When We Collided by Emery Lord
Meet Vivi and Jonah: A girl and a boy whose love has the power save or destroy them.
Vivi and Jonah couldn't be more different. Vivi craves anything joyful or beautiful that life can offer. Jonah has been burdened by responsibility for his family ever since his father died. As summer begins, Jonah resigns himself to another season of getting by. Then Vivi arrives, and suddenly life seems brighter and better. Jonah is the perfect project for Vivi, and things finally feel right for Jonah. Their love is the answer to everything. But soon Vivi's zest for life falters, as her adventurousness becomes true danger-seeking. Jonah tries to keep her safe, but there's something important Vivi hasn't told him.
Perfect for fans of E. Lockhart and Jandy Nelson, When We Collided is a powerful story of two teens whose love is put to the test by forces beyond their control.
Publishes in US:
April 5th 2016 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Genre: ya contemp
Source: Bloomsbury via Netgalley
Disclaimer: I received this book as an ARC (advanced review copy). I am not paid for this review, and my opinions in this review are mine, and are not effected by the book being free.
This is a book with dark or difficult themes. Young adults that have made hard choices from hard backgrounds. It deals with depression, and alludes to sex. It is a young adult book, but if under 18, ask parent's guidance.
Series? no
My review of her other books:
Open Road Summer
The Start of Me and You
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I wanted to read When We Collided because I really like the sound of the two main characters. Plus, I really have thoroughly enjoyed her other two books, and hoped for more of the same. Vivi sounded like a girl with a lot of energy and someone so bubbly and such a charismatic personality Jonah is kind of the opposite he is very responsible taking care of his younger siblings along with his two older because his dad died and his mom has been pretty depressed. She stays in bed and Jonah describes her as breakable and he imagines that she has to remind herself to breathe after their loss.
I like the sound of the small town they live in and it sounds so idealistic and homie and a place that I would love to visit and also love to live in. The theme of family and friendship both played pretty heavily into this one, all themes that I appreciate and like to read about. I am endeared to Jonah with how much responsibility he takes in and the extreme love he has for his family. I can also tell the stress it puts on him because caring for kids on the level he does just isn't supposed to be on his shoulders.
It is told in dual perspective and that really add something to it because we get to see Vivi and Jonah's reactions to things and what they think about the other. we get two contrasting personalities and opinions about things and we get to see their romance building and also as we read the character development and everything from their past that eventually catches up to both of them.
Not that far in the you begin to realize that Vivi has some issues of her owN. she described it as she got really low and then she got really high as far as her moods go awhile back. Then she had a conversation with her mom about the fact that she had lost some weight and that made her mom suspicious that she wasn't taking her medicine like she needs to be, since side effects for psych meds can cause weight gain. Mental illness is an issue that is very important to me because I deal with bipolar with hypomania and anxiety and I've been on all kinds of medication for it and I was able to relate with her on all new levels. I began to a suspect that's what she struggled with. she was bubbly and friendly and anything because she was experiencing her high/manic part of the disease she's very talkative and friendly and all those things could have just been her personalities but we also see her throwing out her medication and the synopsis also talks about her descent into risky behavior and that sounds like the beginnings of the swings from manic to depressive.
I love the scenes where Jonah and Vivi were getting to know each other it's so sweet. Vivi brings a intensity to everything, for example of she believes in reincarnation and she told things about her past life and how it relates to who she is today. The things she said about Jonah totally makes sense to his personality she said that he was a tree in a previous life and that is why he's so steady and how he wants to shelter the little ones.
The scenes with Jonah's sibling are so well written. It is so realistic how they still bicker and give each other a hard time but at the end of the day they're really there for each other. I love that he treats his younger siblings with respect and he plays with them and sacrifices things to help them with their homework and take care of them. They all look up to him and love him for it. I love seeing vivi with the youngest Leah, she was able to bring out this younger part of herself to really understand and she really give her time to her, she listens to her and really enjoys playing with her. this brought out a good side of Leah because she had been pretty withdrawn and not talking much and Jonah and the rest of the siblings love to see her just kind of blossom under the attention of Vivi. Leah began to talk and light up again.
Even though with a synopsis and knowing her history with mental illness when Vivi started going downhill it was hard To read. I have grown to care about her a lot and seeing so much of myself and some of her manic behavior was difficult. Its been a battle for me to stay on my meds and I knew that she wasn't staying on her on her mood stabilizers so I knew it was going to go downhill. and even though I have hypo-mania which means that my highs aren't quite as high and my impulsiveness and rashness and talk a mile a minute isn't as bad as someone with full out bipolar disorder like Vivi, it was an emotional train wreck I couldn't stop watching. Even knowing how much it upset Jonah because he had no clue about the manic depression. He must have had a clue with the way she acted around Jonahs mom and the understanding of how she might be feeling that she's dealt with mental illness but Jonah didn't know about her other side. She was danger seeking, in full out creative mode.and it hurt Jonah's feelings when he tried to talk to her about what he was going through and she couldn't focus on him or what he was saying.
I could tell as the book was coming to a close that the ending was going to be hard but I really respected it. I don't want to give any spoilers but I love that VIVI made decisions for herself and for her mental health and based on what she really needed even though it was a very hard choice to make. she knew that she was giving up a lot but looking forward to gaining a lot.
I like the way that it shows that mental illness doesn't have to have some huge tragic and that there are good days and there are bad days there are good decisions and then there's a very bad decisions and sometimes you get hurt sometimes the people around you get hurt. I like seeing slow and gradual change and jones mom and her eventual of decisions. I like with Vivi how she had to come to accept what was going on with her and that she eventually decided that other people can come to her that they could see that she's dealing with a mental illness but still love her and still see the good parts in her and forgive her for when things go wrong.
One of the messages that I took away from this book is that mental illness needs to be talked about more. That those who are suffering should look around them and see who is holding out of hand or who has offered to help and accept that help. for those who are suffering to also give that whenever they aren't the ones having a hard time that they can look for someone else who is struggling because they've been there they know the signs. and for those who are not struggling with the mental illness to realize that it is a disease that there's going to be relapses that there's going to be hard days but the treasure of the good days and to be there for other people.
Bottom Line: Beautiful characters with big problems. This is the YA contemporary that stands out and that the other kids are trying to be like.
My question to you, my lovely readers:
What size family are you from? Do you ever wish differently?
