{Emily’s Review}: Before I Saw You, By Emily Houghton

Before I Saw You
by Emily Houghton
Pages: 400
Published by Gallery Books
Release Date: May 4, 2021
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romance, Chick Lit
Source: Publisher
Format Read: ARC, eBook
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For fans of
Close Enough to Touch
and
Me Before You
comes a poignant and moving novel about two patients who fall in love as they recover from traumatic injuries in the same hospital ward…all without seeing each other.

Alice Gunnersley and Alfie Mack sleep just a few feet apart from one another. They talk for hours every day. And they’ve never seen each other face-to-face.

After being in terrible accidents, the two now share the same ward as long-term residents of St. Francis’s Hospital. Although they don’t get off to the best start, the close quarters (and Alfie’s persistence to befriend everyone he meets) brings them closer together. Pretty soon no one can make Alice laugh as hard as Alfie does, and Alfie feels like he’s finally found a true confidante in Alice. Between their late night talks and inside jokes, something more than friendship begins to slowly blossom between them.

But as their conditions improve and the end of their stay draws closer, Alfie and Alice are forced to decide whether it’s worth continuing a relationship with someone who’s seen all of the worst parts of you, but never seen your actual face.

A tender novel of healing and hope, Before I Saw You reminds us that connections can be found even in the most unexpected of places—and that love is almost always blind.

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Hi! Hello it’s Me! Bear with me because my husband was a history teacher- Ergo I’m going to start this review off with a, *super* Fun Fact:
“[Former] president [Abraham Lincoln] was first called “Honest Abe” when he was working as a young store clerk in New Salem, Ill. According to one story, whenever he realized he had shortchanged a customer by a few pennies, he would close the shop and deliver the correct change-regardless of how far he had to walk.
People recognized his integrity and were soon asking him to act as judge or mediator in various contests, fights, and arguments. According to Robert Rutledge of New Salem, “Lincoln’s judgment was final in all that region of country. People relied implicitly upon his honesty, integrity, and impartiality.” _{Leidner , Gordon. “Lincoln’s Honesty.” Abraham Lincoln’s Honesty by Great American History –, The Washington Times, 7 Sept. 2017, greatamericanhistory.net/honesty.htm. The following article appeared in the Washington Times Civil War Page on February 20, 1999. Copyright 1999 by New World Communications, Inc. Reprinted with permission of The Washington Times.}

(YO, check out that citation– my 11th grade IB Lit teacher would be so proud)

Anyway.

Since OBVIOUSLY my judgement is *also* final in this region of the country and since readers rely implicitly upon my honesty, integrity and impartiality (LOL), I will be channeling the shit out of Honest Abe’s energy for this post.
Ready?

I did not finish this book.

So barring the last four years, honesty is typically a very presidential quality.
I am sure that many of you know the story about George Washington and how he could not tell a lie. ( This post has a theme can you tell?)
Well, much like our esteemed former president neither can I.

What had happened was, I put the book down to go to sleep one night and then I went to pick it back up to read it again the next day. But instead downloaded approximately seventy two different novels and read those instead.

Basically, this book was not good. Here is why:

The main characters were problematic. Problematic in that, I didn’t like them at all.
They never even began to become likable… but for different reasons.
I felt like Emily Houghton took the grumpy/sunshine trope and ran off a cliff with it.
The female main character was so self absorbed and just over all nasty, while her male counterpart was so nice it was painful.

The pacing felt weird to me as well. The blurb of the book basically *waves hand nonchalantly* says that a tragic accident that brings the characters together.
Naturally I assumed that meant some back story and emotions and a build up to said accidents and then you know, a little love story thrown in there.
But, you know what they say about ass-u-m[e]ing…

I felt like the beginning of this book felt rushed and I never really got into the headspace of either character enough to make me empathize with them. While the introductions were over too quickly, the actual plot of the book moved as slow as molasses moving uphill. I’m not joking when I say there were literal pages, PLURAL, from the male POV where he just talked about how much he loved his mother’s Sunday roast. I’m not even going to elaborate on this, I think we can all agree that is unnecessary.

Unfortunately, Before I Saw You had tons of potential but it was lackluster and in turn, did not hold my attention at all. Which is a shame. I wanted to like this book a lot and I was ready for a good cry. Unfortunately by 18% I knew it was not my jam.

So I DNF.