We haven’t forgotten about New Voices, and we hope you haven’t either! Our next book in this series promoting debut authors, KISS CRUSH COLLIDE, by Christina Meredith, we’ve been saving for this very week, so perhaps you can guess what it’s about? Good answer– love. While this is a steamy novel about that kind of attraction that hits you like a truck and holds you prisoner, it’s also a novel about family, duty, obligation, and understanding.
Don’t just take our word for it: READ AN EXCERPT, free, here:
Leah’s life is going according to plan. Her mother’s plan. Cheerleading captain, valedictorian, college, and then marrying her high school sweetheart. Just like her two older sisters. But Leah wants more. More than Shane’s right hand on her thigh as he drives her around. More than the stifling life set out for her. So when the guy who parks cars at the country club offers her his strong, tan hand, he’s not just helping her out of the car. He’s pulling her into a whole new path, one filled with surprises, and journeys, and freedom. A classic American love story between the daughter of privilege and the boy from the wrong side of the tracks.
Greenwillow publisher Virginia Duncan, Christina’s editor, had this to say about KISS CRUSH COLLIDE:
When I first read Kiss Crush Collide (it was called Counting Cars then—which is a fun title once you’ve read the book and actually counted the cars), I fell hard for Porter and his green eyes. Who was this guy? And isn’t he pretty much the stuff of a dream summer romance?
Leah intrigued me. She has everything. Beauty, brains, money—and she already has a boyfriend to die for, and parents and sisters who love her and only want what is best for her. The thing is, Leah isn’t sure what “best” means anymore. She isn’t rebelling. She isn’t freaking out. Or doing drugs. She’s just become vaguely uneasy in her own skin.
Enter Porter.
Reading this manuscript made me remember seeing Dirty Dancing for the first time. It made me want to go on a John Hughes movie jag. Reading this manuscript made me remember how much I love contemporary fiction. I admired the rawness of the story and the honesty of the writing. Do I think Porter and Leah are headed for a happily-ever-after-forever future? No. But I love the idea that a single person can change your life forever and open your eyes to a path you might never have seen or attempted by yourself. And I love that this can (will!) happen on a golf course, or in the school parking lot, or in the kitchen breakfast nook, or next to the old quarry in a borrowed car—rather than in a far-flung dystopia. Thanks, Christina!
Read, ruminate on love in all its forms, and stay tuned for tomorrow, when we’ll Open the Book with debut novelist, Christina Meredith!