{Book Review} Kiss Crush Collide by Christina Meredith

Title: Kiss Crush Collide
Author: Christina Meredith
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
December 27, 2012

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Synopsis:

Kiss
What Leah did—only she really shouldn’t have—one hot night at a country club party.

Crush
What Leah has—only she really shouldn’t have—on the guy with the green eyes, the guy who is not her perfect boyfriend, the guy who does not fit in her picture-perfect life, the guy her sisters will only mock and her mother will never approve of. Not in a million years.

Collide
What happens when everything you always thought you wanted—having cool friends, being class valedictorian and homecoming queen—runs smack into everything it turns out you really do want.

Kiss. Crush. Collide.
For Leah and Porter, summer is only the beginning.

After reading, what seemed like, a ton of dark paranormal romance books, I needed something light and fun to read. Kiss Crush Collide was exactly that kind of book. It took me a little over 4 hours to finish and for the most part, I adored this novel. Unfortunately, it just didn't hit the spot I needed consoled. 

Leah was raised in a "perfect" family: a perfect mother, a rich father, and two perfect older sisters. Both sisters were class valedictorians, they dated perfect boys until it was time to move away to college, they didn't work. They behaved as only the rich and wealthy should. Leah was set to follow in her sisters footsteps. She was a shoe-in for class valedictorian and she dates Shane - sports god. However, the one thing Leah refuses to let go of is swimming. Even though her parents will not allow her to swim on the school team, they do allow her hold a summer job as a lifeguard at the local pool.

Leah is unhappy with her lot in life so when fate places Porter in her path one night, what else could she do except accept a ride in his borrowed car and feel alive for the first time in her life. Porter, local bad boy, knows little about Leah and she knows even less about him. He is her perfect escape from the pressures of being a "Johnson." And the more intense the secrets get at the Johnson household, the more Leah will seek out Porter.

So while I enjoyed this story, one thing bugged me above all else. I could not feel a connection to any of the characters. They seemed so two-dimensional. For me to fall head-over-heals for a book, I need to walk in the characters shoes...at least for a minute or two. Sadly, in the case of Kiss Crush Collide, I wasn't pulled into the story...at all. The writing held my attention and I made my way through the novel in two sittings, so I'm giving it 3 Stars but my first instinct is 2 Stars.