Not If I See You First by Eric Lindstrom Publisher: Poppy (2015)
Hardcover (310 pages)
Rating:
Reading Challenges: Read 2016
Synopsis
The Rules:
Don’t deceive me. Ever. Especially using my blindness. Especially in public.
Don’t help me unless I ask. Otherwise you're just getting in my way or bothering me.
Don’t be weird. Seriously, other than having my eyes closed all the time, I’m just like you only smarter.
Parker Grant doesn’t need 20/20 vision to see right through you. That’s why she created the Rules: Don’t treat her any differently just because she’s blind, and never take advantage. There will be no second chances. Just ask Scott Kilpatrick, the boy who broke her heart.
When Scott suddenly reappears in her life after being gone for years, Parker knows there’s only one way to react—shun him so hard it hurts. She has enough on her mind already, like trying out for the track team (that’s right, her eyes don’t work but her legs still do), doling out tough-love advice to her painfully naive classmates, and giving herself gold stars for every day she hasn’t cried since her dad’s death three months ago. But avoiding her past quickly proves impossible, and the more Parker learns about what really happened—both with Scott, and her dad—the more she starts to question if things are always as they seem. Maybe, just maybe, some Rules are meant to be broken.
Combining a fiercely engaging voice with true heart, debut author Erid Lindstrom’s Not If I See You First illuminates those blind spots that we all have in life, whether visually impaired or not.
Find the book: Goodreads, Amazon, Book Depository
My Review
Since I do not typically read a whole lot of contemporary, this would probably not have been a book I would have picked up on my own. However, Not If I See You First came in my Uppercase Box in December, so I read it.
I have never read a book narrated by a blind character before, so that immediately set the book apart. There are not a lot of visual descriptions given unless someone is describing something to Parker. This really makes it very clear that seeing isn’t everything.
Parker has been having a tough time. Her dad died three months ago which meant Parker’s aunt, uncle, and cousins are now living in her house. On top of that adjustment, the boy who broke Parker’s heart is back and she doesn’t know what to do.
Parker is blunt. She calls it like it is and she doesn’t need to see to know what is going on. She can be harsh at times but she hates lies. She is snarky and genuine however she has a hard time accepting some truths that are right in front of her.
Not If I See You First was definitely a really unique book and I really liked it. However, I feel like the ending was rather abrupt. We don’t know exactly how things ended but we can make a guess, at least for Parker. There could easily be a couple more chapters as I definitely wanted more after the last page.
The cover is cool! Something in Braille alphabet but the number of letters or which ones should be the same – it doesn’t fit with the title of the book. I looked up the alphabet to find out what’s actually written there.
I noticed the same thing about the Braille! It also happens with the chapter numbers and was kind of bugging me. I never did look up what they actually said though I probably could. If it is a design thing though, they probably don’t mean anything.
Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a great rest of the week!
This book has definitely caught my eye. (Oh, wow, that turned out to be a terrible pun, didn’t it? I swear, I didn’t mean for it to be.) Too bad the ending was too abrupt, though.
I do HATE abrupt endings. I would also love to know more about the characters we spend a whole book reading about. I can always make a guess but I still like to actually know.
Thanks for visiting. I hope you have a great rest of the week!