Review by Lora Jarvis: Collide (Collide #1) by Gail McHugh
Book: Collide
By:Gail McHugh
Genre: Romance
Release Date: September 2013
On the heels of college graduation and the unexpected death of her mother, Emily Cooper moves to New York City to join her boyfriend for a fresh start. Dillon Parker has been sweet, thoughtful, and generous through Emily’s loss, and she can’t imagine her life without him—even as her inner voice tells her to go slow.
Then she meets Gavin Blake. A rich and notorious playboy, Gavin is dangerously sexy and charming as hell. Their first encounter is brief, but it’s enough to inflame Emily’s senses. When their paths cross again through an unexpected mutual acquaintance, she tries to deny the connection she feels, but Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome won’t let go so easily.
As she discovers Gavin’s pain-filled past and Dillon’s true nature begins to surface, Emily knows she must take action or risk destroying everyone—including herself. But how can she choose when she can’t trust her own heart?
Review by Lora Jarvis
Rating 4 of 5 Hearts
Collide
Let me just say that Gavin Blake is super sexy and I’m so glad that I finally followed thru and read his story. Emily Cooper isn’t the typical heroine either, though she wasn’t my favorite I’ve ever read, she did become someone I wanted to get to know better.
The way that Gavin and Emily have their first chance encounter sets up the way their relationship will work thru most of the first book. Emily taking a last minute delivery to a customer on her way home from work leads to her meeting the one guy that consumes her thoughts though she shouldn’t even have those thoughts since she’s in a serious relationship with another man.
Dillon, Emily’s current boyfriend, starts off the story on the wrong foot for me. I immediately had my nerves on edge about what he was going to do and the trouble he was going to cause. Emily was in such denial because Dillon had saved her from the unknown after her mother died. I am sure that this kind of thing happens in real life all the time, and reading about it just wanted me to smack Emily and say, “Wake up!”
Gavin was ornery, but still held out hope that he was the one for Emily. She is always on the fence because she knows she has feelings for Gavin, but she feels she owes so much to Dillon. Honestly, this would have been a five star book for me if there wasn’t so much waffling on Emily’s part. I felt like she was leading on both Gavin and Dillon with her lack of decision making.
I appreciated parts of the story where some alpha maleness was demonstrated by both guys. I also enjoyed the relationship that Emily has with her cousin/best friend/roommate Olivia. The girls were very close and Olivia was good at pushing Emily where she really needed to be. Besides the fact that Olivia had the best nicknames for Dillon.
Overall, I totally recommend readers to check out Collide, but be prepared to continue the story with Pulse immediately...it will leave you wanting more.
Review by Lora Jarvis
Rating: 4 of 5 Hearts
Pulse
If I thought Gavin was uber hot in Collide, he ricocheted up to ultimate man candy in Pulse. Emily and I pretty much stayed on the same level of friendship, but Gavin really brought his A-Game to this book.
Watching Emily wallow in her self-pity and refusing to really go after what she wanted made me wish she would wake up...when she finally goes after Gavin, my heart soared. He went after her so many times in Collide, that I was so happy to see his gestures being returned finally.
This book has plenty of drama to keep everyone on their toes, but the sweet moments where Gavin just loves Emily make the book such a keeper. I appreciate that Gavin loves Emily with so much of who he is and that finally Emily came around to accept that love and return it.
There were so many moments in this book when I wanted to be Emily and have Gavin comfort me in the only way he knew how...completely! Gavin and Emily finally find themselves in a place where life is happening all around them and to them in a way that they can both live at peace with.
A self-proclaimed chocoholic, married mother of three, and a lover of writing for as far back as she can remember, Gail McHugh is the author of two New York Times bestselling novels. The COLLIDE series, which includes COLLIDE and PULSE, was acquired by Atria Books on September 17th, 2013.
“The first of two sexy contemporary romances about a woman torn between her seemingly perfect boyfriend and a dark, mysterious stranger who will stop at nothing to have her.” - Publishers Weekly on COLLIDE, a Top 10 Romance pick!
Gail's next novel, also publishing through Atria Books, AMBER TO ASHES, is slated to release November 4th, 2014.
You can follow Gail on the below social media sites and email:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorGailMc...
Twitter: @Gail_McHugh
Amazon: amazon.com/author/gailmchugh
Email: author.gail.mchugh@gmail.com
And her blog at: www.authorgailmchugh.com
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