Reviews

When We Collided by Emery Lord

lnocita's review against another edition

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3.0

Sixteen year old Vivi is a whirling dervish delighting and enthralling everyone she encounters with ethereal charm, panache, and sincerity. She dances gleefully and fully living in the moment without a care until…she doesn’t. Jonah is reliable, kind, and careworn. The middle of five siblings, he carries the heavy burden of keeping his family together after the unexpected death of his dad. His mom is grief stricken and catatonic. Jonah juggles his own grief and worries about his family day to day. Needless to say that when Jonah and Vivi collide (not literally), the sparks fly. There’s romance and sexual activity, some profanity. But it’s also, importantly, a headlong dive exploring depression, grief, and bipolar disorder. Jonah is one of those 80s romcom kind of leading men any teen girl (or middle aged gal) might swoon for; truly a good guy. The end feels apropos—not neatly tidied up with a bow.

asteries's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

megnets's review against another edition

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5.0

Quirky and funny, yet deals with an important topic of mental illness and how it affects The people we care about most.

ennabananaz's review against another edition

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4.0

Reviewing this book ist really hard. I liked it less than her other books but I also have so much admiration for the truths & sentences that are in this piece. Some parts just got me.
However Viviens character just wasn’t for me and i felt like some things were moving too fast. So even though from a technical point of view I would not say this is a masterpiece I would still recommend reading it just for the aforementioned heart hitting little sequences and sentences.

Well so this is what I wanted to say after having read half of the book. However now that I have finished this book it is totally different. The aspects I mentioned are things that are still true but the ending just got me.
SPOILER!
I did nor think that it would be like this. I thought it would be one of this stories in which the other person is „fixed & fine“ just by finding a love interest and being in a relationship. But this story ended on a very true note. That life is complicated and that even though love can help you evolve it can‘t fix everything for you and even though you are in love it doesn‘t mean that you can stay together and that sometimes, even though I wouldn‘t say the book implied this, love isn‘t enough.

Very beautiful. Because I wasn‘t fond of Vivi and the first half of the book and I liked Lords other books more this can‘t get 5 Stars but it will definitely get a 3.5 from me!

littlelumi's review against another edition

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4.0

I love a book about mental health, especially one that explores lesser-discussed mental health issues, such as grief and bipolar disorder. The contrast between the two narrators is stark at first, but they slowly (paraphrased from Jonah) climbed into each other's lives with their fossil brushes, and swept away all the dust. A bittersweet YA novel.

ellemay's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really loved the way this book approached the representation of bipolar as it really made me connect with Vivi on a deep level. I was so invested in what she's do next and whether everything would work out for her or not from the second she threw that first pill over the cliff at the beginning. Also the use of an
empty entry from Vivi
was so simple and yet so impactful that it made me never want to stop reading until I reached the end.

Definitely an underrated book. A really good easy and yet emotional read that will get you very engrossed

njakubowski5's review against another edition

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5.0

Excellent characters. Excellent story

e1sea_kay's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

scarlettreader's review against another edition

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emotional sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

brightside_83's review against another edition

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3.0

Some I liked, some I didn’t... I’m all about raising awareness but I sorta feel like I collided with a wall after this book. Jonah and his family get all the stars.