When We Collide

by A. L. Jackson

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I previously participated in the Blog Tour for Take This Regret and I really enjoyed it, thus I was very happy to be invited to the tour for When We Collide.


The story is told in alternating POVs (thank you for pointing out who was talking and past vs. present!), which I always enjoy since I feel it gives the reader a better insight about the characters. However, I felt a stronger connection with William. He is the main narrator and I can identify with his point of view and his feelings better than Maggie’s.

William and Maggie are better when they are together. Is the type of bond that is so strong that makes the whole better than the individual parts. They both made mistakes and they both regret them. In William’s case (this is not a spoiler as it’s part of the synopsis), he didn’t fight for what he wanted and ended up becoming as stranger to himself and to his family. In Maggie’s case, it was perpetuating her abusive upbringing.

Troy is plain crazy, he also came from an abusive home and it seems like the only thing he knows is to scare and control people. Other characters are well crafted. I really liked Blake, William’s brother and how supportive he was of his brother. His relationship with his wife Grace was the complete opposite of Maggie’s. Jonathan was such a sweet boy and since he is so young he is sure to recuperate from his first years of life.

I just don’t understand abusive relationships. Maybe it is because I have never lived one, but it is incomprehensible to me to be with someone that hurts me. More incomprehensible to me would be to put my own child in danger. I know that these types of relationships are very complicated and I probably should stop talking about it before I say something I shouldn’t. There are some statistics included at the end of the book that are quite staggering:

As many as one in three girls and one in seven boys will be sexually abused at some point in their childhood.

One in every four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime

An estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical abuse by an intimate partner each year.

The plot is not complicated, and to me the story becomes part romance, part thriller. I mean, it’s easy to guess that Troy will try to do something to stop Maggie from escaping his evil clutches (I know, I know, couldn’t help myself :) What I like most is the writing. Ms. Jackson is an amazing storyteller. She can convey feelings so easily and with a few words. A beautiful and poignant story.

Here are some quotes from the book:

"I’d never understand how I’d gotten from my father’s house to Troy’s, when I’d promised myself so many times as a girl that I’d never end up like my mother. Like second-nature, I’d made an almost seamless transition from one vicious hand to another without even realizing it." – Maggie

"I stared up at her, pleading without words, hating the monster inside her that caused her to believe she was worth anything less than what she was, wishing she would see what I say." – William

"I feel to my knees on the hardwood floor. The walls closed in, suffocating… and I felt it, felt them. I cried out, begged her name. I lay my cheek on the cool floor, nails scraping the slick wood, grasping at something, grasping at nothing." – William

"We collided, body and soul, mouths and hands and whispered pleas." – William

About the cover: It’s beautiful, isn't it? I love the cover and the sense of release, even when the world is a storm.