Review of Collisions

[Ann Ogochukwu]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Collisions" by Ruth Gowan.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Paul Carney is a hotshot motorsport journalist and a very eligible bachelor. However, since the death of his beloved wife four years earlier, he vowed not to give his heart to another woman, so he became a typical playboy. Sharon Mulroney is a successful florist who has experienced her own share of heartbreak. Upon the death of her husband, John, she realized that not only was he abusive, but he was also a cheat and a chronic debtor. After John, Sharon found it impossible to trust men, so she locked up her heart and kept every man at bay.

When Sharon and Paul meet at Amber’s wedding, there is an instant and unusual connection between them. However, there is also a big problem—Paul is Amber’s ex boyfriend, and Amber is Sharon’s younger sister. Will Sharon and Paul ever overcome their personal fears and common stumbling block, Amber?

Narrated from Paul and Sharon’s perspectives, this book’s plot was straight forward. There were occasional throwbacks that brought me up to date with the characters' pasts. The book spanned a little over three hundred pages. Collisions by Ruth Gowan is a romance novel through and through, so I recommend it only to readers who like typical romance novels. The book had several erotic scenes, so I don’t recommend it for young readers.

One of the things I liked best about this book was its attractive cover page. I also enjoyed certain suspenseful moments in this book, like when Paul was searching for Sharon after she had been kidnapped. I liked the romantic scenes too, but I wish there had been more emotional conversations between Paul and Sharon. I would have liked it more if the book’s plot didn’t revolve around just Paul and Sharon.

Romance is one of my preferred genres, which is why I chose to review this book. But I didn’t expect the clichés I encountered in this book. The truth is that I didn’t enjoy this book because it was predictable and quite unrealistic with too many coincidences and drama—just like a soap opera. The most tiring coincidence for me was how Paul and Sharon often ‘bumped’ into each other at the airport. In fact, the majority of the time that Paul and Sharon met in the first half of this book was a coincidence, and that was just unbelievable. Another soapy aspect of this book that tired me out was its characterization. The characters in this book were dramatically perfect, but they lacked depth. For instance, besides being a millionaire who had a billionaire stepfather, here’s how Paul was described: "...his sculpted abs, his six-pack, tapering to his slim waist raised her temperature to astronomical heights.” Save for their physical attraction, I didn’t feel any deep connection between Paul and Sharon. For me, this book was just dramatic without any depth.

This book was obviously not professionally edited because I noticed virtually every kind of error while reading. There were spacing errors, punctuation errors, capitalization errors as well as typographical errors. Although these errors did not affect my comprehension of the story, they were too glaring to be ignored. Contrary to my initial expectation, I wasn’t impressed with this book’s storyline or editing, so I’m rating this book 2 out of 4 stars . My complaints about this book being overly dramatic and clichéd are relative, and my opinions may not be shared by another reader. So if you’re not bothered by either of these features, then you’ll surely enjoy this book.

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Collisions
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[Aisha Yakub]

Maybe we don't decide the fate of our love journeys after all. I'll be thrilled to see what happened to John eventually. Thank you for the review.

[Themmie10]

The journey and fate of love at times can be disheartening, I hope they overcome their obstacles.

[Sharon Christanto]

I also dislike romance novels that have too many 'coincidences' in their plots. And I prefer reading novels with well-developed characters and strong personalities; not just because he/she is physically attractive. I'll be skipping this one