Color Blind

by Sheila Sobel

April is alone in the world. When she was only a baby, her teenage mother took off and now, unbelievably, her dad has died. Nobody's left to take April in except her mom's sister, a free spirit who's a chef in New Orleans--and someone who April's never met. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, April is suddenly supposed to navigate a city that feels just like she feels, fighting back from impossibly bad breaks. But it's Miles, a bayou boy, who really brings April into the heart of the Big Easy. He takes her to the cemetery where nineteenth-century voodoo queen Marie Laveau is buried, and there, April gets a shocking clue about her own past. Once she has a piece of the puzzle, she knows she will never give up. What she doesn't know is that finding out the truth about her past and the key to her future could cost her everything--maybe even her life.

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Romance

253 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2016

About the author

Sheila was a finalist for the 2020 Killer Nashville Claymore Award, the winner of the 2017 Killer Nashville Reader's Choice Award for Best YA Fiction and a finalist for the 2017 Silver Falchion Award for Best YA Fiction. She was also nominated for the 2016 Allegra Johnson Prize in Novel Writing through the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program.

As a Senior Auditor for Warner Bros., Sheila oversaw production costs for films including “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” the “Matrix” trilogy, “The Dark Knight” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” After working on 70+ Independent and Studio movies, Sheila stepped away from the film business to complete her first YA novel.

Sheila is a member of ITW, SinC, MWA, SCBWI and Women in Film.

Sheila lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two rescue dogs and one rescue cats.

Reviews

[Saralyn Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I'd had books like COLOR BLIND to read when I was a teenager. Set in the fascinating city of New Orleans, and capturing the distinctive local color of that city, the story jumps with action and emotion as April discovers who she is and what she wants out of life. As a bonus, while being swept up into April's adventures, I was also treated to an array of informative bits of history, geography, and culture. All in all, this is sensitively written and thoroughly entertaining. I recommend it highly.

[Courtney Nosek · Rating 2 out of 5]

So much potential for this story. But lacked any high points in the book. Very bland like white bread.

[Dani N · Rating 2 out of 5]

Color Blind is a story of a young girl that finds her life turned upside down at the sudden loss of her father. She also soon discovers that her family is hiding a secret. A secret that she hopes to uncover. The blurb promises mystery and hints at suspense. The cover art is simple and enticing with a befitting title.

Unfortunately, I found that there was very little mystery or suspense actually involved in this story. While the family history surrounding our protagonist April was the center of a looming secret, once revealed, everything began to slow down. What started off as a fast paced and promising read, began to come unhinged. For two main reasons the premise failed to succeed.

Full review can be found here.

[Lissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

April's world has been ripped apart. Her father has just died, her mother is not in the picture, and she is sent to New Orleans to live with an aunt she barely knows. She's angry, grieving and on her own. As she discovers more and more about her family history, April realizes how little she knows about her own past. Determined to uncover the truth, she'll do anything to get the answers she needs. The author brings the mysterious city of New Orleans to life in this atmospheric mystery.

[Kristen Baum DeBeasi · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I loved best about this book is really diving into April's world and feeling grief with her through the challenges and decisions she makes. I also love the setting of New Orleans and the cultural elements that brings to the fore.

[Elaine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won a copy of Color Blind from a Goodreads Giveaway.

Even though I am still on hiatus from YA books, I’ll give a book a chance if the premise is intriguing or if I win a copy and fair’s fair, I owe a review. In this case, I was intrigued by the New Orleans setting and Marie Laveau storyline.

I visited New Orleans for the first time four years ago and I really enjoyed the food, met some friendly locals and loved learning about the rich history and culture of voodoo, ghosts and Marie Laveau from the tours I took.

Color Blind is about seventeen years old April who orphaned after her father’s death. Her mom is AWOL in the Army and April is forced to live with her aunt Kate in New Orleans. She needs to adjust to a new city, learn to navigate her new surroundings and foster a relationship with a relative she has never met before.

Set post-Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is a city famous for its ghost stories, voodoo culture, Anne Rice and the Queen of Voodoo herself, Marie Laveau. Color Blind contains all these elements, but unfortunately, the book was not thrilling or mysterious.

In fact, the first clue I had that it was not going my way came when Kate eludes to secrets and lies in the family at the end of the second chapter and then shuts down when April prods for more information. Why the passive aggressive move, dude?

The second clue this book would get worse before getting better when it took an oft-used familiar YA route when April meets a handsome (what else?), articulate young man who immediately falls for her at the end of the third chapter.

April spends a lot of time complaining, coming off as bratty and selfish, and yeah, I know, she’s only 17, an only child, and has had her whole life upended after her father’s unexpected death yet she can’t stop blaming her father for leaving her, is continually rude to her aunt and makes ridiculous decisions with no common sense.

But then common sense is not that common and she’s young so she’s got a good excuse, right?

Hmm…I guess.

Color Blind had real potential to be something mysterious, even spooky but in the end, it just felt silly.

[M F · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to admit, I really wasn't a big fan of this one. I'll write a full review when I have WiFi, but the short version is that I found the narrator irritating, to the point where the writing seemed overly simplistic. She failed to make very obvious connections between information, and her emotions were unconvincing, too. Moreover, the book itself read more like a guide to New Orleans than a story in its own right -- a little too much information was dumped on the reader in the early chapters. Though I felt there was potential for the story to become interesting, it failed to do so, and had I not been reading an ARC, I probably wouldn't have bothered to finish it, because I wasn't engaged with it. I don't like writing negative reviews, but I also try to be honest with Edelweiss and NetGalley books, and this wasn't one that I enjoyed.

[J.R. Ripley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sheila Sobel's COLOR BLIND is the first of what I hope will be many stories to come. This YA novel set in New Orleans tells the tale of a young girl trying to find her way and her place-both in her family and in her world.

[444Books🧿 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh where do I start with this book!.... My actually rating is a 2.5 but I gave it a 3 start. I really had high hopes going into Color Blind but ultimately it fell on a flat note for me. I promise not to do any spoilers!
Quick summary: Color Blind follows a seventeen year old girl named April who just lost her father and her mother is MIA in the army. She ends up going to New Orleans to live with her aunt,Kate,that she has never met before. She ends up finding out some family secrets and an interesting link to her past. She meets this college student named Miles and everything goes from there....

Lets start with the cons of this book..

First off, at times I couldn't stand April. She was so rude and very annoying. She would ask the stupidest questions and then get angry when someone doesn't give her the answer she is looking for. Overall she was an ok narrator. This book promises mystery and thrill but honestly I didn't really get much of that. I thought this was going to have some fantasy element to it or at least some suspense but it didn't. The cover is very misleading! I do understand how April was trying to deal with the grief of loosing her father and coping with trying to adjust to her new lifestyle with an aunt she just met but she could be overly rude and judgmentally at times, which was really nerve racking!

Pros of Color Blind...
I really like how Sheila Sobel,described New Orleans! It was written so perfectly and beautifully, it almost felt like you where there! I loved how she included the rich history of the city and how it shows how the people are still trying to rebuild years after Hurricane Katrina. I enjoyed the mixture of heavy topics like slavery, mixed families, and racism. Her writing style is very nice and easy to follow. I liked the concept of the novel and how it talked about Voodoo and the voodoo queen herself, Marie Laveau. I also like how she deals with the teen pregnancy of April's mom and how it had a drastic effect on the whole family.

Overall, Color Blind was a ok book. It wasn't the worst book but it wasn't the best either. I did enjoy the characters and the setting. The premise was very misleading and failed to fully capture the essence of what the story could have been. But for this to be Sheila Sobel's first novel it was fairly good. Her writing style is nice and her vivid description of NOLA and its history, stood out the most to me.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclosure up front: I had the pleasure of meeting Sheila Sobel during Heather Graham's Writers for New Orleans conference. That was where I learned about this book.

April Lockhart's dad has passed away, and since she's only 17 years old she has to go live with her aunt in New Orleans. To say that April is unhappy about this is to greatly understate the situation. She meets Miles Baptiste when she decides to take a cemetery and voodoo tour ... and that's when she meets Marguerite, as well. The voodoo priestess seems to know a good many things about April.

The book proceeds through April's misadventures, taking the reader on a tour of New Orleans that touches not only the tourist spots but also the Lower Nine and more hard-hit areas yet to recover after Hurricane Katrina. We see April go on a journey of maturation and self-discovery as well.

Highly recommended for those who enjoy YA books.

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was . . . not good. I am honestly surprised it was published, as it read more like an unpolished, unedited manuscript from a college creative writing class. First off, what was the main point of the story? Who knows? Second, it was sloppy. The storytelling was boring, the characters had no (and I mean NO) depth and the plot (?) development was a hot mess.

My favorite character in the book was the baby goat. At least, it wasn't weighed down by implausible dialogue and ridiculous situations. I take that back, the goat was in completely unrealistic scenes as well. And, it didn't act like a normal goat, to boot.

If this writer wants to seriously write, it would be good to take some (more) writing courses and subject herself to more unbiased edits.

I enjoyed some of the facts about New Orleans. And the implausible goat. That's it.

[Judy Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, Color Blind is the story of a 17-year-old girl who moves to New Orleans to live with her aunt after her father dies. It's interesting to watch young April blossom from an unhappy, rebellious teen into a young woman who begins to emerge from her loneliness and value her family's heritage. Lovely descriptions and historical information give the reader a fascinating taste of New Orleans, from voodoo to riverboats to above ground cemeteries to the legacy of Hurricane Katrina. Young readers who have never been to New Orleans will be ready to pack their bags.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, I really did. It had such great potential and I was the target audience - it takes place in New Orleans, covers a bit of Voodoo and Marie Laveau history, and even has a character named Kate. But this book was just not good. The characters were shallow, the dialogue was weak, and the plot was unbelievable. April described literally everything she did, ate, and thought, which I normally don't mind as it sets the scene and puts a picture in my head, but this was too much. I'm not mad I read this book, I'm just disappointed.

[James L'Etoile · Rating 5 out of 5]

I devoured Color Blind in a single sitting. A young girl’s life’s is turned upside down after her father’s death and she takes up residence in New Orleans with an aunt. The story is rich with New Orleans history, culture, and flavor as April tries to find out who she is and where she comes from. I’m looking forward to another installment by Sheila Sobel.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the setting! A visit to New Orleans is on my bucket list, but this was a nice substitute for now. I also loved the baby goat, and the Voodoo thread. I actually wanted more Voodoo and Marie Laveau, but I did enjoy this a lot.

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected more from this book. Its synopsis made it sound mysterious and otherworldly, when in reality, we got about 35 pages of that. The rest was filed with inconsistent character developments and a strong desire to visit the New Orleans tourist attractions. Also, BG was a good highlight.

[Andrea · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's novels like these that make me hate YA. Cool concept with the Voodoo but is overshadowed by terrible writing, unlikable characters that the Reader cannot empathize with nor understand, and nothing happens! (Oh, and there is NO connection to the title! Literally OR figuratively!!)

[Michelle G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite! Didn’t go the way that I expected! I loved how the author described the foods that they were eating. This book lacked the African/creole elements for me. No one acknowledged and said “wow, we are black.” After learning that their great grandma was a black woman!

[Parisgirl1022 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do not recommend this book. Although the description seems interesting, the book is just plain weird.

[T.J. Burns]

I received a copy of this book from Merit Press via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

a good, forgettable popcorn read.

[Linda Munro · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a recently released young adult book which I received via a goodreads giveaway.

Being that this is meant for young adults, I will say this, without taking away stars for it: it ends too positively too quickly. I believe that troubled youth would even see this as an issue.

April knows very little about her mother or her mother’s side of the family. All she knows is what she was told by her father; her mother dropped her off when she was only a tiny babe, and then joined the Army. April’s father kept her lust for a mother at bay. All she needed to know was that her father would always be there for her; so, when he dies of a heart attack at a young age leaving April alone in the world, her world twists and turns like a hurricane in the night.

She is told by the executor of her father’s estate that everything will be sold and put into a trust, in the mean time she will be sent to live with her only living relative, an aunt, her mother’s sister in a city far from her home town, New Orleans. April will learn that her aunt is more or less a free spirit. She has few personal relationships and lots of freedom allowed for by her job as a chef.

After he aunt picks her up and drops her at their home, April is left alone, knowing nothing about this city and with not one friend to contact. She decides to try a tour, mainly due to the tour guide, a good looking male not much older than April herself. Although she seems to attract everything wrong, the boy, whose name is Miles decides to guard her, in a manner of speaking. Knowing far too much about stranger danger, April refuses without references, so Miles takes her into the local police station where Detective Bastise gives Miles references and drives Miles & April to her home where her Aunt is worriedly pacing.

April decides to skip the part of the tour being about Voodoo and all skip the part about fainting into the shelf of voodoo dolls, even though she finds one in the pocket of her jacket that night.

For some reason April cannot get voodoo from her mind and when she has a fight with her aunt she storms out of the house into a tropical storm until she finds the residence of Madame Marguerite, a local voodoo queen. April receives a three card tarot reading; the present and past are far too accurate for a stranger to know for certain; the future is one we create ourselves, or is it? Dosing off, April is awakened by Miles who is accompanied by his father and her aunt. After a harsh warning to Marguerite to remain clear of April, she still believes she can help and slips April a note.

April has recently returned a lost dog to a girl a bit younger than herself, a black girl. Due to a photo on the girl’s wall, and the same photograph being in April’s aunt’s family photos, April now believes she has family she never knew about. The note suggested that April bring her cousin with her. So she goes to the house and convinces the girl to sneak out with her to the spiritual cleansing in the middle of another storm.

Will they make it through the downpour to a tiny outer island, when they arrive will they be able to watch a sacrifice ceremony, will April and her cousin survive???

[Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I believe that the author has done a good job of taking a snapshot in time of a young girl’s (April) life after she has experienced an unexpected tragedy and her reaction to it. After moving to New Orleans to live with her Aunt she begins a wary relationship with her that is quite contentious at times. April soon meets Miles, a tour bus driver, Simone & Angel and Marguerite, the owner of a Voodoo Emporium all who will play a part in April’s introduction to New Orleans. To me, The author has captured the essence of a young girl acting out in anger and sorrow by disregarding other people’s feelings, putting them in danger and not worrying about the consequences of her actions. I also liked the author’s descriptive writing that allowed me to become part of the book as if I were there. If whoever reads this book, whether a young adult or adult, can take away any lesson, to me it would be that there are always consequences for your actions whether they be good or bad. I am looking forward to a sequel to Color Blind that will show April continuing on her uncharted path to adulthood.
Denny

[Elena Hartwell]

Great read for YA readers - 17-year-old female protagonist. The descriptions of New Orleans brings the city to life.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is sold as a mystery, but I would classify it more as suspense. April makes a lot of mistakes, just like any teen would, and does discover some family secrets. The author does a good job of describing how bad the humidity is in New Orleans and I would never want to live there. This is a good first effort.

[Kim Baccellia]

YA Books Central review coming!

[Maddie Rae · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have very mixed feeling about this book, one one hand it was beautifully written and I enjoyed it, on the other hand I feel like some places were slow and I wasn't sold on the plot line. I liked most of the characters and I thought that for the most part the story overall was okay. I did think that some of the conflicts in the book could have been resolved differently.

[The Book Girl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come

[Josie]

The premise sounded interesting but the writing style wasn't engaging. The first chapter was all exposition, the second heavy on dialogue; it was difficult to connect with the MC. This was a DNF for me.

[Desiree]

DNF Page 30. I knew this book wasn’t going to be for me when I read the following from page 17:

“Our deep, dark family secrets, things that were never discussed, not in front of the children or polite company. Secrets and lies, lies and secrets,” answered Kate from a deep, dark place of her own.

“What are you hiding from me?” I stood quickly, the chair legs scraping the hard wood floor.

Kate snapped out of it, arched an eyebrow, and stared at me. “I’ve said too much already.”

🙄🙄🙄 Could we get a little more melodramatic please? I literally scoffed when I read this passage. But I kept going. And about ten pages later she meets a super hot, sexy, quirky, hot, handsome, and did I mention hot guy who pretty much falls for her in the course of a couple pages. No thanks.

Plus, April is a brat. She’s incredibly rude and inconsiderate to her Aunt. I understand that she’s lost her parents, but that doesn’t give her the right to be a little witch. It really rubbed me the wrong way.

I’m good with DNFing and unhauling this. It doesn’t need to be on my shelves taking up space any longer.