Review ~ Crashed (The Driven Trilogy #3) by K Bromberg

Reviewed by Donna ~ 4.99 stars!! (Yes I know, but Fueled just topped it for me!)

“I’m all alone. All alone except for the comfort of those I’ve waited a lifetime to arrive. My decision’s been made. The superheroes finally came.”

Anyone who knows me knows I am a HUGE Kristy Bromberg fan, from the minute I picked up Driven those many moons ago, Rylee and Colton had me totally and utterly captivated and Fueled just drove them home to a permanent place in my heart and head. That is the beauty of Kristy Bromberg’s writing, she manages to instil her characters indelibly and unreservedly into your heart, her fluid words eat at you slowly and you live and breathe their story, they become your friends and family.

So, picking up Crashed was bittersweet, while I was excited to start the final instalment in their amazing journey, it also meant that this was the end. This was the end that I never wanted to see and still don’t. I think I am going to have to petition Kristy to #writekristywrite, while I am excited to read Beck’s story, personally I feel there is more to Colton and Rylee and I for one want to read more. Am I being greedy? Probably! Do I care? Nope, I want some more and no doubt so will a lot of other readers.

We all remember the killer ending of Fueled, I don’t think I have even recovered, even now, well Kristy is well renowned for her beginnings and her endings and this book is no different. The prologue will have you totally and utterly captivated from the start, in fact I don’t think I moved until I had finished the book, the world stood still, thank god I started it at night so the only thing that suffered was my sleep, because nothing was going to come between me and those words I never wanted to read “The End.”

Unsurprisingly, this book was extremely emotional, this is what Kristy does best, emotive writing. You feel the pain, you feel the love, you feel the sadness, you feel the happiness, you feel, feel every freaking word. It is this style that keeps your eyes glued to every page in every chapter. As much as I wanted to get to the end, I couldn’t do a quick read of this one, I savoured it, I devoured it and as a first for me, I read it slowly, extremely slowly. These characters deserved my undivided attention and they got it.

“Remember, life isn’t about how you survive the storm, but rather how you dance in the rain.”

I will start with Rylee, she really developed in this book, she became stronger, she evolved, yes she still had her moments of weakness and self-doubt, but she really found her back bone. She had to fight in this book and she did it brilliantly. You felt her pain, you felt her heart break, she goes through the mill, but you go through it with her. There were many tears spilled reading this book and none more so at times for Rylee. But this woman has spunk, she never gives up and this I love about her. She always knows what Colton needs, she knows when to push, she knows when to hold back but most of all, you feel the love she feels for him radiate off the page. It is this love that is all encompassing, that pulls you in to this beautiful story and is like crack, you cannot stop reading.

“You could never be inconsequential.”
Colton, my my my, those words haunted me again in this book…

“Spiderman. Batman. Superman. Ironman.”

Never have four words that mean so little, mean so much…it was these four little words that killed me in Fueled and for a while they decimated me in Crashed. He is in my No1 BBF spot, he is tied, as I am greedy, but this broken man wheedled his way into my heart from the beginning, there was something about him, something that drew me to him, maybe it was his back story, maybe even his inner demons that I wanted to quell, but that mix of swagger together with his lack of self-belief and his stunted emotions, I couldn’t help but “race” him even more in this book.

“Remember, hurting is feeling and feeling is living, and isn’t it good to be alive?”

He really does go through it in this book, not only does he have to recover physically, but he needs to come terms with his own emotional wellbeing. He does a lot of soul searching in this book; he needs to fix the broken before he can move on completely. He knows that Rylee deserves 100% and he wanted to give it to her. He wanted to give himself completely and unequivocally and it was this that led to more tears for me. To live and breathe this with him was heart breaking but on the other hand heart-warming. You witness the slow metamorphosis, you see the eureka moment and you are patiently waiting excitedly for the moment that Colton realises he has succeeded, the one where he finally realises that he can love and he can finally live.

“Relationships aren’t easy. They’re hard and can be brutal at times… but those are the times you learn the most about yourself. And when they’re right…” “they can be like coming home…finding the rest of your soul…”

Kristy, I am speechless, it has taken a long time for me to write this and a couple of re-reads in between. I wanted to do this book and series justice, but trying to get the words onto paper was sooo difficult. I now appreciate #writersblock. All I can say is that this is one of my favourite series, one that I still struggle to believe was written by a new author. Someone that has bled their heart and soul onto the pages, you feel the love for these characters, you see the growth in her writing and you can’t help but sit back in amazement and revel in what you have just read. This series is one of my go to books, it never fails to pull me out of a funk and I cannot wait to see what Kristy has in store for us next. Whatever it is, you can be guaranteed of my 1click.

“A to motherfucking Z.”

Unbelievably brilliant, totally loved it, and the epilogue gahhhhh the epilogue, freaking loved it.

“Nothing but sheets.”