Blind Spot Tour Stop (Review, Guest Post & Giveaway)

Today the Blind Spot tour is stopping by the blog! My tour stop features my review, a fantastic guest post and a fun swag giveaway! Make sure you check it all out.

TITLE Blind Spot
AUTHOR Laura Ellen
PUBLICATION October 23rd 2012 by Harcourt Children's Books
READ October 21, 2012
SOURCE Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for review

There’s none so blind as they that won’t see.

Seventeen-year-old Tricia Farni’s body floated to the surface of Alaska’s Birch River six months after the night she disappeared. The night Roz Hart had a fight with her. The night Roz can’t remember. Roz, who struggles with macular degeneration, is used to assembling fragments to make sense of the world around her. But this time it’s her memory that needs piecing together—to clear her name . . . to find a murderer.

This unflinchingly emotional novel is written in the powerful first-person voice of a legally blind teen who just wants to be like everyone else.

I feel the need to start off this review by saying that Laura Ellen's Blind Spot was a strange beast for me. I sat down on a Sunday morning and was thrown into this world that I had quite a few issues with. I couldn't find one redeeming character in the bunch & as I look back their actions are just baffling, as well, the pacing was all over the place. That being said, I couldn't put it down. I read it in a single sitting and I was very engrossed in the mystery and all of the WTF moments that occurred.

Let me start by talking about the characters. I don't think we were supposed to like them, I mean Roswell (Roz) our MC was about as unlikeable as they come. She starts off the novel on the first day of a new school year and as she follows the map she had made for herself to her first class, she realizes that she is headed into a class in the Special Education wing of her high school. Well, needless to say Roz is not very happy about being in a SPED class and as we experience the ordeal in her judgmental brain I was nervous I was going to get very offended. But luckily I wasn't and as I sit back I can understand where her emotions at the time and really throughout the story came from. Roz grew up being on sports teams, and in with the in-crowd at school only to find out that she suffers from Macular Degeneration and is legally blind. Her world fell apart when she got the diagnosis and she became very bitter. She refused the help that she needed because she had grown up being independent and self sufficient and that is probably about the hardest thing someone can have to give up. Now, even though I understood a lot of her motivation for how she was, that doesn't mean that I liked her. She made a lot of terrible decisions in this novel; lying to cops, constantly going back to a complete and utter douchebag, and using her friends to name a few. Roz's friends in this story weren't exactly people I was rooting for either, possibly Greg but he came across as pretty judgmental at times.

The character that baffled me the most in this twisted tale was Rodney Dellian, Roz's Life Skills and AP History teacher. He came across as someone who was over the top cruel and sitting back and thinking about it I really can't place his actions and understand where he was coming from at all. I mean he was the Special Education teacher trying to enforce Roz's IEP on her and when she started to embrace one of the recommendations on the list he constantly penalized her for it to the point of suspension. The only thing that kept me reading about him was the fact that there was clearly something very fishy going on in his life and I am a super nosy person so I wanted to know.

Now at this point you may be thinking "But Jenni, Blind Spot is a murder mystery, is it not? Why haven't you talked about it?" Well yes, and no. Through most of the story the murder mystery of it all took a back seat to the drama going on with Roz and her friends in this year of high school but that's not to say it wasn't always there. The seed is planted at the beginning and it's constantly growing throughout though it doesn't become the main focus of the novel until about the last quarter. Being pre-warned by previous reviews I was expecting it and definitely found myself getting lost in the drama of it all and I can safely say that I actually preferred the parts of the story that were not focusing on solving Tricia's murder. I enjoyed seeing the tangled web of sex & drugs at this high school and also enjoyed being inside Roz's head as she struggled to come to terms with her impairment.

Going into Blind Spot looking for a riveting murder mystery will leave you sorely disappointed.  However, if you go into it looking for an interesting look at a twisted group of kids you will definitely be entertained. This novel is chalk full of intensity and it definitely gets you lost within the pages.

Guest Post

Blind Spot Dream Cast: Part Two

Anybody else in candy overload yet? Candy corn and Snickers are too good to stop at just one :).

I am here with Jenni at Alluring Reads for my second to the last Blind Spot Blog Tour stop. Last week on Giselle’s Xpresso Reads blog, I talked about the characters of Blind Spot and then had people leave their celeb nominees for cast members if Blind Spot ever became a movie. Today I am going to share my ‘Dream Cast’ along with some of the nominees too.

When I write, I tend to avoid overly specific physical descriptions because I like readers to envision the characters on their own. That being said, I do have an idea of what each character looks like to me.

If you want to read the character descriptions first, see my post at Xpresso Reads here. Otherwise, let’s jump in! The first photo will be my ‘Dream Cast’ pick and any following will be suggestions from readers:

Roswell ‘Roz’ Hart – Okay, so she doesn’t have green eyes, but there are contacts for that :) I like Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect, Twilight) for Roz.

Reader's Choice:

Dakota Fanning

Tricia Farni – I think Ashley Benson (Pretty Little Liars) could muster up that perfect mix of mean and messed up to play Tricia.

Reader's Choice:

Taylor Momsen

Greg Martin – No, he’s not super tall, but other than that, I think Adam Brody (O.C., Land of Woman) is the perfect candidate to play Greg.

Reader's Choice:

Steven R. McQueen

Jonathon Webb – Throw a hockey jersey on Joshua Bowman (Revenge) and he’s a definite possibility to play Jonathon!

Reader's Choice:

Jesse Metcalfe

Mr. Dellian –This was tough for me, but I think Johnny Galecki (Big Bang Theory) could totally pull off the creepy, pretentious teacher.

Reader's Choice:

Joshua Jackson

That was fun! Before you go, be sure to enter to win the Swag Bag I am leaving with Jenni – see the rafflecopter at the end of the post – you can also win a hardcover signed copy of Blind Spot over at my website!

And last but not least, ready for the seventh winner of my Blogger Love Giveaway?
Congratulations A Life Bound By Books, you’ve won a slew of swag from a ton of authors and your choice of either a custom made blog badge/button from Giselle at Xpresso Design ($15 value) or the book of your choice ($15 value).

Laura's Website / Twitter / Facebook

Laura Ellen is a full-time writer and mother of three who began her career as a teacher in both Language Arts and special education. Diagnosed with juvenile macular degeneration as a teen, she drew upon her own experiences with vision loss to write her debut YA thriller Blind Spot, an emotional and suspenseful page-turner. Born and raised in Fairbanks, Alaska, she recently moved across country from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Scottsdale, Arizona.

Giveaway

Laura Ellen has generously offered up a sweet swag bag for giveaway!

In the bag you will find: Blind Spot notebook, watermelon bubble gum (in honor of Greg's character!) Blind Spot magnet, and signed Blind Spot bookmarks.

Only residents of the US and Canada are eligible to win
Fill out the Rafflecopter to enter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

To see all of the stops on this tour Click Here