Love and First Sight by Josh Sundquist

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Love is more than meets the eye.

On his first day at a new school, blind sixteen-year-old Will Porter accidentally groped a girl on the stairs, sat on another student in the cafeteria, and somehow drove a classmate to tears. High school can only go up from here, right?

As Will starts to find his footing, he develops a crush on a sweet but shy girl named Cecily. And despite his fear that having a girlfriend will make him inherently dependent on someone sighted, the two of them grow closer and closer. Then an unprecedented opportunity arises: an experimental surgery that could give Will eyesight for the first time in his life. But learning to see is more difficult than Will ever imagined, and he soon discovers that the sighted world has been keeping secrets. It turns out Cecily doesn’t meet traditional definitions of beauty—in fact, everything he’d heard about her appearance was a lie engineered by their so-called friends to get the two of them together. Does it matter what Cecily looks like? No, not really. But then why does Will feel so betrayed?

Wowwwwwww that was so much better than I could have ever expected from this little book.

To be honest, when I won this in a contest, I kind of went oops. I didn’t know anything about the book other than it had a pretty pretty cover…and that’s it. So, when I picked up this book, I didn’t have much faith in it, and it ended up being SO GOOD.

I really enjoyed Will’s voice. He had a very realistic feel to him, and he just had a great voice. I felt for him, and I got him. I rooted him on, and I wanted him to succeed. I felt so invested into him, and he was just a great contemporary narrator. We so rarely see male MCs in YA contemporaries, and honestly he might be my favorite that I’ve read.

The writing was fantastic as well. It was just so easy to read. I honestly just sat down and binge read this in one long sitting. It had a fantastic flow, and it was just so quick to go through. I definitely would pick up another book by Sundquist without a doubt.

I liked the plot as well. Sundquist brought both sides of the issue up. I am not blind, so I can’t speak to the rep given and how accurate it was; however, from the depth and little things that were brought up, it really seemed like Sundquist did his research. It felt so realistic and accurate. He showed the ins and outs, and made you think about things. I think he did a really good job with it, and with the surgery and Will adapting to the non-blind school. Then you slip in the romance and it was just a really fun, cute book full of fluff and fun.

Speaking of the romance, it was ADORABLE. I was feeling the feels. I saw the cuteness and just basked in it. So much cutenesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

Ariel is all for the feels and not having all of the senses. She was mute for a while.

The only main issue that I had with the story was the second part of the book. It had a few more boring parts (even though it was showcasing the realistic and real effects but it did feel the pacing did a slow halt). And the very last big thing of the book? It felt SO unrealistic and unbelievable for a book that had done SO well with the realness and realistic. I just kept blinking at the book going, wait, WHAT? It was still fun, but it just felt quite like it didn’t quite fit and was an odd ending.

Overall, this was such a fun book. It was such a solid, good, fun four crowns for this book. I enjoyed this book far more than I thought I would, and it was just a feel good, little contemporary. The romance, the writing, and the main character was fantastic. The ending was a little crazy, and it did lag a bit in the second half. Four crowns and an Ariel rating!

What do you think? What was the last book that caught you by surprise? And what book was your last binge read? Let’s discuss in the comments below!