Audiobook Review: Crash by Lisa McMann

TITLE: Crash

SERIES: Visions, Book #1
AUTHOR: Lisa McMann 

NARRATOR: Allyson Ryan
PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster Audio
PUBLICATION DATE: January 8, 2013

FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook, 5 hrs and 18 mins
GENRE: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal
ISBN: 9781442357587

If what you see is what you get, Jules is in serious trouble. The suspenseful first in a series from the New York Times bestselling author of the Wake trilogy.

Jules lives with her family above their restaurant, which means she smells like pizza most of the time and drives their double-meatball-shaped food truck to school. It’s not a recipe for popularity, but she can handle that.

What she can’t handle is the recurring vision that haunts her. Over and over, Jules sees a careening truck hit a building and explode...and nine body bags in the snow.

The vision is everywhere—on billboards, television screens, windows—and she’s the only one who sees it. And the more she sees it, the more she sees. The vision is giving her clues, and soon Jules knows what she has to do. Because now she can see the face in one of the body bags, and it’s someone she knows. Someone she has been in love with for as long as she can remember.

In this riveting start to a gripping series from New York Times bestselling author Lisa McMann, Jules has to act—and act fast—to keep her vision from becoming reality.

MY REVIEW: 

I received this audiobook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive any compensation for my review, and the views expressed herein are my own. 

Crash is about a 16 year-old girl named Jules DeMarco, whose family runs an Italian restaurant. Her brother, Trey, is 16 months older than her, and her sister, Rowan, is 16 months younger. Their father has a history of mental illness and suffers from depression and is a hoarder. His father also suffered from depression, which ultimately resulted in his suicide. They live in the apartment above their restaurant, and their mother takes charge of running the family business, since her husband sometimes doesn’t even get out of bed.

Jules is plagued by a vision that appears everywhere she looks: On the television, billboards, windows, street signs, and more. A snow plow crashes into a building, which results in an explosion, and then nine body bags appear in the snow. One of the bags isn’t zipped up all the way, and she sees the face of her childhood crush, Sawyer Angotti.

Jules and Sawyer were best friends all through grade school. Sawyer’s parents also run an Italian restaurant in the same neighbourhood. It wasn’t until seventh grade that their parents discovered their friendship and forbade the kids from maintaining contact with each other. Now, in light of this vision that she is having, Jules feels compelled to warn Sawyer. But how can she do that without sounding like she is insane? Interestingly, when Jules watches her visions on the PVR, she can pause and rewind and watch frame by frame. She becomes obsessed with trying to piece this puzzle together, and she cleverly dissects the vision to look for clues. Little by little, she finds hints that lead her to not just where the crash is going to take place but also the exact time. If only she can figure out which day, she may be able to stop it from happening and save her friend’s life.

McMann writes in such a way that I could completely identify with Jules. My heart broke for her loss of friendship with Sawyer, and her feelings never wavered even after many years had gone by. It is so unfair that Jules and Sawyer were not permitted to be friends just because their parents were business competitors. We find out later on that there is more to this feud.

What was integral to the story was family. So many authors write about kids, who do not value family ties. I love that McMann portrayed the DeMarco siblings as a tightly-knit trio. Jules’ best friend is her big brother, Trey, and I love that! Throughout the book, we see examples of their love and concern for each other. It was so nice to see.

Sawyer is utterly swoon-worthy, and I made the mistake of listening to the end of the book while driving. I was totally blubbering, and I caution listeners to keep a box of tissues nearby.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book and McMann has hooked me into wanting to read more from this new four-book series. The next one, Bang, is scheduled to be released in October 2013, and I can’t wait to read it! McMann is a new-to-me author, but I can assure you that I am planning to read more of her work.

I have to add that I just love the cover! It is simple but effective.

Narrator Allyson Ryan is also new-to-me, and it took me a bit to warm to her interpretation of Jules. It almost seemed as though she was trying too hard to sound the part. However, by mid-way through the book, she grew on me and I liked her more and more!

MY RATING:

4 stars!! It was really good, and you should add it to your TBR list. A big thanks to Simon Audio for the opportunity to review this audiobook!

This book qualifies as: 
#15 for my 2013 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge
#15 for my 2013 Read-a-Latte Challenge
#7 for my 2013 Quick Fix Challenge 

#8 for my 2013 ARC Reading Challenge  

#12 for my 2013 Women Challenge

#8 for my New Authors Challenge 2013
#8 for my 2013 Reading Challenge: First-Reads  

#9 for my 2013 1st In A Series Challenge 
#13 for my 2013 Books-in-a-Series Reading Challenge
#9 for my 2013 Audio Book Challenge
#9 for my 2013 Audio Book Challenge
#5 for my 2013 Young Adult Audiobook Challenge
#9 for my 2013 Let Me Count The Ways Reading Challenge: Audio Version

#10 for my 2013 Free Reads Challenge    
#4 for my Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Romance Reading Challenge 2013 
#8 for my 2013 Paranormal Reading Challenge   
#7 for my 2013 Young Adult Reading Challenge   
#5 for my 2013 YA/MG Fantasy Challenge

#12 for my Monthly Mix-up Mania: 2013 to 2015 Edition    
#6 for my Review Copy Cleanup 3.0: February 2013

View all my reviews