At First Sight

by Heather Todd

Lola Adams started fending for herself at the age of thirteen after her druggie parents ditched her without any notice. Now, five years later, she is on the fast track to a better life away from her hometown of Los Angeles. She is graduating as valedictorian in one month and she has a full ride to Harvard. Nothing seems to be getting in her way. Then, she meets Dean Baker after he saves her during a wild beach party. Their eyes meet and something powerful happens that makes her feel an immediate attraction and pull to him. While spending time with him, she comes to find out his entire family line is filled with people who can read minds, display imprinted powers, and perform magical spells. Two mysterious family members are suddenly on the hunt for Lola and Dean so they can ultimately rid the family of their love and their powers once and for all. Can they stop an impending battle before everyone, even Lola and Dean, loses their bond forever?

90 pages, Paperback

First published January 14, 2014

Reviews

[Marni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me start off with this, the only reason I finished this book was because:

I am not a quitter.

I tried to read this book a few weeks ago and I couldn’t continue after the 8th page. It’s written like fan fiction, but that seems unfair because there are some really amazing pieces of fan fiction that I’ve read and loved. Everything that happens in the book is so highly unrealistic. With each page I read, I literally rolled my eyes.

Groaned in frustration.  

Threw the book.

I asked my friend to read it to me because I didn’t think I could do it. That didn’t work either. I was so annoyed and infuriated by what I was hearing that it made me upset to the point where I wanted to cry.

Unrealistic Moment #1: After her notorious drug dealing parents abandoned her at the age of 13, she’s lived alone for FIVE YEARS without ANYONE KNOWING.
First of all, I would like to know exactly how did a thirteen year old provide for herself? How did she survive? How did she pay the rent for this house in the suburbs? (It was never clearly stated that the home was paid for) How did she afford food if her parents left the kitchen “empty of necessities”? Gas, light, water bills anyone??? Other than her parents, there are no other family members mentioned.

Mind you, we’re only on page 2.


The second time I decided to pick it up, it took me three days to finish. I had to throw all my moral judgments and inhibitions out the door to complete the book. It’s like I could feel my brain melting and I needed to take a break every chapter. Listen, if you’re all for blind love and trust- this is your book.

To explain my reaction, I’m going to just pull out some moments that I couldn’t believe happened & were just so…. absurd: (I’m going to try to do this without giving explicit spoilers.)

Unrealistic Moment #2: Lola begins to hear a male voice in her head. Initial reaction? She’s bothered because his voice sounds agitated. Her heart begins to ache for him. (WHAT?) I’m sorry, but if I heard a voice in my head other than my own, I would think I was crazy and deny it to the highest of my abilities. Second conclusion? She’s thinks this voice she’s hearing could be some weird pedophile or stalker. (Again, WHAT?!?) You hear a voice in your head and conclude that they’re a stalker?
BTW, “He sounded handsome.”

Okay, so I put the other unrealistic moments under here because they're a little spoilery.


Unrealistic Moment #3…#4 & #5: Lola just leaves her friend (did I mention the main character is Lola?) goes to a quiet (deserted) spot on the beach and this guy finds her and attempts to hurt her. Now she sees he has beer bottle and is clearly drunk, and yet, she allows him to get close enough to put his hands on her instead of RUNNING. At this point she should scream right? Well no, Lola tries to talk to this clearly intoxicated person trying to harm her. It’s not until she’s shoved to the ground with this person on top of her that she begins to try and scream. She sees the person who saves her and then faints. (Fainting was so unnecessary; it wasn’t like she was actually hurt. Imagine your older sibling just sitting on you. That’s how I imagine she felt and that was a good enough cause to faint. Like come on. Come on.) When she fell, at least she could have hit her head on a rock or something. Mini concussion? Good reason to faint.

Unrealistic Moment #6: (This one literally blew my mind.) So the guy that saves her takes her (unconscious body) to an even more secluded part of the beach. When Lola wakes up she’s next to this stranger and no one else is around. After her ‘almost getting raped experience’ I would think she would try to hurry back to her BFF Jessica at the beach, but NO. She did attempt to move away from the guy but the further she moved the more it started to HURT. He takes her hand and she allows himand then TELLS HER THAT HE CAN READ HER MIND. Lola responds “Oh my gosh,” she murmured. “How did you do that?” (We’re not even done yet.)

UNREALISTIC MOMENT #OH MY GODDESS I SHOULD JUST STOP COUNTING: Lola is so accepting of this that I begin to question her sanity. Then her savior PROCEEDS TO TELL HER THAT HE IS NOT HUMAN, HER SOULMATE AND THEN FURTHER ELABORATES WHILE TELLING HER HIS HISTORY ON WHAT A MANIFESTER IS. And Lola doesn’t even bat an eye.
OH.
OH.
OH .
DID I FORGET TO MENTION THEY DON’T EVEN KNOW EACH OTHER’S NAME YET?

And after this he continues to tell her she’s no longer human and you want to know what Lola says?  
“I guess I shouldn’t mention that on a job application,” she said, giggling lightly.

WHAT THE (INSERT EXPLETIVE HERE)?!?!?

Unbelievable Moment #UGH: She goes back to the beach, sees her BFF Jessica and Jessica, her best friend allows her to leave with this guy that she’s never seen before smirking because she assumes Lola’s going to get some.


But wait, there’s more!
Within minutes of meeting this guy she’s inviting him back to her house. “I don’t want to leave by myself. I want to stay with you.” And then tells him that she has no family and lives by herself.
Okay, Lola. Don’t you think this is the time to jump to the conclusion that HE could be the pedophile????!!?
Then she does everything wrong:

1.Tells him where she works
2.Tells him her birthday
3.Invites him into her bed
4.Sleeps with him. (Honestly they just slept. But still.)


I’m not even going to continue because all of this has happened by page 25 and honestly it’s not worth it to continue.
Now for just some other tidbits:


1.THIS BOOK TELLS YOU EVERYTHING. The way it’s written doesn’t allow you to come to conclusions. Her writing tells and doesn’t show.
2.Descriptions are poor. I don’t even know how the main characters look tbh.
3.DEAN TELLS HER THAT HE LOVES HER AFTER 3 DAYS OF BEING TOGETHER.
4.Dean (her savior at the beach?) Yeah, well his pet name for Lola is ‘pretty girl’. If that doesn’t sound like a 45-year old pedophile I don’t know what does.

I miss you, pretty girl.
Hey pretty girl, I miss you.
Open the door so I can see you pretty girl.

Oh! One of my favorites! Lola’s getting attacked and is panicking because someone is trying to kill her and she’s talking mentally to Dean and you know what Dean says?
            Calm down, pretty girl.

I felt like he just demoted her feelings and the situation from 10 to -55. -_- Pretty girl is probably one of the worst pet names ever. I would’ve taken Baby gladly in replacement.

5.The book is all about the romance. Not for me.
6.All characters are so 1 dimensional.

There are more but I can’t even talk about this book anymore. If you want to read it, go ahead.
 

[Noelia Alonso · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book deserves 1 star. It is completely ridiculous, to be honest. The plot, the characters... the whole story is ridiculous and the writing style was quite childish and repetitive. But I would say that it was short and it made me laugh, a lot

[Hailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just wish that the romance wasn't so stupidly unrealistic. I read it very quickly and easily but didn't get to enjoy it that much. Wouldn't necessarily recommend unless you like blind trust and love.

[naz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish i read the reviews beforehand, this was atrocious.

[Heather Todd]

I'm not saying I don't enjoy harsh criticism because I take all criticism to heart so I can improve myself.

But, I would just like to remind everyone that no fantasy romance is supposed to be realistic because it is FANTASY.

The reason Dean and Lola feel so attached to each other is because of the gift they experienced. It is what their bodies and their hearts tell each other because they are meant to be.

Honestly, no love out there in the world (fantasy or not) is realistic.

Bottom line, Dean and Lola's relationship is not going to be realistic because it is pure fantasy considering they literally experienced "love at first sight".

Also, this book is only the introduction for more that is to come. You have no idea what happens next. You can't take everything in life so seriously and realistically. Have an imagination. Otherwise, reading wouldn't be for fun.

[Anya Kothari · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was a good laugh, at least. Got it for free at BookCon. Got some really great free books there, but this was not one of them. It's not even the story that bothers me, just the simplistic and honestly bad writing style. I've dealt with some unrealistic books, but this one takes the cake, even for a YA Fantasy novel.

Update: I'm reading the book description right now. "Their eyes meet and something powerful happens that makes her feel an immediate attraction and pull to him" Can someone please let the author know that "attraction" and "pull" are synonyms?! Redundant sentence, very indicative of the rest of the book.

[gabreadsbooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

This reads like fan fiction but if you can get over that and just accept it for what it is than you will enjoy this book. It's really short and has cute as well as funny moments. The characters aren't really that developed yet but hopefully more will happen in the sequel. The cover is gorgeous!! A lot of this story you just have to accept what is going on and not think about it too much. Like I said fan fiction but it's still enjoyable as long as you know what to expect. I would give this maybe a 2.5-3 stars but I am feeling pretty generous

[Jaileen · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I first started this book I have to be honest I didn't really like it. I don't like intent love and that is how this book started. As I continued on I sort of got used to it but felt the book could of been so much more then just about the relationship. There were times the characters got on my nerves and I wanted to punch them and there were times that the characters showed potential.
Overall I give this book 2.5 stars and I might not continue on with the series.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a huge fantasy reading but I loved this book. Lola & Deans relationship was perfectly genuine and unique. I literally cannot wait for the second one. There gift of love and everything just tied it together beautifully. Good job Heather !

[Reka Beezy · Rating 2 out of 5]

**Received a signed copy at BookCon 2014**

I didn't like this book, but I also couldn't stop reading it, either. I don't know, I just didn't feel any connection to the characters. I also didn't appreciate the best friend part of the story; it was too predictable. I shan't be continuing this one.

[Courtney]

There isnt a review for this yet??!!?! Alright im buying it!!!! 6.00 on Books A Million and i get shipping for free :)