**CW: Multiple instances of ableism.
I’m so thankful I discovered Anna Sortino. Her debut novel Give Me a Sign was an adorable Deaf summer camp romance, filled with silly camper hijinks, sweet counselor camaraderie, and plenty of flirting via sign language. The book served as a solid introduction to Deaf culture, with a likeable heroine at the helm. Sortino’s second novel On the Bright Side goes one step further, exploring two different disabilities in two different teens.
Ellie is Deaf. She’s been at an all-Deaf boarding school since she was 12, only to be thrown into a mainstream high school for her senior year. She doesn’t feel welcome there, much less in her actual home with her hearing parents. Enter Jackson, a charming soccer player who makes a real effort to befriend her. Though communication can be awkward and at times, downright difficult, they have a comfortable rapport in which their personalities shine. But all this time, Jackson is experiencing changes in his body that he doesn’t understand.
Honestly, it was frustrating seeing the people in Jackson’s life basically telling him that he should just “walk it off.” His school friends I sort of get, but his parents? Ugh, I wanted to shake them. Eventually, Jackson is diagnosed with MS (multiple sclerosis), an autoimmune disease that causes a lot of pain and fatigue. Since there’s still research going into MS, Jackson’s future is suddenly looking cloudy. I could feel his festering fear, and his growing concern for Ellie as they become more romantic.
What I liked the most about this book and its characters is how real everything is. Like, with Jackson, his grief is… eerily quiet. Inside, he’s spiraling, but there’s also this sad acceptance. It’s hard to explain, but I found it surprisingly relatable. And with Ellie, she’s harboring a lot of anger and resentment being torn away from her Deaf community, and it feels very justified. Sortino definitely knows how to write teen emotion, and how to make it sound genuine rather than whiney and empty.
Ellie and Jackson are fantastic characters individually, and I enjoyed reading both POVs. Reading from the mind of someone who’s been disabled her entire life and from the mind of someone who’s hit with a disability later in life. Ellie and Jackson as a couple? Oh, they’re just lovely. I was smiling so hard every time they made up an excuse to spend time together (which was A LOT). Through the romantic hurdles, the life hurdles, they were consistently compassionate and mature. And you don’t always get that in YA, heh.
Highly recommend for the representation, the friendships/found families, and of course, the romance. Instant fav for me.
**Much thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. On the Bright Side will be released on July 2.
Sara Bechtol 