Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway: First Visions (Second Sight #1) by Heather Topham Wood

Today, we are happy to be a part of the First Visions Blog Tour

hosted by Xpresso Book Tours.

Find the other tour stops here.

First Visions (Second Sight #1) by Heather Topham Wood

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: April 27, 2012
Publisher: Self-Published
230 Pages

Two years ago, 21-year-old Kate Edwards became deathly ill and slipped into a coma. While unconscious, she crept into the mind of a missing boy and awoke with the knowledge of his location. Friends and family were skeptical and wary of her new ability to see into the minds of others. Their fears prompted Kate to keep her psychic powers a secret. Feeling alienated, she dropped out of college and spent most of her days holed up at her mother’s home. 

Now another child has been abducted. Police detective Jared Corbett seeks out Kate for her help in solving the case. Reluctantly, Kate agrees and they must work together to bring 8-year-old Cori Preston home to her family. Although attracted to one another, Jared has a girlfriend with ties to the abduction case and Kate is sarcastic and guarded since her coma. With visions she can’t control and an uncontrollable attraction to the detective, she wonders if she can leave the past behind and finally stop hiding from the world. Otherwise, Cori may be lost forever.

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- Ends 03/26/2013

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Review:

In First Visions, a young woman named Kate Edwards is hiding her strange ability to see into the minds of other. She tries to keep her visions to herself because after solving the case of a missing child when she woke up from a coma, she was alienated due to the spotlight of the media. When detective Jared Corbett comes her to help solve the case of his girlfriend's missing younger sister, she is reluctant to help. Kate suffered at the hands of the press before, the last thing she wants is to be in that position again. But when she sees the child, she knows she must do something to help and despite her growing attraction to the not-so-single Jared, works to save the life of the young girl.

Kate was an amusing character. She's not afraid to be snarky, and though she's heartbroken over things in her past, she's caring and has a really kind personality. Jared was a bit more difficult. His sense of honor was great, but I was annoyed by how long it took him to realize his feelings for Kate weren't going anywhere. I did not like Jared's girlfriend, Nikki. Her jealousy caused her to be cruel and immature. She needed a serious reality check. Though Kate's mom had the best intentions, both she and Kate's dad made many mistakes that really hurt Kate. It was hard not to feel bad for poor Kate. She didn't deserve the treatment most bestowed upon her.

The plot was not extremely suspenseful, but it did constantly keep you wondering. It moved pretty steadily, though it was short, really made it's mark. There was mystery, romance and a bit of action in this story. First Visions was heartfelt and sweet. New adult novels have not been my favorite, but I must say that this story help me believe there are good stories of that nature. While there is some sexual undertones, it is not the focus of the story. It's not extremely graphic, like a few that I've read. It really felt like it was just a little to much to be a young adult novel, but not quite an adult-oriented story.

This book kept my attention from start to finish. There was just something about it that intrigued me. It's not the best written story, but the concepts behind it were extremely interesting. I applaud Ms. Wood for coming up with such an original start, Katie's powers coming from an illness that caused her to going into a coma. I've only read one other story involving the protagonist being in a coma, and I've found it to be an extremely interesting topic. It would be great to see more stories with that as a major plot point.

A lot of this story was cheesy. It's not always bad to have some "cheese" in a story. This is very much a guilty pleasure book. Though several parts induced painful eye-rolls, others had me making faces of annoyance, First Visions continued to reel me in. It's not the best written book, but it's creative and has characters that the audience can relate to. We might not have abilities like Katie's, but we've all felt jealous, hopeless and scared. The author is very good at expressing the emotions of her characters.

First Visions was extremely enjoyable. I have already purchased book two for my kindle, because I am so curious about how the author will continue the series!

I received an e-copy of this novel for my honest opinion and review from the author.