Blindsided: A Novella

by Chelsea Catherine

Blindsided follows Eli as she leads Carla, a local real estate agent, through an election for Key West city mayor. At first, the campaign process appears easy. Despite their differences, the two women work well together. But as time progresses, they face countless the Bubba system in the Keys, discrimination from both supporting and opposing forces, and their rapidly intensifying relationship. While Carla starts to doubt her decisions, Eli struggles to find her place in the Keys and in Carla’s budding campaign.

144 pages, Paperback

Published October 29, 2018

About the author

Chelsea Catherine began writing poetry at eight years old and eventually expanded into fiction and nonfiction. Their piece, Quiet with the Hurt, won the Mary C Mohr award for nonfiction through the Southern Indiana Review and their second book, Summer of the Cicadas, won the Quill Prose Award from Red Hen Press. They like bird watching, photography, and reading books about the art of living. Their dream is to become a cowboy one day. You can find them at chelseacatherinewriter.com.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, I liked it, and I want to read more by this author.
I would've liked this book to be longer; I wanted more about Carla and Eli, separately and as friends, more about Mimi, more about Eli's father. I think the sketched backgrounds could bear longer treatment.

Some parts I especially liked:
page 1: first sentence, first paragraph: "The heat this winter is going to drive me crazy. . . . People are wound up, ready for something."
page 9: a good Samaritan, but not a great one
page 14: "She's felt like this for a long time--like being at the bottom of a boat anchor. Ocean pressing around on her. There's nothing she can do to get it to go away." I like how this passage sets up the reader for what's to come.

page 47: "Being an adult in Key West is like being in high school again."
page 131: "I can't," she says. "Stop." I stop immediately. [Thanks for this, dear author.]

One more thing - the Goodreads title says "Blindsided: Stories," but it's a novella, not a collection of stories.

[Caleb Michael Sarvis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will be reviewing on the Drunken Book Review Podcast