When We Collided, Emery Lord

Pages: 352

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Release Date: 7^th April 2016

Edition: UK paperback, review copy

Other Titles by this Author: Open Road Summer, The Start of You and Me

Seventeen year old Jonah Davies has lived in Verona Cove, California, his whole life, and only one thing has ever changed: his father used to be alive, and now he's not. Jonah must numbly take care of his family as they reel from their tragedy. Cue next change: Vivi Alexander, new girl in town.

Vivi is in love with life. A gorgeous and unfiltered hurricane of thoughts and feelings. She seems like she's from another planet as she transforms Jonah’s family and changed his life. But there are always consequences when worlds collide.

A fierce and beautiful love story with a difference, When We Collided will thrill fans of All the Bright Places and I’ll Give You the Sun.

I’ve been eagerly anticipating When We Collided since devouring The Start of Me and You in two days last year. It was 100% worth the wait.

This is the most beautiful book I've read in a very, very long time. Emery Lord really stepped it up with this book and I was pretty blown away by the writing, the characterisation and the sensitive depictions of mental illness and grief. It was honest and real. Being in Vivi’s head felt confusing and manic; Jonah was sad and desperate and incredibly tired. Vivi and Jonah are very different people, in very different situations, but they share an experience of darkness. They sparked when they were together and quite frankly, I'd really like my very own Jonah. Vivi was a bit of a different story. Experiencing the battle between the irritation I felt for some of her actions while knowing that towards the end it was her illness ruling her actions was really interesting. It made me reconsider my approach a lot.

Now I'm going to talk about the ending a little bit, so if you haven’t finished When We Collided yet, consider yourself warned. There was so much spark between Vivi and Jonah that an explosion felt a little inevitable. Though it definitely didn’t go down like how I had imagined! Vivi’s accident was shocking, but the way that it was potrayed and then explained really gave me a clearer insight into her experiences of bipolar disorder. I wasn’t surprised that they separated in the end and I was actually really glad. It’s so unusual for a character to make a decision with her health and her friends in mind over the love interest and it was refreshing and mature and so right. Vivi can’t exactly be called a role model, but in that moment, I was in awe of her.

When We Collided is a gorgeous novel about mental illness, love, loss and family. I think everyone needs to read this.

Thanks to Bloomsbury for the review copy.

Sophie