Crash Into Me by Robinne Lee + Book Club Discussion Questions
Crash Into Me by Robinne Lee is the highly anticipated new book by the author of The Idea of You. What did I think of Lee’s second novel and how do her two books compare? Let’s discuss, and you can grab my book club discussion questions!
Crash into Me by Robinne Lee releases July 7 2026 by St Martins Press. Thanks to St. Martins for sending me an advance copy!
Crash Into Me by Robinne Lee: My Thoughts
I loved this book and felt sad that the Goodreads rating (as of July 6) is a low 3.15.
Let’s discuss:
- why I loved Crash Into Me and who I’d recommend it to!
- what were the issues with the book for readers who disliked it
- how this book feels different from The Idea of You
Why I loved Crash Into Me and who I’d recommend it to
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I am a fan of upmarket commercial (aka “book club” ) fiction.
But I dislike books that I feel are trying to emotionally manipulate me.
I loved the subtlety and complexity of Crash Into Me. Cecilia, the female-in-midlife main character, struggles with identity, marital, and parenting issues as her movie director husband gets an offer he can’t refuse in L.A.
She agrees to pack up their kids and the cat and relocate to an unfamiliar city. Then she (literally) crashes into a former model she first met as a photographer’s assistant on a 1990s photo shoot in Cabo San Lucas.
This encounter dredges up feeling from the past she thought she’d packed firmly away: the agony of the boy who shattered her heart, and an incident on the shoot that she’s clearly uncomfortable remembering.
The model in question is Anouk, an extremely closed-off and mysterious character.
As she and Cecilia become friends and then more, Cecilia will end up questioning everything: her marriage, the move, and her relationship with Anouk.
I’d recommend this book to:
- Readers over the age of 40 (you’ll get it more)
- Readers who have intersectional identities (you’ll get Cecilia’s wondering where she fits in)
- Fans of literary fiction and character-driven fiction.
What Some Readers Disliked About Crash Into Me
Based on 2 and 3 star reviews on Goodreads, here are the most common complaints:
Slow pacing is mentioned the most, and/or that the book felt long.
The book didn’t feel long to me (that’s probably because I enjoyed it.) The overall vibe is reflective, with strong emotional undercurrents. Cecilia is a very self-contained person (until her outburst about R. Kelly) and the book is character driven.
Excessive Use of French in the text
What, really? Cecilia’s husband is French, they live in Paris, and she speaks French fluently. There are sentences in French but they are usually contextualized. As in, François speaks to her in French and she answers in English.
Cecilia as a “frustrating” protagonist.
Some readers found her unlikable and flat. Maybe we’ve all been reading too many angsty books where everyone is all TMI and super-dramatic? Or we’ve been exposed to too much rage bait content?
It’s also kind of American to want to narrate, discuss, and label every emotion. The author and her character are French, and the French are more like “C’est ce que c’est.”
Pretentiousness around the 1% L.A. scene.
The ultra-wealthy setting felt alienating and hard to relate to. YES, and the L.A scene is very alienating to Cecilia too!!!
The book doesn’t live up to The Idea of You.
It’s a very different book. (I included The Idea of You in my post on reverse age gap romance.)
I would call The Idea of You romance-adjacent.
Crash Into Me is definitely NOT a romance at all, and reads more like literary fiction or book club fiction.
Unsatisfying ending
Several readers felt the story (and its ending) left too much unresolved.
I can agree with this, but an unresolved ending is common in literary fiction. Yes, I would have liked to know how everything turned out. At the end present-day Cecilia does make a major decision, realizing that there are certain things in life that one must let go of. The book actually ends with 1996 Cecilia, who doesn’t yet get it.
I think letting go is a common practice in middle age and beyond. When you are young, everything is a possibility, but as your life experience grows, you realize that it’s okay to let go of people, expectations, and situations that aren’t serving you.
Thanks, Robinne Lee, for writing such a smart, compelling, and nuanced book. I enjoyed every word!
