Book Review: Collide by Melissa West

Collide (The Taking #3)
Author:  Melissa West
Publisher:  Entangled:  Teen, 320 pages
Expected Publication Date:  February 9, 2015
*ARC received from publisher via NetGalley

From Goodreads:
Military legacy Ari Alexander has survived alien spies, WWIV, and a changing world order. But when the new leader of Earth uses Jackson—the only boy she's ever let herself care about—to get to her, Ari has no choice but to surrender.

To free Jackson, she agrees to travel to the national bases to train others to fight. What she discovers is a land riddled with dying people. Ari has the power to heal by turning the fighters into aliens—half-breeds like her. If she succeeds, together, they have a chance at overthrowing the alien leader, Zeus. But if she fails, everyone she holds dear will be wiped away forever.

Once again, everything Ari’s come to believe is thrown into question. In a world of uncertainty, loyalties are tested, lies are uncovered, and no one can be trusted. If Ari and Jackson have any hope at survival and at preserving a life for the future, they must fight the final war with their eyes wide open.

Review:
I love this series.  Aliens, a ton of action, and a swoony romance.  What more could you ask for?  Oh yeah, absolutely no love triangle.  Plus the fact that Ari and Jackson work together in all three books.  It's not smooth sailing or anything, and Ari realizes that while she cares about Jackson, she doesn't really know him that well, but they work through their problems.  So while the attraction is there, the rest of the romance (including the trust) builds throughout the books.  

After the cliffhanger ending in Book 2 (a middle of the scene cliffhanger, by the way), I was anxious to get my hands on the last book of the series.  And it didn't disappoint.  There's barely any down time as they get ready for the attack from Zeus. So there's a lot of action and a high heartbreaking body count in this book as some beloved characters die.  But it's not an alien versus human book, which I liked.  There are good aliens and evil aliens.  Good humans and evil humans.  

Ari is an incredible main character.  She reminds me a bit of June from the Legend series, except for Ari shows a lot more emotion.  She's tough, she's been trained to be a warrior, and she can take care of herself.  And Jackson…oh Jackson, what a wonderful book boyfriend he is!  He never wavers in his feelings for Ari.  

For the most part, everything is wrapped up and there's even an epilogue that takes place years in the future, which was sweet.  I did have a couple of questions about certain motivations for certain people and the final climax seemed to end a bit too easily, but those are small things and didn't detract from my enjoyment of this series.  Highly recommend!

Posted by:  Pam