Book Review: See Me As I Am by Cheryl Wanner

Rating: ★★★
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Cheryl Wanner
Publisher: Immortal Works Press
Release Date: May 23rd, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Being blind doesn’t stop seventeen-year-old Jenny Ryan from going after what she wants. Journalism byline? Horse sports? Rock climbing? No problem. Meet Liam O’Shannon, frontman for hard-rocking Irish band (also named) O’Shannon? Jenny’s got a plan for that, too.

She’s already landed a backstage pass for the Portland tour stop where she hopes to interview her idol for a write up in her school paper. Instead, she finds herself in an unexpected convo with the band’s junior publicist, Jamie Conway. Not exactly her dream. But Jamie is sweet and thoughtful and later offers to arrange an interview for her with Liam.

Throughout the tour, he and Jenny keep in touch, and their long-distance friendship deepens into something that challenges Liam’s place in her heart. What Jenny can’t see is the truth Jamie’s disguising; one that will shatter the growing trust between them and force her to question everything she knew about him—and what it truly means to love someone.

Thank you to the author for the gifted audiobook.

I HAVE THOUGHTS.

I enjoyed much of this. It kind of falls a predictable story line, but I just rolled with it and got into the story. I thought the hidden identities trope played well here, and the celebrity romance aspects were fun too. It was unique to have a blind FMC and I loved learning and understanding from that perspective. The music journalism aspects were great too.

There were some good growth moments and I liked seeing Jenny grow up. With big life decisions before her she made some tough choices and learned from mistakes. I was originally okay with the third act conflict, but then I felt it was stretched out to some dramatic proportions that I found myself more frustrated with than anything. I hit a point where I was ready to wrap things up.

The audiobook was good and I liked listening in that format. The narrator did a great job with the accents and bringing the characters to life.

Overall audience notes: