Review: When We Collide by Emery Lord

Name: When We Collided
Author: Emery Lord
Pages:337
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Bloomsbury
ISBN: 978-1-4088-7008-2
Rating: 4/5

**I requested this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own**

Jonah Daniels lives in Verona cove and is trying to cope with the crushing weight of his Dad's passing. He and his older brother and sister have become default heads of the house now that his mother has locked herself in her room unable to cope. Vivi has come to Verona Cove with her mother and is charmed by everything it has to offer including a new beginning where the events of the past few months can be filed away, if only for a little time. Then their worlds collide and sparks fly.

I'm always interested to read books about mental illnesses/ emotional difficulties. Going into this novel I thought only one character struggled with this but I was very much mistaken. I liked reading about how these two characters interacted and helped each other with their struggles and make things worse in some cases. I related more to Jonah's side of the story having experienced loss for myself. I thought that grief in this book was handled very well. It showed an entire spectrum of how people deal with it. I also liked how the other mental illness was demonstrated (I won't mention what it actually was for slight spoilers) but I have no real experiences of it so I can't say whether it was accurate. The way Vivi was written and spoke really conveyed how hyper she could be.

The actual story was great. You could clearly see how each character progressed for the better and sometimes for the worse. I was very happy with how the novel ended, it felt like the right conclusion for this kind of story. Vivi to me, is the kind of person you meet but once in your life and you're never quite the same as a result.

While reading this novel you got to learn about untranslatable words which I'm now fascinated by. I love it when books have information like that. It adds to the entire reading experience.

I'd definitely recommend this for fans of All The Bright Places or Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Katie x