Before I Saw You

by Emily Houghton

[Jeff Sexton]

Interesting Premise. Perfect Execution. Apparently I'm a bit different than the smattering of the current 300+ Goodreads reviews I've read of this book so far (just over a month prior to publication, so kudos to the Gallery Books/ Simon and Schuster marketing team - which is where I got my own copy from).

Why?

Because I thought this was a challenging premise for *any* author to work from, much less a debut author... and yet Houghton *nails* it, to my thinking.

The entire central conceit here is that you've got two people who are badly broken and trying to heal, who happen to randomly find themselves forced to be next to each other in a rehabilitation ward for weeks on end, and somehow fall in love - despite one of them insisting on keeping their curtain closed, thus precluding both from ever seeing the other's face.

This was a great tale that had light and heart where it needed to, forced the tears to come pouring out of your eyes in others, told convincing tales of the disparate injuries and recoveries, and wrapped all of this up in a standard Hallmarkie type finish. (Yes, this *is* billed as a romance, so noting that the couple does end up together is no spoiler here. :D)

If this is what we can expect from Houghton, this reader for one is very much looking forward to seeing what else she has. Very much recommended.