Review: Crashing Into You by B.D. Rowe

Bookish college sophomore Sydney Baker wants Evan Taylor with every ounce of her being. The hottest stud on campus, Evan is six foot four, ripped, stacked with muscles. He's even easy to talk to.

There's just one problem: he's her roommate Melanie's boyfriend.

But when Melanie tragically dies after a night of wild partying, Sydney and Evan turn to each other in a time of intense grief. And it doesn't take long for their close friendship to blossom into something more.

Unfortunately for Sydney, secrets from the past soon put her relationship with Evan to the test. Especially when a sexy blonde freshman makes her way into Evan's life, and tries to rip away everything Sydney holds close to her heart.

Paperback, 310 pages

Published October 3rd 2013 by B.D. Rowe (according to goodreads) or November 5th (according to NetGalley)

Genre: New Adult

Kristine's Review:

* I received an e-copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I want to state that these are my views and my views alone. This book was not for me for many different reasons but that does not mean that other people will not like it.

Sydney-

As hard as I tried, I could not find it in me to like her. I have read many books where I have not liked the main character but normally they redeem themselves as the story unfolds. This was not the case with Sydney. She was self involved, extremely immature, whiny and an all over mess. One minute she was feeling guilty about having the hots for Evan, her roommate's boyfriend, and the next she is vowing to herself that she will have him. She actively seeks him out at Melanie's funeral and daydreams about him during it. These are not characteristics that make a person likeable. She was dead set against alcohol, understandably because of her past, and sometimes preachy but the first thing she did when she thought Evan was cheating was start drinking. Also when there was the mishap in the car her first question was "is my car damaged?" before "is everyone ok?"

Evan-

Evan lacked personality as far as I was concerned. He also came across as immature and self involved. In one breathe he was trying to kiss Sydney and then next he was saying how much he loved Melanie and was so worried about her and wanted to fix their relationship. After Melanie's death he cried on the beach to Sydney about how guilty he felt and then later said it was an accident and nobodys fault.

Sydney and Evan together-

I felt absolutely no connection between these two characters at all. There was no chemistry and I didn't really care if they got together at all. There was potential for some really emotional moments when they started spending time together to deal with their grief but it never happened. At least I never felt it. Before I knew it they were declaring their love for each other and hopping into bed. What really got me was when Sydney overheard Lukas (her roommate after the dorms) having sex in his room and deciding with Evan that they should see who could be louder. Really?? At 20-21 I think they should have been beyond that behaviour and was a show to their maturity.

Lukas-

This was the one character in the book that I really did like and the only one that I was routing for throughout the story.

The plot-

The story had potential to be very good but unfortunately with the unlikable characters and a far fetched plot it fell short. Sydney's past set the stage for a potentially great story but having her in not one but two similar situations with drunk driving was a little far fetched for my liking. There just wasn't enough depth and feeling to the story.

If I had to recommend this book to anyone I would have to say that a younger audience would probably enjoy it better than I did. I see great potential with B.D. Rowe for future books but unfortunately not this one.

B.D. Rowe is a Sacramento native with a penchant for crafting tales of romance, mystery, and intrigue. Crashing Into You is B.D. Rowe's New Adult debut.