A fun part of blgging is having authors contact you if you want to read and review their books. Recently I had an author contact me if I wanted to read her debut book Through Her Eyes. After reading the blurb I was very intrigued. Through Her Eyes is Sophie Fahy’s debut book and releases today! Let’s take a look at what I thought of this YA mystery filled with suspense!
WARNING Through Her Eyes is an intense book that does have some trigger warnings I feel I should tell you about: sexual assault, assault and parental abuse.
Life is not always black and white, sometimes it’s a thousand shades of grey. Seventeen-year-old, beloved Alyssa Darlington has always been a party girl: quick-witted, fierce and very smart; with a strong future ahead of her. But after surviving a brutal attack at her best friend’s end-of-summer house party, the only thing that seems fitting for Alyssa, is revenge. And when this becomes her twisted reality, it’s easy for the shadows to take over. . After something so traumatic, Alyssa struggles to stay at the top of the social ladder – climbing to the top is hard – trying to stay there while, newly, partially blind, is even harder.There’s a weight upon her shoulders. Quietly searching for answers, Alyssa unlocks memories and reveals secrets that should have been buried.
THREE SUSPECTS. ONE LOVE. A WHOLE LOT OF FAMILY DRAMA.
Review
“No adults. No rules. No regrets.”
Through Her Eyes starts out with our main character, Alyssa, being at a party. She is really drunk and her best friend points out quite a few times she’s not acting like herself. Alyssa ends up drunk and alone in a garage where she is assaulted and barely survives.
When she wakes up in the hospital, Alyssa learns that her vision is almost gone. She can see shadows and that’s it. Once she learns this, she’s set on revenge. Who did this to her and why? After that horiffic night she needs answers.
“Then again, it always comes down to a boy, doesn’t it? The boy you love. The boy you hate. The boy who think you’re invisible.”
I loved how this story was literally told through Alyssa’s eyes. The author wrote this in a way that made me connect with her from the start. I felt for her and really hoped she would find her answers and be able to make peace with everything that happened. I can’t imagine what it’s like losing your vision, but I felt at times this was left out of the story. She seemed to adjust really fast and I don’t know if it was denial, but I don’t think the adjusting to that goes so quickly.
Through Her Eyes really kept me on the edge of the seat. I read it really quickly and just couldn’t put it down. I needed to know who was behind her attack, because everytime I started to think I knew who assaulted her, something would happen that would make me doubt my suspects. What made this so intense were the flashbacks we got of the evening Alyssa was assaulted. As she slowly remembered things, the story became very intense.
“All I know is my life has changed, and there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s happening all because of a dumb, useless party where alcohol became more important than my health and well-being.”
Alyssa’s friends are amazing, her little sister is adorable and the romance in this story left a smile on my face. I loved even though this story is really focused on finding out what happened to her, we get so much more. The characters are very genuine and learning to trust after such a horiffic event isn’t easy at all.
The ending definitely left me shocked!! I did not see that coming, but I personally see it as a fitting ending. It’s unique and I loved that the author dared to take a step like that. I won’t say anything, because you really need to experience the characters and the ending for yourself.
Through Her Eyes is a very impressive debut book and I can’t wait to see what Sophie Fahy does next! I definitely need more by this author.
