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bsoviedo's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Ableism, Medical content, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Eating disorder, Cursing, and Blood
tsteacher's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Car accident and Medical trauma
emmysforeverbooked's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Where do I even begin with this book? I laughed, I cried, I felt emotions that a book hasn't given me in a very long time. And it might just be my favorite read of the year so far.
I don't know how I could do this to myself. Like, I've just gone all this time leaving this on my tbr and not reading it? I wish I had read it on release day so I could be on my hundredth re-read by now.
The main characters in this book are some of my favorites. As a person with a chronic illness, I found Weston's coping mechanisms a little too relatable 😂 I saw so much of myself in him and it's so rare for me to relate to a fictional character in the way that I related to him. And Tessa too honestly. Like the fact that she spent pretty much all of her formative years writing, like that is me.
If I could say one thing about this book, it's that you need to pick it up like yesterday. I cannot form into words how much I loved this book and how ashamed I am that I haven't read it yet.
I don't know how I could do this to myself. Like, I've just gone all this time leaving this on my tbr and not reading it? I wish I had read it on release day so I could be on my hundredth re-read by now.
The main characters in this book are some of my favorites. As a person with a chronic illness, I found Weston's coping mechanisms a little too relatable 😂 I saw so much of myself in him and it's so rare for me to relate to a fictional character in the way that I related to him. And Tessa too honestly. Like the fact that she spent pretty much all of her formative years writing, like that is me.
If I could say one thing about this book, it's that you need to pick it up like yesterday. I cannot form into words how much I loved this book and how ashamed I am that I haven't read it yet.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Chronic illness
Moderate: Car accident
Minor: Blood, Pedophilia, Cursing, and Medical content
bookedandbusy's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This was such an incredible book! I loved the characters and the character development. It was such a cute, feel good book, despite the serious topics, which I thought were tackled very well!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Ableism, Bullying, and Grief
Minor: Abandonment
katelynnreads's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content and Grief
Moderate: Car accident
imnotadorableimpunk's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Medical trauma
readingwithmeredith's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical content and Car accident
Minor: Cursing
prasi's review
I really wanted to love this book. I've been watching Abbie's YouTube videos for some time now and I was very excited when I was finally able to pick this up.
But ultimately it was fluffed up disability porn.
Yes, representation for disabled characters in literature is important and I have no problem with any writer adding disabled characters to their story or writing about characters who struggle with their disability. But if you're going to do that just please do some research first and make use of sensitivity readers.
I had several issues with this book, including Weston's consent issues, some of the thoughts and comments made about disability or the general attitude the characters have about disability, and the overwhelmingly obvious use of disability as nothing more than a plot device.
What frustrated me the most about this book is that after Tessa becomes temporarily blind she spends the entire book looking for ways to escape her blindness. And that in and of itself isn't unrealistic. Plenty of disabled people, especially just after becoming disabled, are angry or depressed about what has happened to them.
But that was never really portrayed beyond a surface level in this book. It was all 'I'm angry/sad I've lost my sight' and then immediately moved on to the next topic. There was never any real depth or exploration (or heaven forbid, character development) regarding Tessa and her disability. She never learned to exist with her disability despite not actually knowing herself if her blindness was temporary. We did, obviously, because the synopsis told us that before we started reading the book. But Tessa doesn't.
There's almost this omission of what life is like as someone recently disabled. If Abbie had researched this aspect of the book more instead of putting all of the time into the romance, we could have seen Tessa wrestling with feelings of inadequacy and then learning that being disabled doesn't mean she has to miss out on all of the things she loves. We could have learned about Tessa's medical appointments, working with a Speech-Language Pathologist or beginning to learn Braille. Or she could have addressed accessibility issues like how difficult it can be to get additional accommodation, learning about the blind community, learning to use screen readers or beginning the process of getting a guide dog. There is SO much richness and depth in blind culture and this book completely sidestepped all of that to focus on a mediocre romance.
And speaking of romance, the male love interest in this book, Weston, is such a jerk. I love me a good enemies to lovers romance. But in this case it's really more forced-assistant/bully to lovers, and pardon the pun but it's really like Tessa is completely blind to Weston's crappy attitude.
Which, I get being angry. Weston had recently also become disabled and often makes degrading remarks about himself because of his disability. And ya know, I've been there. I get that so much.
But that doesn't excuse saying degrading things about other people and their disabilities. And it was like Tessa just didn't even notice when he said some sideways complement colored insult to her. She just got smitten with him. It felt like Weston was written a bit too forcibly like a brooding, angsty, loner boy, except the soft inner-shell part that's all sweet and caring was never fully fleshed out. And there was no real transition or growth to make it believable.
Add to that all of the consent issues with Weston - from asking for consent and then not waiting for an answer, coming on to Tessa suddenly, and all of this while she can't see him to know what it is that he's doing... it's just yucky.
And the cherry on top is the fact that all of this is written through a Christian proselyte viewpoint. The fact that religion is not mentioned anywhere in the synopsis, anywhere in YouTube videos talking about this book, and it's laid on SO THICK makes it really feel like proselytism.
I'm really sad this book wasn't a good fit for me. I wanted to love it so much. I adore ooey-gooey cute first romance stories. But this was not that.
But ultimately it was fluffed up disability porn.
Yes, representation for disabled characters in literature is important and I have no problem with any writer adding disabled characters to their story or writing about characters who struggle with their disability. But if you're going to do that just please do some research first and make use of sensitivity readers.
I had several issues with this book, including Weston's consent issues, some of the thoughts and comments made about disability or the general attitude the characters have about disability, and the overwhelmingly obvious use of disability as nothing more than a plot device.
What frustrated me the most about this book is that after Tessa becomes temporarily blind she spends the entire book looking for ways to escape her blindness. And that in and of itself isn't unrealistic. Plenty of disabled people, especially just after becoming disabled, are angry or depressed about what has happened to them.
But that was never really portrayed beyond a surface level in this book. It was all 'I'm angry/sad I've lost my sight' and then immediately moved on to the next topic. There was never any real depth or exploration (or heaven forbid, character development) regarding Tessa and her disability. She never learned to exist with her disability despite not actually knowing herself if her blindness was temporary. We did, obviously, because the synopsis told us that before we started reading the book. But Tessa doesn't.
There's almost this omission of what life is like as someone recently disabled. If Abbie had researched this aspect of the book more instead of putting all of the time into the romance, we could have seen Tessa wrestling with feelings of inadequacy and then learning that being disabled doesn't mean she has to miss out on all of the things she loves. We could have learned about Tessa's medical appointments, working with a Speech-Language Pathologist or beginning to learn Braille. Or she could have addressed accessibility issues like how difficult it can be to get additional accommodation, learning about the blind community, learning to use screen readers or beginning the process of getting a guide dog. There is SO much richness and depth in blind culture and this book completely sidestepped all of that to focus on a mediocre romance.
And speaking of romance, the male love interest in this book, Weston, is such a jerk. I love me a good enemies to lovers romance. But in this case it's really more forced-assistant/bully to lovers, and pardon the pun but it's really like Tessa is completely blind to Weston's crappy attitude.
Which, I get being angry. Weston had recently also become disabled and often makes degrading remarks about himself because of his disability. And ya know, I've been there. I get that so much.
But that doesn't excuse saying degrading things about other people and their disabilities. And it was like Tessa just didn't even notice when he said some sideways complement colored insult to her. She just got smitten with him. It felt like Weston was written a bit too forcibly like a brooding, angsty, loner boy, except the soft inner-shell part that's all sweet and caring was never fully fleshed out. And there was no real transition or growth to make it believable.
Add to that all of the consent issues with Weston - from asking for consent and then not waiting for an answer, coming on to Tessa suddenly, and all of this while she can't see him to know what it is that he's doing... it's just yucky.
And the cherry on top is the fact that all of this is written through a Christian proselyte viewpoint. The fact that religion is not mentioned anywhere in the synopsis, anywhere in YouTube videos talking about this book, and it's laid on SO THICK makes it really feel like proselytism.
I'm really sad this book wasn't a good fit for me. I wanted to love it so much. I adore ooey-gooey cute first romance stories. But this was not that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Car accident, Gaslighting, Grief, Toxic friendship, Ableism, and Injury/Injury detail
crystalmethany's review
1.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Medical content, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Car accident, Bullying, and Violence
elderflower's review
0.25
When I first read this book, I didn’t see the ableism in it. I did feel a little uncomfortable with some parts, but didn’t really notice the extent this book’s ableism, consent issues, and other problems go to. All I knew was that I liked Abbie Emmon’s videos and she was smart and pretty and her book would be amazing. I really think Abbie would be able to write a pretty good book, but she’d first need to throw all of this stuff in the rubbish. This is my reread after I happened across some reviews calling out the issues with this book. I felt like I needed some closure with this book that I used to like and now I’ve gotten that. I wish I had not bought this book or the sequel, but alas, tis too late.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexism, and Misogyny
Minor: Car accident and Religious bigotry
more content warnings: homomisic slur used repeatedly, drunkenness, ptsd, gender stereotypes