Review: Collide (#1, Collide) by Gail McHugh - Vilma Iris | Lifestyle Blogger

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Review: Collide (#1, Collide) by Gail McHugh

  • Stars: 5+ stars.
  • Main Characters & Casting: Gavin Blake (and here) and Emily Cooper
  • Genre: Contemporary Romance, New Adult
  • What I ♥ The Most: The intensity of feeling in this book, not only in the fervency that came from the characters, but also in the emotions that it evoked in me as I read it!

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Synopsis

A missed first encounter… Colliding with a second chance…

On the heels of graduating college and trying to cope with her mother’s death, Emily Cooper moves to New York City for a fresh start.

While harboring secrets of his own, Dillon Parker takes care of Emily through her grief. Knowing he can’t live without her by his side, he’s sweet, thoughtful, and everything Emily has ever wanted in a man.

Until she meets Gavin Blake—a rich and notorious playboy who is dangerously sexy and charming as hell. Emily tries to deny the instant connection she feels, but Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome is not inclined to let go so easily. Recovering from his own painful past, Gavin will stop at nothing to win Emily over.

This unexpected encounter compels Emily to question her decisions, forcing her to make a choice that will destroy friendships, shatter hearts, and forever change her life.

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My Review

Deep breath. THIS book. Crazy. Captivating. Compelling. This book had it all. It made me swoon, it made me crazy mad, it made my heart hurt for all those moments rooted in wrongness and misunderstanding. And despite the fact that the book had a love triangle (which I typically avoid), I knew all along who she SHOULD be with. It was love at first sight! And I just LOVED this book!

“Fate and the roads that get placed in front of us. It’s like one huge puzzle that ultimately fits in the end.”

Emily Cooper moves to New York after her mother tragically succumbs to breast cancer. Her boyfriend Dillon has been there for her throughout her mom’s battle and has now moved her up to New York to be with him. But not quite ready to move in with her boyfriend, Emily decides to live with her best friend, Olivia. After Emily finds a job working at a restaurant, an unexpected food delivery takes her face-to-face with the most gorgeous and alluring man she’s ever seen.

“Her breath hitched at the sight of the tall, devastatingly beautiful man who was making his way toward her. She felt thrown off kilter as though her equilibrium had skewed itself all over the building.”

The gorgeous man in the three-piece suit felt just as drawn to the beautiful delivery girl.

“Gavin Blake had believed that love at first sight didn’t exist … Her beauty instantly hit him. But more so, he felt drawn to her as a rope bound his waist, and she was on the other end pulling him to her.”

Despite the instant and intense attraction, Emily walks away from the beautiful stranger only to find him again at the restaurant where she works. He couldn’t stay away. But she fights her body, her blazing desire for this man because of her relationship with Dillon. He’s been supportive of her and she loves him. So she gives him a fake name, Molly, and throws away his telephone number. And then the unlikely happens as worlds collide when she runs into Gavin yet again and becomes aware that not only is he Dillon’s client, but he is also a close friend. Gavin is crushed when he realizes she is “Dillon’s Emily.” They both struggle to keep their desire at bay, but the attraction between them is torrid and cannot be waned.

“Attracting, compelling, colliding, their chemistry–to say the least–was explosive.”

In the meanwhile, she sees a different side of Dillon in New York. He’s possessive and temperamental and is constantly telling her what she should and shouldn’t do. Secretly, however, Gavin continues to entice Emily. He’s charming, caring, sexy, seductive … everything her heart and body is screaming for. He’s also known for his womanizing ways.

“He was sexy, forbidden, dangerous and completely fuckable — and she knew it.”

I was enamored with this book!!!! Their attraction is crazy strong, palpable, oozing from every page. I wanted nothing more than for Emily to give Dillon the big finger and run into Gavin’s arms. But so much indecision weighs Emily down and things of course continue to intensify. Emily really needs to find strength within herself to go after what she really wants.

“Damn it, Emily. I want us! You belong with me, not him… Every part of you was made for me. Your lips were made to kiss mine, your eyes were made to wake up to me looking at you in my bed every morning and your fucking tongue was made to roll my name off of it. I am more certain of us than I’m certain I require oxygen to breathe.”

I don’t want to ruin the experience that is this book and I promise you my review doesn’t do it justice, but I don’t want to give anything away! It’s hot and sexy and brimming with desire and want and love and heartache.

“I’ve never felt so heartbroken and so in love at the same time.”

Gail McHugh writes in such a way that totally gripped me. I felt what these characters were feeling and I couldn’t let this book go. I was elated when they were happy and torn to absolute pieces especially towards the end. And yes, there’s a cliffhanger that left me with the BIGGEST damn book hangover. And God, you will LOVE Gavin Blake. He is so real and raw with so much depth of feeling that you can’t help but pine for him yourself.

In the end, this book is about two people colliding intensely, unexpectedly, to find the truest, deepest, soul-mate kind of love and figuring out that it’s worth fighting for. Go out and get this book now!!! It’s AH-FREAKIN-MAZING!!!! I can seriously not wait for Pulse, the continuation of this story, to see what happens.

collide

Check out Gail’s Spotify playlist for Collide! And especially check out the song Almost Lover by A Fine Frenzy and think about the final scenes in the book … tearing up just thinking about it!

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