My reading got off to a great start in 2017 with Love and First Sight by Josh Sundquist. This young adult contemporary story is about a teenager named Will who was born blind. Will decides to attend public high school for the first time, and the book opens on his first day of school. What follows is an absolutely adorable story filled with romance, friendship, and seeing for the first time.

I was a bit nervous going into this book, as I read We Should Hang Out Sometime by Sundquist a couple years back and thought it was just okay. Unlike his earlier memoir, Love and First Sight sucked me in right away. The story is told from Will’s first-person perspective, and I absolutely loved his voice. Will sounds like a teenager does in real life, but his narrative flows really well. I was also very impressed with how Sundquist was able to use his writing to create a unique atmosphere for the reader. Since Will is blind, Sundquist describes things without any visual cues. I could feel the difference in his storytelling, and I really appreciated his attention to detail.

Similarly, Sundquist did extensive research in order to accurately represent what it is like to be visually impaired. While I am a sighted person, it felt like this representation was done quite respectfully. A big part of Love and First Sight focuses on how sighted people treat those who are visually impaired, and also what it is like to learn to see after being blind. I learned a lot from this book, and I really like that Sundquist does not hold back when it comes to pointing out some of the horrible things sighted people do when around the visually impaired. For example, I was shocked at the secrets and deception in the novel!

Moreover, I absolutely love the romance in Love and First Sight. Will meets a girl named Cecily and the two get paired up for a project in journalism class. I was on board with their romance from the beginning, and I found it so cute! I am not usually a big fan of romance, but this one had me swooning and hoping for the best. Plus, Cecily plays an important role in the novel in addition to being Will’s love interest. I am impressed with how Love and First Sight is so multi-layered. I loved the theme of beauty in the novel, and what it means to be beautiful in society versus being beautiful to another person. I can see myself rereading this book in the future to get a new perspective on it now that I know what is to happen.

My criticisms of the novel are quite small. First, some sentences are repeated in the novel in order to introduce a person or theme. I did read an advance copy of the novel, so it is possible this repetition got edited out. In addition, I found Love and First Sight to be extremely fast-paced. However, I did think the ending was a bit too rushed, and I would have appreciated the action slowing down a bit to make the book last just a bit longer. Otherwise, I truly loved and enjoyed everything about this book!

All in all, I highly recommend picking up Love and First Sight by Josh Sundquist. It is a very balanced novel in that it will make you laugh and make you cry, and you will be swooning over the adorable romance as well. Plus, I loved the inclusion of the board game Settlers of Catan! Sundquist gets some bonus points for that. I hope to see more novels from Sundquist in the future, as I adored his storytelling and will definitely pick up more books by him if they are released!

It's definitely an interesting concept. *spoilers*

I liked the part where he was blind much more than the part where he could see. It seemed like Will just expected the universe to grant him immediate understanding of a new sense as a reward for having been blind, and he was put out when he realized it was something he was going to have to learn and adjust to.

After reading the synopsis, I was set on reading this book. After reading the first few pages, I was a little concerned it was going to be another one of those after school cornfests ( I secretly love those, so it's okay)...but I'm glad this was so much more.

Love and First Sight is about Will Porter and his life as a blind teenager. After coming from a special school where all the kids also had visual impairments of one sort or another, he ends up going to a mainstream high school where he encounters things like never before. He befriends a small group of quirky teens and fits in just perfectly.

The way Will changes and grows throughout the story is wonderful and I especially love how the author did quite a bit of research about blindness and the changes one would face if they went through what Will had.

I will be recommending this to many and gifting to some. :)

I received an eARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Will was born blind and has been sheltered by his parents since the "Incident" when he was still a small child. After the incident he was sent to a boarding school for the blind where he grew to master the skills necessary to survive in the sighted world. Now that he's sixteen he wants to enroll at a mainstream high school. The descriptions Sundquist uses to describe the sensation of blindness and how everyone still uses sight based explanations to describe things they think are being made perfectly clear is really interesting. The characterizations of the other cast of kids are pretty standard and don't really engage the reader. Much of it is predictable, but that doesn't stop it from being a fun read. I've ordered it for my library.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved reading about Will and his friends. I am glad he was able to have the surgery and get his eyesight. I am slo glad he was able to be with Cecily.

I think fans of John Green would enjoy this book.

I laughed and gasped throughout this book. It was if you were on the adventure with them for each situation, wanting to help, warn or celebrate their fates. Thank you for allowing us to experience such a delightful read.

Love and First Sight by Josh Sundquist is a sweet YA story that follows a young man named Will, who is blind. He finally transfers out of the blind school and into a regular high school where he wants to live as easily as he can--even in the face of people who constantly want to help him with things he can do on his own. During his time at the new school, he makes friends and tries new things, like journalism. But when he's offered the chance for a life-changing surgery that has the possibility of giving him sight he's never had before, will he take it?

This is a story that is filled with a lot of stereotype-busting about the blind and provides a picture of how blindness doesn't make people as different as they appear to be because of their ability to adapt their other senses. However, the narrator does seem to be a bit long-winded at times, wanting to give big explanations to the reader for the things he's about to do. Other than that, this is a great story.

I first discovered Josh Sundquist by reading his memoir, and giggling the entire way through it. I'm not generally a non-fiction reader, but I devoured that book. That meant that when I found out that Sundquist had written a YA book, I knew I had to read it. I couldn't wait to see how his wit and honesty translated to a fiction novel.

First off, I have to give credit where credit is due. It's very obvious from the first few pages of this story that Sundquist did a tremendous amount of research on visual impairment, and worked hard to make sure that he was accurately portraying Will's day to day routine. Pair that with a lovingly crafted character, complete with Sundquist's signature wit, and you have a story that is a joy to read. I fell in love with Will, and the rest was history.

When the experimental surgery came into the picture, I found myself riveted. Everything was described in intricate detail, but it never felt overbearing. Instead, I found myself in the same situation as Will. Wondering if the surgery would be worth it, cheering him on when he was doing well, and lamenting with him when things weren't going well. His parents were so wonderfully supportive, if a little over involved at times, and there was this whole aura of growth and love to this book. It was a happy place to be.

Even if the friendship turned romance hadn't been a main portion of this book, I would have still loved it. Still, I couldn't help but fall for the slow growth of Cecily and Will's relationship. Cecily's acceptance of Will, her ability to open things up for him with wonderful analogies, tugged at my heart strings. I knew that fight was imminent, and of course I was right. What is YA without teenage tension? Still, it all felt so perfect. Not a single sentence of this book felt out of place. It all worked to build up Will, and show how amazing a person he was.

I'd highly recommend this for your reading list! If it's not there already, it's well worth a second look.

This was so cute and funny. I've never read a book from a blind person's point of view and found this very interesting. I really didn't think I would enjoy this as much as I did. I loved that Will was able to make friends so easily and none of them cared that he was blind. Everyone was really supportive of him and that is something I love seeing in books. More often then not we see people bring others down or bully scenarios more than supportive roles taking the lead.

After the surgery I was glad to see Will struggle a little bit with grasping sight for the first time. As bad as that sounds it's realistic and that made it better in my opinion. He obviously got the hang of it eventually but being able to read about someone growing and changing in such a huge way was very humbling. I rooted for Will every step of the way and couldn't even begin to imagine what it must have been like to go through such a transformation.

I figured this would be a quick but silly read, but I was wrong about the silly part. Will is a newly mainstream 16 year old blind kid. He was born blind and has always attended the blind school. now he has to/gets to try to make his way in his new public high school. This is YA but it's also wonderful. Josh Sundquist did so much research to try to understand blindness and blind culture. as someone who is newly aware of impairments of this nature, I found this book both fascinating and wonderful.

High school is hard enough, but imagine going through it blind. Will is going to a new mainstream high school for the first time. He is the only blind student there. As he learns to navigate the school and make friends he learns that there is an operation that could give him sight. What he doesn't know is how hard the results can be and how it will affect his new friendships and himself.
This is a great new book, with a perspective I have never seen. I found myself loving Will and his friends. I feel like I learned a lot from this book too on being blind and all the complicated steps to having sight (if it's a possibility). This was a lighthearted read, but touched on deep high school issues. I think many students will be able to relate to this book, just in dealing with the stresses of school and being bullied. Not everyone can relate to being blind in high school. I felt the author did a great job of helping us "see" as Will sees and really helping us get a feel for what he was going through.
I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Love this book! The flow, the sounds, the incredible insight, it's compelling and genuine. Five stars

What first stood out to me while reading this book, is that Josh did a ton of research regarding the topic of blindness. There were sections where a lot of medical jargon was thrown around, but as a reader I could understand what was being said. This was only because it was explained so well.
Will was an amazing character. He was extremely witty, and had an amazing take on things. He also had such a great sense of humor it was hard not to laugh along with the things he said. I thought the side characters were solid. I loved that Will's parents were really involved in his life and in the story in general. I could feel his mom's hope and other emotions through Josh's writing, and I just loved that. Cecily was a great side character, she was extremely insecure about her looks, but Will couldn't tell by talking to her, which was a plus.
Overall I loved Josh's writing style and how easily the story flowed. I loved the whole premise of the book mainly because it was a topic I knew little to nothing about. Josh made you feel his characters emotions through his writing and it was simply beautiful. I would highly recommend this book it you are looking for a different kind of contemporary read.

Thank you for the opportunity to read & review this book. Unfortunately, I did not get to download this galley before it was archived. I look forward to working together on future titles!

Love and First Sight by Josh Sundquist was a book that I would have to say grew on me. The dynamic of the book shifts from that of a blind teenager who has gone from interacting primarily with other blind students to making his way in a normal high school and all the issues that come with it (making friends etc.), to a story of seeing for the first time and how that can effect perceptions and relationships. The book ends with a whirlwind adventure of sights, friendship and romance.

The book started off a bit heavy on the stereotypes, both of blind people and high school for me. Once past the beginning, the relationships Will built with his friends and Cecily took over which brought life to the novel and I began to enjoy it more.

I also appreciated how Josh Sundquist displayed significant research into the field of the blind gaining vision (as supported by the Authors Note).

Overall, Love and First Sight was a good, well-paced, and enjoyable read. There are lessons learned about life, appreciation, and friends that this book emphasizes which should not be missed. I happily recommend.

(I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book I received from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my fair and honest review.)

I have a friend who is blind, so I was interested to see how the author handled things with this book. From what I know of it, it seemed pretty accurate, so he obviously did a lot of research. (Of course, each individual experience will be different, each attitude and how they view things. I'm talking about things like how someone without sight might prefer to be guided, or how they typically get from point A to point B.)

What made this book particularly interesting to me was having things described in such a flat dimensional way - because he wouldn't understand things like perspective or how some shapes look different depending on the angle you view them from. It was intriguing to have things explained in such a way that I could "see it" from a non-sight perspective.

Some parts of this book seemed a little orchestrated - and I didn't always believe things would happen the way they happened. Mainly this was concerning Cecily's appearance. It was obvious based on things other characters said and things that happened around him, that there was something they weren't telling him. Yet he never picks up on all these clues. Someone who is blind would probably be *better* at picking up these clues, not worse. Maybe that's just my opinion though.

I enjoyed reading it. It was quick and interesting. I liked how things ended. My appreciation goes to the publisher for sending me an advanced copy for review.

I was pretty excited to see Josh Sunquist diving into YA fiction. Sundquist's <i>We Should Hang Out Sometime</i> was a great, relatable memoir, and seeing a book that might have some of his signature humor and storytelling in fiction form was fun to see. The book isn't perfect, but it ends up being a fairly pleasant read nonetheless.

In this book, Will is a blind student entering a regular school for the first time. He's able to be largely independent, but he makes a series of mistakes that start things off weird, but he quickly settles in with a group of people and ends up falling for a girl. The girl is guarded, but when Josh receives a chance to take part in an experimental treatment that could give him sight, he's forced to confront a lot of what he thinks he knows.

It's an interesting story, for sure, and has a lot of good, basic messages about disability and acceptance that aren't a bludgeon. The writing itself is kind of simple, which is maybe a drawback for some but worked for the story being told, and the end result of a surprising science fiction element of sorts made it even more enjoyable for me, personally. I'm not entirely sure whether this will work for all audiences, but with the rise of disability lit throughout, this definitely deserves to be part of the broader conversation. Absolutely worth a look.

Pleasantly surprised by this book. Having read a Josh Sundquist's memoir, and knowing about his friendship with author John Green, I was fully expecting this book to have a The Fault in Our Stars vibe. But the characters felt very real, and the situations were crafted carefully and with research and attention to detail. I would recommend this book to Young Adults.

I love this book!

Will is a wonderfully flawed and believable character. His irritation at the manner with which sighted people describe things to him was spot on. The unfolding of his relationship with Cecily happened so naturally that readers will likely find themselves fully immersed and expecting Will and Cecily to still be together in twenty or thirty years.

One part that irked me was Will's reaction to Cecily's "secret". I felt that his reaction was somewhat unrealistic and more melodramatic than was necessary. As a whole though this was a minor complaint, and I found myself more sympathetic as the book continued.

A beautiful, funny, novel about really learning to see. Will is such an amazingly developed character that you just want to keep reading about him.