Thursday, June 25, 2015

review || WHEN WE COLLIDE














When We Collide by A.L. Jackson

Publisher: A.L. Jackson Books, Inc (6/2/2014)
Genre: New Adult
Source: InkSlinger PR
Purchase links || amazon | bn | ibooks || add to goodreads

Rating:  








From the bestselling author of PULLED and TAKE THIS REGRET comes a gripping new tale of loss and love. 

William has spent six years running from his past and the last eight months trying to rid his mind of the dreams that increasingly haunt his nights. Trapped in a world of false ambitions and feigned affections, William knows he’s reached a breaking point and something’s going to give.

Maggie had lived her entire life without hope until one man showed her what it meant to be loved. He’d been her light in a lifetime of darkness. Six years ago, that darkness stole him away. Without him, she’s surrendered herself to an existence she doesn’t know how to escape.

When the family William left behind is struck by tragedy, he is called back to the one place he’s sworn to never return to again.

In a moment that will change his life forever, William comes face to face with the girl who, with one look, captured his heart. He is unable to ignore the buried desires and the hope for the future they’d once believed they’d have.

Now William is ready to fight to take back what had been stolen from him six years before.
But he never imagined what that fight might cost him.

A.L. Jackson gives you an intimate look into the lives of a family bound by an unseen connection in this new contemporary romance.




about A. L. Jackson || A.L. Jackson is the New York Times bestselling author of Take This Regret and Lost to You, as well as other contemporary romance titles, including If Forever Comes, Pulled and When We Collide, as well as the New Adult Romance Come To Me Quietly due out January 7, 2014.

She first found a love for writing during her days as a young mother and college student. She filled the journals she carried with short stories and poems used as an emotional outlet for the difficulties and joys she found in day-to-day life.

Years later, she shared a short story she’d been working on with her two closest friends and, with their encouragement, this story became her first full length novel. A.L. now spends her days writing in Southern Arizona where she lives with her husband and three children. Her favorite pastime is spending time with the ones she loves. 



{ review } .
While this is only my second A.L. Jackson title (second to COME TO ME RECKLESSLY), I can honestly say that her writing style is a favorite of mine. Her characters just breathe off the pages to me, and her sense of family and deep friendship is a theme she continuously does well with.

WHEN WE COLLIDE is a reissue, with a super pretty new cover. However, as semi-implied just before, I hadn't read the title -- so 2012 or 2015, it was new to me. This is one of those books that touches on rougher subjects, and the dedication, and later the afterward, warns you of it.

Because it shouldn't hurt to be touched.

That said... this book had the power to pull heartstrings and put the reader through an intense emotional gamut.


The story flips between present day and Maggie and Will's past. You get a sense of everything these two have been through -- Will was Maggie's safe place back then, but a turn of events that she needed Will for could have endangered her life, so she let him walk away.

This book is not for the light of heart. Like I said, you're going to read about the abuse Maggie goes through and you're going to experience her fears as she stays with Troy. Will and Maggie's road is a twisted bumpy one, but it's one that they'll need one another to lean on to get through.

And then there was the end...

{ While I don't think this spoils anything, just be forewarned that this next little chunk is simply on the end. }

One of the things I liked the most about this book would be how the author ended it -- ended the heart of the story, epilogue not included. I felt that it was a risky place to end; that often times there's some sort of closure to that particular scene, but the fact that she didn't, and that the epilogue picks up a number of months later... I just enjoyed the different-ness of it.

And then there's my favorite part of any book -- the epilogue. I felt that that epilogue was much quieter than the rest of the book (and the book is pretty 'quiet' if you will), the thoughts and actions much softer. While perhaps this was the intent, to me this signified that life was where it was supposed to be -- everyone was content and in the place they belonged. And of course, it had it's super sweet moments -- making it a superb epilogue in my opinion.

William and Maggie had a rough road that took major battles to get through, but quiet and softness are certainly something these two deserved.

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