Title: Colorblind
Author: Siera Maley
Genre: Romance
Trigger Warnings: Discussion of death/dying/morbidity, blood (mention), car crashes (mention), near-drowning, f/f sex (implied), fatphobia
Back Cover:
Harper has a secret … and it’s not that she likes girls. She has a rare and special gift: she can see how old other people will be when they pass away. Nothing she does changes this number, and that becomes especially clear when her mother dies in a car crash. With only one other person in the world who knows about and shares her gift, Harper is determined to keep her distance from everyone. Then she falls for Chloe … whose number is 16.
That means that Chloe doesn’t have twelve months to live. She doesn’t even have six.
She is going to be dead by the end of the summer, unless Harper can find a way to stop it.
Review:
Considering Harper’s supernatural gift, this is probably technically a paranormal book, but it has such a contemporary romance feel that I think that’s a more accurate genre. Which makes it kind of funny that I enjoyed it, because I’m not normally a huge fan of romance.
The heart of this book is emotions, and it does emotions really, really well. This is one of the few books where I’ve read the narrator’s feelings and said, “Yeah, that’s exactly what that feels like.” Harper was a little too withdrawn and pessimistic to be someone I would connect with in real life, but her emotions came across so vividly on the page that I couldn’t help but like her – and feel for/with her.
Chloe is exactly the kind of person I would like (and probably fall for just like Harper). She’s outgoing, bright, optimistic, funny, warm, and friendly – the opposite of Harper but still such a wonderful, sweet character. It makes it all the more tragic that you know she’s going to die young.
And you never forget that fact. Harper doesn’t forget, so you don’t forget, and even though all the sweet romantic bits there’s still that underlying current of tension that Chloe is going to die before the end of the summer. There isn’t much of a plot besides their growing romance, but that tension keeps it from getting boring. Every word asks the question, “Will Harper be able to save Chloe?”
I want to be able to say “It has a happy ending” or “It has a sad ending” but that’s a spoiler, considering the whole tension of the book is the question of if Chloe will survive. But in case you’re one of those people who will decide to read this or not based on whether or not the love interest dies, here’s the spoiler: (she survives)
I was surprised that I actually enjoyed this book as much as I did, considering how much it felt like a contemporary romance. But the tension was well-done, the romance was cute, and the emotions were very, very real. And even though it wasn’t really my thing, I thought it was good anyway.
Bluejay Reads 