When We Collided by Emery Lord

We are seventeen and shattered and still dancing. We have messy, throbbing hearts, and we are stronger than anyone could ever know…

Jonah never thought a girl like Vivi would come along.

Vivi didn’t know Jonah would light up her world.

Neither of them expected a summer like this…a summer that would rewrite their futures.

In an unflinching story about new love, old wounds, and forces beyond our control, two teens find that when you collide with the right person at just the right time, it will change you forever. @goodreads

MY REVIEW:

5 STARS 

***SOME SPOILERS***

This book is about love and loss. Finding oneself. Helping others. Mental disorders. Grief. I think this is a wonderful book.

--->EXCERPT<---

To the deepest, most cellular level of my being, I resent people who believe that depression is the same as weakness, that "sad" people must be coddled like helpless toddlers. So to think that Jonah-my own boyfriend, my friend, my lover, whatever he is-would believe that he knows what his mom needs better than she does? That her grief makes her unaskable, voiceless, unreliable? This is very hurtful.

Vivi talks her mom into spending their summer in Verona Cove, California. It's a nice and peaceful little town where everyone knows everyone else. 

--->EXCERPT<---

Verona Cove sits above sea level, so if you walk westward on any street in town, you'll eventually hit the bluffs. Some of them drop off right above the ocean, and others taper downhill toward the shore. I think I imagined the California coast with surfers running headlong into the waves and with pops of colorful umbrellas. But it's quieter, just the whoosh of water and call of birds. I stand on the cliff with mist rising from the ocean almost straight below me, and, even after a week of this, it stuns me. The natural world makes the finest architects and designers and artists look like silly amateurs. I'm so lucky to stand witness to panoramic blues skies and white-tipped waves and the craggy earth beneath my feet.



Vivi has stopped taking her pills......

Vivi gets a job at the pottery store and this is where she meets sweet Jonah and his little sister Leah. I should say one of his sisters. They are several of them in his family. I fell in love with each character in this book and I love Jonah and his family. I even love Vivi, I love how she is and who she is, even when she crashes. But, back to the meeting :-) 

--->EXCERPT<---

"Here." Vivi grasps my wrist, pulling my whole left arm toward her. I feel wetness against my skin, the cool stroke of a damp paintbrush. When she's done, my arm displays ten digits in blue paint. Her phone number runs from my bicep, where my T-shirt sleeve begins, to the base of my palm. "Just text me when you know."
By the time we step outside, we've been at the shop for less than an hour. In that time, Leah made a new friend, and I got a girl's phone number painted on my arm. I look down at Leah. "That was weird."
She nods. "Good weird."

I am in love with little Leah! She is so sweet and funny throughout the whole book. Jonah has to take care of the littles (that's what they call the little kids in the family) while his brother is at work at their fathers Italian restaurant and his sister is at college. They all take turns and Jonah works at the restaurant too. Their mother is in a deep depression and grief period that has went on for months. She just mostly sleeps while the others take care of things.

Vivi fits right in with Jonah's family. He is so afraid to bring her around when Leah asked her to come to dinner. They are a pretty depressed and messed up household but Jonah makes wonderful food (takes after his father) and he pulls out all of the stops. Everyone has a great time around Vivi, only the one sister has reservations. But that's just her thing.

--->EXCERPT<---

I'm in love with Leah, of course, and her limitless imagination and infectious giggle and the unselfconscious way she plays with my hair. I love Isaac and his obsessions and his tiny glasses and spiky hair, created with some sort of gel clearly stolen from an older sibling. I'm in love with Bekah and her preteen moodiness and eye rolls, the way she's still a carefree child until she catches herself and slips back into sulkiness. I'm in love with Silas-his immature jokes meshed with responsibility for the littles. Even Naomi, obstinately making me earn her friendship, and I'm failing so far, which only makes me try harder.
And Jonah. Oh, Jonah. That boy did me in that first night at his house-seeing him in his natural element, cooking and surrounded by his rambunctious family.

I can't say that I blame Vivi. I would love to know this family and be friends with them! Vivi says Jonah is the ring to my Frodo. I thought that was cute as I have never heard that said before about someone. lol

They have such a wonderful time. All of them, with Vivi and Vivi and Jonah alone. It seems like everything is perfect. But we all know things are never perfect. Suddenly Vivi's spirited and fun personality starts to change. Then there is an accident, we find out the pills have not been taken. But it's all going to be okay. Vivi has a few things but one is bi polar and she's starting to accept that. The book had such a sweet ending and I cried and cried. Everyone that knows me, knows I do that in most books!!



Also, if you read the book, take time to read the author's note at the end. It made me cry too!

GOODREADS REVIEW:

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1538850118

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/When-We-Collided-Emery-Lord/dp/1619638452/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464890743&sr=8-1&keywords=when+we+collided

MY AMAZON REVIEW:

 https://www.amazon.com/review/R1A8J6CZJJ26PL/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv