Book Review: 100 Days of Sunlight by Abbie Emmons

**Disclaimer: I received a free electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
Genre: YA
Release Date: August 7, 2019 
Description:

"When 16-year-old poetry blogger Tessa Dickinson is involved in a car accident and loses her eyesight for 100 days, she feels like her whole world has been turned upside-down.

Terrified that her vision might never return, Tessa feels like she has nothing left to be happy about. But when her grandparents place an ad in the local newspaper looking for a typist to help Tessa continue writing and blogging, an unlikely answer knocks at their door: Weston Ludovico, a boy her age with bright eyes, an optimistic smile…and no legs.

Knowing how angry and afraid Tessa is feeling, Weston thinks he can help her. But he has one condition — no one can tell Tessa about his disability. And because she can’t see him, she treats him with contempt: screaming at him to get out of her house and never come back. But for Weston, it’s the most amazing feeling: to be treated like a normal person, not just a sob story. So he comes back. Again and again and again.

Tessa spurns Weston’s “obnoxious optimism”, convinced that he has no idea what she’s going through. But Weston knows exactly how she feels and reaches into her darkness to show her that there is more than one way to experience the world. As Tessa grows closer to Weston, she finds it harder and harder to imagine life without him — and Weston can’t imagine life without her. But he still hasn’t told her the truth, and when Tessa’s sight returns he’ll have to make the hardest decision of his life: vanish from Tessa’s world…or overcome his fear of being seen."

First off, I would like to say that I did not know Abbie Emmons is a YouTuber prior to reading this book, in fact, I did not find out until like halfway through the book because I read it somewhere in some reviews. Despite this fact, it does not affect my opinion on this review.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The characters are likable (especially Weston), showcasing considerable growth in character, both Tessa and Weston. When we are first introduced to Tessa we find that she is in a very dark place in her life due to reasonable circumstances and Weston is just an overly optimistic guy. Over time we come to find out how Weston is the way he is and why he is so persistent in helping Tessa despite not telling her about being disabled himself (amputee). We learn how Weston is cherishing the fact that he is treated as a normal person with Tessa because she finds no reason to pity him being that she cannot see why and he is not saying anything about his disability. Also, Weston understands the situation that she is in and wants to pick her back up, which I found well constructed because he begins to help Tessa realize that sight is not the only sense that she has. I found it to be really sweet that he first started with scent by bringing her flowers and having her remember the scents.

Through the time Tessa spends with Weston we see that she has shifted from being hostile to Weston to being very comfortable with him and eventually falling in love with him. This journey I appreciate, especially the romance aspect because it was not insta-love, which I despise and is an issue that is quite common in Teen/YA books. 

Overall, the story was well paced and sheds light to temporary and permanent physical disabilities, which are topics I have not encountered very often in books. The romance is well written and in general, the whole story was. The way the ending was handled was beautiful as well. I definitely recommend this to anyone interested in YA/Contemporary genres. 

Overall rating:  4/5