Collide: Book One in the Collide Series Paperback – May 20, 2014

<b>4.5</b>Series review...Dear Mother of Everything Holy, can I please…please…please have my own Gavin Blake. This man was pure sex on a stick and then some. Mr. Blake was just THAT. DAMN. HOT.<b>Gavin Blake made this story.</b>The Collide Series is definitely one of my favorite reads of 2014. Therefore, I am just going to tell you to go out and <b>one-click</b> this book <b>now</b>, if you haven’t already! Gavin Blake was pure magic, and let me not forget to mention swoon worthy to the max; thus, placing himself near the tippy top of my long book boyfriend list! This man totally melted my heart with his love, devotion, and pain. There seemed to be so many layers to unravel. Some might say he seemed a bit too good to be true; I would not be one of them. I connected with his intensity and charisma, as well as his depth on so many levels. Each page I turned, each word I read I was intrigued by such a poignant man. When Gavin hurt I hurt, when he was in love and happy so was I, and when he was torn apart and lost I felt that pain all the way to the bottom of my toes. For many reasons, this character cemented his self on my soul.I was drawn to the series the minute I saw it contained a “Gideon Cross” type of feel to it with an added love triangle. I am majorly addicted to this theme of romance. There is something about watching two men fight for the heart of that one lucky lady. And depending on the strength and progression of the writing, triangles can go one of a few ways for me. I can either fall completely in love with the scenario, absolutely hate everything about it, or experience both love and hate for the scenario. The later seems to be the case with this series. The love triangle was one of my minor issues. I seriously could not wrap my mind around Emily and her warped actions. The constant fight and flight/push and pull drove me up one wall and down the other, and Gavin and Emily’s journey ended up equaling a pure love/hate relationship for me. There were moments that I wanted to throw my kindle, or at least smash a few things, and then there were the moments of extreme desire to slap a character—or two. It was hard for me to see past the sadness and pain the female protagonist caused our hero due to her indecisiveness and poor decision making skills. Since I loved Gavin’s character so much, I tried extra hard to connect with her, seeing things from her point of view. Yeah, I could not make that happen. I had to face the hard truth and learn quickly to deal with Emily’s idiosyncrasies, since Gavin was pretty much set on her. It was that or throwing in the towel. I decided to hold out and give her another chance, and in the end, Emily started to grow on me; however, I never truly fell in love with her character. I still experienced times where I wished Gavin would have just moved on from her and her dramatics.When Emily and Gavin were in their own little world and the outside world was not colliding and caving in, they were fricken phenomenal together! When they were good, these two were good; however, when they could not get out from underneath their own feet (well mainly Emily's), they were somewhat of a beautiful disaster. Emily and Gavin could both at times be reckless and emotionally destructive. With some trepidation, I fell into their love story; I was even able to handle the angst and drama that is when it did not feel contrived. Sometimes it felt like this to me when Dillon was in the picture. I could easily have done without the triangle. I HATED Dillon. I wanted that man to rot from the inside out. If you cannot tell from my review, I am strictly TEAM GAVIN, and I have been from the very first time I laid eyes on him. I would not have been sad in the least bit if the author just evaporated Dillon from the planet.This brings me to my other minor issue, Collide's cliffhanger. Yes, ladies and gents, there is a cliffy. I suggest making sure you have book two ready to go. It was not horrible other than being extremely angsty; not to mention, it leaves you aching for one of the characters.Anyway, the moment I reached the end of Collide, it was easy enough to see exactly where the author was headed. Due to this, I dragged my feet and struggled a bit with Pulse. I am not normally a huge fan of themes that feel a bit been there done that. My continuation came down to the "curiosity killed the cat." I could not fight my inquisitiveness to see if McHugh was going to follow the road of typical. And although, I wasn't really keen with the course Ms. McHugh was taking, I was pleasantly surprised with her twists. That road was definitely not expected, and because of this once again, Gavin shined, making me love Pulse, just as much as Collide, if not more.Once I got past the minor stuff, I flew through both Collide and Pulse, devouring every word. Overall, I rated each book a four star read, but I bumped the series rating, as a whole, half a star due to the one and only Gavin Blake. I was so tempted to raise it to an overall series rating of five stars, but due to the few minor issues I had, I could not go up a whole star. I do not know if you can tell or not, but I am head over heels with a certain male.Gail McHugh has made this girl a lifetime fan! The author's writing was rich with character development, witty satire, and connection/chemistry between the characters, as well as between the characters and the reader. I am not sure why I have taken so long to read her books, but at this point, I am kicking myself for not reading sooner. Better late than never, right? Thank you, Ms. McHugh, for creating my newest tantalizing and delectable addiction. I cannot wait to see who and what you come up with next!Thank you, Atria Books and Simon and Schuster, for a complimentary copy of Collide and Pulse.

4 1/2 read worthy stars.I'm a certified book hoarder! I've had Collide on my Kindle since it was released but decided to wait to read it when I realized it wasn't a standalone novel. Enough authors have kept me in purgatory so I decided to stay in book-heaven with series that are complete or standalones. I kept seeing great reviews for Collide but I refused to pick it up until I knew when Pulse was going to be available and that Pulse was the end of the story. That was tough! Gavin Blake this and Gavin Blake that all over the book blog pages. Really? That is torture when you don't know a damn thing about Gavin Blake. You are reading a review from the most impatient reader on the planet. I need details...all of them wrapped up in however many pages it takes. So I waited, and waited and waited.Collide was a book worth waiting for as well as its conclusion (Pulse). Had I not waited I'd be dead right now. The end of Collide left me with the WTH feeling that we readers often get when there's a cliffhanger. This time I didn't have to hide the razor blades since Pulse was patiently waiting for me. Ha I made the book and author wait for a change! Just like I'm making you wait for my review.Collide was a fantastic read. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all the characters in this developing story of a young woman struggling with her past, her present and her future along with the *tiny spoiler* the two men in her life tugging in different directions on her heart and emotions. Here is where we get a look at Gavin Blake *swoon*!!!! Yes, all the fuss was something to fuss about. Steamy, steamy and dreamy!The story, the characters and the situation were credible to me an tugged on my heartstrings a lot as the drama unfolded. I wanted to punch something and scream out loud at times all the while giving Emily some much needed motherly advice that she never took. Well isn't this just one of the things good books are made of? Absolutely!Secondary characters can be very important in a story and I must say the ones in this book were developed well. I found myself looking forward to getting to know them and the author did not disappoint. There was never a time where I wanted the story to 'get to the point' because I was thoroughly enjoying the journey albeit frustrating at times.Thus far I've mentioned drama and frustration but rest assured there are some good times and interesting moments which will undoubtedly make you smile and laugh along the way. Isn't this another thing good books are made of? It's that moment while your reading and your tension is high but the author finds a way to provide you with momentary relief only to take you back to another 'oh no' moment. What is important here though is that it wasn't over done which is what kept it real for me.This book has an extremely frustrating cliff hanger (not the worst I've ever come across but pretty bad) that will make you quickly claw your way to Pulse to find out what happened. It is by no means a stand alone. As soon as I finished Collide I wanted to write a review but was so anxious to get to Pulse I just had to put it on hold until I finished the entire story. Yet another thing good books are made of!The author has created a memorable character in Gavin Blake. If you haven't heard of him yet you certainly will and you won't forget that name or what it represents once you've read the series. You'll just add him to the book boyfriend list reserved only for those who deserve it and he certainly does! **SIGH** He is memorable to say the least. Can we clone him for all the single ladies?Emily oh dear Emily...you need to stop crying. If I struggled with anything reading this story it was the amount of tears poor Emily produced on a regular basis. We might be talking Lake Michigan tears here. HOWEVER, she is young, and not really very experienced with getting sideswiped at every turn. Who wouldn't cry? Just accept that Emily is a crier but not necessarily weak. SPOILER: If I thought I had and lost Gavin Blake I'd flip out and cry oceans.I must say while many people equate lots of tears with being weak...and I did at times, I could feel the direction the story was headed and hey let's face it some people ARE weak. I could feel some, not a lot, but some inner strength being generated from Emily. I wanted that and I could sense it.I must commend the author as I believe this is a debut novel for her and it was truly a good job on her part. Thank you for giving us over 400 pages! How else can you really get into the characters? I look forward to reading more from her. Now on to my Pulse review which is 5 well deserved Stars.