This book did not blow me over with its story or its writing, but there was something comforting about reading it. I think it was the humorous touches that made me interested.

This book gives a good idea about living with a disability with the clever twist about what beauty in the eye of the beholder is really about. Told with touches of humor and romance, this book will give thought to all who read it. Well done.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review. Super cute, super sweet love story. Very enjoyable and a very quick read.

Will's blind life seems to have been a lesson in the routine. When he mainstreams, all that begins to change. Your life can never be routine when you're walking into girls' restrooms, making classmates cry, and befriending your first sighted classmates. Will's friendship with Cecily allows the reader to truly enter his world. This is an exceptional title that achieves what most strive for--it makes you feel something. You cheer Will on at the same time you cover your face in embarrassment for him. No matter what, life always comes down to choices and the people who hang around to travel your journey with you. I'd gladly go along for the journey again especially with Cecily describing things in ways that make you feel more than see.

My review for this disappeared and I know I left one. But here goes. Overall this book was super cute. The characters were believable and the descriptors used were amazing. I originally recieved an ARC from Netgalley via the publisher but didn't download it fast enough. So sadly I hate to wait until it was out. I am glad I was determined to read it. I only got mad at it once towards the end when Will was just acting selfish but in the end I loved the book enough to give it four stars!

Love is more than meets the eye.


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 sweet but shy girl named Cecily. And despite his fear that having a girlfriend will make him inherently dependent on someone sighted, the two of them grow closer and closer. 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?



Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!


My Review:

5 out of 5


I love this book so much I don't even know where to begin.


The plot is a little cliché but luckily I love those types of books. It was cute and sweet and not generic. A little predictable but I absolutely adored it. I needed a book where everything is set right in the end.


The characters were amazing. Will is sweet and caring. He grew up blind and spent most of his time around people who are blind. Now he's decided to integrate himself into life with people with eye sight. I admire his persistence. A lot of things go wrong while at his new school, as can be expected, but he doesn't give up. He keeps going through everything that is thrown at him the entire book.


Of course he couldn't have done it without support. He has his family and even though his mom drives me nuts, she loves him and so does his father. He also has friends he made at school. Nick, Ion and Whitford. They help make the transition to the new school easier when they befriend him. Then theirs Cecily. A girl he becomes close with and eventually starts to fall in love with her.


My favorite part of the book however is the authors portrayal of seeing for the first time. I never imagined it quite like the author describes it and it's still really hard to wrap my mind around because I grew up with eye sight and it seems like something that only a person who experienced it could fully understand. And while the author grew up with eye sight he did a fantastic job explaining it in a way that made sense. He also talks about all the research he conducted for the in the Author's Note.


I overall greatly enjoyed this book and think everyone one should read it. Not only to enjoy but also to learn about blind culture and what it's like to be blind from a blind main character in a sweet, lovely and brilliant story.

This is a YA novel about Will, a blind teenager who is entering a mainstream school for the first time – he’s been in boarding schools for the blind since he was young but he doesn’t want to be catered to, he wants to thrive in a “normal” environment. He makes a group of friends and starts to fall for a girl Cecily but thinks that people make fun of her for being with him, when in fact, they are making fun of him for the opposite reason. As Will has the chance to gain eyesight his relationship becomes strained as he has to learn how to function as a seeing person for the first time. I really enjoyed this novel but was a bit annoyed at how Will’s mother acts throughout the story and also how his friends lie to him about Cecily.

Three and a half stars at least. I enjoyed the book and will find it easy to recommend to teens. It was interesting to experience Will's new sight and see him navigate his feelings for Cecily and the initial betrayal he felt from his friends. .

I knew nothing of this author when I began to read this book, but it sure was funny. I was imagining all of these crazy things happening. It's a cool YA book!

I wish I had been able to read this book, but it was archived before I could.

Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for the PRC.

Imagine being unable to see since birth, this is how Will has lived his life. He starts attending a normal school for the first time in his life and becomes friends with Cicely, a girl who has a terrible birthmark and gets teased daily by her classmates. Will and Cicely have such a wonderful story that makes you cheer for both of them. This book I loved more than I can put into words. Josh Sandquist did a fabulous job of making me feel like I understood how it would be like to be blind. The descriptions and Will's reaction to situations were wonderful. I loved the characters in the story and loved how the story ended. It is a must read for any fans of Young Adult fiction.

Love and First Sight is an adorable and profound look at perception, the way we see the world, and what happens when someone who has never been able to see does for the first time.

There’s a lot going on in this book but something I LOVED was the idea of beauty and how it starts beneath the surface. The main character, Will, is blind. He has never seen anything from birth, not even darkness. He has no perceptions, no stereotypes, nothing to work with because he has never seen it. Sure, he can know what something is, like a triangle or an apple, but he can’t envision it. What’s so compelling about this story is the many thought-provoking and inspired conversations on what it means to be beautiful and whether or not it matters if your physical appears fits the general construct and stereotypes of what beauty should be. Will has no basis. This is fascinating. His version of beauty is soul-deep and has to do with a number of components, the sound of someone’s voice, the feel of their skin, the way they treat others. He says that physical beauty, whether it’s there or not doesn’t matter. If only the world thought this way.

There are two sides of blindness, well three if you want to get philosophical. Blindness in terms of the everyday stereotypes and treatment towards blind people-they way people assume they need help, want it, or are helpless in general. Even the small things like they all wear sunglasses or like to be pulled along. Things that the average person probably would not think about. The small part of me that enjoys science was intrigued and downright astounded by the research poured into this book. It discusses how the brain develops, which parts are used for each sense, and how disuse of one can affect the others. Will has the opportunity to received life-changing surgery that could give him sight. Learning, adjusting to vision is startling. Everything that goes with it, from depth perception to colors to shapes. How do you focus when there are so many elements and when you have never learned how? Each step is connected with blindness and learning through that earlier condition to finally see. We take sight for granted. It never occurs to us that it’s amazing that we can look at so many things at once and recognize them as distinct from each other. For a blind person learning to see, this seems impossible and the brain needs to be trained to cope with the explosion of sensory overload. After I read this, I really thought about placement, perspective, and the incredible power of the human eye to define.

Young adult novels have always appealed to me, though I am in my mid-30s. This is a tale of love, hardship, and how to get through life. There are themes throughout the book that adults can relate to when dealing with their children as well. You fall in love with the main character and root for him until the end. First love always has its share of ups and down - Love and First Sight just adds another obstacle in its way. Definitely would recommend this book to young and old alike.

This is a sweet YA about a blind boy, Will and his friendship with Cecily. Will undergoes an operation to regain his vision and finds that Cecily looks different than other friends. I found it enjoyable but was never emotionally invested.

I thought this book was really fun and different. The story was unlike anything I'd read before, and I didn't find it to be too predictable, which is always a plus. Overall I really enjoyed it.

Will is blind. He has a life and friends and so forth, and is in school. Then, there comes the change for stem cells to be used so that Will can see. For the first time, blind since birth, Will will have sight.

A big issue I have with this book, that lost it several stars, using a disability to advance yourself in a sexual manor... no. Just no, no no.

Will's mom is bonkers. What was stupid is when Will goes nuts over seeing his girlfriend. Really? Even as YA how can you be this stupid over someone who loves you? His over the top behavior was uncalled for, and really spoiled a good bit of the book. It makes Will be not the character we had come to know so far in the book.

These unnecessary and out of what should have been Will's character issues bombed this book for me. Past that you can tell the author tried hard, and worked hard to use descriptions as though one were blind, but it all feel apart.

My copy came from Net Galley. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

This one just didn't spark my interest enough to finish. 3 based on how far I got. Nothing life changing but good writing.

I absolutely loved this book, had a hard time putting it down. I appreciate the research that the author did to bring this story to life and that the book is a very "clean" read, Middle School to High School students will enjoy this book and I will recommend it without hesitation. I loved the plot twist regarding Cecily and gained a new appreciation for my sight and what visually impaired people have to overcome to become independent. I need a sequel!!! I have this on my next book order for my library and already have students in mind who will love to read the book!

A sweet and often funny story about friendship, love and what it's like to literally see the world for the very first time. If you can excuse the pun, it's an eye-opening look at life and what really matters from the perspective of a teen boy who was born blind, functioning quite happily and then has the rare opportunity to gain sight.

In one sentence, I would describe this book as "An interesting twist on a traditional teen romance novel."

At the start of the novel, the main character Will explains that he was born blind and now wants to attend a traditional high school instead of the school for blind he has been at for his earlier years. He begins attending a high school and over time he becomes friends with Cecily, a girl who it is obvious to the reader has a startling physical trait of some kind. Not to give away any spoilers, Will eventually learns about a surgery that may offer him the chance to see, and he also learns what Cecily would not want him to see about her.

This is a very straightforward teen love story with a dash of blindness education thrown in. I would recommend this book, as it taught me a lot of tidbits about visual impairment that I think most people don't really even think about. I'd recommend this book for romance readers/teenagers.