight and fought for what she had to do.  The biggest question on my mind is how is Lisa McMann going to create the tension and drama she had in this one now that people can put faith into what is said and work together to fix it and possibly stop it?  

Quotes

"You're on drugs." Rowan turned to our older brother, Trey, and said, "Jules is on drugs."Trey leaned over Rowan to look at me. "Don't do drugs," he said seriously. "Our family has enough problems."

Dad looks up and smiles "How's my boy?"  His voice booms.  It always has.  He's been startling innocent children for as long as I can remember.

But I guess it's that pain that means you're alive, and love and pain are so... so twisty.  I wonder if love would feel as good if there wasn't any pain.  I don't think it could.

Of course, if you ask any psych student, they'll say that's the first sign you're insane-that you think you aren't.

That stomach flip is still there, big-time.  But my sudden decision to be the insane freak at school makes me feel like a totally different person-like nobody can touch me, because I'm my own.