Love and First Sight by Josh Sundquist

     Love and First Sight by Josh Sundquist, Little Brown Books for Young Readers,  9780316305358, c2017

Format: Hardcover

Rating: 1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review)  4

Genre:  Romance

What did you like about the book? Will is a smart, funny 16-year-old, he’s attending a public high school for the first time after being in a private school, and he makes friends with a group of kids who are on the school quiz team. Will becomes romantically attracted to one of the players who is also in his journalism class, Cecily. Will wants to be a journalist and he and Cecily decide to try out to be hosts on the school’s morning news show. But Will has been blind since birth and Cecily is hiding a secret from Will.

A new medical procedure has been developed that may help Will have sight for the first time ever. His mother wants him to have the procedure, but his father is reluctant because he’s not sure Will could handle the impact of sight on someone who was born blind.

This story puts the reader in Will’s head and it’s a fascinating place to be, reading about the changes that he’s going through after surgery and how it affects his personal life and his school life. All the characters are fully formed and engaging, this is a wonderful story full of hope, friendship and unexpected events.

On a side note, the author researched extensively for this book, and that definitely adds to the story.

Anything you didn’t like about it? No

To whom would you recommend this book?  Noggin by John Corey Whaley

Who should buy this book? High schools and public libraries will want to add this to their collections.

Where would you shelve it? YA Fiction

Should we (librarians/readers) put this on the top of our “to read” piles? Not the very top, but close.

Reviewer’s Name, Library (or school), City and State: Maria Touet, Pope John XXIII High School, Everett, MA

Date of review: September 25, 2017