100 Days of Sunlight

I received this advanced reader copy compliments of NetGalley and Abbie Emmons in exchange for my honest review.

This book was such a heartwarming, clever, and thought-provoking read. My father suffered from the loss of his sight due to a brain tumor being in his occipital lobe. In other words, his eyes were fine, but the tumor affected his occipital lobe, which controls our vision. This brought back a lot of emotion when thinking about the loss of sight after once having it.

Tessa Dickinson, a 16-year old poet/blogger who is home schooled, and has been raised by her grandparents is in a terrible car accident and loses her sight due to head trauma. She is expected to make a full recovery in approximately 100 days, but how does a 16-year old who lives on the computer continue to write poetry without her vision? Every night her dreams haunt her and she wakes up in a panic having to relive the accident over and over again.

Her grandparents decide to place an ad in the newspaper for a typist, and withhold the information from Tessa. When she finds out, she demands they remove the ad, but unfortunately someone has already seen it, even though it never went to print.

Enters Weston Ludovico, who’s dad runs the newspaper. Weston sees the ad prior to print, and is immediately drawn to Tessa. As you can imagine, Tessa is none too happy for Weston to show up when she thought she was in the clear. She is so angry she can barely think straight or speak, so she kicks him out, telling him never to return again. The silly thing is, Weston doesn’t take no for an answer. He is strong-willed and optimistic, and chooses to return the next day, and the next, until finally Tessa warms up to him. Only after she tries her hardest to make him go away by making his job extremely difficult, but Weston doesn’t give up.

Weston pushed his way into Tessa’s life, because she has no vision. He knew that he would finally be treated as a normal human being instead of pitied, because...he has no legs. Weston smiles at the opportunity to be cussed at, hated, and demeaned. Time passes and Tessa begins to warm to Weston. They begin taking adventures together, with many bumps in the road. Tessa is beginning to find happiness in the beauty of the world through her other senses, besides vision alone.

Weston is counting down the days until Tessa can finally see him and send him on his way, and Tessa is counting down the days until she can finally see him and relish in his kindness and beauty.

Thank you to NetGalley, and Abbie Emmons for the opportunity to read this book.

Excuse me, I've been emotionally gutted and don't know how to recover. Don't mind the use of caps, exclamation points, or any grammatical errors brought on from the emotional wreck the novel, 100 Days of Sunlight, brought me. Thank you.

OH MY GOODNESS MY HEART!!!

jidajfeawlhfe times a thousand

I knew this story was going to be amazing, but be still my heart because it wasn't prepared. From the time I met Tessa, I loved her. She was so very much relatable in how she expresses her struggle mentally and through conversation to those around her. I found myself aching and then rejoicing in her story of overcoming.

And WESTON!!! As much as this was Tessa's story, it was equally Weston's and if you're like "I dare you to make me cry, author," she'll make you tear up through the whole book or sob straight through. I would say your choice, but Weston's is a gut wrencher. Not only is it incredibly inspiring to the people around him in this book, but to me too. Talk about being a role model as a character!

I am incredibly excited that this story is in the world as its powerful and makes an impactful even if you don't want it to. It will make you laugh, cry, roll your eyes with a smile ten thousand times BECAUSE (SPOILER) ALREADY!!!!! (Should I add more !!! for emphasis?) Plus, poetry that just makes you want to snap your fingers until they ache.

Yes, I was mindblowingly moved by this debut story and just want to go out and be a ray of sunlight for someone else. I don't want to give up in Life and don't want others too either.

This is an excellent contemporary novel that I recommend if you want a fantastic romance, a story of overcoming, and need some sunlight in your life.

I NEVER get emotional over books but this had me crying. I loved it so much. Go and read it.