Will has been blind since birth. After an incident where he was taken advantage of, his parents sent him to a special school for the blind. But now he's decided that he wants to be independent, and Will believes the best way to prove that he can be independent is to go to a normal school. What Will doesn't expect is to find a group of friends that he feel more like family. And maybe even more.

Cecily is first introduced when she runs out of the classroom crying on Will's first day because he was "staring" at her. Only he wasn't staring...because he can't see. But she didn't know that. Will and Cecily end up becoming friends and feelings start to develop. I really enjoyed seeing how Cecily and Will learned to relate to each other. Cecily trying to describe the things that she sees--a painting, a sunrise, etc. She's a photographer so all things visual are especially meaningful for her. And Will trying to explain to Cecily what he can understand and perceive and what he can't.

What neither one of them expects is for an opportunity to arise for Will to have an experimental surgery that might result in him getting his eyesight. This isn't a spoiler because of the title and because of the description, but Will does get his sight. But things that we take for granted daily are things that his eyes and his brain do not recognize. Shapes. Colors. People. He is starting from scratch. Part of this was frustrating for me because I don't always handle books with an excessive amount of description, but I also found myself fascinated because I did just kind of assume that once his eyes were medically fixed then he could just...well...see (and understand). So it was interesting to watch him learn basically the same things that my one year old daughter is learning (shapes and colors, names for objects etc).

Things aren't all blue skies and rainbows for Will and Cecily though. Cecily has been keeping a secret. I was intrigued by this part of the description. What could be the thing Cecily was keeping from Will? Is she "ugly"? Overweight? And what kind of person is Will that it matters to him? Ultimately, I was okay with how Josh Sundquist worked this part of the story. I was never completely surprised by Cecily's secret. And Will's feelings actually turned out to be fairly understandable.

Favorite quotes:
-"Your inability to see doesn't stop your face from speaking what's on your mind."

-"Are your people maybe sensitive to sunlight?" "I think you are getting us confused with vampires."

-"I always expected yellow would be...quieter."

Love and First Sight was a fun read that kept me hooked into the story. I enjoyed the characters (main and secondary). And I was particularly fascinated by Will's journey in gaining his sight. As an added bonus, this book doesn't have any potty mouth which I really appreciated. Love and First Sight gets 4 Stars. Have you read Love and First Sight? What did you think? Let me know!

I was a bit hesitant in starting LOVE and FIRST SIGHT because I have recently read a few books from this genre that left me disappointed. However, with the blurb I decided to give this one a fair shot and I am SO GLAD I did! LOVE and FIRST SIGHT met my hopeful expectations and more.

Like most YAs, its focus on the challenges students faces in school with the bullying and the need to feel a sense of belonging. LOVE and FIRST SIGHT did all this and splash it with a few more challenges that make you really think hard on how beautiful life really if you just truly feel it and not to take it for granted.

This book explored visual impairment and I have to give all the necessary credit due to the author. Even though it’s a fiction, I couldn’t help but notice how much research was put into writing this book to maintain its authenticity of the challenge that is the core of this book.

After reading this, I found myself doing a little research because I couldn’t stop thinking of how I would have been as a person if I was in Will’s position.

It’s a very touching story that’s narrated in a light humorous tone, which I felt in turn helped balance the heaviness in my heart. It’s definitely an unforgettable story that I hope you all will give a chance.

Great read, lovely story. I am thrilled to have found this new author and will check out future books by him. Thank you!

I was impressed with Josh Sundquist's debut novel. Having never heard of him before, I picked this one up based on the blurb and title alone.
Will is a teen who is visually impared. For some reason, these are my favorite types of YA reads. When the hero or heroine has some sort of thing they are overcoming. I loved Will's character, as well as the other supporting characters in this story.

Parts of this book reminding me of the likes of John Green so I would for sure recommend it to fans of his. If you're looking for a great and fresh YA read that's a bit quirky, fun and heart warming- this is one to read! I give it 4 stars.

It's 16-year-old Will Porter's first day at a mainstream high school. He tries his hardest to fit in, and meets a great new group of friends who accept him for who he is perceived to be: the blind kid. He has been blind since birth, and attended a school for the blind up until that point. Will begins to develop a crush on Cecily, one of the girls in his new group of friends. Then Will learns of a rare opportunity for him to have surgery so that he will be able to see, one that he knows will change his life forever, Does he take the chance?

I do wish you could give fractions of stars because this book would get a 4.5/5* from me. I’m familiar with Josh Sundquist via his previous memoir We Should Hang Out Sometime and his YouTube account which I’ve followed for a few years, and so, needless to say, I enjoy his content and was more than a little excited to see what he would bring to the creative table from a fictional perspective.

Perspective…it’s an interesting word — perspective, vision, sight, and the subtle differences between those three words both etymologically and meaning-wise are one of the cores of this novel. Sundquist injects great amount of humour into what could have been a rather maudlin and saccharine tale of Will, a blind teenager, who gets the chance to undergo an experimental procedure in order to “see” for the first time in his life. You would think the novel would then read in two parts: before the surgery and after the surgery. Instead, there are three, maybe even four, as there is, indeed, before Will can see, after he can see, and after he “sees.”

Sight and insight; perspective and vision. Sundquist is taking motifs of classic literature and bringing them a new voice — one that also calls to mind a true bildungsroman and a hero’s journey. There’s even a road trip in the last quarter! (Please note: I’m a sucker for a good road trip story, so I was inordinately excited about this bit.)

Beyond the plethora of well-integrated themes this novel explores, the strength of the story lies in the voice of Will. We’re in his head for the entirety of the novel and he describes the world in a way that is fresh and yet familiar. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to write a story that paints a picture of its world, without truly being able to describe what it “looks” like due to the condition of the protagonist. And after Will undergoes surgery, the descriptions of the world around him become even more interesting because, as it is in life, he cannot suddenly (or magically) see with perfect clarity. I’m no science person (quite the opposite, really), but I think it’s clear that Sundquist did a good deal of research in order to articulate Will’s difficulties post-surgery. It’s fantastic and truly draws you further into Will’s story because it feels more realistic; his frustrations and his pain (emotional and, at times, physical) ring more true than if he had suddenly been able to experience the world as if he had never been blind at all.

If I had to critique anything, I could probably critique the love story a bit, as it certainly is a little on the side of predictable, but, honestly, it’s okay. I’m perfectly find with its predictability because I cared about the characters. I cared about Will and his friends, and I wanted them all to be happy and to find some kind of happiness together.

This is a lovely book, and a wonderful addition to the Young Adult contemporary genre that brings humour and wit to a wholly sincere story.

http://fkrants.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-rest-of-2016-ng-fails.html

This was pretty interesting. If you've never been blind--especially if you weren't born blind--it's really hard to imagine what that would be like. You will be given constant descriptions and comparisons of things that you can't grasp because you've never even known colors or even shapes, for the most part. People may even take advantage of your blindness, even if you're just a kid. It's really hard for me to even imagine.

So, Will was born blind. He's making the transition from a school for the blind to a mainstream school. He makes some great friends--I liked the friends more than I actually liked Will, although I liked him too. Then he gets a chance to undergo surgery to give him sight. Of course, there are all kinds of obstacles--risks with surgery and the chance of a good result going bad, the strangeness of being able to see for the first time (very well described, actually made me dizzy), and the fact that sometimes people hide things from you because they know you can't see.

Overall, this was a good, eye-opening (no pun intended) read.

3.5 Stars!

Love and First Sight was an enjoyable contemporary that was very quick to get through.

Will was an interesting character and quite unique in how he sees the world. Before and after his surgery, he has an amazing way of describing everything. I like that the author chose to introduce the option of surgery a third of the way through the book rather than right at the start. By delaying the surgery storyline, it gives the reader more time to get to know Will as a character and to see how he interacts with the world.

Will manages to find a great group of friends who are very accepting. Of the side characters, Cecily is the one I found the most interesting. I love how she took the time to try and come up with ways to describe what she was seeing in ways that Will would understand. It shows how compassionate she is and how she has more of an understanding of how it feels to be seen as different and wants to make things easier for Will. Cecily and Will had a lot of interesting conversations about colors, art, and sight in general that were wonderful to read.

There were a few moments in this book that made me uncomfortable which lessened my enjoyment a bit. One incident mentioned in the blurb, Will's thoughts immediately after accidentally groping a girl at school were not ok.

Overall, this was an enjoyable contemporary and I'd recommend for fans of YA contemporary looking for something a bit different.

** I received an advance copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.**

My Review

Love and First Sight is the first I've read by author Josh Sundquist. I read it in less than a day because I just couldn't put it down. It is a gripping story with fabulous characters and an even ore fabulous story.

So much of YA fiction focuses on girls so I was happy to read this novel, one that focuses on a guy. Will is not your average teenage guy, either. He is blind and has spent most of his life sheltered from the visual world. He has always gone to a school for the blind, and much to his mother's distress, he has chosen to spread his wings and prove to her that he can thrive in the rest of the world, too.

The descriptions of the world as Will "sees" it are vivid and they only become more vivid after Will undergoes surgery. The author really captures his journey and all of the emotionally charged aspects of it. The emotional side of it all is something I never would have considered before reading Will's story and it really was eye-opening.

The story is a wonderful blend of humor, stark reality, and adult choices. It is as much a story of friendship as it is one of growth and coming of age. It is also a story that makes you think. Being in Will's head makes you, as a person with sight, see the world in a different way. It made me reconsider friendship and honesty and how differently even non-vision-related issues can be experienced by someone without sight. And as Will goes through the experience of having to make a potentially life-altering decision, it made me think about all the implications of that kind of choice. Choices that seem like easy ones on the surface, but really aren't. I enjoy a book that forces me to take another look at life and see it from an entirely different perspective.

Overall: This is a great read that will make you think. The story is incredibly engaging and it is one that I won't forget for a long time. This is a book I highly recommend!

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I have not had the time to read very many YA novels lately, so I was very excited about the opportunity to read Love and First Sight by Josh Sundquist. I am not familiar with Sundquist’s work on YouTube, but YA is one of my favorite genres, and the description piqued my interest.

Will Porter is a visually impaired teenager who is fulfilling his desire to attend a regular high school instead of the school for the blind that he has attended up until now. After some awkward encounters, Will makes some new friends, including a girl named Cecily who is in several of his classes.

Just as Will is adjusting to his new life, he learns about an experimental surgery that could give him sight. As he weighs the pros and cons of receiving eyesight, he begins to question his relationship with Cecily and whether they are just friends- or if there is perhaps something more.

Love and First Sight is a cute story, and a quick read. Will is a very funny protagonist, and he deals with people’s preconceptions about blindness by using sarcasm to educate people when they say something ignorant. It’s clear that Sundquist spent a great deal of time researching the subject of visual impairment.

I would absolutely recommend Love and First Sight. This book is vaguely reminiscent of a John Green novel because it’s heartwarming and quirky. I think this will definitely appeal to the target genre. The ethical aspect of the surgery is very thought provoking, and I thought that Sundquist handled the matter gracefully. This is Sundquist’s debut novel, but I am certainly looking forward to reading more fiction from him.