This review contains affiliate links, which earn me a small commission when you click and purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my small business and allowing me to continue providing you a reliable resource for clean book ratings.
Synopsis:
Parker Grant doesn’t need 20/20 vision to see right through you. That’s why she created the Rules: Don’t treat her any differently just because she’s blind, and never take advantage. There will be no second chances. Just ask Scott Kilpatrick, the boy who broke her heart.
When Scott suddenly reappears in her life after being gone for years, Parker knows there’s only one way to react — shun him so hard it hurts. She has enough on her mind already, like trying out for the track team (that’s right, her eyes don’t work but her legs still do), doling out tough-love advice to her painfully naive classmates, and giving herself gold stars for every day she hasn’t cried since her dad’s death three months ago. But avoiding her past quickly proves impossible, and the more Parker learns about what really happened — both with Scott, and her dad — the more she starts to question if things are always as they seem. Maybe, just maybe, some Rules are meant to be broken.
My Review:
3.5/5 stars. I was really looking forward to reading this book, but I was disappointed. The portrayal of blindness was great and accurate, but there was way too much bad language and some sexual content I was uncomfortable with. One thing I loved was the main character’s development, but her personality also felt a little inconsistent at times.
I first picked up Not If I See You First because of the blind main character and the intriguing premise. It starts off strong. The last sentence of the prologue is an engaging hook that pulled me in. However, the plot relevance of the end of the prologue ended up not being as important as it seemed.
Right away, I didn’t really like the main character, Parker. She is rude to everyone, even her friends, and thinks she’s too cool to be bothered by anyone. It’s written as kind of a positive thing, like she’s doesn’t worry about those who don’t understand her, but it just makes her annoying and mean. Then, later in the book, the way she is written is inconsistent. Suddenly she becomes a girl who loves her friends more than anything and doesn’t want to be mean. This isn’t character development; it’s inconsistent writing. Parker did show growth later, which I loved, but this wasn’t that.
Speaking of character development: It’s the best part of the book. Parker grows in two big ways over the course of the story, in learning to express emotions and to forgive.
Both love interests in Not If I See You First are great. Jason, introduced first, is such a sweet, attentive, and considerate guy. I understand why Parker likes him. Scott is also a great guy, especially in flashbacks and Parker’s memories. I love that their romantic relationship is rooted in a platonic friendship.
On that note, I loved Parker’s monologue about what real love is, both platonic and romantic. It’s a really cute scene. It’s also the catalyst for most of her development, and she realized her own feelings as she gave advice to someone else. You don’t see a lot of discussion in romance books about there being a strong friendship first, so that was nice.
Rated: High. Profanity includes multiple uses of strong, moderate and mild language. Sexual content includes mention of a stripper, a number of crude/vulgar references, and a very detailed kissing/make-out scene. Violence just includes a mention that the character lost her vision in a car accident, but there are no descriptions of the crash. There are some references to drugs/alcohol: the main character’s father died from a combination of prescription pills and alcohol.
