Crash Into Me

by Rachael Ogle

It was a perfect arrangement until it wasn't...What do you do when your best friend suggests you punch each other’s V-card? I mean, no one wants to graduate high school a virgin, right? For Brighten Dawes, it’s a perfectly logical solution to a pesky problem. For Flynn Tate, it’s a bit more complicated.

As the saying goes, once you pop, you just can’t stop. And neither do they. It’s called friends with benefits for a reason, right? And in this case, the benefits are excellent.

Brighten’s heart is set on a bright political future and she has no plans to ever include any sort of commitment in that future. And Flynn loves her enough to accept what she’s able to give, even if it means she’ll never fully be his. They were best friends first and forever. Nothing can change that, right?

Crash Into Me is a dual-POV, friends-with-benefits romance that spans over fifteen years. It’s full of angst and emotion and open-door love scenes. It is the fourth book in the Knox County series and can be read as a standalone.

432 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 20, 2023

About the author

For as long as she can remember, Rachael has been a voracious reader. At the age of eleven, she discovered her grandmother's stash of clench-cover romance novels and she was forever changed. A lover of many fictional men and one very non-fictional one, she strives to write real and emotional characters who always get their happily ever after. Rachael lives in East Tennessee with her husband and two sons on their family farm. When she’s not tackling her endless TBR, she can be found drinking all the coffee in existence.

Reviews

[Rebekah (Bekah) · Rating 4 out of 5]

First I want to say please make sure to read her triggers warnings list and make sure you will be ok getting through them.

This is the first book of Rachael’s I’ve ever read and I’m thankful she allowed me to be an arc reader for her. Having this be the first of her work I’ve read I’m glad it was. She’s helped me heal some loss I hadn’t realized I had not let go of yet.

Rachael has written a beautiful story of friends to lovers, heartbreak, to love in such a wonderful way. The character development in this book for all her characters are truly amazing and wonderful to follow.

We all want a father like Jude in our lives he’s caring, loving and just a wonderful man loving his kids friends like they’re his kids, teaching us to love ourselves and others with our whole hearts and souls. Making me cry and heal in ways I never saw coming.

Flynn oh sweet and wonderful Flynn, I know I want to be loved by someone the way Flynn loves Crash. The way he loves and would do anything for her made my heart ache in all the good ways we all want in life. He’s such a sweet, wonderful, caring, soul in this book that my heart broke when he experienced heartbreak. That alone almost made me DNF this book. But once I worked through it myself I finished this book.

Crash/Brighten is an experience, she’s broken and whole at the same time. She in many ways felt like I was reading a story about myself. Not letting people in, not realizing I loved someone until it was too late. I loved watching her grow and become something better and happy.

Thank you Rachael for meeting me be an arc reader for you again. This was a beautiful story.

I received this book for free as an arc and all opinions are mine and no one else’s.

[Yvette Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crash Into Me is the 4th book in the Knox County series and the first book I’ve read by Rachael Ogle. I absolutely loved it!! I cannot recommend it enough. It is dual POV, friends with benefits romance. I was lucky enough to read this ARC and this is my honest review. I suggest reading the trigger warnings before reading this book.

Flynn Tate (MMC) met Brighten Dawes (FMC) meet in high school after she crashed her bike at a construction site and was impaled on a piece of steel, he stayed with her until help came. After the accident he nicknamed her Crash and I loved it. Since that day they have been bff’s and are inseparable. Flynn has been in love with Brighten for years. Brighten has had a rough life and has kinda closed her heart off to love and relationships. She has goals and ambitions, marriage and kids are not in her future. They are bot incredibly smart and goal driven but very supportive of each other.

Flynn is the most patient, loving, most incredible man EVER. He would give her the world but takes whatever crumbs Brighten is willing to give him. Brighten can’t imagine her life without Flynn but also is afraid to open her heart. When Brighten finally realizes that she can’t live without him and the she is in love with him something happens and she has to make a decision to not only protect her future but his as well. A decision that will leave them broken hearted.

I not only loved the main characters I loved the side characters as well. I LOVED the 2 Jude’s, both were so wise and could see what others couldn’t. I loved Sully he could not have been a better friend to Flynn. This book made me laugh, made me angry, broke my heart and put me back together again. I give this book 4.75 stars so I’ll just round it up to 5. I highly recommend it. I have to go back and read book 1, 2, and 3 of the series.