Crash Test Love

Crash Test Love

By: Ted Michael

The last thing Henry Arlington wants is a girlfriend. He's just very, very good with girls—reading their body language, knowing what they want to hear, and more importantly: getting them into the backseat of his car. But all that changes when he meets Garrett Lennox at one of the many Sweet Sixteen parties he crashes.

Garrett thinks she's done with guys. She was dumped by her ex when she moved from Chicago to Long Island, and now she realizes that she needs to find out who she is by herself, instead of with a boyfriend. What she really needs is some good friends.

Fortunately for Garrett, the J Squad—the "it" girls of East Shore High School—want her in their clique. All she has to do is pass one little test: get East Shore god Henry Arlington to take her to one of the biggest Sweet Sixteens of the year, then dump him in front of everyone.

Garrett has promised herself not to fall for another guy, so playing with Henry's heart shouldn't be hard. Right?

And Henry doesn't fall for girls, so when he and Garrett start to click, it doesn't matter. Does it?

As William Shakespeare once said, "Love is blind," or in this case, the lovers may be, as Henry and Garrett fall in love—and into the trap that awaits them. Because neither of them can even begin to see what the girls of Henry Arlington's past have in store.

summary from book

My Rating: 3.5/5 

Crash Test Love is a great read filled with romance, character growth, and humor as well as many other elements that I love in storytelling. I was originally very drawn to the premise (I'm a sucker for contemporary YA romance novels as well as alternating points of view between the two main characters) which although not the most original, is still captivating and intriguing in its own right. I know I've mentioned this before in a past review or two (bare with me if you've read it before) but for me, I don't mind reading about a well known storyline that has been used multiple times before. It's all about how the author takes a familiar topic and makes it their own. I've read countless stories where the general plot is the same yet the end result is always different. Each author will most definitely bring something new and interesting to the table which I look forward to discovering.

As far as the plot goes, I feel as if it could have wavered into heavily cliched territory but for the most part it was realistic and not what you'd expect based off of past books or films that ring similar in theme to this novel. The ending was fantastic as well as the character growth that lead up to it. I wish I could post the last and final paragraph in this novel because I just loved how it was worded and how everything was brought to a close. Some books just have those hard hitting endings that wrap everything up wonderfully. I was right about a few things going into this one but as it progressed, I found myself being surprised quite a few times at where the author Ted Michael took things.

Character wise, I enjoyed Garrett and Henry a lot. I feel I was more drawn to Henry and I think it's because of his honesty. From the beginning he tells it like it is and although I didn't agree with him, I still sympathized with his situation and once the underlying reasons for his actions were revealed, I understood him a lot more. He also did the most growing which was nice to see. The alternating points of view really made this story that much better. Had it only been one sided, told in its entirety either by Garrett or Henry alone, it wouldn't have had the same impact. The supporting characters were fun as well. I'd say that my favourite would have to be the J Squad just because they have some great one liners that made me laugh a handful of times.

Overall: Crash Test Love is a fun book with a great message that will keep you very entertained.