Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

This book isn’t your normal love story,

It deals with loss, grieve and with how friendship and counselling can help you to overcome the pain, and help find a way to happiness again.

It’s a beautifully written story, written by a very talented writer in a very sensitive way,

Highly Recommend It.

At First Sight hits hard, and I'm not entirely sure I was expecting that. It can be hard to properly discuss mental health and things like suicide, especially in a romance, but Hannah Sunderland does so extremely well. Still, at times, I found it difficult to get through, but that is likely my fault. I don't think I was personally in the proper headspace for a book like this.

While this story did deal with the serious topic of suicide/loss, I feel that the author did a good job making it part of the story but developed the characters beautifully so they could take us through the journey. It tugged at my heartstrings and I appreciated how well it was written. I will say it took me a bit to stick with it- I felt the beginning was a bit of a hurdle so that's why I did not rate it higher. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Nell meets Charlie for the first time in a cafe and sparks fly; however, they part without providing any contact info. They meet again in a truly once in a lifetime fashion.

I thought I was in for a typical Rom-Com, my favorite, but this was so much more than that.

Don't let the cover fool you, it's not all light and airy. There are some deep topics covered. Some of which are uncomfortable and sad. At times they are handled with levity and sometimes with seriousness. I liked the balance between the two. It was perfect.

This was such a REAL book. Everything wasn't easy, most things actually weren't, just like life. This book moved me so much. It also made me laugh. It even had me believing in fate and a bit of magic.

There is a quote that really moved me: "I held my future and my past and I didn't want to let go of either of them."

TW: Nell works for a mental health hotline so discussions of depression and suicide are covered.

Thank you Avon Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This got 3.5 Stars from me!

This book was literally nothing like I was expecting. The synopsis makes it seem like a light romance but it was NOT. The book approached issues ranging from suicide to grief— so not a super light read.

That being said I did enjoy the book, it was good and I was happy that things were resolved in the end. I understand this was a book but things seemed to resolve almost a little too nicely. The book was laugh out loud funny at times while also addressing really big topics in a way that was easier to digest.

The characters have a chance encounter that leads to them moving on and changing their lives. Their chemistry seemed to fluctuate for me— it seemed like sometimes they were so involved in dealing with their own things that their conversations took a hit.

Overall I enjoyed the book, the writing was good and so was the plot. I am definitely interested in reading more from the author.


Thank you for the opportunity to review!

At First Sight is the kind of book that can have you believing that storybook kind of romances can happen in real life. This was a wonderful, sweet, romantic read that dealt with emotional and string topics in the perfect balance.

Charlie and Nell hit it off after meeting in a coffee shop. They by chance come into each other's lives again, as if they are made for each other. Charlie isn't ready for a relationship though and Nell has to deal with her job at a suicide hotline. Watching these two grow and find their happiness was wonderful.

I really enjoyed Sunderland's writing and the way they smoothly mixed character development, deep topics, plot, and romance altogether. I would love to read another book from them.

I would really recommend this to someone who wants a slightly more somber read with all of the beautifully sweet moments of a typical romance book. I really enjoyed this book.

- 4 stars -
Thank you to NetGalley, Avon Books UK, and Hannah Sunderland for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Very Nearly Normal was in my top 5 books of last year and I was excited to read Hannah’s new book At First Sight. It definitely did not disappoint, Nell and Charlie have found a special place in my heart.

Please be aware this book may cause some triggers as it explores grief, depression and suicidal thoughts throughout. That being said, please do not think that this book is bleak. Think of it more of an exploration of tough subjects that surround us everyday in society, those that are not often spoken about.

On a personal level, my family were rocked by an attempted suicide almost ten years ago that has left my Uncle permanently disabled. Since this happened I have often wanted to explore the questions of why and what ifs?

Hannah writes in such a way that will leave you with both tears of sadness and joy. Nell is an absolute sweetheart who goes above and beyond to protect those she loves, unashamedly protective and selfless. When her and Charlie meet, neither could determine how much of an impact each would have on each other. A love quickly developed but both were honest enough to know they were not in a position to be in a relationship.

Alongside the tough subject matters, Hannah allows the characters to also be fun and often humorous. Special shout out to Uncle Carrick and Ned - those guys were great father like figures. The essence of Ireland was truly captured and I enjoyed meeting Charlie’s friends and family.

There is so much to explore in this book that I don’t want to spoil anything but please pick it up!

A beautiful story of grief and the impact of strangers.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters snd the plot were well developed and the book was written at a good pace. I’m looking forward to reading more from this author!

I adored Hannah Sunderland’s debut novel Very Nearly Normal last year, so I was delighted when I was accepted for a copy of her follow-up. Emotionally charged flecked with sparks of joy, At First Sight is a beautiful unique story.

Nell works the phones at a mental health charity, where she spends her days helping people during times of great distress. On her lunch break, she gets chatting to a handsome Irish stranger called Charlie at her favourite cafe but when they don’t trade numbers, she’s pretty sure she’ll never see him again. Then a familiar Irish lilt comes through the phone at work.

Nell is compassionate, empathetic and observant -all qualities that make a fantastic therapist. She finds it very hard to let go of past pain and she seems to take on the pain of others. This actually makes her incredibly emotionally mature and she continued to amaze me as the story progressed.

Charlie is wonderfully charming but there’s a hidden well of darkness and mystery surrounding him. When the source of it is revealed, my heart went out to him. As more of the story unraveled, I began to realise that only someone as emotionally strong as Nell could help him get through it. I began to will Charlie to realise this and to hold on tight with both hands to the friendship that he and Nell built.

Given the nature of Nell’s work, the book has a lot to say on mental health. Indeed, a lot of the plot revolves around mental health issues and the devastating effects they can have. There are some lovely wise paragraphs where Nell explicitly talks about the importance of seeking help and openly discussing our problems. I can almost hear the author behind Nell’s voice letting her readers know that it’s ok not to be ok. Wise, profound words that could easily reach someone at exactly the right time.

Death and grief are other strong themes in the book. The notion that it’s inevitable is an ever-present motif, which reminds us of the fact that our time on this Earth is limited and we actually never know when the end will come. Spending big portions of our limited time not living life to the fullest is always a waste.

It’s also a novel about love in all its forms. It’s full of celebrations of platonic, familial and romantic love as well as the ghosts of past love that continue to haunt the characters’ present lives. When I finished the book, I was left with the thought that some love stories leave a permanent impression on our lives and because of that, they’ll always be a part of us, even when they’ve ended. If someone has been lucky enough to have experienced a love like that, it will only ever make them richer and stronger.

At First Sight is a romantic, uplifting, thoughtful and hugely heartbreaking book. It will make you laugh, cry, gasp and pretty much everything in between. You’ll probably recognise yourself in one of the characters and they may even teach you that you can overcome seemingly insurmountable things. Overall, it’s a story of unique friendship, learning to trust the process and the incredible things that humans can achieve when they discover their inner strength.

At First Sight is a book that gives you all the feels. I laughed. I cried. I hoped. Nell's charming character faced life with bravery, enthusiasm, and strength. She had an unmatchable faith in people, and you couldn't help but adore her. Charlie's loneliness and grief was so palpable, you felt it in your own heart. At First Sight is a beautiful and emotional story of a second chance at life and love.

This is a definite case of the blurb hiding a major part of the story when it really shouldn't. This story is about grief, mental health, suicidal ideation, and death of a spouse, elements that are not hinted at anywhere. Judging by the cover, you'd expect a typical feel-good romance. So I can imagine quite a lot of people would pick this up, only to be disappointed by the end of the second chapter.

That's not to say that this story isn't great in how it handles those heavy topics. In all honesty, the way it discusses mental health was very open and informative. But that's also where it stops for me. The characters themselves were rather dull and flat, their chemistry non-existent. Two pretty major flaws when it comes to a romance.

Second chances, coping with grief and serendipity all make this romantic story an enjoyable read. Nell and Charlie meet by chance and feel the attraction, but as they don't know each other's contact details, they think they won't meet again, but they do. Initially, Charlie has secrets that keep them apart, but gradually he shares his pain, and they form a connection.

This story explores grief and mental health issues which gives this serendipitous love story something that resonates. An engaging read with relatable characters, contemporary issues and a little magic.

I received a copy of this book from Avon Books UK via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hannah Sunderland for an advanced copy in return for my honest review. At First Sight is available to read now!

Though she loves her job at the crisis call center, Nell is starting to feel stuck in life. On a quick lunch break at her favorite café, she finds herself sitting across from a handsome man, Charlie. Failing to get his number before they departed Nell is convinced she’s lost her change. By happenstance, they find each other through the call line when he calls about a family member he is concerned about. But Charlie has a few secrets of his own and every time he and Nell get close, he disappears.

I really enjoyed this book, especially the ending. Everything was tied up into a perfect bow, which doesn’t always happen with books. I will say I found some parts of the story to be dragged out a little more than I felt they needed to be. Overall, this was a great read but be prepared for some heavy topics – trigger warning for suicide.

CONTENT WARNINGS: Loss, grief and mention of suicide.

My expectations of this book was that is was going to be stereotypical romance where two people meet and fall in love 'At First Sight' but boy was I wrong. This is a story about grief and the process of coming to terms with your loss and how this process is unique to everyone who experiences it.

Nell is such a wonderful character. Her job at a suicide prevention helpline, her caring nature, her loyalty, her wit, her humour. I just adored her so much. Charlie's character at first is slightly mysterious. There is something he is hiding from Nell and he us struggling to disclose something to her. Charlie's character development is amazing. You learn throughout as to why Charlie behaves in certain ways and my heart went out to him throughout.

I had no idea how this story was going to pan out in the end but it did not end how I was expecting it to. The story is raw and real and I cannot stress how important I feel it is that a book has explored a mental health storyline in a realistic way.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Avon Books UK and Hannah Sunderland for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review!

This book was such a good read. It was a slow burner in the sense that the story wasn't fast paced but it didn't need to be. It was tied together perfectly with the characters coming together at different stages and the story, although touching on very sensitive and serious matters, it was done with respect and very sensitively. Hannah is a great author and I love her books.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers and the author for the privilege to read this book for my honest opinion

At First Sight is not your usual love story. The poignant novel is told from Nell's perspective, who meets Charlie at a coffee shop one day and then happens to take his call at the mental health helpline where she works the following evening. They meet up and Nell is instantly charmed by the Irishman, but it turns out he has a lot of secrets to share.

At First Sight is a book about life, love, loss, grief and serendipitous moments. I found Nell to be a likeable and caring character and I thought her relationship with Charlie was both real and honest, even if it did focus a bit too heavily on fateful moments. However, because the book was primarily about Charlie's past experiences, I would have appreciated hearing from his perspective. I believe this insight would have given the book more depth and emotion. Overall, if you're looking for a romance novel with a difference, I encourage you to check out At First Sight and Sunderland's debut novel, Very Nearly Normal, which I adored last year.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beautifully written and heartwarming - At First Sight is a romance with great drama, to really sink into and lose yourself in an uplifting, yet emotional rollercoaster of a read. It is entrancing and hard to put down. So it's very worth getting a lovely cup of tea/coffee/glass of wine etc and getting comfortable for this wonderful book.
Thanks to publisher Avon Books for inviting me to the cover reveal months ago and then to invite me to review.

Charlie and Nell catch that first sight of each other. The connection oozes off the page!
Life however, hadn't been easy for Nell when she was with Joel as events swept through their lives, tearing them apart, but love isn't that simple as he complicates matters and the water had been muddied, when she was trying to move on. Charlie is also quite the mysterious man to unravel. He is, in contrast, very lovely, but has a secret surrounding him. It adds to the intrigue as the "will they, won't they?" question mounts. It's written all very compellingly and more than I expected as romance simmers and boils over, but with emotional times in Charlie's life, it just gets deeper and complicated goes up another notch with his reactions to anything about his family start to show. All this and Charlie's sudden disappearances make for an tension to build, that hooks and reels you in further and further to the end as curiosity builds and an absolute need to know how it all ends as it twists and turns and keeps you guessing. These are lives that are easy to get caught up in.

With powerful romance, some mentions of loss, grief and suicide, fabulous characters this is an absolutely terrific read to settle into and be whisked away for awhile in a wonderfully written romantic story that has so much hope attached to it.

Synopsis:

At First Sight is a hard hitting book on suicide.

It follows Nell who works at a suicide hotline center with her roommate Ned. She is struggling with her ex, Joel. She was raised by her single mother and rarely sees her but when she talks to her mother, she is always trying to get her to go out on dates but she doesn’t know that she is still having an occasional meet up with Joel. Nell meets a new guy, Charlie and it begins.

Review:

This touches on relationships with exes, suicide, breakups, new relationships with the complicated life experiences you bring with you to it, family, deception of our own guilt, and more.

The first 30% of this book had me regretting it and struggling to get through. There were lots of everyday situations drawn out. You know the mundane things we read to get away from.

Overall, it ended up not being so bad. I did like that Nell and Charlie didn’t just jump into bed together. So if you like slow burn relationships maybe this will peek your interest.

However, if you are looking for a light fluffy romance novel then this is definitely not the book to choose. It is pretty heavy at times and not as much romance as you might expect from a romance novel. There wasn’t much to go on when I was reading what this book was about. I think there was 2 or 3 sentences and it made it seem like Nell and Charlie would meet up and the romance would begin. So, I sort of expected it to be a bit more of a traditional fluff love story than it turned out to be.

Description

**TRIGGER WARNING: Loss, grief and mention of suicide**
Two strangers. Two chance meetings. One extraordinary love story…

Nell and Charlie feel a spark when they meet by chance in a cafe. But they don’t trade numbers, or surnames, so there’s no way they’ll meet again.
But the next day, Nell’s phone rings at work. Somehow, impossibly, Charlie is on the other end. And he needs her help.
Nell is about to save a life, fall in love … and risk everything for a perfect stranger.



The pacing was extremely slow for me and I struggled with that.

The suicide parts were pretty realistic, I thought. I think it is definitely a tough subject to get through and to share with others on a realistic basis. It is good to show that it might be anyone you come across on you day to day.

If you or anyone you know is contemplating suicide please get help. There is help out there.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 800-273-TALK (8255)

I’d like to thank NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was so much more than I thought it would be. Based on the editors blurb I was anticipating mostly light meet cute, rom com HEA with a cute nice story in between. It was that and so much more. Nell is a kind, compassionate person who is all about helping others. While at the local cafe grabbing lunch she finds the only seat available is at the dreaded communal table. When handsome Charlie asks if he can sit next to her she is truly flummoxed and has mostly lost the ability to form full coherent sentence! After they finish he leaves and she spends hours mentally berating herself for not trying to make a further connection with him. Surprisingly the next day she picks up the phone at work, where she is a mental health counselor and finds Charlie on the other end of the line. And so begins their journey to helping a friend, love. life, laughter, discovery. While their story line is beautifully written what I found must compelling was how the author treated such difficult and often verboten subjects with such grace, kindness and respect. Weaving in themes such as depression, loss, suicide, mental illness in general is handled in a cursory manner and glossed over and tied up with a bow in a few short pages. I found this is wonderfully emotional read and though did need quite a few tissues it was worth every single one of them. I am so glad I read this book and look forward to what this author has to offer up next.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.

I will start by saying I really enjoyed this love story.
If you are looking for a happy rom-com, then this is not the book for you. This book is for people who want to hear about second chances at love.
For Nell, meeting Charlie is a chance at real love, after breaking up with her previous boyfriend. And for Charlie, meeting Nell is a chance at confronting his grief, and maybe find a way to "go on".

This was a really touching story to read, sad given the matters at hand, but ultimately full of hope for better tomorrows.
I liked that the dialogue felt more real than some other stories you can read, with characters you care about.

The only reason this is not a 5-star review is that I found that there were maybe too many coincidences or too much of a "it's a small world" feel to my liking, but it's just my personal opinion, and it doesn't really take anything away from the story.

Otherwise, I highly recommend this book, but be aware that there are some difficult topics being discussed, such as suicide ideation, and death.