Review ~ Breakdown (Crash Into Me #1) by Amanda Lance

eARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: October 28th 2014

Description:
Charlotte Ferro is about to jump.

Yet nothing ruins a perfectly good suicide attempt worse than a handsome do-gooder. After William O’Reilly convinces her to take one last ride with him, Charlotte finds herself forgetting about her own problems and enjoying a world of which she never dreamed.

Now addicted to the rush of fast cars and cool criminals, Charlotte finds herself leaning less towards the ledge and more toward the arms of her savior. But with reasons of his own for keeping Charlotte safe from herself, William is reluctant to involve her in his criminal undertakings. Will his career choice keep them apart? Will Charlotte’s painful past?

My Opinion

This was an interesting read that I enjoyed more than I thought I would. It was mainly the car aspect that had me intrigued to read more, and although the book wasn't that surprising--due to everything being revealed in the blurb--it was still an enjoyable read.

I will admit that I thought it would be a lot more emotional than it was because of the suicide theme. However, I found it surprisingly relaxed for a book of this nature, and it didn't really tug on any heartstrings. Saying that, I did think the author dealt with the situations well. They felt realistic and developed believably. Similarly I thought the plot was engaging and the characterisation was good. I enjoyed how the relationship built and William and Lottie grew closer together. 

William was up front about things, and a genuine character. He brought humour and light into Lottie's world and the playful exchanges between the two were enjoyable to read. I liked that this book wasn't all doom and gloom, there was a good balance of dark and light that kept things interesting. I also liked Lottie's sense of humour; it was dark and could be quite morbid but it fit with the situation and did make me laugh.

However,there were a few things I had issues with while reading Breakdown. The first was that the wasn't really much detail in the back stories. You read random facts here and there, but for me there wasn't enough detail in these sections so they didn't add as much as they could have. What was written has potential to be a lot more and I thought the author could have developed things. Likewise, the pacing wasn't always on point. Sometimes things felt rushed , and at others it dragged and I ended up skimming section. It was all a bit of a whirlwind story whereby things happened instantly and them moved on--especially the ending, which I thought needed quite a bit more detail to make it satisfying.

Overall though, this was an enjoyable read. The characters were easy to connect with, I liked their personalities, and although the concept isn't totally new, I liked it. I do think it needs a bit more work to meet its full potential, and to get rid of a few errors, but in general it's an easy, quick read.

3.5