Collide by Shelly Crane

I’m making January a reread month for me, and so I’ve come back to this series after 4 years and reading lots of other books….  So we’re going to have my original review, and a reread review on this one…

Synopsis:
Sherry has always known there was something out there. She’s eighteen, works for a tabloid newspaper in Chicago and has a brother, Danny who is a lazy mooch. They live a pretty normal dull life with hippie parents and a normal existence. Then the moon dissapears and people start to go missing only to reappear later, but different. Sherry has an abusive ex-boyfriend who shows up and claims to be one of these beings that have been showing up around the world. He’s no longer the same person in that body. He tells her he has come to protect her and her brother and takes her underground, against her will to save her, where they meet others like them. She begins to unravel the truth about Merrick, about what he’s really doing here, about the way he looks at her, about the crazy dangerous world they live in. Can he convince her that he’s here to help? Will she like what she finds when she opens up to the truth? Will he be the one to love her when everyone else has failed her? Will he be able to protect her?

    

My Review:
Original Review: 4 stars — Loved it!! I was so worried when I read a lot of reviews on Amazon about it being boring, but it wasn’t even remotely — totally enthralled! I guess it depends on the kinds of books you read and what you were expecting out of it. It only got 4 stars b/c I felt it ended really abruptly — totally didn’t see that coming. Almost like she hit a word count and was like — time for the next book. I mean, I’m gonna read the next one, no worries there, but it just jarred me. It was also kind of strange b/c there were many smaller climaxes, without one overall climax. But *that* didn’t bother me as much. Worried about the end developments, b/c I am in LOVE with Merrick and Sherry! Can’t wait for more!

ON REREAD: 3 stars —  OK, so this one took me quite a while to get back into.  Honestly, I’m not sure if this one has been updated since it was first published (b/c Amazon just will not send me updated copies of the books, no matter how many settings I change), but I was reading the original copy and the editing was ATROCIOUS.  I originally read this book when I first got my kindle and was first introduced to Indie authors, and I think I was a lot more forgiving back then.  It was hard to keep in the story at times it was that bad.  I sincerely hope it’s been reedited and rereleased and this was just my copy, b/c it would be worth the effort to do so.

I also found Sherry harder to like this time around.  I don’t know if I’m just in a different place, but she (and some of the other characters at times) could be really one dimensional.  Again, another instance where some editing would make a world of difference.

Despite all that, I still got sucked into this story, and I still enjoyed myself by the end.  I don’t know what it is, b/c like I said in my original review, this story doesn’t follow the normal structure of build up to a big climax…it’s a lot of little climaxes.  But I enjoyed the relationships that developed between all the hidden folks, especially between Sherry and Merrick and Sherry and Jeff.  I smiled a lot, and I found the world to be intriguing, even if occasionally I had moments of disbelief.  I’m definitely going to be continuing on with the rest of the series, but I do feel bad that I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first time through.  I guess tastes change, eh?