| Title | : | Love Blind |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1481416952 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781481416955 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 320 |
| Publication | : | First published May 10, 2016 |
Love Blind Reviews
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"I don't think you need to be perfect for Hailey."
"You're wrong. I do. Because otherwise she won't keep me. She may start out with me and maybe even kiss me, but then when she realizes I'm such a fucking mess, she'll throw me out the door, and I don't think I could take it. Like then maybe the last piece of me will break off."
"So much poetry. You could be Russian. But this is crap."
This book ended up being layered and complex. It actually has vivid characters who change and grow over the course of the book and that alone sets it apart from a lot of YA.
The book is written in alternating POV chapters, Kyle/Hailey/Kyle/Hailey with Christa Desir writing Kyle's part and Jolene Perry writing Hailey's part.
Kyle is 17 and living with his mom. His dad abandoned them when he was 10. Kyle's mom is a real piece of work (not in a good way). He is very quiet, and getting him to talk is very difficult. He controls the sound for the school's radio station. He regularly gets the shit beaten out of him by other students.
Hailey is going blind. She has macular degeneration and glaucoma. She can still see blurry shapes, but it's only a matter of time before everything will be black. She has two moms, Lila and Rox. She was adopted by them after her birth-mom abandoned her. Hailey has a strong, forceful and fully-fleshed out personality that I really enjoyed. She is the lead singer / guitar player in a band.
The whole 'gimmick' of this YA book (they usually have gimmicks now) is that Hailey has a made a 'fear list' of things she wants to cross off before she goes blind. Here's her list:
She ropes Kyle into making a list too, and they both try to conquer their fears as the book goes on.
But it's not perfect. Let me break it down for you.
ONE: The beginning of the book is going to drive you nuts. I was hating the book until about page 22 or 25. Basically because the protagonists meet at the radio station, which is run by two blonde twins who gush over music. The scorn heaped on these girls by Kyle and Hailey is gross. I was turned off by this 'they have big breasts and are blonde and get enthusiastic about music, therefore they must be vapid airheads who should be sneered at.'
Another jarring thing that I really had to get used to was Kyle's CONSTANT internal monologue about ass/breasts/sex all the time and him constantly updating us on the stiffness of his "junk." That's what he calls it, "junk" and he just talks about it all the time. If you don't enjoy reading about a 17-year-old in constant states of semi-arousal, this might take some getting used to. I think the book was definitely worth it, but you have to inure yourself to this theme.
Then we follow Hailey home and find out her moms are a pottery maker and a yoga instructor. They are also vegan.
When we follow Kyle home we see him try to deal with his mom. But
Muffled sobs that split me apart until I had to put on the Kinks too loud on my headphones and start reading Sartre's Being and Nothingness to make it go away.
My eyes are rolling so hard at this point I'm surprised they stayed in my head. A 17-year-old who reads Sartre and listens to The Kinks when he can't deal with reality? COME ON.
Luckily the book picks up after that and stops being such a cliche fest. Because I was really getting annoyed. So, don't give up until you've read at least 50 pages, okay?
TWO: Kyle's mom. She's so well-written. Rarely have I seen such a vivid character for someone who is not often on page. Her subtle form of abuse on Kyle, her teetering on the edge of a breakdown all the time - it was masterful. You could see Kyle's anger and frustration with his mom and could completely understand it. Gosh, I was so angry with her. She was SO ANGER-INDUCING. But Desir and Perry are playing it cool, here - they don't go over the top with her and let the reader infer what is going on and the extent of the damage.
THREE: Trigger warning: there is rape in this. It is if that makes a difference to anyone. Just want to let you know. It's only one paragraph, not overly described or overly detailed in my opinion and the authors do a good job illustrating the long-term consequences of this in about 100 different ways. But it's in there, and if that is a dealbreaker for you, I just wanted to let you know.
FOUR: The first... I don't know... 40% of the book has the authors referring to vague shit but not explaining any of it. That can get really exasperating. You know what I mean, Kyle says stuff in his thoughts like, "There were days I thought my head would explode if I thought about what had happened last March." And you have no clue what happened last March and he offers zero explanation for this. I hate when authors do this. I considered leaving Hailey on the curb. Let her get out and then drive away. But I couldn't. I wasn't that guy. Never had been. Except maybe once. When was this 'once?' You know there's a story there, but the authors want to keep you in the dark for another fifty pages so they just leave it at that. It's highly annoying.
FIVE: The comedic Russian best friend. This is like a thing now? I don't know, I feel this 'funny Russian sidekick' character has been kicked around a lot lately, including by the great Donna Tartt. I'm not complaining about Tartt or about this book since both Tartt and the team of Desir&Perry make their 'Russian best friend' more fleshed-out and interesting characters than just a basic caricature - but for sure Pavel is used as comic relief here and his 'funny way of speaking English' and 'constant quest to get the ladies' is blatantly being used as a tension-valve here. Your acceptance of this may vary, I'm going to give it a pass, but DID want to mention it because I think it's a trend lately and I'm not sure how I feel about that.
SIX: Two authors, one voice. Let's talk about the writing style here. With two different authors writing two different points of view, I thought (hoped) that the two different writing styles would be wildly different. However, Perry and Desir write in almost the same voice. That's not BAD, especially if you are trying to create one coherent book, but I was surprised at how similar their writing styles were.
SEVEN: I adored Hailey's strong and complex personality. One of my favorite things about her is her straightforwardness about dating/attraction. Every time she meets someone who is timidly flirting with her or trying to find out if she has a boyfriend, she just straight-out says, "Are you interested in me?" Sometimes the person immediately responds yes and sometimes they are too chickenshit to cop to it (*cough*Kyle*cough*) but I liked her style. Even though she worries about and fears French kissing and sex, she tries to take the reins on this and tackle it in her own life (even though she makes some terrible decisions and suffers some unpleasant consequences.)
She also has this kind of 'fuck-you' attitude to the world that I found endearing. It could have crossed the line into really grating and I don't know if I'd want to hang around her all the time, but she was aggressive not only in flirting but also in this kind of fuck-you attitude she had at times.
One of the reasons I think she's drawn to Kyle is that she can dominate him a little because he's so quiet, and even though Kyle is far from submissive - I thought their dynamic really worked. She would say outrageous things to get him to blush and stammer, she considered it her personal goals to make him laugh, smile, or even say long sentences. Kyle is not a pushover but he is someone who cares deeply about Hailey and that alone makes him 'safe' and a good person for her to hang out with and experiment with. Unfortunately she's hellbent on losing her virginity to the first person who'll take it and we all know this is a terrible idea and indeed has disastrous results in the book.
EIGHT: Hailey also is "uncertain about where she falls on the gay-straight spectrum" and the book DOES show her exploring the fact that she might be a lesbian. This was surprising to me. Kyle straight out asks her if she is gay when he meets her. Because she has lesbian moms? Not how it works. ANYWAY, I think the book handled the 'am I gay? I'm not experienced enough to know if I'm gay or straight' thing pretty well and I didn't feel like she was fucking around with the girl she dated, instead just honestly testing the waters and seeing if there was anything down that road worth pursuing. Of course, but it was an interesting addition to the book.
NINE: Basically this whole book boils down to two chickenshit protagonists who are too scared to admit they like each other and too scared to try a relationship together, so even though during the WHOLE book you know they are in love with each other, they each date other people instead of each other and whine constantly about how 'I don't deserve him/her'; 'I have to make myself into A BETTER PERSON to be worthy of his/her love' and shit. SO much whining and teenage angst for no apparent reason, JEEZ. This is why I avoid YA. I can't stand all the WHINING and the MOPING and the making your life super-complicated for no reason.
Hailey eviscerated me with her sad eyes and pathetic declaration. EVISCERATED ME. I woke up every morning thinking of her and realized I couldn't go back to her. Couldn't apologize for being angry at something that was my own fault. Couldn't explain that maybe I would have helped her cross that one item off her list if I'd been able to find the words and say them. Write them. Anything. She'd gotten hurt.
Expect tons of this. ^^ From both characters. A LOT. "Oh, I have to stay away from you! For YOUR OWN GOOD!" Whine, whine, whine. Just hug each other and talk!
Her words shredded me. My body shook with need for her. I wanted to hop on my bike and find her. Go to her. Bring her everything: my list, my heart, everything.
But that wasn't my life. I didn't get to win. Ever. And even as my pulse skipped at the possibility of her note, I knew it would be taken away.
TEN: Christa Desir has gone on record saying this is the 'lightest' book she's ever written, which makes me wary of her other stuff. o.O
ELEVEN: I, personally, found the ending to be VERY unsatisfying. We have to go through about 300 pages of crap, whining, moping and tragedy in order for these two to and when it happens it is completely underwhelming. I understand that Desir and Perry are going for 'realism' with this book. Rape, horrible, painful first time sex with an asshole <--extra realism, terrible dating decisions, shitty parents, going blind! etc. etc. but I feel like they could have thrown us a few bones besides just 'a funny Russian friend who says quirky things.' o.O I mean, come on, I want a bit of a pay-off after watching these characters suffer in many different ways for hundreds of pages. Show some mercy!
Tl;dr - Well-developed characters who change and grow as the novel goes on. This is the highest praise I can give the book. This is rare. Do you like realistic YA? If so, this is right up your alley, with just enough charm not to make you too depressed. But if you are looking for something 'fun' or 'entertaining' I would say this is too realistic to fit the bill. No easy funny charming plot and IMO no HEA. This isn't a lighthearted romp through the woods, no matter what Desir thinks. So... read at your own risk. Desir says this is the lightest book she's ever written, and if that's true, I might think twice about seeking out her other books. I don't know about Perry as much.
On the other hand, Desir DOES have a great podcast about Sex and YA Novels called "Oral History," you can listen to it here:
http://theoralhistorypodcast.com/ It is actually great and thought-provoking.
All in all, I'd recommend the book but with caveats. I also want to inform you that YA is not my genre and I am NOT a YA-junkie so I have a low bullshit tolerance and also a low tolerance for the constant whining and teen angst that fills these novels. So if I sound like a grumpy adult, that's what I am.
I don't want to rate this a three, because I gave
Divergent and
The Hunger Games a three and I think this is definitely a cut above those. On the other hand, giving it a four makes it seem like I actually enjoyed this, and 'enjoy' may be too strong of a word.
"Why do you hate my list again?"...
"It's like a bucket list, Hailey. And it makes you even more reckless than you already are. You don't need anything else to fuel your crazy... Also, the list is little more than a bunch of dares. I get into enough trouble without daring myself to do crap I shouldn't be doing.""
P.S. And it's not insta-love because it takes months if not a year for these characters to really get to know each other and then they even move past the "lust-stage" without even so much as kissing. They are true friends, not just people who want to bone each other. -
A copy of this novel was provided by Simon & Schuster for review via Edelweiss.
Here I am, once again, writing a review for a book I thought was going to be LGBTQIA+ and was not. My luck? Shit.
Anyway, regardless of that nice little fact there, here are the reasons why Love Blind was not for me:
1) The bisexual erasure.
When Kyle, one of our two narrators, immediately asks Hailey (the second narrator) if she’s gay because she has two moms, she says something like “I don’t know where I fall on the gay-straight continuum yet; I’m young”. Hmm, okay. Sure. Whatever.
Hailey spends the majority of the book thinking about guys, and wanting to kiss and have sex with guys, so I was pretty certain that she had absolutely zero interest in anyone but these guys. And then a girl comes along, who likes her. Hailey is all: I don’t want to lead you on because I don’t even know if I like girls. *eye twitch* But okay.
These two start a semi relationship. Kyle literally says that Hailey is “gay”. DUDE, fucking seriously? You know she had a boyfriend, and that she was interested in you before she started the ~thing~ with this girl. And you just have to make her gay now? There is a sexual orientation, and it’s called BISEXUALITY.
Oh, and then Hailey breaks off the ~thing~ with the girl, and realises that no, she’s “not a lesbian”. Oh. For. Fuck’s. Sake. So not only did her character perpetuate the ‘bisexuality is a phase’ thing by pretty much using those words herself, but she also erased the identity completely. CONGRATULATIONS. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ADDING TO THE ALREADY OVERFLOWING BI ERASURE. BLESS.
2) The time jumping.
Two chapters went by in Love Blind and then one of the characters mentions months going by. What the hell? This actually happened a lot in this novel. Kyle was a junior at the beginning of the novel, and was at the end of his first college year at the end of it. And there was no clear way to determine how much time had passed, until one of the characters mentioned it. I feel like it would have worked better if the book had been told in parts or something, because it was hella confusing to try and figure out how old they were, or how much time had passed.
3) Hailey and Kyle.
Hailey was judgemental as all hell. She didn’t even like her friends, which she said on many occasions. Okay, then why are you hanging out with them then? She was also really negative in her thoughts about Kyle, so it was a tad unbelievable that she suddenly had feelings for him, after saying that she pretty much wanted him as a project because he was “more fucked up” than she was, or anyone she knew. Yeah, good on you.
The first two thirds of the novel from Kyle’s perspective involved him:
a- checking out Hailey’s boobs
b- checking out Hailey’s ass
c- imagining making out with Hailey
d- imagining having sex with Hailey
e- getting a hard-on
While, sure, we all know sex is on the teenage guy’s brain, I also felt like Kyle was the biggest fucking creep ever. And it also felt really try-hardy depict an ~accurate~ teenage guy by throwing in sexual shit every five seconds.
4) “X deserves better” “Until I deserve X”
UGHUGHUGHGHGHGHG. I just cannot with this kind of bullshit. I hate it when people think about being “deserving” of someone else. Or having to change themselves to “deserve” someone. Or be “better” to “deserve” someone. If someone doesn’t love you for who you freaking are, then maybe THEY don’t deserve YOU. Why should you have to try so hard to feel worthy of them? You’re worthy of everyone, if you’re not a complete asshole.
5) The ending.
In the air and unresolved, which I can sometimes handle, but I was so not down for this shit after pushing through this novel.
trigger warning: depressed + drug abusive mother, absent father (who cheated), loss of vision via car accident, statutory rape, bullying, physical assault, and sexual assault/rape (with inanimate object) in this novel
© 2016,
Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved. -
Basic Info
Format: Hardback
Pages/Length: 320pgs
Genre: Young Adult; Contemporary
Reason For Reading: Cover!
At A Glance
Love Triangle/Insta Love/Obsession?: No
Cliff Hanger: No
Triggers: n/a
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Score Sheet
All out of ten
Cover: 9
Plot: 8
Characters: 9
World Building: 8
Flow: 8
Series Congruity: n/a
Writing: 7
Ending: 5
Total: 7
In Dept
Best Part: Bucket lists!
Worst Part: Quick ending!
Thoughts Had: and then?!
Conclusion
Continuing the Series: n/a
Recommending: Yes
Short Review: Anything with or about bucket lists, i read. I love the idea of bucket list so reading about others doing them, makes me happy. That being said. I hated this ending. I didn't see it coming, and it was over too quickly. Like really!? I need more than that. I need to see more of the After. I loved the girl MC in this book. The boy MC was a bit weird, but i can relate to that too. Overall, a nice contemporary that didn't make me roll my eyes, always a win in my book.
Misc.
Book Boyfriend: The Male MC!
Best Friend Material: The Female MC! -
'She squeezed me so tight I thought I'd stop breathing and fall off the world and into her and it would finally, finally be okay, because sometimes people needed to be held so hard they hurt.'
I have to start of by saying I'm a massive fan-girl for all of Jolene's books. But this is the first book by C Desir that I've read so I wasn't sure what I was going to get from this novel. Love Blind took me on such a journey and struck a really nerve as my dad is struggling with macular degeneration just like Hailey, obviously their situations are different but it was enlightening to read about it from the person with the condition.
I love books with dual POVs and this book was no different expect I probably loved Kyle's PoV a tad more as there is just something so endearing about him. Maybe it's his broken pieces or that he's just a pretty decent guy. Hailey's PoV was funny,sad,enlightening and she's just a flat out likeable character. I'm not normally a fan of will they won't they end up together but both authors played it out perfectly and it goes to to show sometimes your the only one who stops you from doing something whether it be through fear,self doubt or not believing it's the right time for it to happen. But this book makes it ok to feel that way, and you never know what will happen if you take the chance. Seriously though I loved Love Blind it is just the perfect YA novel. And I'll be reading more books by C.Desir in the very near future. Also make sure you add Love Blind to your tbr list you won't regret it!!! -
I wasn't a huge fan of the beginning of this book, though I liked Hailey as a character, because Kyle was a pervy weirdo who kept referencing his "junk" and calling vaginas "pink parts."
Yup. Pink parts.
But now that I've finished I understand it was meant to show the progression of his maturity, as the book spans from junior year of high school to sophomore year of college. Kyle was much more likable during the second half. I wasn't a fan of how abruptly the book seemed to end, with still so many things left open ended, but I'm guessing that was intentional.
What I did like though was how sensitively Desir & Perry handled a protagonist with two moms, and her own exploration of her sexuality. I also really loved Pavel and his obsession with Cosmo, and knack for "oral pleasure" (as he continually stated). He was by far the most amusing aspect of this book.
For me, Love Blind just fell a little short of the mark it was trying to hit. All in all, it was a quick, short read and that's about it. -
Read for free during Riveted Lit’s fundraiser campaign for It Gets Better.
Content Warning: Rape, Malfunctioning Parenting, Bullying
It’s hard reading the top reviews for this book since my reactions are so wildly different. #OddOneOut
Love Blind is a meaningful, funny, realistic, sarcastic, tale of two teens struggling with mental and physical issues while navigating the trials of high school. And this isn’t some Mean Girl drama. This is rape, a degenerative disease, bi-polar mood swings, anxiety, and fear. Fear. It’s causes and consequences are the underlying theme and conquering it is the message. You can seize the day, but recklessness creates problems as does doing nothing. The reasonable middle is a slippery, wavy mirage like heat off the pavement, but even landing on the other side, you’ll be okay. You can make it.
+LOVE Hailey
+Love Kyle
+LOVE Hailey & Kyle
+Love Hailey’s moms
+Slow Burn Romance: They’re friends for YEARS first.
+I thought the time jumping was handled well and there were clear reasons for it. It’s not an immediate best-friends situation, which was refreshing to read.
+Kyle is the typical dude who’s attracted to Hailey and his narration reflects that, but he berates himself about it. It’s not a bragger jock type situation. I honestly didn’t think it was overabundant or pervy. Especially since Hailey often did things on purpose to fluster him and flush him out. I’m a sucker for this kind of guy and thought their interactions were so cute.
+Loved the ending. Bitter-sweet, meaningful, and perfect for these two.
+Kyle’s mom is bipolar and still experimenting to find the right medication treatment. The effects are devastating. They have other issues that plays a huge role as well. I feel so bad for Kyle and her and their situation. It really hits home how things can go wrong, out of your control, and spiral. The depiction is subtle and nuanced. She’s not a villain, but a person trying to do her best but being held back and fucking up.
+Appreciate the disability, anxiety, rape, and mentally ill parent representation. Nothing seemed out of place or wrong to me, though I only have experience with the latter 3, not the former. Parents, if you have any doubts of the effects of certain actions on your teens, Love Blind is a great way to illustrate and make it hit home.
+There is a lot of “I’m not good enough for him/her” and trying to “earn” them, causing much grief and misunderstandings. I don’t like waving it off as just teenage bemoaning over nothing. Given how our society treats relationships and class it’s no surprise they have this kind of thinking. Is is pleasant to read? No. But it’s real. The idea must be combatted and that’s what Love Blind does.
==Pavel the Russian best friend. I like how it shows that inside jokes with the person about themselves is fine, but the way the described and talked about him rubbed me wrong. They weren’t being mean to him and Pavel jokes about it himself. I dunno maybe this is one of those things that makes you uncomfortable as an outsider but the person is fine with it. Pavel reminds me of Paul Finch from American Pie but Finch was mercilessly bullied, while Pavel isn’t.
He’s more than just comic relief though. His relationship and history with Kyle is an important part of the story. But did they make him Russian just for the ‘funny’ accent and cultural misunderstandings when communicating? See, I like Pavel and his role, but the execution and portrayal? I just don’t know. It doesn’t feel quite right. It could be nothing and I could be overanalyzing so you’ll have to decide for yourself on this one.
--Bi-erasure. Hailey does experiment and admits to not knowing for sure since she’s never been in a f/f relationship before. I really liked how this was handled except for one thing. It’s laid out as gay or straight. It’s never acknowledged or mention that hey, maybe she’s bi? Experimenting and finding out you’re straight is FINE. But if that’s the case, don’t list it as QUILTBAG and DON’T include it for a It Gets Better Campaign. Love Blind is a straight book. Experimenting and truly finding out you’re heterosexual instead of just assuming is a heterosexual experience, not a gay one.
Like I said, I liked her relationship with Girl. I think it will be useful to teens to have realistic exploration of sexuality with mature responses. However, the bi-erasure problem could’ve been solved with a sentence. Just one. Some acknowledgement it’s not an either-or simplicity. Sexuality is a wide spectrum. If she’s majorly attracted to dudes but enjoys some aspects of being with girls, why not use the Kinsey scale? Bi-sexuality isn’t a phase, but experimenting is. The fact this wasn’t clear makes it a problematic book unfortunately and shouldn’t be included or made to believe it’s anything but straight.
Love Blind should be included on lists about physical and mental issues though. It’s a great story with an usual romance that I completely fell for and would be remiss it this representation is ignore or overlooked because of fail marketing ploys.
Previous Update::: Read for free on Riveted Lit as part of their campaign:
Support the #WeAreHuman campaign and the It Gets Better Project by reading Love Blind and eight other great reads from now through November 11 as part of our Riveted Readathon!
Review to come shortly, I'm moving to the other novels while I can! -
When I first heard about Love Blind it went straight on my to-read list due to the similarities to Eric Lindstrom's
Not If I See You First, which I had absolutely loved. And maybe that's not the best way to pick a book, because this book wasn't even in the same dimension as Not if I See You First. Love Blind was more about lust and sex and two teens having a million near misses than it was about blindness, courage and sorting through fears.
Hailey is going blind so she creates a fear list of things to complete before she loses her sight completely. When she meets Kyle, timid and practically mute, she challenges him to create his own fear list.
Love Blind is very character driven. Unfortunately, I didn't like the main characters. Hailey is flippant and brash, almost meeting all the criteria for the stereotypical girl who is a lead singer in an all-girl rock band. But she uses this persona to hide her vulnerabilities and fears about going completely blind. Kyle is almost the opposite, wearing his terror of the world for all to see. When they meet, Hailey barges her way into Kyle's life. She likes him because he has more issues than she does so that makes her look less crazy. And she tells him this. Repeatedly. Hence why I didn't like Hailey. There is snarky and upfront and then there is just rude and insensitive. Hailey is the latter.
I liked Kyle more (marginally). He is troubled, but has a great character voice. He has so many words floating around in his head it is hard to get any out when with people, to which I can totally relate. He is facing some tough issues, from regular beatings at school, a broken relationship with his mother and having suffered a serious trauma in his first year of high school. He reads like a sensitive teenage guy, but he does have a tendency to think about sex a lot. Probably realistic, but I could have done without the constant references to his state of arousal.
Love Blind covers a lot of time, from Kyle's junior year of high school to his first year of college, which allowed both Kyle and Hailey time to mature. As they work through their fear lists, relationships with others and avoiding their feelings for each other, they learn to reflect on who they are and what sort of people they would like to be. Love Blind is certainly a mature young adult novel, due to sexual content and strong language.
I wanted to like this story. It had a great premise, but my dislike for Hailey and the constant this-is-going-nowhere of their love story combined in a book to which I just couldn't connect.
The publishers provided a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Find more reviews on my blog
Madison's Library. -
Hailey eyesight is failing. She knows she will eventually go blind - probably sooner rather than later. This scares her and she wants to make the most of her life before she looses her vision. She's created a list of things/fears she feels she must do/face before her eyesight goes away. While playing with her band she meets Kyle, a boy she senses is hiding from life. Hailey decides that Kyle needs to face his fears and reclaim life and badgers him into creating his own list. Then over the course of four years readers watch the development of the friendship between Hailey and Kyle - as they tackle their lists and learn to live life. This is a deeply introspective book and the title can be interpreted many ways. As I have written before, I am truly a fan of Ms. Desir's writing and always look forward to her next book.
-
I adore this book. As someone with poor (though not as bad as H's) it was refreshing to "see" into someone else's life like this. And K...so cute and such a sweet guy. Definitely the type of guy I would have gone for in HS. Loved the fear list idea. Something I kind of want to do now. Except there's no way I'm holding a giant spider! Overall a great read. Well done, ladies. Well done!
-
Review
First, let me tell you the reasons why I was so excited this book:
I liked both books I read by Christa Desir (LOVED
Other Broken Things) and Jolene Perry last year
Blind main character which I enjoyed in Not If I See You First so eager to read about another
That cover is simplistic perfection to me
OK so I was pretty pumped to pick this one up. However, for the first 40ish% I was kind of underwhelmed. I wasn't connecting as much to either main character - Hailey or Kyle. Hailey was very blunt and a little reckless. She kind of blurted stuff out and would do things she knew she shouldn't have to make sure she got in the experience before she went blind. Kyle was shy and didn't talk much but had lots of thoughts running through his head he couldn't get out. A lot of those thoughts at the beginning were super sexual in nature. Totally normal for a teenage dude but I didn't need to read about all of them if you know what I mean.
The two kind of happen upon a friendship at school through the school's music station - Kyle works there and Hailey is in a band. Hailey has a Fear List which is all the fears she wants to conquer. She enlists Kyle to make his own and wants them both to conquer their fears together.
This is a classic case of boy likes girl. The girl slowly realizes she likes boy. Neither boy nor girl will ever tell the other. Lots of other things get in the way of boy and girl getting together.
Sometimes the above scenario can bother me a lot. I wind being like tell her/him already!! This one bothered me so much less because there were so many other things they were both dealing with that I got how they could kind of push it aside or focus on something else. I did love that this was a slow build up. Their friendship starts at the beginning of Kyle's junior year and goes through his second year in college. So we have some time with both of them. Because of this, there is so much character growth with both of them. I LOVE character growth so much. They both are still themselves, still flawed but better.
Secondary characters were awesome here. We have Hailey's moms. Strong and supportive of their daughter while trying to get her ready to deal with her eventual blindness. They were pretty awesome. But for every set of great parents you have to have the messed up one right? At least in a YA novel. So that is Kyle's mom. She is all sorts of screwed up and Kyle bears the brunt of it. The best character was Kyle's best friend Pavel. I LOVED him. He was a good friend and just a positive person. There needed to be more Pavel in the book. Total comedic relief as well.
Somehow I started off eh on this one but by the end I was really invested in Kyle and Hailey. I am not sure if I was just having a moment but I kind of got emotional at the ending. Something just real about it. I wound up enjoying this, it just took me a little while to get to that point.
This review was originally posted on Rebel Mommy Book Blog -
I feel like I’m on a trend lately where I get really excited by the possibility of a book being great. Great cover, great premise, lots of room to really go deep with the characters, but it’s like, nope! Not even close. I really, really wanted to love this but I felt like it was trying too hard. A blind, angry, loner rock star with vegan, lesbian mums who falls for a radio DJ with no father and a substance abusive mother. What?! Too. Much. Going. On. I wouldn’t question it so much if it was well executed, but this was not.
Positives first. I actually didn’t mind Kyle as a main character. He was likeable and I kind of bought into the romance between him and Hailey. It seemed real, especially as the novel went on. Hailey annoyed me at first though. A lot. She seemed too erratic and was making so many terrible decisions, that I just wanted to grab her and scream, what are you doing with your life?! But as the novel and her relationship with Kyle progressed, she showed more and more of her vulnerabilities, and she frustrated me less and less. The main problem I had with their relationship was the whole, will they, won’t they thing. The push and pull got old real quick. The should’ve, would’ve, could’ve. I also found the alternating chapters between Kyle and Hailey quite jarring, and sometimes the plot jumped several weeks with little explanation, which was also pretty confusing.
Another huge negative: Chaz. That guy was such a douche and I wanted to punch him from the get go. Seriously, it takes Hailey far too long to see this guy’s flaws that are obvious from a mile away. Gah! But I felt like this was necessary to explore. It shows that young girls shouldn’t let themselves be fooled by older guys who are clearly only after one thing.
I feel a little blinded (ha!) by all the negatives with this one but I didn’t completely hate it. There was enough going on in the novel to keep me reading. I’m just really over contemporary novels introducing issues such as disabilities, and not executing them well. -
I really wanted to read this book based on the summary on the inside flap, but as I read, I felt more and more removed from these characters that I thought I would like, but ended up just being mostly annoyed with. I know I'm not the greatest writer in the world and have no room to talk, but most of this read as cliché. Hailey was super selfish and it was hard to root for her because the crappy way she treated Kyle had nothing to do with her eyesight and everything to do with her awful personality. And [spoiler alert] it was just irresponsible for a 16-yr-old to hook up with a 21-yr-old. That's not a relationship—that's statutory rape and not something that should be taken so lightly by Hailey's moms or the authors. I only kept reading because I can't not finish a book I start, but this was not pleasant to get through because the Hailey/Kyle dynamic felt forced and not right. He kept saying how he wasn't good enough for Hailey... well that's wrong. Hailey wasn't good enough for him. Just because two people are broken doesn't mean they have to be right for each other. This book was problematic for a number of reasons. It wasn't 100% awful, but I won't be recommending it to any of my friends who like YA fiction.
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Hailey is a sixteen year old high school student and a talented musician. She's making a fear list because she's quickly losing her eye sight and wants to face several fears before she's completely blind. Kyle works at the school radio station and uses music to avoid talking and facing his fears. Hailey believes if Kyle makes his own fear list it will help him become more vocal. Their story is told in alternating chapters between Kyle and Hailey's POVs. I loved how Hailey thought and said most of what she felt and needed. I wish she had did that more with Chaz. I wanted Kyle to admit his feelings sooner but their relationship over the time period played out very realistic. Pavel is just perfectly inappropriate. His story is heartbreaking but his attitude is hilarious. Lila and Rox (Hailey's moms) are a great balance having to deal with Hailey's independence at the same time worrying about her safety. I never got a full understanding of Kyle's mom and what she wanted and needed from him except maybe she needed to deal with her own health first. A great contemporary read from both Jolene Perry and Christa Desir. I hope they collaborate on more stories.
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I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
“Love Blind” tells the story of Hailey, a girl who is slowly losing her vision. Hailey knows that she will be blind, it is not a matter of “if” it is a matter of “when”. Hailey creates a list of fears. A list of what she is afraid to do, but wants to do it. Have sex. Tongue kiss. Spiders. The list goes on and on. Hailey is learning to cope with her vision when she meet’s Kyle. Kyle is the nice guy who happens to get beat up continually. Kyle’s only goal in life is to graduate and move out of his house with his controlling mother. Hailey and Kyle start an unusual friendship that spans a couple of years.
“Love Blind” is a story of finding yourself and trusting those close to you. “Love Blind” is a great story and I can’t wait to read more books from these authors. -
Another YA romance where the two interested parties spend the entire book narrowly avoiding the one conversation that would solve all of the story's tension/conflict. YA Lovers, willyoupleasejustspeaktooneanotheralready??
Also, if I could wave my magic wand and erase all bucket list type plots from future YA books, I would.
That being said... otherwise light and reasonably entertaining? -
3.75 stars because this book although it was good at times other parts it was SO predictable. Helpless girl loves a guy. Other parts too she made the stupidest of decisions and it was like,"WHY WOULD YOU EVER MAKE THAT DECISION!!!" I wouldn't recommend this book to people under the age of 12/13 years old.
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Looking at the other books written by the authors of Love Blind, they both have a tendency to write stories where their characters have REALLY big issues to deal with—and that’s definitely true with this novel as well.
Hailey is losing her vision, her life a slow countdown to the day she won’t be able to see anything at all. Kyle is caring for his angry and depressed mother at home and being bullied at school; he tries as hard as he can to be invisible, to the point of barely speaking to other people. After they meet, Hailey challenges Kyle to create a list of things he fears, similar to the one she has already written. Then they can work through their lists together. They both challenge and hurt each other as they mark the items off their lists, but through it all, they become better and better friends. And as time goes on, both Kyle and Hailey begin to hope that they can be more than just friends—but that would require them to face what might be their biggest fears of all.
I had a very mixed reaction to this book. On the one hand, I was definitely pulled into the story. Kyle’s struggles in particular engaged my interest. There are very good reasons he has trouble speaking to others, and I really wanted him to overcome all his problems. It probably helped that I enjoyed his friendship with his best friend, Pavel, and his role in the plot, too. (Not to mention, Pavel is kind of hilarious.) I think that Kyle was the primary reason I kept reading, in spite of the things about the novel annoyed me.
For one thing, I didn’t like Hailey very much as a character, even if I could sympathize with her fear of going blind. She’s the kind of person who prides herself on just boldly doing or saying things, on being outrageous—but a lot of times, she’s just being kind of insensitive and rude. At least Hailey realizes that about herself by the end of the book, but it took an annoying long time for her to get there.
The bigger problem that I had with the novel is the way the authors had the characters get closer to each other and then draw apart, again and again and again. The book takes place over several years, and the authors repeat this pattern a lot. Sometimes it made sense, in terms of the story—for example, Kyle goes to tell Hailey about how he feels about her, and then he sees her kissing someone else. However, a lot of times the only thing keeping them apart was the conviction on one or the other’s side that they weren’t worthy of each other at that particular moment in time. When you have both characters voice that thought over and over again, it eventually becomes a tiresome excuse for inaction. I became impatient with them, rather than empathizing with their fear of moving forward with their relationship. And then, after all that back and forth, the ending seemed a little abrupt and kind of flat, too.
So, not the best book I’ve read recently, but I did get invested in Kyle’s story line enough to want to know how everything turned out. If you really like YA contemporaries where the characters have problems with a capital P, you might want to give this book a try.
An ARC of this novel was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. -
This book was such a breath of fresh air. I read a lot of YA and often contemporary frustrates me. There is usually a boy and a girl and they meet and then something dramatic goes down and there is fall out and then they have to fix it somehow and then everybody is happy. Sometimes it's well done and I enjoy it but more often than not, it's okay and I promptly forget what the story was about.
This book takes a couple of kids who have some things going on before they meet. One is intrigued and determined to befriend the other. Yes one is a boy and one is a girl but there was substance to them before their story began. It captured all of the awkwardness of being a teenager and all the things that can make you feel different and scared. It looked at family dynamics and how they impact who you are at school. There were some really tragic things that occurred but the story was more about missed opportunities. You know all those moments that you look back on and realize "if only I'd", it could have changed everything.
I loved the main characters in the story. A couple of the side characters seemed a bit irrelevant but don't all of us have those people from our teen years that seem so important until they're not.
No instalove, no way to fix everything, just teens trying to deal with difficult circumstances and growing up. -
Kyle is a quiet, bullied junior who hides behind books and in the audio booth of the high school radio station. Hailey is slowly going blind due to macular degeneration, glaucoma and a host of other eye issues. Kyle tries has one friend and tries his best to fly under the radar. Hailey is in a girl band and very outgoing. These two opposites come together one day when Hailey is being interviewed about her band by the radio station. Hailey feels an instant draw and Kyle, in his own quiet way, feels the same draw. The story follows their back and forth, the differences in their personalities, and their feeling of inadequacy when it comes to what they have to give one another while they try to tackle the things on their personal fear lists.
I liked how in this story fear and lack of confidence looked two very different ways. Kyle's fears of bullying and his home situation come forth as quiet, intense, and turtle-like. Hailey's fear of going completely blind is displayed through her sometimes forced perkiness, confidence, and her clinging to tackling her fear list as a distraction. Although kind of cheesy like all YA romances pretty much are, it was nice to see a story in which the characters seem real and have real life problems and work them out in a way that seems lifelike. -
Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
16 year old Hailey, lead singer of a girl band, is gradually losing her vision. Kyle, 17, works at the school radio station and can barely speak to other people (severe social anxiety? never really spelled out). The two meet and form this odd friendship tinged with a lot of will they/won't they get together angst thrown in. Hailey is not all that likable, but I did really like Kyle's character and kept reading more for him. This book has a lot going on, like too much. There's just too much for the story to bear the weight of, and the execution wasn't the best. Yes, it was okay enough that I read it and it was a quick read really, but it was an average book overall. I would give 3.5 stars, reverting to 3 with no half stars on here, as I would lean more towards 3 over 4. Not a terrible book, but not one I would say to put on your must read list. -
Hailey, Hailey, Hailey, Chaz is, at the least, five years older than you are. You are a sophomore. Danger, danger, Will Robinson! OMG and he doesn't even care when she tells him she's 16, just asks if she'd tell anyone? Get away from him! At least she stops the situation, and her moms recognize yeah, gee, it's statutory rape/sexual assault. What school are they at/suburb of Chicago? Because Kyle just namedropped Concordia. Are they at OPRF?
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3.5 really. I did enjoy the book, and I was intrigued by the characters, but I felt the plot was rather typical YA. I think the time line added a realistic feel to it, having it last years instead of weeks or months. Neither character jumps right into a relationship and they both have their doubts. They both grow and develop. But I still felt a little underwhelmed. Overall, I did enjoy the book, but instead of making a huge impression on me, it kind of just blended in.
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I've been trying to think how to review this book. I really liked it, despite being horrified at what parents let their 15 year olds have the freedom to do. In this book. However, the story was unusual and interesting, the characters were enjoyable, and the writing was good. So, everybody read it! :)
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REVIEW TO COME
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Frank and irreverent. I like that some things (namely, the two moms) were not made issue of but that other issues that were (I felt) more significant, but are often overlooked in YA literature were.
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Well, this sure is a book that I read.
I have a lot of scattered thoughts, mostly negative. But here is a list of the biggest issues, off the top of my head:
* Hailey pursues a physical relationship with a 21-year old who, knowing she is only 16, reciprocates. If she was a real person, I wouldn't fault Hailey for her interest in an older guy, but I have some concerns about the writing around Hailey's actions here, since it's adult authors making these decisions. But I have far more concerns about him, and about the responses from the multiple people who know about it. He's portrayed as being an asshole in general, but his interest in an underage girl is barely addressed. Also, while Hailey does pursue him and repeatedly calls/texts/meets up with him, he is extremely pushy, and while Hailey says she "wanted" everything that happened, there was substantial coercion, guilt-tripping, and manipulation. His coercion goes completely unaddressed, and everything is treated simply as a "mistake" that Hailey made.
* Hailey's moms. First, while it is true that many people fit stereotypes, you can't just make them walking stereotypes and magically make it okay by having a character make jokes about how many stereotypes they fit. Her moms have no attributes outside of lesbian stereotypes.The way Hailey talks about them is also weird. It felt kind of like she didn't really view them as her parents. We know she was adopted, so that could make sense if she was older at the time, but there's nothing to indicate one way or the other (unless I missed it).
* Speaking of LGBTQ+ people, bisexuality exists. Except apparently nobody in this book knows that, so if you like guys but kiss a girl, I guess you're gay now. But don't worry, if you turn out to like kissing that girl but not be in love with her, that proves you're not a lesbian. I guess.
* Not that this should be surprising, considering how badly it handles statutory rape, it also does not deal with sexual assault (in the past, of a minor character) well.
And now some issues that aren't red flags:
* It tries too hard to sound like teenagers, especially teenage boys. Look, I get it, teenagers (and not just boys) think about sex a lot. One of my favorite quotes from Buffy is, "I'm seventeen. Looking at linoleum makes me want to have sex." But there's a way to write natural-sounding teenage dialog and thoughts without endlessly referencing boners or--and I quote--"pink parts." You have to aim for a point that implies it's a common thought, rather than trying to outright mention every time he thinks about it, otherwise it just feels really awkward.
* The freaking time jumps. This seems to be a standard complaint even from the higher reviews, because it's not particularly well-executed. There are several places in the book where you are suddenly informed that several months have past since two paragraphs ago. I also don't love it in context--each of those jumps indicates a period of time when Hailey and Kyle stopped talking for some reason or other, and while the book is primarily about their relationship, they basically seem to not exist outside of it? Even the several month time skip in New Moon, when Edward left Bella, both 1) had a clear indication that time was passing and 2) reflected Bella's actual state during the skip. None of the skips in this book do either, especially for Hailey.
* I have some concerns with the way Hailey's blindness is addressed, but nothing I feel qualified to elaborate on. I didn't particularly like the repeated references to her eye doctor telling her she had "old-person eyes." Also, we get a lot of talk from Hailey about the preparation she's done for when she's completely blind (which she generally refers to as "black-blind," which I think is probably not great), but she never actually does any in the book, except on her own as it relates to the list. (Nothing stood out to me as a major issue, but I am not blind so it's entirely possible I'm overlooking/unaware of/not grasping the significance of something.)
* This book was the absolute worst of both worlds in terms of engagement level. I cared just enough to keep reading it, but not so much as to not get bored after a chapter or two. I couldn't even say why, really.
I didn't mind the characters being a bit on the unlikable side, and while they were a bit inconsistent, it never pulled me out of the story too much. But there are way too many issues for me to recommend it.
