Not If I See You First Book Review

---

Not if I See You First in a young adult romance, centred on Parker Grant who went blind after a car accident when she was a kid. Now in high school, she is happy where she’s comfortable and makes sure that everyone’s follows her rules and doesn’t betray her trust. However, when he father dies unexpectedly, she has to adjust and slowly as new people enter her life, and return from the past, Parker learns how to cope, but also while letting them into her life, slowly learning that she can trust them too.

I listened to this as an audiobook and loved both the narrator and the whole feel of the book. As a protagonist, Parker is likeable though a little cynical, but given that she’s blind and finds it hard to trust people, it’s understandable why she’s the way she is. With a list of rules she ensures her friends abide by, Parker navigates her world with perfect accuracy and as I got to know her more as the novel progressed, I found myself more and more compelled to her and her personality.

I found the other characters interesting, and a few relationships in particular felt very plausible, mainly Parker and Sarah and Parker and Scott. Parker and Scott’s relationship was compelling and I liked watching how they behaviour around each other – Lindstrom’s writing oozes the beautiful human nuances we all possess. What I loved even more was the friendship between Parker and Sarah; there’s a comment that Sarah makes about them being even closer than sisters, and Lindstrom touches on the fact that Sarah has been a rock in Parker’s life. Shiela was also an interesting character and again as the plot progressed, I enjoyed that her personality became more complex and 3 dimensional.

I thought this book said a lot about the mistakes that we make, especially when we’re children. There’s an interesting commentary about whether you should be forgiven for mistakes you made in childish ignorance. I’ve read some reviews who think Lindstrom doesn’t write teenagers very realistically – I can sort of see where they’re coming from, but it wasn’t bad enough to take away from the book’s enjoyment for me. There were some fatphobic comments made by a character too, which hopefully given this is Lindstrom’s debut, he doesn’t do the same in any more recent books.

A big part of Not If I See You First is Parker’s passion for running. She runs the same route every morning, but when the school coach finds this out, he wants her to run for the school team. Her experience learning how to run track was eye-opening, and I would like to read more books from people with experience of guide running – especially from an own voice author which as far as I’m aware, Lindstrom is not.

Contagiously loveable and full of life with three dimensional personalities, this is one of my favourite YA romances! It’s a familiar book, but with a fresh and unique perspective, so if you’re looking for something like that, with a protagonist you’ll grow to love, then Not If I See You First is the book for you!