4 Star Book Review | Adrenaline Crush by Laurie Boyle Crompton

ADRENALINE CRUSH
by Laurie Boyle Crompton
Published: September 23rd, 2014
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Borrowed from the Library
Purchase: Amazon

When a daredevil teen pushes herself too far, she must choose between two boys: the one who wants to keep her safe, and the one who dares her to return to her old self.

Seventeen-year-old Dyna comes from a family of risk takers and is an avid thrill-seeker herself, until the day she splinters her ankle in a terrible fall. Her whole life goes from mountain biking and rock climbing to sitting at home and attending group sessions at the bizarre alternative healing center that her hippie mother found. The boy who witnessed Dyna’s accident believes her injury is a wakeup call and he encourages her mild new lifestyle, but a young Afghanistan War veteran she meets at the healing center pushes her to start taking chances again. Forced to face the consequences of her daredevil impulses, Dyna finds herself in danger of risking the one thing she’s always treated with caution—her heart.

Cover Review: 

The cover of Adrenaline Crush is really simple, with three basic colors - black, yellow, and a greenish color. I like that the cover is on the plain side, because the story goes into some pretty deep stuff, so the simplicity of the cover was the right way to go. The girl on the cover symbolizes Dyna really well, she's always looking for the next rush and revels in it. I usually don't like simple covers, but for this book it works for the best.

Book Review:

Dyna's family motto is Risk nothing. Do nothing. Die anyway. So they are a family of risk-takers, chasing the next adrenaline high. Dyna is out chasing such a high when she meets up on the trail with her classmate, Jay. It's at a hidden swimming hole that she goes a little too far and falls into the shallowest water and splinters her ankle. When she's forced to attend a new agey physical therapy group, she meets an eccentric group of people and a young war veteran named Pierce.

Dyna's recovery process was inspirational. At first, she kind of throws a fit about having to go and even stops at one point, but as she learns more about herself and the people in her group she really grows. That was probably my favorite part of this book, although the romance wasn't bad either.

When Dyna was first injured, her classmate Jay was there to save her. After she left the hospital they started a relationship. I really liked Jay in the beginning, but as their relationship seemed to become a little too co-dependant, Jay became controlling and I didn't like how he was trying to use her to get close to Pierce. With Pierce entering the picture, things went in a direction that I'm not really comfortable with.

This is where the cheating comes in. I, in no way, approve of cheating. At all. So when Dyna's attraction to Pierce went too far and she kissed him while still being with Jay, I wasn't happy. I may not have liked the direction her relationship with Jay was going, but it's not okay to cheat. Ever.

That being said, I do think that Pierce is a better fit for Dyna. Jay, with good intentions, was trying to repress who Dyna is, while Pierce encourages she to get back up and reclaim herself.  So out of the two guys, I do like Pierce better. One thing about Pierce that I liked was that he's looking for someone "remarkable" and he sees that in Dyna. That whole conversation was kind romantic. Both guys have their positives and negatives, so it's really up to you on who you prefer. But I didn't like Dyna's behavior when it came to both of them.

Finally, I just want to mention that this book has a great group of supporting characters. Dyna's family is weird, and hilarious, and totally out there. And her therapy group had a lot of interesting stories behind their injuries. I also really enjoyed reading their journeys as well.

Rating:

I gave Adrenaline Crush a 4 STAR rating. The poetry-like transitions sometimes interrupted my reading flow, but overall I really liked the writing style and story. I liked the journey Dyna took and Pierce was a dreamy, "remarkable" love interest. This was a great short, fast-paced read. Honestly, I wish there was more!


Author Links: Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Laurie Boyle Crompton is the YA author of ADRENALINE CRUSH (FSG/2014, Square Fish/2016), BLAZE (or Love in the Time of Supervillains), and THE REAL PROM QUEENS OF WESTFIELD HIGH (Sourcebooks/2013, 2014). Laurie graduated first in her class from St. John’s University with a BA in English and minor in Journalism. Since then she’s written for national magazines like ALLURE, survived a teaching stint at an all-boys high school, and appeared on Good Day New York several times as a Toy Expert. And yes, a ‘toy expert’ is an actual thing that people sometimes get to be.

She and her husband spent six months in England hiking all over the Cotswolds and learning to properly guzzle hot tea. She lives near NYC, but maintains a secret identity in New Paltz, NY where her family can often be found climbing over rocks or tromping through the forest. Her anti-eating disorder artwork can be found at dreamer-girl.com.