Crushed by Dawn Rae Miller
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I’m always leery about a book when an author approaches me for a review… I mean, what if I hate it… what if I can’t make myself finish it. There’s so much pressure. Thankfully that is not what happened here.
Upon reading the summary for Crushed I was immediately excited. I mean first… it’s in a male pov, which almost will have me on board. But that’s not the only thing that had me intrigued.
For seventeen year old Fletch Colson, life is a game and if he plays by the rules, he’ll win it all: his dream college, his parents’ money and a hot (if a little vapid) girl on his arm.
Fletch Colson and his friends are the exact reason you should be afraid to send your kids to college… or boarding school in this case. He lives a life of privilege, his parents are loaded and he hasn’t had to struggle for anything in his life. He’s smart and cute and girls fall at his feel.
Every summer he and his friend Cal ‘hook up’, but once they are back to school, things go back to normal. He hooks up with anyone and everyone completely ignoring her. Only this summer he admits something to her and she basically throws it in his face. Back at school everyone assumes it’s him who’s hurt her in some way.
Why is this so hard? Why do I care so much?
I’m not supposed to care. Not about Calista. Not about feelings.
I’m Fletch Colson, star student, man-whore, and occasional pothead.
That’s how my friends see me.
A growing friendship with Ellie Jacobs, a girl he’s attracted to but has committed to a “just friends” relationship with is a huge part of this story. She’s beautiful and sees him for who he really is.
Suddenly, everything that has been planned for him his whole life isn’t as clear as it was, and while Fletch definitely lives up to his reputation I did feel bad for him when the expectations of his life became so overwhelming.
I never disliked a girl more than Calista at points in this story. I get what her part in all this was supposed to be, but I never felt an ounce of sympathy for her.
I will say that having never been to boarding school, one hopes that this isn’t an accurate portrayal… and at times I felt maybe it would be more appropriate setting something like this in a college atmosphere since a lot of the story revolved around drinking, doing drugs and having sex. It makes me want to home school my child on the off chance that even a tiny bit of this is accurate. Maybe this is how the very rich live, I don’t know, but it scares the ever living shit out of me.
All that being said, this was an enjoyable read. I found myself empathizing with Fletch and when the end rolls around I was very happy with the outcome. With excellent pacing and flow, the only thing I’d have liked more of is some better development of the other characters.
If you’re looking for a coming of age story that has a narrator that’s more complicated than he first seems… this might be the story for you.
This does have some very adult situations (sex, drugs) so keep that in mind when picking it up to read.
A copy of this book was provided for an honest review.
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