Review: Collide

I didn't really expect to like this book all that much. But it made me laugh. It made me feel. And boy, was it hot!

The story follows Emm, a 32 year-old woman, who has lived her life with the constant threat that she will go into a fugue state. She had a head injury in childhood, and ever since, she has had episodes where her mind leaves reality. In the past few years, though, she seems to have gotten it under control. Until she crosses paths with Johnny. She only sees him in a coffee shop, but she is instantly attracted. She learns that he was a star in some, er, artistic films in the 70s... which she promptly checks out. And before she knows it, she's blanking out again. Only this time, the place she goes in her mind is one where Johnny is the star. She meets him, in the 70s and hops into his bed. Of course, when she gets back to reality, that only fuels her desire to meet him for real.

To say the real Johnny is stand-offish would be an understatement.  He is gruff, even rude to Emm. But when she goes into a fugue state right in front of him, he brings her into his home to help her out... beginning a dialogue between them. Emm is going dark, as she calls it, more and more. And every time, she is back in Johnny's past. She is becoming more invested in him --in his life and in his bed. She has trouble separating her growing feelings for the Johnny in her mind with the Johnny who is present in her real-life. This is especially true, when she finally breaks down the barriers he places between them and they become a real couple.

The thing is, Emm is starting to question whether the past events are really just in her mind. Johnny is hard to read, but keeps giving off vibes that he knows more than he's saying. And the proof just keeps growing.

I couldn't put this book down.  Yeah, it's got some similarities to other stories, but it acknowledges them openly. Even Emm gives shouts to Dr Who and The Time Traveler's Wife. There are so many cultural references that really hit the mark --and the way Emm talks-- it made her so relatable for me. And it was funny. Some of passages had me laughing out loud.

"I haven't been this excited about an erection since my first boy-girl party in the eighth grade..."

"I made it through dinner without embarrasing myself, although everytime he wiped his mouth I wanted my cunt to be the napkin."

Of course, aside from the whole time travel element, the biggest thing going on in the book is the sex. And wow! We're talking hot. I'm not a big fan of using the "c-word" to refer to lady-bits, but even that didn't cut in to the megga-watt hot factor going on in this book.  Believe me, by the time it was over, I was ready to have sex with Johnny and I don't much care whether it was the 24 year-old version or the 57 year-old one.

I did feel kind of sorry for him, once everything was revealed.  I'm glad we got the ending we did, but the poor guy really had a rough road. And I can see why Emm got the initial reaction he gave her at the beginning of the book.

I'll definitely read more Megan Hart in the future. And I'll never look at the word "hooah" the same way. 4 1/2 stars.

*ARC Provided by NetGalley

Collide

by Megan Hart

Release Date: June 21, 2011

Publisher: Spice