I read this book in a single day—I couldn’t put it down. It tells the beautiful story of Tessa, a teenage girl who has lost her sight, and her unlikely friendship with a teenage boy named Weston who has a secret of his own. Weston, we learn, lost his legs in an accident a few years back, and is constantly treated differently because of his disability. In Tessa, he finds someone who—for the first time—treats him like anyone else, simply because she cannot see what is “wrong” with him. I loved seeing the relationship between the two grow, and I poured through the pages waiting to see what would happen in the end. It’s a beautiful book for anyone who has ever felt different from everyone else—and anyone who has ever fallen in love.

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book! Tessa is suffering from temporary blindness as the result of a car accident. When a boy answers her grandparents’ ad to help her type her poetry until she regains her eyesight, she is not happy about it. But unbeknownst to her, Weston has a pretty good idea about what she’s going through: he lost both of his legs 3 years before. Told in both Tessa and Weston’s perspectives, 100 Days of Sunlight is a lovely YA romance that shows what a healthy relationship looks like and how teens can help each other overcome adversity. 5/5 stars!

I decided to request to be an ARC reader for Abbie's debut novel because I've been following her writing advice videos on YouTube for a while now. Her series on book plotting, in particular, was particularly valuable to me. Because she’s helped me with my own writing, I decided to check out her book.

After reading 100 Days of Sunlight, however, I was disappointed. I attribute my rating to two major things, the first of which isn’t the author’s fault at all.

I Wasn’t This Book’s Intended Audience

If I read a contemporary romance novel it’s typically adult, probably has 1+ sex scenes, and will have a lot of swearing. Having scrolled through other people’s reviews, it seems like this book is targeted for a Christian girl aged 16 – 19 who likes squeaky clean novels. That is not me.

Other reviewers have said they would’ve rated this book five-stars, but knocked it down to four, because of the swearing in this book. Personally, I find this hilarious since I’m pretty sure Weston only says “hell” and “pansyass” (I don’t know a single 16-year-old boy who uses this word). And he says the latter so often that it just gets to be tedious.

Tessa’s grandfather is a preacher, Tessa invites Weston to church, and a couple of times the characters will talk about praying and psalms. As someone who actively avoids the religious genre, that was way more Christian themes than I was expecting.

I recognize that these are personal critiques on my part. The author can’t help the fact that their book is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. If I had known about the PG (barely) rating of this book and vaguely Christian themes, I wouldn’t have requested to receive an ARC.

The Writing

The writing in this book – everyone from Tessa’s poems to the dialogue to the imagery – just felt average. And sometimes, the metaphors didn't make any sense or weren't ever explained (“I can smell the fragrance of midnight in the air.”).

The plot was very, very slow. If I hadn’t become an ARC reader, I probably wouldn't have finished it. Since the bulk of the book oscillated between present day and flashbacks to Weston’s accident and recovery, I didn’t feel a sense of urgency.

Speaking of which, I had assumed Weston’s flashbacks would only be two or three chapters – but that wasn’t the case. Since Weston got most of the POV chapters, both in present day and in flashbacks, I felt like Weston was actually the protagonist of this book. The characterization of Weston and Tessa felt off-balance because of this – I feel like I didn’t get to know Tessa that much.

The side characters were all forgettable and none of them had that much depth. Also, while Weston got to interact with Tessa's grandparents and (through comments on Tessa's blog posts) her circle of internet friends, Tessa never even met Weston's best friend Rudy and only briefly talked to one of his brothers on the phone. This added to the weird unbalanced vibe I got between Tessa and Weston.

Conclusion

Even if I was the intended audience for this book, I probably would still have given it a low rating because the writing and plotting of this book frustrated me.

Although this book wasn’t for me and I feel bad about giving a one-star review to an indie author I follow, I want to make it clear that I am thoroughly impressed with Abbie. I admire anyone who finishes and edits and publishes a book about a story they care about. I wish Abbie all the best in her writing career.

What an inspiring story! The way this story was written makes it impossible not to love. The characters were well developed and the story line was realistic.

Tessa is struggling with the blindness that resulted from a car accident, and she is pretty angry at the whole world because no one could possibly understand what she's going through. She used to write poetry and run a popular blog, and she can't do either one of those things if she can't see, right? Enter Weston, a relentlessly optimistic guy her age who offers to write down her poetry for her and be her eyes on her blog by helping her answer comments. He's not scared by her defeated attitude in the slightest; annoyingly, he seems to look at it as a challenging game. Slowly he helps Tessa "see" that the world still has a lot of beauty in it if she allows herself to enjoy her other senses. Their friendship flourishes and turns into more. But Weston is hiding something kind of major: he has 2 prosthetic legs. Tessa doesn't know his story and can't see him for herself. For once, he is treated just like any other person and not like a kid without legs. When her sight returns, though, will it change the way she feels about him?

Ok, this book was really well done. The present-day story is interspersed with some jumps to the past to see who Weston was before his accident and what happened to him. These are timed just right to explain something going on between Weston and Tessa, and it deepens the reader's understanding of both characters. The supporting cast is really wonderful, too. Weston's best friend, Rudy, is the kind of pal every one needs: there when you need him, goes along with crazy ideas, but there with the tough love at critical moments. Also, Weston's mother is a badass Boymom who is all about comics and introduces her sons to her favorites. I couldn't love her more.

There are a lot of beautiful themes here, including the lesson that relying on the support of family and friends doesn't make you weak, the importance of learning to accept what life throws at you while continuing to fight to be yourself, and the value of getting out of your own way and letting yourself be loved. These are deep but important messages for YA, and they were handled really well. I was impressed that this was the author's first book. I'll definitely be checking out what she does next!

**Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!**

Even before I started reading this book, I was prepared to give it three stars.

*cringes* okay, okay, don't kill me, but if there's a looooot of hype about a book, I usually won't care for it.

The truth? *I l o v e d this book.* I mean, first of all, I looooove how the cover ties everything, every lil' bit of this book together. Ahhhh *happy sigh*

I was completely prepared to give this baby 5 whopping stars. But...there were two things that kept me from it.

1. The language.
Wait, did anyone see what just flew past? *looks out into the front yard* oh, that was just 3/4 of a star that just flew out the window.
Honestly, if I'd known how much swearing was in this book, I might've passed it up. I get it that most people use cuss words without a care. I, however, am not one of those people. Really, is it *necessary* to have so much cussing in a book? I don't like swearing, but add to that God's name being used frequently and flippantly retracted pleasure from the dialogue for me.

2. The romance.
*another quarter of a star jumps out the window*
So, the romance was actually pretty adorable. Until you contemplate the fact that these two people are 16 yrs old. SIXTEEN, PEOPLE. I know this opinion is kinda unpopular, but . . . I don't like. XD Thankfully, there wasn't a huge amount of romance, which is what kept this baby from being docked down another star.

What did I like??
-UM WESTON HELLO PEOPLE. Ahhh he was so amazing! And I could seriously relate to him more than I could to Tessa. I mean, I'm not exactly handicapped, but I totally got his suck-it-up-buttercup, don't-let-others-know-how-I-feel attitude. I mean, I really, *really* wanna wash his mouth out with soap. But otherwise he's fabbb. AND HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS BROTHERS LIKE YASSSS PLEASE <3
-The writing style was o n f l e e k. The story wasn't fast-paced. At all. But somehow I kept reading . . . and reading . . . it was so engaging!! Ahhhh, Abbie's writing voice was so good . . . I could go on reading it forever.
-The plot!! Can I just express how much I AM IN LOVE WITH THE PLOT?? It's so genius!! Executed so flawlessly . . .

arc received from netgalley!

I’ll be honest, I originally requested this arc mainly because the cover stood out to me. It turns out, the story is just as beautiful. I also love how you start to notice little things on the cover that relate to the story like the waffles, the carnations, the polaroid, the yellow ukelele, etc

I was hesitant to go into this because I often find myself being let down by books dealing with illness and/or trauma. But this one was just written so beautiful and Abbie was really able to express the emotions these two characters were going through.

Weston was a SWEETHEART. I don’t believe he has a mean bone in his body. He’s incredibly optimistic and despite Tessa snapping at him and purposely being mean to him, he continued to show her kindness and help her because he knew the pain she was enduring. I’m not a fan of flashbacks, but his story was so intriguing and I admired how hard he worked. The relationships he had with both Rudy and his brothers were so wholesome, my heart melted.

I found Tessa annoying at times, but I feel like that was intentional. You can’t really blame her since you aren’t going through what she is. I can’t imagine losing my sight and not knowing whether or not it will come back. And to have this stranger walk into your life and demanding to help you doesn’t quite help.

Tessa and Weston shared SO many cute little moments in this. The romance didn’t make me cringe at all, and was actually adorable. Tessa falling in love with Weston’s personality rather than his looks just made me love them so much more.

Overall, this was a fantastic debut, and I hope to see more of Abbie Emmons in the future!

Tessa could see until a car accident makes her blind, hopefully temporarily but she suffers PTSD from the impact and her life suffers as she rarely leaves her bedroom, can't even write her poetry or update her blog.



Then her grandparents put and ad in the newspaper for a helper to type for her, queue Weston.



Weston knows what disability can cause you to feel, he lost his legs below the knees in an accident two to three years ago before meeting Tessa.



As he helps Tess he opens her up to the world around her again using her other senses, smell, taste, hearing, touch and so uses flowers, foods, instruments and Polaroids for her sight to see when or if she recovers.



This book is amazing, the chemistry the pair have is fiery but sweet and understanding. They remind me of Augustus and Hazel from The Fault In Our Stars. As a book debut it's so developed and emotional the depth is immense and a truly addictive, beautiful read.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

“100 Days of Sunlight” is a beautiful, inspiring, young adult novel about two teenagers, Tessa and Weston. Tessa was in a car accident causing her to temporarily lose her vision, and we soon learn Weston has to overcome adversity of his own. The two teens form a relationship and help one another in ways they never thought possible.

This is a book that will warm your heart, and you will not want to put it down-I finished it in a day. I will definitely recommend this book to my 8th graders next year for their independent reading project. This novel is a story of love, family, hope, and optimism. It inspires you to push through hard times and rise above the things that bring you down, a definite 5-star read!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I will start off my review with a disclaimer: despite being smack dab in the middle of the target age range for young adult fiction . . . YA is SO not my thing. That being said, I did still enjoy 100 Days of Sunlight at its core, even if the genre may not be my favorite ever.

First off, that cover! Well done, Ms. Emmons! It's stunning! I feel like so often indies cheap out when it comes to cover design, but it's clear Emmons put a lot of time and thought into her cover, and for that, I give her kudos.

Let's get onto characters. Y'all. Weston is adorable. I want him for a little brother! I loved his humor, his "arrogance," his optimism and take-whatever-life-throws-at-you-with-joy attitude. This dude is amazing. (Despite his potty mouth . . .) He was definitely my favorite character. Tessa, also, was a very well-rounded character, and while I struggled to relate to her and the way she handled certain things, nonetheless I think a lot of people will relate and empathize with her. The supporting characters of Weston's brothers (adorable!), and Tessa's grandparents and friends were a sweet addition.

The storyline, while not fast-paced, moved along at just the right pace and kept my interest from beginning to end. Emmon's writing style is unique and enjoyable. She tackles some tough topics in this book, and I think she did a pretty decent job doing so.

All that being said, there were some aspects of 100 Days of Sunlight that I did not like.

For one, the language. I know there's a lot of differing opinions, even among Christians, whether or not language is appropriate in fiction. And we don't need to go into my opinions on that right now. But for me, in this book, most if not all of the swearing was SO unnecessary. And there was a lot of it. More than I expected, which was disappointing. And this is being marketed as secular fiction (to my knowledge), so that gives it a little more leeway in my opinion, but still, there was just. so. much. swearing. That took away greatly from my enjoyment of this book.

My other main complaint, and this coupled with the swearing is what docked a star plus off my rating. The romance. Okay, okay, I know I am largely in the majority with this, but I. don't. like. teen. romance. There. I said it. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a sucker for a sweet romance storyline, but I just don't do teen romance. So, considering the fairly prominent romantic storyline in 100 Days, there's another reason I didn't enjoy it as much. Honestly, I think this would have been that much more unique if the relationship between Tessa and Weston was kept platonic. There are boatloads of YA romances out there, but it's rare to find a YA WITHOUT romance. But again, I don't know if that's a negative as much as just my thoughts. If you do enjoy teen romances, then I'm sure you will enjoy 100 Days.

All in all, I think 100 Days of Sunlight is a very promising debut, and I am excited to see where Emmons will go next with her writing career! This author shows a lot of promise. If you love contemporary YA, teen romance, deep storylines, witty characters, and WAFFLES, definitely check out 100 Days of Sunlight!


FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book for promotional purposes from Netgalley. A positive review was not required. These are my honest thoughts and opinions.

This story was beautiful from the beginning to the very end.

I thought it was a real page turner and I couldn't wait to see how it would all end.

The story was heartfelt and I could "see" and feel the characters with their struggles.

The author did a superb job of creating some fantastic characters that were believable and she really brought them to life for me.

No hesitation in giving this one 5 stars - I loved it and cannot recommend it highly enough

What if you couldn’t see? What if someone couldn’t see you? Does it change how you judge people, judge the world? 100 Days of Starlight is a teenage love story, but it is also a story about resilience and learning to get back up when knocked down by life.

A car crash leaves Tessa temporarily blind. Now Tessa refuses to write her poetry or leave the house, so her grandparents place an ad for a helper. Weston sees the ad at his father’s paper just before it’s pulled from publication and decides Tessa is someone he can help. As a double amputee, the idea of someone getting to know him without seeing him is very appealing. At first reluctant to work with Weston, Tessa pushes him away in every way she can, but he doesn’t give up - determined to show her that life is about more than what she can see.

The chapters, split evenly between Weston and Tessa, focus almost entirely on their interactions. We don’t learn a lot about their lives outside of what is happening between the two of them - Tessa, mostly because nothing else is happening. Fortunately, half of Weston’s chapters take us back three years ago to the time of his accident and subsequent duel amputation, filling in backstory and giving readers a better idea of his life and motivations.

The first person narration places readers directly alongside the main characters. It also gives readers direct access to their thinking and, sometimes false, ideas. Tessa’s thoughts about being blind and how depressed that makes her, how she thinks that makes her pathetic are not exactly inspired or uplifting. Nor does it reflect in any way the true strength and abilities of those with visual impairment. 100 Days of Sunlight is not a book that starts out by promoting an ‘I can do anything, this doesn’t change my life’ attitude. Just the opposite in fact. Tessa is sad, whiney, and yes, while I understand it’s hard, it takes her some time and lots of help from Weston to come around to a more positive way of thinking. This book has to start with a sad, whiney character because that’s what gives us the character growth.

Weston is sort of a boy wonder. Positive, a great brother, strong and determined. His chapters reveal his doggedness and desire to take the hard road. He did, at times, sound like a therapy room’s motivational poster, but there is no denying his great attitude.

100 Days of Sunlight, with themes of positive attitude, acceptance and resilience woven throughout, is a fun teenage romance.

The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.

100 Days of Sunlight! A very cute and quick read. First, the book cover art and the color is what caught my eye. Which I’m sure is what the author was trying to do, and doing it herself... amazing job! The book description HOOKED me. I knew it was a book I had to read. The good that I liked about it is the characters stories, It makes the characters more mature for their age, especially Weston. I’ll have to admit that Weston wasn’t a favorite character of mine, but I had to see how he dealt everything at the end. The downside, in my personal opinion was that the whole story felt very very rushed. It makes sense because of...100 days. But I wish there was a little more going on. Really good story and amazing job to the authors first novel!

This was a sweet book filled with hope and the reminder that you can see a lot even when you can't see ... when you choose to.

Emmons pulls us into the little moments of life that could be enjoyed when using to all the senses, which most of us miss out on because we're so focused on those in front of us and how they see us or what they think of us. It's a way of looking out and drinking in every bit of beauty rather than expecting others to give us drinks, in a way.

Re the love story, yes, it's totally predictable and the guy is a bit too good to be true, but it doesn't get in the way of a teenage girl growing up and looking beyond herself to grow into the person she really is. Worth reading.

100 Days of Sunlight is a quick, easy read that left me smiling. This contemporary YA novel tells the story of Tessa, a homeschooled blogger that is left (temporarily) blind after a terrible car accident. She meets Weston, who also experienced a terrible accident and loss of his own, and together they come to understand what it means to be happy. The story line has a nice flow (with flashbacks to Weston's life before Tessa) and is full of hope, despair, acceptance, friendship, love, and family.

I can see teens gobbling this one up! Great debut novel from Abbie Emmons!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review of this title.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this book.
It was amazing.
It's one I'll be reading again and again; I feel so fortunate to have read it.
Weston is the perfect character for this story. His experiences have made him grow up, and yet he is still a funny mischievous teenager. His story is tragic, and born out of an accident, as some tragedies are. The fact that he is able to face life the way he does makes everyone else's problems pale in significance. The additional side characters (the family on both sides) are so supportive it brought tears to my eyes on more than several occasions.
Tessa is a perfect match for him. The way she's acting is exactly how someone in her situation would. How these two grow together and become familiar is just beautiful.
I savoured every moment of getting to know these two.

This was such a wholesome book and a well-done debut.

I really enjoyed the male lead, Weston. He was such a kind, uplifting, motivational character. And on top of all that, he has such a witty personality that you can't not love him. Tessa was a bit less likable, in my opinion, but it's understandable due to her situation. I did feel that things progressed a bit fast between the two. Tessa switched from hating him to liking him a little too quickly, making the first half of the book feel somewhat uneventful. If there was a longer period of time spent cultivating her feelings, I think this book would've been stronger.

It was a great decision to incorporate two characters in different stages of dealing with their disabilities. Weston has lived with his for years, has overcome so many obstacles, and is extremely inspirational throughout the story. On the other hand, Tessa has just become blind. She's struggling with every aspect of losing that part of herself and needs someone who understands what that feels like. Being an able-bodied person, I don't have the best insight on this, but it felt that disability was dealt with respectfully and that the book was very informative.

There was a lack of conflict throughout the novel, and that did make some parts feel as if they dragged. I also think that more time could've been spent developing underlying themes (such as returning to the church) and secondary characters (like Tessa's grandparents).

Overall, I think this was a great debut and I'll definitely be reading Emmon's future works. I'm really thankful for the opportunity to read the book early!

This is a very good debut novel as well as just a very good novel overall.
The characters are likable and have depth and lend to a moving and cute story with a fun clean romance.

There is a lot of back story for Weston showing how he became such a strong person dealing with the loss of his legs; this strength and understanding lends him the ability to crack Tessa's depressed and angry shell and show her what she's missing in life despite her lack of vision.
However, Weston isn't perfect in the present either. Despite the confidence he shows the world, we see him still stumbling and hung up on how others view him and how he views himself.

If you are looking for a quick and cute romance with a unique and emotional premise, this book is highly enjoyable. Compared with a lot of YA romance books I've read recently (and in the past), this book has a lot of heart in it and doesn't follow some cliche romance storyline. That said, the main issue I had with this book is that the description is pretty much the whole story. There aren't a lot of action events in this book. Mainly we just see how Weston grows on Tessa with his back story slowly shown throughout with a climax of Weston overcoming his fears and cowardice after the 100 days are over.

As a novella this would probably be perfect but I had expected more which led to disappointment... so I guess just expect a quick fun story and you'll love this!

100 Days of Sunlight by Abbie Emmons was absolute perfection. It was one of the most - if not THE most - inspiring story I’ve ever read. Although I usually prefer fantasy books, Abbie’s whimsical writing and amazing characters made it impossible not to love this book. There were times when I was laughing one moment and tearing up the next. I also thought that the duel point of views worked so well for this story. Both Tessa and Weston had their own unique voices and personalities that were clearly displayed in Abbie’s writing. This books deals with heavy topics of despair and loss, while also detailing the beautiful journey of finding your way back to the light. This book was about many things, including bravery, friendship, defiance, motivation, despair, family, and so much more. Most importantly, though, it was about love and how those who truly love you will accept you for who you are, despite the fact that you aren’t perfect. It is also about accepting yourself, which is such an important message. This review was hard to write because I feel like I have no words after finishing 100 Days of Sunlight. It was heartbreaking and motivating in the best ways possible. I am hoping for a sequel so we can see where the wind takes Tessa and Weston next.

“Happiness felt like hell. And Despair felt like my maker.”

100 Days of Sunlight is one of those books that just make your heart feel full after reading it. There were a few scenes — flashbacks and a few chapters at the end — that made a few tears fall out of my eyes. That’s because it was so heart wrenching for me to read about Weston’s story and his struggles especially after you get to know him as this confident, optimistic, and happy-go-lucky guy. I definitely feel like the author really developed the characters personalities well and I loved being able to dive into Wes’ backstory and understand who he is as a character. Being able to experience both Wes and Tessa’s individual journeys and watch how they developed throughout the course of the novel was such a pleasure and joy to read. I genuinely adore both characters (especially Wes, sorry Tessa!) and was so satisfied at what the ending brought for these two characters.


“My heart is a reckless beast, my stomach a cage of butterflies.”

Reading Tessa and Wes’ (or Westess as the IG girls called it lol) develop throughout the book was so satisfying and enjoyable to read. Wes was always so patient, kind, and understanding with Tessa without letting her temporary cortical blindness consume her identity because he’s been where she is and knows what she needs to move out of this place of darkness and anger into one of sunlight and happiness.


Overall, I throughly enjoyed this book and can’t wait to read what Abbie Emmons comes up with next!



**I was provided an arc of 100 Days of Sunlight by Netgalley for my honest review. All opinions are 100% my own.**