Before I Saw You by Emily Houghton
Publisher: Gallery Books
Genre: Romance
Publication Date: May 4, 2021

Before I Saw You by Emily Houghton is a beautiful book!

I loved this book! The story is told so well. I loved the dynamic of the relationship and how it reinforces the power of connection and that love finds you when you least expect it!

I'm so grateful to Emily Houghton, Gallery Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Alice Gunnersley and Alfie Mack are both recovering from traumatic accidents. They are mentally & physically broken and yet they wind up being roommates in the hospital. They do not get along immediately and both have their ways of recovering. Alice is keeping to herself, doesn’t want any of the other patients to see her. While Alfie is out and about and knows everyone on the floor. These two characters are so complex. Their accidents and their past haunt them daily. They need to heal and make peace with their current situation and their past. Emily Houghton, is such a good story teller. I loved the way she brought Alfie & Alice together. I love how she used Alfie to relentlessly work to cheer up Alice and how she responds. Their connection is so honest. I read this book so quickly. It was fast paced but chock full of content. I couldn’t wait to see how this relationship would play out. I wanted to see how they would meet face to face after months of talking, laughing and becoming friends, behind the curtain. If you are looking for a story of hope and love this is the story for you. I want to thank Netgalley & Emily Houghton for my advanced copy for an honest review. It is always a pleasure to find a new author & who doesn’t love a heartwarming story. This was a four star read for me and I have recommended it to friends and family. I have also reviewed this on multiple sites.

Absolutely loved this book!
Charming, hopeful, heartbreaking, funny... made me laugh and cry. Ultimately, it's so very uplifting! Love is indeed blind... and full of compassion, friendship, and respect.
Alice and Alfie were such distinct and human characters. There was a beautiful balance between their different personalities, as well as great sympathy and support.
Simply outstanding... highly, enthusiastically recommend!

Such a charming story! I really enjoyed the ease of reading this one, and the characters who weaseled their way into my hear! I love Mother A so much! Such a great nurse! I love a good forced proximity story, and that's what this felt like to me!

Courtesy of Netgalley I received the ARC of Before I Saw You by Emily Houghton. This compelling novel reveals the development of a relationship between two patients in adjoining beds behind closed curtains. As they recover from severe injuries following traumatic accidents, Alice and Alfie bond without physically seeing each other., learning to care for each other while sharing their history and their fears for the future.

Tender, heartfelt, tearful and completely wonderful!! I enjoyed #beforeisawyou from page 1 to the very end. The two main characters are completely developed and are like any of your friends, but what has happened to them is seemingly tragic. But from tragedy grows friendship and family. Read this and enjoy!! I thank #netgalley and the publisher for this to read and review.

This was so good - it’s definitely an untraditional “romance” book. Alice and Alfie are long-term patients recovering from traumatic injuries. Alice is burned on most of her body, and Alfie is recovering from a car accident where he lost part of his leg. Although Alice refuses to open her curtains around her bed, Alfie’s persistence leads to a deep friendship. When they are released from the hospital, they have to decide whether or not to continue a relationship.

This is definitely not a peppy book - it’s “deeper” than most romance books. Alfie and Alice’s relationship is the heart of the book, so I can see why it’s a romance. I highly recommend you check this out if you are looking to go on an emotional rollercoaster.

Thanks to @NetGalley and Gallery Books for my ARC!

"Before I Saw You" by Emily Haughton is a beautiful, loveable, tender story with an unusual setting. A young man and a young woman find themselves weaving a close bond in the hospital, following tragic circumstances, vailed behind their curtains, without ever seeing each other. Excellent characters and build up, I really enjoyed this novel. Thank you NetGalley, publisher and author for the copy for review. All opinions are my own.

This is a romance with a twist. The main couple are in a hospital ward and are divided by a curtain. Its an interesting premise, becoming friends and falling in love with someone's personality and mind first. I thought the reasons why they were in the hospital were dealt with well. Overall I enjoyed this one.

Thank you for the ARC copy of this books. At the beginning, I was so excited to see where this story would go. The storyline was so interesting and unique and I requested this book right away. I really liked the cover, too. By the middle I got a bit distracted and felt like it dragged. I struggled at times to finish and keep pushing through. But I enjoyed the ending and the characters’ stories and was glad I stuck it out and finished. What a unique book. I liked that we didn’t know exactly how these two would end up and got to make outlets own ending for them.

Very sweet and touching. Nice to read something new and not recycled storylines. I would have preferred a more satisfying ending but I see what the author intended.

Alfie and Alice worked well together, as did the rest of the hospital crew. Nurse Angles really seemed like an angel.

A beautiful story about two people who suffer trauma and find healing with one another. I really enjoyed this book.

Told in two perspectives of people who are recovering from major traumatic injuries, the majority of the story takes place in a rehabilitation unit in a hospital. Alfie was in a car accident, thrown from the car, lost a leg and two best friends. Alice fell asleep at her office in the financial district when she was burned by a fire in the building. Both have struggles – from Alfie’s guilt and his need to ‘jolly up’ everyone around him to Alice’s determination to keep everyone and everything at arm’s length (or further) because it’s easier to push people away.

But we meet Alice who has remained silent since her injuries, and brought into the rehab with several conditions: no one can see her, she doesn’t respond to questions and in the time she’s been there – no one has come to visit, friend or family. On the other hand, Alfie has used his boisterous and bubbly personality to ‘lighten’ the mood in the ward, partly to avoid his own tendency to become depressed with all he’d lost, and partly to keep his mother from crying.

We see these two as Alfie’s struggles to bring Alice out of her shell work on her – from monosyllabic responses to deeper conversations and sharing dreams – the two are seeing one another without seeing. For Alice never did see Alfie (or the reverse) before he was released to home, and she had a setback. This is a character (and issue) driven story that shows how eliminating the outward appearances and judgments allow people to share their hearts, thoughts and dreams – and the realization that they both feel much more than they ever expected for one another is revealed. Using very real insecurities, past traumas, survivor’s guilt and self-isolation as spurs to move forward, the story shows us two people who know one another better than anyone else in the world yet wouldn’t recognize them should they meet on the street. With characters that pop in with advice, asked for or not, and some moments that required gathering up all the courage you never understood was there – the story ends with a happy moment and plenty of hope to share.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-aUI /” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>

A great story of love after trauma/loss with a delightfully slow burn romance. I love these characters and how the author draws us into their world as they heal.

Lovely , emotional story of two people who has had their world shattered , meet by fate and chance as thy recover . heartbreaking , emotional , truly inspired story of people connecting when they are at their lowest, great characters , great story .

A compelling read. Beautifully written, well-thought-out characters, and a realistic storyline I truly enjoyed this one!

I really enjoyed this story that was both heartbreaking and hopeful. I loved both Alice and Alfie as characters and I was rooting for them both separately and together. I highly recommend this story.

I was so intrigued by the blurb that I jumped right in expecting an adult version of Five Feet Apart but without the angsty ending. And although it worked out that way for the most part, I couldn't help but be a little bit disappointed in how it was executed.

Upon first meeting Alice and Alfie I assumed their story would be a great opposites attract romance since they were so different from one another. Especially with Alfie having this outgoing, jokester personality and Alice so reserved she came across as unapproachable. I often found myself wondering how the author would bring them together. or develop their connection enough for their romance to be feasible. In the end, the romance didn't feel real to me simply because I didn't think that Alice and Alfie had a chance to really establish any solid ground to built a relationship. Yes, they had a connection, but it was slow building and by the end of the story the romance kind of felt rushed and incomplete. A lot of time was spent with the happenings of the ward they were staying in and the people around them, time that IMHO would have been better spent developing a deeper connection between Alice and Alfie. Especially since the book is categorized as a Romance.

I did enjoy the camaraderie between the characters and the range of emotions both characters went through in accepting their new reality. I especially enjoyed Alice's growth and development. I appreciated the author's efforts to let the reader experience these changes as they happened instead of telling us about it. I loved Alfie! He was such a great character and I enjoyed him and his antics immensely. He used humor to deal with his reality and although it was sad to see him struggle with his situation, it was also great to see him being resilient and fighting to get through what he was going through.

All in all, a wonderful story of growth and perseverance.

Before I Saw You
By Emily Houghton

Oh my goodness this novel is amazing and if you need a good cry this is it. As a nurse I resonated with the topic bout these two patients in a facility recovering from their traumatic injuries as the backdrop of this heartfelt novel. Alice survived burn injuries and would not allow anyone to see her, and then Alfie the only survivor in a horrific car crash. As sad and disheartening the premise is, this story is a great love story about people that fell in love with each other before they even see each other.

Houghton delivers a well written story that had an amazing cast of characters that I fell in love with. This story was incredible heartwarming, satisfying and powerful. I really enjoyed this one!

Before I Saw You by Emily Houghton was a meaningful and heartfelt story of two patients connecting with each other during their recoveries from traumatic injuries in neighboring beds in a hospital ward. They've never seen each other, but they talk for hours, confide in each other, and play games from either side of the curtain separating them.

This story was beautiful. I felt that both Alice and Alfie's characters were well-developed and intriguing. I loved seeing how their connection developed slowly and meaningfully through their recoveries and close proximity. There were plenty of times while reading that I found myself tearing up. The story was a compulsive read for me because I couldn't wait to see how Alice and Alfie's story would continue to unfold. It was thought provoking and dealt with some difficult issues including pain, trauma, disability, and loss. I only wish that the ending was a little more drawn out so that I was able to spend more time with the characters.

I would highly recommend this title, but have some tissues close by just in case!

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing me with an e-galley of this title. This did not affect the contents of my voluntary review. All opinions are honest and my own.