Sofia Grey shares some of her inspiration behind her new novella, Crash Into You–including a music video and the book trailer!
I dig my toes into the sand.
The ocean looks like a thousand diamonds strewn across a blue blanket.
I lean against the wind, pretend that I am weightless and in this moment I am happy.
[Chorus:]
I wish you were here
I wish you were here
I wish you were here
I wish you were here.
Watch the official video:
In Crash Into Love, Cass spends a lot of time on the beach. It’s where she has her first encounter with Jonah, the much younger guy staying next door.
Heading out for my morning walk, I was surprised to see signs of life from next door, one of the guys sitting at the bottom of their steps, facing out to sea. It was barely nine in the morning. No self-respecting student would be up yet. His hair obscured by a hoodie, I wondered if he’d notice me.
Dark eyes swiveled to me as I walked past. When he saw me, he shoved the hood back and nodded a greeting, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips.
“Morning,” he murmured.
Surprised, a little unsettled, I paused. “Hey,” I managed and then picked up my pace and headed for the beach, putting some distance between us, yet still feeling his gaze upon me.
Cass thought spending a month at a beachside hideaway relaxing and collecting shells would be the perfect escape to finish her novel. When she meets the dark and brooding and much younger Jonah, who’s staying next door, her book becomes the last thing on her mind.
Jonah would rather stay home alone than go on vacation with his brother and their friends, but does his best to tolerate the situation after being convinced to go. But when he sees the beauty next door, he can’t avoid his attraction.
Together, they break all the rules, but will Cass be able to bring Jonah out of his shell forever, or will he leave her with only the crash of the surf to keep her company?
I enjoyed Crash Into Love—it has a great premise; a just-about-to-be-single writer crashes (see what I did there? 😉 ) at the beach for some peace and quiet—she’s having a bit of writer’s block and is on deadline—only to have a bungalow full of young people move in next door. Watching them from the outside, the group inspires her to take her writing in a new direction. One of the vacationers—a lone man, slightly older than the rest of the group—inspires something else.
Jonah—the single guy—is a bit of a mystery to Cass, the writer. She can’t get a handle on him: one minute he’s carrying her groceries for her, following her into her beach house; the next he’s completely ignoring her. Fresh from a not-so-friendly marital split, Cass’s self-confidence isn’t exactly at a high point. She’s cautiously optimistic when he appears to be interested (because, let’s face it; he’s young and hot!) but instantly doubts herself the minute he seems to turn cold (also because he’s young and hot—while she feels anything but).
Jonah is a mystery, it turns out—he’s got a pretty heavy-duty secret weighing him down. Can Cass have enough trust in herself—and in him—to help him get around it?
Crash Into Love is told first person from Cass’s point of view, so we don’t know what is going on in Jonah’s mind until he shares that information with her. Once we do, the story is almost over—this is one novella that I would have liked to have seen expanded into a longer story, though it does stand well on its own. We just didn’t get enough of Jonah’s story to satisfy this reader. 😉
Still, it was a pleasant way to spend a weekend. I will definitely be looking for more from Sofia Grey in the future.
Rating: 4 stars / B+
I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.