Laura Ellen

I'm just going to come out with it: This book made me angry. Like, throw-the-book-across-the-room-and-glare-at-it angry. But, in an effort to calm myself, I'll start with what I actually liked about Blind Spot.

The main character, Roz, suffers from macular degeneration, leaving her legally blind. She constantly struggles to make up for this deficit as she maneuvers her way through high school, but her eyesight is, unsurprisingly, always on her mind, making her self-conscious and lowering her show more self-esteem. Constantly frustrated from feeling helpless and out of her element in many situation while still wanting to be able to handle everything herself and without help, Roz has a tendency to jump to conclusions and snap at those around her, even those with the best intentions. This aspect of the novel felt very realistic to me. My younger sister was born with glaucoma and I think she'd identify closely with Roz. I can't say what goes on inside my sister's head, but I do know how she reacted to things when she was in high school and, from my point of view, Roz had similar reactions and thoughts. In the novel, Roz points out that people don't realize how poor her vision is and are constantly asking why she doesn't just get glasses. She can't drive and isn't able to play sports because she's a liability. These are all things my sister struggled with. Also like Roz, my sister could be a bit angry. She didn't like wearing her glasses, which improved her vision but left her feeling dorky and unattractive (which is not fun for anyone, let alone a high school-aged girl), and new situations were extremely stressful because she couldn't see to figure things out.

This is where the similarities between my sister and Roz end, right along with my positive feelings regarding Blind Spot. My biggest issue? I absolutely loathed all of the characters. Okay, that might be a bit dramatic... there were a few secondary characters that weren't mentioned enough to warrant such strong feelings. Still, when I can't stand any of the main characters, it makes it hard to want to keep reading. I just felt like I couldn't escape the negativity! I feel like I'm uniquely qualified to understand and handle Roz and her moodiness, but her self-centeredness and hurtful ways pushed me over the edge. The teachers, the police, Roz's friends, her mother, her boyfriend: all horrible, mean people motivated by self-interest and unwilling to see things from any point of view other than their own. I know it's a strong word, but I was truly disgusted. Realistically, I know that there are people like this in real life, people that let power go to their head, etc, etc, but to have an entire novel populated with them was too much for me. I will say that I actually did enjoy the character Tricia, but she's dead from the first page, so it's hard to tell if my positive feelings would have lasted. Tricia, however, was the only character who, though monumentally messed up, actually seemed to do some genuinely nice, even protective, things for Roz without expecting anything in return.

I have to admit though, I don't really know whether my strong negative feelings were necessarily a bad thing. Yes, I said I was disgusted and unhappy and wanted to stop reading, BUT I didn't. And I keep telling everyone about this book and the messed up characters... So maybe the author, Laura Ellen, meant for her characters to be disliked. Or maybe she didn't mean for it to happen, but it still isn't the worst thing that could have happened. I suppose having no opinion of the characters or easily forgetting them would be even worse than hating them. It's hard for me to accept that, at least in this case, hating a book or characters might actually be a good thing rather than a bad thing.

Despite being very unhappy with pretty much all of the characters, I kept reading because I really wanted to know what happened to Tricia. It really bothered me that the one person who wasn't completely horrible ended up dead and I had to know what happened to her. I finished the final pages feeling pretty unsatisfied and upset, but Blind Spot hasn't been far from my mind since and I'm still trying to sort out my feelings.

In conclusion, I want to tell you to read this book. And avoid it. I can't decide. I want to know what you all think, but I also don't want you to feel so ripped apart and frustrated by what you'll find inside. I suppose you'll just have to read at your own risk. show less

Roswell Hart can not remember anything from the night that Tricia Farni died, the bigger problem is that she needs to, because she was one of the last people to see her alive.

Our story is surrounding Roz, who suffers from a muscular degenerative disease affecting her eyes. So she is used to living in a world that always appears hazy. After learning about her condition, she lost her place on the softball team and her best friend. Even though her school year has been fairly crappy, she still show more keeps her stubborn, spunky personality. She learns what true friends are, and not everyone is worth trustworthy. Roz is a pretty complex person, she doesn't let people in, and at times I wasn't really sure if I liked or not. I did find myself connecting with her, and I found Roz to be a realistic character, and admired her determination to find out what happen to her classmate even through all the turmoil to do so.

The plot development moved quickly, and pulls you into a dark world with murder, drugs, betrayals, and prejudices. The characters aren't perfect, but each have have a story to tell all on their own. Sometimes I just want to smack some sense into some of them, but other times I thought, "wow, where did that come from?" The love interests were Jonathon and Greg. Two guys with very different personalities. Jonathon's number one person is himself, and Greg was so sweet to Roz, and seem to really care about her. Roz has to figure out who really is the good guy all on her own.

I thought I had everything all figured out of the murderer was, but then a new twist came into play, and I was completely wrong. I think this is the aspect I enjoyed the most. At one point I even suspected Roz for being behind Tricia's death. Blind Spot take us through a gritty mystery, that is keeps you on your toes. This was a great story to follow and watch unfold and I would definitely say give this one a try if you love murder mysteries with a dash romance. show less

I finished Blind Spot in a few days. I was completely enthralled in the story. It’s an attention grabbing “who done it.”

Roz is a character that I related to, and wanted to shake some sense into at the same time. She’s legally blind and wants to be normal. Being placed in a new class for kids with impairments of some sort completely rocks her world. She’s being forced to get help she doesn’t want after an incident with a student the year prior. I think the fact that she has show more handled her disability all of these years has been amazing. She doesn’t realize that people just want the best for her. I couldn’t stand Roz’s mom. She has no idea what’s going on in her daughter’s life, and she doesn’t really care as long as it doesn’t interfere with hers. The side characters were intriguing, especially Tricia. Tricia definitely has issues, and will manipulate anyone she has to in order to get what she wants.

I liked the mystery of trying to find out what happened to Tricia. I kept trying to figure out who had a hand in her disappearance, and for the life of me I couldn’t guess who. I was even blabbering to my husband about it. He said I was way to invested in the characters, but that’s how I know when I really get into a storyline. There are so many things that happened the night Tricia disappeared, and events that led up to that night. I did feel like Roz made the wrong decisions in how she handled everything. She’s still a teen though, and she was scared. She doesn’t know what exactly happened that night. She’s just trying to piece things together from what everyone is telling her.

I suggest this for those that want a great mystery with unique characters. show less

Hmmm. I'm sure this would have been an okay book, I may have even enjoyed it, if the synopsis hadn't lead me astray.

The book opens with a body being found and that Roz, the main character, was around her that night but can't remember anything. The chapters from there start in the past and count down to the day of death of Tricia, the body that was found. Very cool idea and one that I was ready to read.

But, this book is not a mystery. Not really. I was ready to stumble through the world show more through Roz' sun-spotted eyes trying to understand who done it.

instead, I got a lot of high school drama and a world I just didn't think was very realistic.

The fact that Roz has gotten through her life this far without admitting she needs any help - and with most teachers somehow not knowing of her sight-issues is just so unrealistic I want to scream at this book.

The whole school dynamic, lunches, the students - all of it felt made up. None of the classes or people even felt remotely real and the power one teacher had - I mean really?!?! Not even maybe.

I kept forgetting who each person was because none of them felt real - when they mentioned Heather was missing in the 6 or 7th chapter, I literally had to go back through the book to try to figure out who she was (the lunch buddy...)

It just didn't hold my attention or seem realistic at all. show less