Review: When We Collided by Emery Lord

From Goodreads: Jonah never thought a girl like Vivi would come along. Vivi didn’t know Jonah would light up her world. Neither of them expected a summer like this ... a summer that would rewrite their futures.  

My Rating: 3 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: Having disliked Emery Lord’s Open Road Summer and then loving The Start of Me and You, I was curious to see what my reaction to When We Collided would be. After reading When We Collided though, I can say that I have very mixed feelings about it; and the best way for me to review it is with a pros and cons list.

Pros:

• I loved reading about Jonah’s family! I can’t imagine growing up with so many siblings – two were enough for me, thank you very much – so if I want to experience life in a big family without having to deal with the lack of personal space, I can only do it through reading. Sadly, the only other book I’ve read where there's a big family is Huntley Fitzpatrick’s My Life Next Door.
• A huge reason why I wanted to read When We Collided was because I knew it explored mental illness, which I think we need more of in YA. I know there are several books that explore depression, OCD and anxiety, but I had yet to read a book where the main character has bipolar disorder. Although Lord tackles the subject respectfully, I personally would have liked more facts to be presented about bipolar disorder (e.g. the different subtypes are mentioned, but we never learn about what makes them different from each other).

Cons:

• The romance was the biggest aspect I disliked about When We Collided. I just didn’t believe in it because Jonah and Vivi get together so fast and then barely talk about anything important. I also didn’t feel that it was very healthy because: a) it was full of drama and b) Vivi often manipulated Jonah’s emotions.
• As much as I liked Jonah as a character, I would have preferred this book to have just been from Vivi’s perspective. Since Vivi’s point-of-view was so flowery and exaggerated, Jonah’s perspective didn’t seem as interesting, unfortunately.

When We Collided was released in April 2016 by Bloomsbury Children’s. 

Comments About the Cover: The colourful splatters are prefect for representing both Vivi’s personality and her love for art.