Jude is beautiful, charming and a total jerk, but don't hold that against him, its not his fault you see, he's a product of crappy parents, a crappy life and terrible living conditions. Even with the jerky exterior, rap sheet, and man-whore tendencies, when he's around Lucy, he can't help but try and be better. Hot temper, anger issues and paranoid behavior readily handy, in the long run, Lucy does bring out the best attributes of Jude, a caring guy who got handed the crap end of the stick. A kid who just wants a chance and needs that one big break. Of course what would be a good story of bad boy debauchery or happy endings if we didn't include highschool drama and plenty of it, because Lucy and Jude each harbor dark secrets and pasts their not willing to open up with and moving forward without trust is a recipe for disaster.

Predictable disasters aside, Crash is a sit and read all at once type of book, the characters for the most part are fun getting to know and despite its borderline cheesy scenes, dumbed down responses to very serious scenarios, the writing itself for an Indie publisher was pretty solid. Lucy, for being a gal who's faced practically everything has a very well balanced mature look on life, granted she makes a terrible 'social' move with character Sawyer, overall her decisions and choices speak highly to her integrity. Jude the typical good guy under the bad boy to hide his pain played well but a tad unrealistic considering his circumstances. Pacing flowed evenly, even with Williams liberty with time gaps, those sometimes annoying let the reader fill in the blanks in what our characters could possibly be doing worked in small doses, a much needed window escaping from the mundane that tends to take over these little love stories. However in some areas we are just left with a scratching of the head, pondering the whereabouts and the goings on of our doomed lovers, which I hate to say could really turn readers off. Don't let that scare you off though, cardboard parents, nonexistent teachers in a highschool where kids are running amuck, romance that heats up the page and juvenile delinquents engaging in sinister crimes all grace the pages of Crash's inner workings.

Beyond its get through the issue as fast as possible plot devices...Crash is a story most deserving of its characters, flawed, edgy and almost perfect in its less than perfect world.

Rating

Crash is recommended to mature teen readers (17&up) and contains: Violence, attempted rape, attempted murder, teen drinking, drug and child abuse referenced to, sexuality-including heavy sensual scenes and strong language.

3.5/5- New Adult-Contemporary