Book Nerds Across America

I don't participate in many review tours because my to be read list is already out of control.  I just don't have time, but this book caught my attention.  I have worked in Ophthalmology (eye surgeons) for seven years and found the concept of a blind protagonist to be very appealing.  This isn't something you see every day, so I agreed to review the book.  I would like to thank Emlyn Chand for sending me a copy of the ebook and Damaris from Good Choice Reading for organizing the tour.

Alex is a high school student and has been blind since birth.  He is very independent and does a remarkable job or relying on his other senses to live a normal life.  His text books are in braille, but he attends a traditional public school.  He is even in an advanced chemistry class, which I thought was outstanding.

The other students, however, are not very nice to him and even bully him.  All of this begins to change when a psychic moves into the vacant store next to Alex's Mom's flower shop.  Alex meets Shapri, who is the daughter of the psychic and Simmi who is also new to the area and is one of the psychic's customers.  The three of them become friends and Alex begins to have a romantic interest in Simmi.

Alex doesn't really believe in psychic powers until he begins to notice his own "gifts."  He has visions of the future and fears for Simmi's safety.  We soon discover that Alex isn't the only one with gifts, but none of the characters' gifts are the same.  They will need to work together if they are going to alter the future and keep Simmi safe.

I really enjoyed all of the characters and I felt the story was very well written.  It was action packed and contained just enough relationship development between Alex and Simmi to keep the pages turning.  It was fascinating to see Alex, Simmi, and Shapri learn to develop and accept their gifts.  The ending was not at all what I expected and left me on the edge of my seat with anticipation of what is yet to come.  Fortunately for me, I don't have to wait the customary one year to find out what will happen next.  Open Heart is already available and I will be reviewing it as part of this tour on March 11th.