Review: Not If I See You First by Eric Lindstrom.

Not If I See You First* is the story of Parker. Parker is blind, but she’s also very honest and feisty and smart and she’s even a runner. Parker has a strict set of rules that those around her must follow and while some of these come across as rude, some of them do also make sense.

When Scott, her ex, reappears in her life after the merging of their schools, Parker tries to ignore him, but she can’t ignore him forever. The truth eventually starts to unravel surrounding Scott and the circumstances that led to their break up and Parker even learns more about her dad who recently died. This book has a strong focus on friendship and family, whilst also letting a lovely bit of romance dance it’s way in.

I found this book really enjoyable. It was very interesting reading from the perspective of a blind character and I think Lindstrom has written this really well. I really like the relationships between Parker and all of her friends; the friendships we see are very different, but they are all really supportive and great friends to Parker at the end of the day. I’ve read reviews saying that Parker is an unlikeable character, but I actually really liked her. She was honest (brutally) and the fact she isn’t perfect makes her so much more relatable and realistic. Furthermore, it really highlights how far Parker has come since the beginning of the novel.

Due to it often being a large theme in young adult contemporary novels, I also wanted to point out that I appreciated that the book wasn’t relationship driven. Parker does go on a date, and there are themes of romance, but it was not the main aspect of the book (contrary to what my overview of the book may suggest) and it focuses a lot more on friendships. I really enjoyed this because it felt a bit more refreshing and mixed things up amongst all the books I’ve read.

I was really happy with how the book ended. However, on the negative side, the book did leave me feeling a little underwhelmed. I don’t know, it’s four hundred pages and while I did fly through it pretty quickly, it didn’t feel the most eventful, or perhaps it was just that while I liked all of the characters, I wasn’t attached to them, I didn’t really feel for them when they went through hard times. As a result, I have rated this 4/5.

If you’ve read Not If I SeeYou First, what did you think of it?

-driftinglexi

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*I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley to read and review, giving my honest and unbiased opinion.