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Friday, October 26, 2012

Review: Blind Spot by Laura Ellen

Publisher: Thomas Allen and Son
Published: October 23, 2012
Pages: 336
Source: For Review from Thomas Allen and Son
Rating: 2 Stars


There’s none so blind as they that won’t see.

Seventeen-year-old Tricia Farni’s body floated to the surface of Alaska’s Birch River six months after the night she disappeared. The night Roz Hart had a fight with her. The night Roz can’t remember. Roz, who struggles with macular degeneration, is used to assembling fragments to make sense of the world around her. But this time it’s her memory that needs piecing together—to clear her name . . . to find a murderer.

In short: Blind Spot by Laura Ellen was not the riveting murder mystery I had hoped and instead had too much of a focus on high school drama than I am a fan of.
Blind Spot was not the book I had been expecting from the synopsis - it sounded like an intense psychological murder mystery thriller. What I got instead was a whole bunch of high school drama, the mystery taking a back seat for most of the novel. Because I tend not to be a fan of teen drama, Blind Spot was a bit of a disappointment to me. It's a shame because I think the basis of a good murder mystery was there, it was just underdeveloped in favour of some seriously cliched and immature teen feuding.

Roz has macular degeneration, a condition that causes her to have a "blind spot" in her vision. For me, how Roz deals with living with this condition was the best and most interesting aspect of Blind Spot. From what I understand, Laura Ellen herself has experience with living with this eye disease, and it showed - the difficulties that arose for Roz seemed very astute and accurate for what you might expect situations to be like. It made me sympathize with Roz and the bullying she had to endure, and it also made me realize how much I take for granted having - relatively - good eyesight.

Now for what I didn't like: I did not like ANY of the characters in Blind Spot, I'm sorry to say. What an utterly immature, selfish, and pitiful lot! Perhaps some of these characters were meant to be unlikeable, but I highly doubt Laura Ellen meant for all of them to be. Some characters are pathetic, some are clearly exploiters (though Roz is oblivious to this), and one in particular is INFURIATING (and not in a "it's fun to hate them" kind of way). And my sympathy for Roz with her condition extends only so far.

Blind Spot contains a series of nauseatingly repetitive "he-said, she-said" moments that had the characters forming alliances with one another in one moment and then fighting with each other only a few pages later! The romance between Roz and her love interest was especially frustrating. Sure, they were sweet for the little bits they were together, but they went back and forth so many times over the course of Blind Spot that I found myself wondering why I should even care or want to see them get together in the end.

So yes, I was misled by the synopsis and Blind Spot wasn't for me. I would recommend it more to readers who enjoy a healthy dose of teen drama. Just don't go into it looking for a riveting murder mystery as the mystery part takes up only about a third of the novel... and has a bit of a disappointing ending to boot. I also feel that Laura Ellen has a lot of room for growth as a debut author, and I sincerely hope she continues to improve in all her subsequent books.

Authors Links:
Website
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Goodreads

19 comments :

  1. Well shoot Aylee! I was hoping this was going to be an amazing thriller just like you said because the blurb and cover are amazing. Characters make or break a book for me, so I'm thinking this is going to be a definite pass given you had trouble finding redeemable qualities in any of them. I don't mind some high school drama, but too much of it and I just start feeling old and then I get irritated:)

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  2. No! Anything bu High School drama! *sobs*
    I actually don;t mind High School drama when I'm up for it and when it FITS with the story line.
    This sounded so good from afar.
    NONE of the characters!!?? Well I won't be trying to get this one anytime soon...
    I usually don't like the one eye/cyclops thing in a book cover but that's what drew me to this book especially since it was about eyes. I don;t know what's with those other one eyed books. What does you cover even mean!?
    She’s Got Books on Her Mind

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  3. Ugh right?! These characters were awful! I hated every one as well! I debated between a 2 and 3 stars for this one I didn't love it, at all, but I was kind of fascinated by the big mind f*ck that it was haha.

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  4. Oh, bummer. It really does sounds like such an exciting murder mystery. I hate when summaries don't lead you to the right conclusions for a book...not fair to the authors, because it can cause some people to dislike the book even MORE, you know? Sorry this didn't work for you, but thanks for your thoughts!

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  5. Booo, how disappointing to hear that this didn't live up to its potential. It's too bad that the author turned to the regular high school tropes instead of building a suspenseful read; it sounded like it could have been a good thriller.

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  6. Sorry you didn't enjoy this one Aylee, I don't think I'll pick up a copy because I'm not that into murder mysteries... Thanks for the honest review darling ;)!

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  7. oh I'm sad you didn't enjoy this book as much as you have hoped but I like teen drama so if I want to read a book that has a bit of mystery and a ton of teen drama I would pick this one up!

    great review,

    - Juhina @ Maji Bookshelf

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  8. That sucks! I read a few really good reviews on this one, but a lot of really bad reviews, too. I'm so torn! I do really love the cover and the synopsis sounds okay. Maybe if my library gets it in, I'll give it a whirl.

    Great review, Aylee!

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  9. I'm sorry! the summary is very different from what you describe, sounds like misleading marketing.
    And yeah, I know High school drama isn't your thing, I'm sorry this wasn't what you expected.

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  10. Awww what a shame. I was excited to read this book, but I'm not a fan of high school drama either so I probably won't. And the characters do sound awful. Sorry you didn't enjoy it :( But great review!

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  11. That's disappointing! and this one sounded really interesting, too. I've seen mixed reviews, so I'm not surprised that you didn't like it. Hopefully your next read will pull you out of the reading slump!

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  12. Too bad this one wasn't for you. I hate books that focus on the high school drama crap. And misleading synopses!

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  13. Aw, that's a shame. I was looking forward to reading this one! It sounds like It Girl disguised as dark psychological thriller...I am really not a fan of all the gossip flying and everyone being petty and taking sides. Thanks for the warning. :( Bummed. But great honest review, Aylee! :)

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  14. Oh nooo I hate it when a synopsis is misleading! Not liking any characters would definitely be a cincher for me and I doubt I would be reading this one any time soon. Thanks for your review!

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  15. Oh no! I hate when the synopsis is misleading! It's too bad that the mystery takes a backseat in this one and you get a huge amount of drama instead. I also don't like it when characters go back and forth with their decisions.

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  16. Yes! I hated everyone in this book too! They all drove me insane. Especially the teacher, what a d-bag. I think I gave this one a 3 just because I read it in a single sitting and was kept reading simply to find out what was going on in this weird school. But the characters, I know what you mean, sometimes it's fun to hate a character but these ones were literally painful. Great honest review Aylee!

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  17. Roz and the good description on her condition sounds great, but the rest of the story.. Unlikable characters and a great promise that doesn't deliver a mystery, but school drama? That's a shame.

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  18. Ugh! Aylee! Noooooo :(
    This looked so dark and twisty and... high school drama? It's almost false advertising -- like putting dogs in tutus and calling it ballet.

    *sigh*

    VERY dissapointing. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you :(

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