“Love is just as much suffering as it is sweetness. If it was perfect, that’s what they’d all it. They wouldn’t call it bittersweet.”
Their Romeo-and-Juliet-level passion is the only thing Jude and Lucy agree on. That, and fighting all the time . . .
Also not helping? Lucy’s raging jealousy of the cheerleader who’s wormed her way into Jude’s life.
While trying to hang on to her quintessential bad boy and also training to be the top ballet dancer in her class, Lucy knows something’s going to give . . . soon.
How can she live without the boy she loves? How can she live with herself if she gives up on her dreams? If Lucy doesn’t make the right choice, she could lose everything.
Personal Thoughts:
Lucy and Jude are now both in college and both busy with their university life. They live few hours apart from each other. Lucy is attending Julliard to be a dancer, while Jude is in Syracuse busy being the Quarterback football player of his school. They are trying to navigate a long distance relationship, which fairly goes smoothly until someone enter the picture. Someone who is willing to do anything just to get Jude Ryder’s attention. With this new girl in the story, Lucy trust issue becomes prominent. She needs to work things out inside her, while Jude needs to proves to her how much he loves her.
Jude and Lucy relationships is never easy. It is full of drama, intensity and heartache. From the first book, Crash, we saw a lot of outside forces they have to deal in order to proved how much they love each others. That their relationship is worth all the risk. In this book, Jude and Lucy were tested again multiple times, and this time they need to deal not just the outside issues but also things within themselves. It is now an issue of trust and understanding, because sometimes love is not enough.
As Jude and Lucy tries to navigate their relationships, they deal with so many things along the way. And with both of them carrying a strong personalities, they cannot avoid to clash sometimes. It is not an easy and bump-less road, there were lots of misunderstandings, doubts, and unwarranted feelings. And throughout all those things that’s happening, we’ll see Jude and Lucy mature.
Lucy sometimes made mistakes. She has doubts, and insecurities like any normal girl. She questioned what they have and made bad decisions. She has some freak out moments, indecisiveness, and cowardice, which may frustrate the readers. Not everything she done can be justified, but all those things were part of her growth. Sometimes she needs to make mistakes to learn something and appreciate more what she have. Readers just need to accept it and understand Lucy and her circumstances, because when we think about everything that is happening to them, it is really not easy to be on her shoes. She has lots of things to do on her own, lots of things to accept and understand, unlike Jude who is so sure with what he want. All the heartache, confusions and doubts are part of their story.
Jude is the better player in their relationship in this book. He grows a lot since the last time we met him in Crash. He is still possessive and hot tempered, but compare from the first book, he shows improvement in controlling his anger. In here he not only show so much love for Lucy but also his vulnerable side. He tried his best to understand Lucy and give her what she wants even the freedom he don’t want to dare to give. There is also the supportive version of him who is present in every Lucy’s performance, cheering her proudly. He is also much open with his feelings and will go a long way just to prove Lucy how much he loves her.
My heart broke for him on more than one occasion. As he tries to prove his love for Lucy time and time again, I can’t help but feel for him. Every time Lucy is asking for a break, it crushes him so bad, I almost wish I can do something for him to ease his pain. But Jude never gives up on Lucy, no matter how painful it is for him. Sometimes it feels that his only purpose in life is to convince Lucy that they belong together forever. He believes that there’s only one girl for him and his biggest fear is to really lose the girl.
“I just wanted you to know I’d be chasing after you right now, naked if need required it. But because I’m respecting your need for time and space, I’ll force myself to lie here in bed and pretend I’m asleep.”
I got teary when I am reading that part. That was the moment that I know Jude deserves more than happiness. He is selfless and loving. I can ignore all his possessiveness, and protectiveness, and I can also forgive his past mistakes, because I know he is doing everything he can do for his love. He is trying everything to make things right and will do anything to make Lucy happy, even if it means letting her go.
“I can forgive a man’s past faults, his present shortcomings, and his future failures if every minute of every day he loves me like it’s his religion.”
Nicole Williams writing is flowing as ever. Clash is addicting just like the first book, and in here, she balanced the heavy emotions with enough romance and swoon worthy scenes. And just like what she do to her characters, she is good in manipulating readers emotions. This book is a crazy hell ride of ups and down, and twist and turns. There are moments when I thought my heart will overflowed with joy as I assumed that the characters will finally get the happy ever after they deserved but then I am smack into oblivion of uncertainty, and all I can think is, “What the hell happened there?” Nicole Williams is a manipulative bitch, she can make you experience every inch of emotions like her characters in her book.
Just like Lucy and Jude’s relationship, Clash was an emotional roller coaster ride that will put your emotions through ups and downs. It was intense, crazy, and thrilling ride that will makes your heart ache, swoon, and beat so fast. It is a story about love, trust, and fighting for what you believe you deserve most. Because like in any relationships, love is not like a fairy tale, it not just about sweet and happy moments, sometimes you need to feel the pain and heart-ache to appreciate more the love that you have.
Before I end this review, let me leave you with one more lovely quote from the book.
“Mom told me that love is like a seed. You’ve got to plant it to grow. But that’s not all. You need to water it. The sun needs to shine just enough, but not too much. The roots have to take hold,” he continued, narrowing his eyes in concentration. “And from there, if it pops its head above the surface, there are about a million things that could kill it, so it takes a whole lot of luck too.”
“You can’t plant a seed and hope it will grow on its own. It takes a lotta work to make anything grow.”
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