Reviewed by PizzyGirl

TITLE: Welcome to Crash

AUTHOR: Lina Langley

PUBLISHER: DSP Publications

LENGTH: 214 pages

RELEASE DATE: September 12, 2017

BLURB:

At first, Damien feels lucky to land a job at an influential art studio, but it soon becomes obvious that something’s not right. His gorgeous boss, John, is interested, and he’d be the perfect man for Damien—if Damien wasn’t already in a relationship. It isn’t long before Damien is at the center of a love triangle, forced to choose between hot, punk John and his secret affair with his professor, Levi. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, because something impossible is happening to Damien—and it’s having a drastic effect on his health as well as his perception of reality.

Each time Damien goes to work, things grow more bizarre, starting with Sam—an artist who has been dead for years and now somehow… isn’t. Damien’s unusual circumstances also free him from the restrictions of monogamy—or so he thinks. Levi, who cannot believe Damien’s claims, fears for his sanity. John also has strong doubts when Damien reveals knowledge of a catastrophic event looming in John’s future. Whether the men he loves believe his wild claims or not, neither can deny Damien is languishing, and if they cannot save him, he’ll be lost. More importantly, they must convince Damien to save himself.

REVIEW:

PLEASE NOTE: There is a very brief mention of suicidal ideology and a reference to a past failed suicide attempt.

This was the weirdest story I have read in a long time. Yet at the same time it was so oddly compelling that I could not put it down! The author played to my romantic nature and had me hooked needing to know if all my hopes and dreams about the outcome of this story would be fulfilled. The only reason I did not finish Welcome to Crash in one sitting was because my body physically forced me to sleep.

I have to tell you that up until the ending, I was prepared to give this 5 stars and recommend this as one of my all time favorite stories of the year. It was so confusing, like I had stepped into the middle of the plot and missed all of the setup. Yet it never bothered me because the story had so much potential to be this utterly romantic thing that would leave me crying ugly tears of joy! I mean I literally got pissed at myself for not being able to stay awake until the ending because I NEEDED to know how things turned out!

But then the ending happened and I felt cheated. I felt like the story was unfinished and most of my questions were left unanswered. I felt betrayed because the ending was so cold and abrupt. None of my hopes came to fruition, which OK fine, they were external expectation I developed all on my own. So I can totally get over that. But what I could not get over was the way Damien was handled and the way the ending did not touch on some things I felt are vitally important in a science fiction story.

So warning this is going to have spoilers and I apologize for that. Please stop reading now if you don’t want to know what happens.

This was a time travel story. One in which a character actively took it upon himself to selfishly rewrite history. Yet the author never once addressed the consequences of said actions. When there is a book written detailing a death and then that death does not happen, somehow the reader needs to understand how that impacted the world as presented. Was it meant to be that way and current history always reflected the outcome of avoiding this death? Or was the change so significant that it was felt on all continents? I am assuming the latter since it was implied the original death had a profound impact. Removing said death should have had another impact entirely! But nope, nothing. It was as if it was perfectly normal and just accepted as such. This did not work for me at all.

And Damien, what an asshole! I mean he was selfish and self centered and just mean. He cheated and he knew it and tried to get away with it because it meant he could keep doing whatever he wanted however he wanted. He lived a hedonistic life never once stopping to consider how he impacted those around him. I was glad when Levi broke up with him. I was glad when his parents put their foot down. I was glad he finally had some consequences to his actions. But in the end, he NEVER GREW, he NEVER CHANGED. There was no development. For all his bluster about love and whatnot, he never grew out of his immaturity or showed any ability to even do so if he tried. He was a flat character and the ending did nothing to convince me he would ever change. It was implied that he would be getting all these second, third, fourth chances to do better, but you can’t convince me he deserved them.

I am giving this one 4 stars because it really left an impact on me. I think the writing style was fabulous and the author really gave a great story up until the ending. I feel that it was missing some very vital elements that I personally needed to feel that this story has reached its full potential but you may disagree. However, I will be keeping this author in my sights for the future because she is one hell of a storyteller.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

DSP Publications

Amazon