Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
BookWhisperer Review: The Sight by Judy Blundell, April 25, 2010
This review is from: The Sight: (Two Novels: Premonitions and Disappearance) (Paperback)
I recieved The Sight by Jude Watson as a review book from Scholastic Books. I was estatic to find that this is actually two novels in one. The first book being Premonitions and the second is Disappearance. These are the first two books in the a series; about a young girl by the name of Gracie. Gracie is not your typical girl after having been seeing visions since she was 10 years old. Although, Gracie finds herself fighting this fight alone after having lost her mother in a fatal car accident.
Premonitions follows a unqiue storyline. Watson uses Gracie's gift to work this story in reverse. She starts the story at the end, and works through the progression to fill you in on the remainder of the story. In this first story Gracie is a bit of a brat, but throughout the story you find many details explaining her past and reason for her hurtful attitude. I am exciting in completion to find that this character turns around, and that she begins to embrace her new home and life. It was intrigueing to also read a story where a victim can understand and sympathcize with the villian. Gracie uses her experience with Jonah to grasp the changes and struggles that she is experiencing her own life. This is a very twisted story, and extremely suspenseful. You will find yourself buzzing right through the story. I was anxious to jump right into the next story.
Disappearance is set a little bit after Premonitions. You find yourself delved deep into this story where Gracie has made a home with Diego and Shay. At first, it appears that there is no longer a struggle to belong and that Gracie has finally found a home. Though, you soon find Watson carries another bullet when a murder and secret past cause Gracie to have to question her new life all over again. In this second novel, Gracie is beginning to really work with her visions. Breaking them down and discovering what they really mean. This is author is a very suspenseful writer; and she is constantly putting Gracie in situations that make the reader cringe knowing that catastrophe is just around the corner. I would love to read more of this series, but it appears that there were no more books.
The review copy that I recieved of this book is The Sight; which is actually a new book that they have combined Premonitions and Disappearance that were originally released 2005. On to my favorite part of the review COVERS! This is a very attractive cover; the black and white image but the eyes appear to be glowing a purple. That is fantastic, it is very professional and eye catching. I believe that the image is very fitting for being novels about a young girl that has visions. Great cover for a great story.....
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5.0 out of 5 stars
Courtesy of Teens Read Too, June 2, 2010
This review is from: The Sight: (Two Novels: Premonitions and Disappearance) (Paperback)
THE SIGHT is actually the compilation of two previously released novels, PREMONITIONS and DISAPPEARANCE. Originally published in 2004 and 2005, the two stories are now combined into one work.
The two books revolve around Gracie. She is uprooted from her home in Maryland after her mother is killed in a car accident. Gracie has always had feelings about things. And the day her mother dies, she begs her mother not to leave the house. She has a bad feeling something will happen, and the smell of oranges keeps invading her thoughts. In the end, her mother is killed by a truck hauling oranges. Her maternal grandparents move into her house in the hopes that less disruption in her routine will help Gracie heal. But she withdraws into herself and becomes worse rather than better. In a last ditch effort, her grandparents send her off to her Aunt Shay, all the way across the country to a small island off the coast of Washington state.
Gracie still doesn't quite fit in, but her aunt and her cousin, Diego, do try to make her welcome. It's not until her lone friend, Emily, walks away from Gracie's yard and disappears that Gracie starts to accept her aunt and cousin in her life. Determined to figure out what happened to Emily, Gracie, with the help of Diego, attempts to find her. This is the basis of the first part of THE SIGHT.
The second part of the book begins when Gracie and a group of teenagers discover a dead body under the docks. The discovery of the body begins a cascade of events that once again put Gracie in harm's path. Along with the dead body mystery, her long-lost father appears out of nowhere and wants to form a relationship with her. Her father left when she was a small child, and has had no contact with her until now. Gracie wants to have her father in her life again, but as she gets to know him, secrets and lies come to the surface.
I was caught up in the whirlwind that has become Gracie's life on Beewick Island. Gracie tries to use her gift of seeing to help, first to find Emily, and secondly, to discover who is behind the dead body under the pier. Each vision causes a new blip in her detecting, and puts her in harms' way more than once.
The stories go quickly and blend easily from one to the next. Gracie was a believable character and trying to do the best in the situation she's thrust into. As the story unfolds, she learns more about her history and tries to adjust and accept her new life. I'd love to see another story with Gracie and her eventual maturity and development of her gifts.
Reviewed by: Jaglvr
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not entirely original, but satisfying, March 21, 2010
This review is from: The Sight: (Two Novels: Premonitions and Disappearance) (Paperback)
The premonitions started after Gracie almost drowned, and no matter how much she wishes it, they won't stop. They sneak up on her unawares, giving her flashes of insight into the past or the future. They've only ever caused trouble for Gracie until tragedy strikes close and the premonitions become the keys to solving the mystery. Gracie realizes that she can no longer cruise along in the backseat of her life--she has to take action. With the disappearance of her friend Emily, the reappearance of her estranged father, connections between past and present abductions and murders, and unknown threats, Gracie's premonitions will become the only means to her survival.
The Sight contains two of Blundell's earlier novels, Premonitions and Disappearance, published under the pseudonym Jude Watson. I really liked Blundell's writing in What I Saw and How I Lied, but despite the commonality of a central mystery to both books, Blundell's earlier writing wasn't quite as good. Don't get me wrong; Blundell is undoubtedly skilled at manipulating plot and making it suspenseful and exciting. However, she fell a little short with characterization and originality. Protagonist Gracie wasn't always easy to connect with or understand and certainly was not what defined the story. In addition, I've read many novels with variations of this storyline of an unwilling psychic saving the day by solving the mystery. The Sight didn't really stand out from among this group, and in fact, its tendency to sound like a soap opera made it a bit unrealistic.
The Sight will be enjoyed by fans of Sight by Adrienne Maria Vrettos, Death at Deacon Pond by E.M. Alexander, Dark Visions by L.J. Smith, and Numbers by Rachel Ward.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
