Crushed was written by Laura and Tom McNeal. The book, published by Alfred A. Knopf, is 308 pages. The cover is a picture of three maids, which are best friends. By looking at the book cover I made a prediction that these three little maids would find themselves finding hatred in between their friendship and soon they wouldn’t be three little maids. About a third way through the book (pg. 135), Audrey Reed is in a relationship with Wickham Hill, who is hiding many secrets behind his drawl voice and calm smile. Audrey soon finds that Wickham is not the boy she thought he was. Meanwhile, Clyde Mumsford is trying to help Audrey realize what kind of person Wickham Hill is. I dislike how Audrey mistreats Clyde because she is so intrigued in Wickham Hill that she doesn’t realize who he really is. The pacing is nice and quick that it catches the reader’s interest before it can get boring and the authors’ get right to the point.About two-thirds through the book (pg.264), Audrey finds herself discovering that her best friend, Lea Woolcott, is in a relationship with Wickham Hill. At this point of view I feel really surprised because Lea, a very nice girl, back-stabbed her best friend by taking her boyfriend’s heart. The author is making an imagery of the scene when Audrey finds Wickham at Lea’s Zen party kissing her. I would never think that such a nice girl, like Lea, would do that to her best friend.Overall, this book was very interesting because it had a lot of unpredictable twists and turns. Laura and Tom did a fantastic job of making a very clear image of all the scenes and words. These authors’ took out their razor-sharp dialogue to this new novel of love-friendship, and the power of crushing secrets. I would recommend this book to young girls that like to read books with a lot of girl drama and how secrets can crush people.
Maybe 4 stars is too high a rating, but I found myself absorbed in this story more than I expected to.When our "good girl" heroine falls for a boy named Wickham, it's pretty clear what's going to happen. And it does, but I still ached for our heroine. There isn't much more similarity to Pride and Prejudice beyond the Wickham story and the general theme of misjudging people. I mean, Clyde is certainly no Mr. Darcy.The main characters were well defined and more than just stereotypes. I really liked Audrey and Clyde, and I certainly would have fallen for Wickham myself. He's a rake, but you still sympathize with him.
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The problem with this book is that I never had anyone to root for. I pretty much disliked every single character. I never understood them. Their behavior wasn't consistent.Take the heroine Audrey. At first she's a smart girl, school nerd, outcast. Then she's a naive rich girl. The two never quite matched up to make a complete whole.And the secondary characters felt like they were more conveniences than real people. This started with their names. Almost no one in the entire book has a name that sounds like a real teenager. Who names their child Wickham or Clyde or Sands?
—Rachel
I didn't know it when I started this book, but it's actually the third in a series. Series includes Zipped and, umm, something else. Not a series so much, because it doesn't matter AT ALL if you read the rest (I actually didn't realize it had related books until after I'd read it), but a collection of books about the same three girls. Anyway, this was much better than I had expected it to be. I was looking for fluffy teen drama to recommend to problem-novel loving girls. And to an extent that's what this is. But's it's also pretty well written and down right engaging. And the characters take some turns you don't expect. That's always nice.
—Marisa
