Review: The Inevitable Collision of Birdie & Bash by Candace Ganger

Title: The Inevitable Collision of Birdie & Bash
Author: Candace Ganger
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publish Date: July 25, 2017
Source: Publisher

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Birdie never meant to be at the party. Bash should have been long gone. But when they meet, a collision course is set off they may never recover from.

Sebastian Alvaréz is just trying to hold the pieces together: to not flunk out, to keep his sort-of-best friend Wild Kyle from doing something really bad, and to see his beloved Ma through chemo. But when he meets Birdie Paxton, a near-Valedictorian who doesn’t realize she’s smoking hot in her science pun T-shirt, at a party, an undeniable attraction sparks. And suddenly he’s not worried about anything. But before they are able to exchange numbers, they are pulled apart. A horrifying tragedy soon links Birdie and Bash together—but neither knows it. When they finally reconnect, and are starting to fall—hard—the events of the tragedy unfold, changing both their lives in ways they can never undo. Told in alternating perspectives, The Inevitable Collision of Birdie & Bash by Candace Ganger is a beautiful, complex, and ultimately hopeful teen novel that will move you to the very last page."

My Two Cents:

In "The Inevitable Collision of Birdie and Bash," Birdie and Bash meet at a party. Birdie isn't supposed to be at the party. Bash is trying to escape from everything else in his life by going to the party. Bash is trying to do the same. At the time, neither of them can imagine the inextricable ways that their lives will be tied forever more.

On its surface, this book seems like fun romp but it is so much more than that. This book is filled with a lot of drama and questions about whether its better to hide or its better to tell the truth even with the truth has the power to rip people apart. I loved seeing the main characters and the secondary characters in the book explore what this meant for each of them throughout the book. You're pulling for the truth the whole time but the author keeps you guessing so that you are not sure on what side the characters are going to end up until the very end. I love when a book can keep me on my toes like that!

The characters really make this book. I really liked how the author gave depth to not only the main characters but the secondary characters as well (Birdie's sister and Bash's friend, Kyle - OMG! Both of these characters!). Birdie has a pretty good life. Yeah, she fights with her sister and yearns for a closer relationship. Yeah, she just lost a scholarship but things are okay until the unimaginable happens and Birdie suddenly realizes how good her family had it. Bash is struggling. His mother (the only person that she really has in the entire world) is dying and he is doing everything he can to try to forget about it. He can't confront what his life might/ will be like when he loses his mother. This book goes deep and makes you care about these characters so much.

I was left wanting the ending to draw out a bit more so we could see what happens to these characters and their families after the book ends but this isn't one of those books that would ever lend itself well to a sequel. There is a bit of beauty in the way the author left it: open with a good dose of hope for the future.