Crash by Nicole Williams

Crash (Crash #1)
by Nicole Williams

Southpointe High is the last place Lucy wanted to wind up her senior year of school. Right up until she stumbles into Jude Ryder, a guy whose name has become its own verb, and synonymous with trouble. He's got a rap sheet that runs longer than a senior thesis, has had his name sighed, shouted, and cursed by more women than Lucy dares to ask, and lives at the local boys home where disturbed seems to be the status quo for the residents. Lucy had a stable at best, quirky at worst, upbringing. She lives for wearing the satin down on her ballet shoes, has her sights set on Juilliard, and has been careful to keep trouble out of her life. Up until now. 

Jude's everything she needs to stay away from if she wants to separate her past from her future. Staying away, she's about to find out, is the only thing she's incapable of. 

For Lucy Larson and Jude Ryder, love's about to become the thing that tears them apart.

I was recommended this book by Jess from JessHeartsBooks (you can check out here review here) and I just knew I had to pick it up asap.

I was expecting a similar story to most of the other New Adult novels, but this one managed to surprise me. Sure, the characters both had difficult pasts (one more than the other) but they were both so much more heartbreaking than any other New Adult story. The other difference between this novel and other New Adult novels is the lack of sexual content. Sure I was slightly disappointed by this because these characters had SO MUCH chemistry that they wanted to rip each others clothes off most of the time, but they refrained from doing so. I actually enjoyed the fact that it wasn't full of sexual content and focused more on the story and the development of the characters. There was so much to explore with these characters.

I knew I was going to love Lucy from the first chapter when she was in the park. She was so confident, funny and intelligent that she's probably one of my favourite female characters now. She knows what she wants and she'll do whatever it takes to get it. 

And I also knew from that first chapter that I was going to love Jude. He was just so cocky and alluring that I was instantly attracted to him. You could feel the chemistry between these two characters before they'd even uttered a word to each other. I did have moments where I doubted Jude and I started to change my mind about him, but he always wormed his way back in because underneath his hard exterior, he's a real sweetheart. He has a temper, but it usually only shows when he's trying to protect Lucy - and sometimes it comes in real handy.

Both of these characters have had hard pasts. Jude's grown up in a boys home because his father went to prison and his mother left and he's had to deal with bullies. Lucy's brother died and her family is broken. I don't want to go into too much detail about their pasts because I don't want to spoil anything. Both of these characters have a hell of a lot to overcome and work out.

Lucy and Jude are one of my favourite couples ever now. They're so right for each other. So what if they argue all the time, and have some slight trust issues? They always find their way to overcome their problems because they're so in love. Love isn't meant to be perfect, and Lucy and Jude's relationship is so far from perfect, but they're so in love that it doesn't even matter.

I seriously LOVED the storyline of this one. My jaw dropped a couple of times because of how horrible the story got (chapter 5 for example) and I just couldn't believe that there was so much going on in this book so early on! I loved hearing/reading about Lucy's dancing. She's so passionate about it and it's something I loved reading about her doing. It helps her a lot.
I liked the Holly storyline as well - the time I didn't but now that I've finished the book and know what happened. It definitely added something to the story.
And then the twist at the end happened and my jaw hit the floor. I seriously didn't expect it and I basically screamed because I knew what was going to happen. It was such a fantastic twist.

I ended up buying Clash and Crush the next morning for my kindle because I was just so desperate to find out what was going to happen with these two characters.