Crush Review

Cami Wimberley has a plan, and that plan includes no room for boys—especially the big time party animal, Hunter Wilder, no matter how handsome and charismatic he is. She’s beautiful, a senior, extremely talented, gets good grades, and is working her way toward her dream college to be a musical theater major. Everything is perfect.

Hunter Wilder does not want a girlfriend—that would complicate his life way too much right now. He especially doesn’t want this girl, Miss-Goody-Two-Shoes, so how come he can’t keep his eyes off her? He tries to keep her at arms length, but fate seems to keep pushing them together. Before long, it’s obvious to everyone they’re crushing on each other.

As sparks begin to fly, Hunter finds himself sinking deeper and deeper into hot water. Soon he’s scrambling to keep Cami from discovering his dark secret—one that can destroy their entire relationship.

I love the cover for Crush by Lacey Weatherford and I went into reading it with the idea that it was going to be a hot, contemporary romance.  I’m happy to tell you that whilst this is indeed the case, the book is about so much more.   I didn’t expect the drug abuse, the mental health issues, the secrets and downright lies floating around like snowflakes.  The romance was present but there was also something else going on and this made for one of the best books I’ve seen from Lacey.

Cami is Miss-Goody-Two-Shoes and Hunter is the relatively-new-NEW-GUY and Hunter is instantly drawn to Cami.  He really doesn’t need to be complicating his life right now with girls but in Cami’s case, he really can’t help himself.  Hunter comes across as a decent bad boy – he smokes, he drinks, he parties and dabbles with drugs occasionally but he’s a decent guy nonetheless.  Cami’s not exactly approving of his alternative lifestyle but she cannot deny the mutual attraction between them. Now, the guys aren’t exactly lined up for her (only because they think she is TOO good for them) so imagine her surprise when her BFF Clay has the makeover of the season and goes from geek to chic within 24 hours before professing his undying love for her.  Unfortunately, Cami doesn’t reciprocate and sees him more like a brother.  Can you say AWKWARD?  Enter Hunter who provides a healthy distraction for Cami, only Clay doesn’t like it one bit *sings* There may be troubleeee aheeeeeead....

I have to say that I have a bit of a crush on Hunter myself.  Whilst I don’t like his lifestyle, he is sexy, and confident and when he falls for Cami, he falls hard.  The best thing about Cami is that she is non judgemental and she will be friends with whomever she wants to thank you very much, despite the fact that this has landed her quite firmly in the geek’s corner.  As for Clay? All I will say is that taking everything into account, I can do nothing but feel sorry for him.

I’m desperately trying not to give away anything but I will say that there may be one or two twists to the tale.  I actually guessed one of them about halfway through but this might be my writer brain taking over and to be honest, I’m HAPPY to be proven right as that’s what I was hoping for in the story.

A lot of YA books shy away from edgy subject matter for fear of being blacklisted and this makes me sad.  We don’t live in a perfect world and we shouldn’t paint a picture that is all rainbows and unicorns because that isn’t real.  Whilst Crush wasn’t “hardcore”, it does touch on some edgy subject matters but it’s a great story and one that needs to be read.  I dare you to fall in love with Crush.

Crush is published on 20th October, 2012.  To find out more about Lacey and her books, please click here to visit her website.   You can read chapter one here.