Review: Farsighted by Emlyn Chand - Blog Tour

Farsighted by Emlyn Chand
Published by: Blue Crown Press
Publication date: November 2011

Alex Kosmitoras's life has never been easy. The only other student who will talk to him is the school bully, his parents are dead-broke and insanely overprotective, and to complicate matters even more, he's blind. Just when he thinks he'll never have a shot at a normal life, a new girl from India moves into town. Simmi is smart, nice, and actually wants to be friends with Alex. Plus she smells like an Almond Joy bar. Yes, sophomore year might not be so bad after all.

Unfortunately, Alex is in store for another new arrival--an unexpected and often embarrassing ability to "see" the future. Try as he may, Alex is unable to ignore his visions, especially when they begin to suggest that Simmi is in danger. With the help of the mysterious psychic next door and new friends who come bearing gifts of their own, Alex must embark on a journey to change his future.

My review:
Alex doesn't have any friends, gets bullied all the time, and also believes his father doesn't care about him because of his blindness. He just wants to be a normal high school sophomore. However, he is about to get even further away from being normal than he already is. Sophomore year is full of changes, surprises and unexpected new friends. Alex begins to "see" the future in the same way that he normally interprets the world around him. He then has to decide how far beyond his comfort zone he is willing to go to save Simmi, the first real friend he has had and the one he loves.

Each chapter of this novel starts with a rune and a corresponding prophecy. This lends to the suspense and mystery surrounding the plot. Farsighted starts off with a bang and continues throwing punches throughout. There were times while reading that I literally had to cover the screen so that I could force myself to read each sentence instead of jumping ahead because I was so excited to see what was going to happen. Emlyn has an engaging writing style and an excellent balance of humor, love, normal teenage angst, and conflicts with peers and family. The only downside for me is that I was confused by the ending, which of course I can't say why because I don't want to give it away. I realize that the story is going to continue in the next book of the series, so many unanswered questions will hopefully be answered there. I am definitely waiting for the next one in the series and would highly recommend Farsighted.

A copy was provided by the author for review.

About the author:
From an early age, Emlyn Chand has counted books among her best friends. She loves to hear and tell stories and emerged from the womb with a fountain pen grasped firmly in her left hand (true story). Her affinity for the written word extends to absolutely every area of her life:  she has written two-and-a-half novels, leads a classics book group with over three hundred members, and, of course, runs the whole shebang at Novel Publicity.

The book that changed Emlyn’s life is Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crocket Johnson. It opened her eyes to the world that could exist if only she was willing to create it—a lesson she has never forgotten. While she enjoys all types of novels, her greatest loves are literary fiction and YA. Farsighted is her first published novel.

You can connect with Emlyn on her website, Twitter, and Facebook.