Love and First Sight, Josh Sundquist
Love and First Sight, Josh Sundquist
3 Rating(s)
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

Love and First Sight

Author: Josh Sundquist

Narrator: Pat Young

Unabridged: 6 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/03/2017


Synopsis

In his debut novel, YouTube personality and author of We Should Hang Out Sometime Josh Sundquist explores the nature of love, trust, and romantic attraction.

On his first day at a new school, blind sixteen-year-old Will Porter accidentally groped a girl on the stairs, sat on another student in the cafeteria, and somehow drove a classmate to tears. High school can only go up from here, right?

As Will starts to find his footing, he develops a crush on a charming, quiet girl named Cecily. Then an unprecedented opportunity arises: an experimental surgery that could give Will eyesight for the first time in his life. But learning to see is more difficult than Will ever imagined, and he soon discovers that the sighted world has been keeping secrets. It turns out Cecily doesn't meet traditional definitions of beauty--in fact, everything he'd heard about her appearance was a lie engineered by their so-called friends to get the two of them together. Does it matter what Cecily looks like? No, not really. But then why does Will feel so betrayed?

Told with humor and breathtaking poignancy, Love and First Sight is a story about how we relate to each other and the world around us.

Reviews

Goodreads review by *TANYA* on October 04, 2017

3.5 Stars. I rounded up. I really wanted to LOVE this book BUT, something and I can’t quite put my finger on it didn’t do it for me. Perhaps the writing?? It felt choppy, I want to go into detail but I’m afraid I’d give something away. It had tremendous potential, great story, though.......more

Goodreads review by Chelsea on February 21, 2017

Possibly 3.5? This was pretty cute and overall I really enjoyed it, but I'm looking at the review notes I took and they all seem to be negative (re: ableism). Probably going to film a video review tonight to make some sense of my thoughts. Link to come!......more

Goodreads review by Carole on December 19, 2016

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life. I enjoyed reading this book. I was pulled into the story right away by the wonderful characters, an interesting premise, and just the right amount of humor. This was a super quick read for me largely because I had a hard time putting the book dow......more

Goodreads review by Teresa Faliq ☼ on May 16, 2018

(I need to get better at writing reveiws in a timely fashion lmao) I was at the library, just browsing around, and I honestly had no idea which books to get.. so I decided to pick up this one. I wasn’t disappointed.. this book was really cute and light and just overall pretty fun to read. (: During......more

Goodreads review by Carrie on December 27, 2016

Will Porter was born blind and at an early age his parents decided his best chance would be to attend a school for the blind to learn how to cope with is ability. Now at sixteen though Will wants nothing more than to fit in with normal kids his age and attend a regular school. His first day at his n......more


Quotes

"Sensitively explores disability and its influence on identity...The juxtaposition of blindness with (not) judging by appearances is common, but the author gives depth to the trope by highlighting the betrayal Will feels at the exploitation of his blindness. Thought-provoking and insightful."—Kirkus Reviews

"Unique...will encourage young adults to think about their own biases related to physical attractiveness and body image. Readers will enjoy the humor and romance of the story while gaining a better understanding of life with a visual disability...A highly recommended and engaging story for most YA collections."—SLJ

"Sundquist writes eloquently about what it might be like for someone who was born blind to be given sight. He explores the physical, emotional, and psychological ramifications of Will's change in a thoughtful and evocative manner, providing readers with a fresh perspective on how humans interact with each other and the world around them."—Publishers Weekly

"Rich in sensory detail, this novel pulls readers into Will's world. Sundquist deftly shows the difference between the act of seeing and truly seeing. This fresh and funny coming-of-age story presents an opportunity for readers who take certain abilities for granted to take stock of challenges facing peers."—Booklist

"Sundquist does a nice job of getting inside the head of a person who has absolutely no visual frames of reference...without it feeling intrusive or overly clinical. For budding scientists and future doctors, these details offer new thoughts as well as context for understanding the real stories of people gaining eyesight after blindness and then wishing they hadn't; even readers who just came for the romance will find themselves understanding the "tyranny of the visual" in new ways."—BCCB

"In his debut novel, memoirist Josh Sundquist proves he's as adept at making up new stories as he is at recounting his old ones as he explores overcoming adversity, seeing the world through fresh eyes (literally), and keeping a sense of humor in the midst of life's tribulations. An exciting new voice in the world of YA fiction."—Tommy Wallach, New York Times bestselling author of We All Looked Up

"Is love blind? Should it be? With an intricate, intimate fiction debut, Josh Sundquist aims to find out."—Barry Lyga, New York Times bestselling author

Praise for We Should Hang Out Sometime:An Amazon.ca Best Books of December 2014 for Children and Teens SelectionA YALSA 2015 Teens Top Ten Nominee2015 Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee"You should read this book sometime. I loved it so much!"—Justine Ezarik, New York Times bestselling author of I, Justine: An Analog Memoir

"[A] laugh-out-loud memoir..."—SLJ