I loved the way I felt like I knew Kate and was with her as she made several difficult choices. Short enough and compelling enough to finish in one sitting and set in Detroit! ( )

The premise of the book--aspiring young artist goes off to art school in Detroit and moves in with her famous father, an artist who deserted his wife and daughter years earlier--was promising. And while parts of the book were enjoyable, especially the passages about painting and color, it didn't really do much for me. Kate, the main character, seems much younger than her 18 years, and like all of the characters in the book, is rather two-dimensional and predictable. Still, it was a quick read, and aspiring artists might enjoy it.

I won an ARC of this book through First Reads on GoodReads, for which I am grateful. ( )

Unfortunately, I felt that See What I See was an outline of a book almost, the characters not really fleshed out. Kate is attending art school in Detroit and writes to her father, who abandoned the family when she was little, and asked to live with him, despite the fact they've had virtually not contact over the years. She receives no answer. If she tells her mother this, she won't leet Kate go, so she lies and says everything is arranged.

She arrives at her fathers house to find him gravely ill and rushing to finish paintings for a gallery showing in New York. He is brusque and begrudgingly allows her to stay...and help take care of him since he is getting weaker and weaker.

Through a scant 199 pages, Gloria Whelan describes Kate's life from September through December. Both Kate's and her father, Dalton's emotions must run rampant, yet it doesn't come out in See What I See. There is little depth to the characters and the plot. Kate must decide whether or not to stay in school since her father will ultimately need round the clock care. Her decision seems to have been made with little thought--pros and cons, what does she owe an estranged father, etc. Kate doesn't tell her mother about Dalton's illness...something I would gather would be very difficult to keep inside.

See What I See began with a lot of art/color related references which seemed interesting, but that petered out as the book progressed. All in all, I expected a lot more from Gloria Whelan. ( )

See What I See is a great story about acceptance and never losing sight of your dreams even if they get put on hold or things get complicated.

Kate is an aspiring painter who decides to move in with her estranged father while she attends art school. Kate hasn’t seen her father and famous painter, Dalton Quinn, for years after he chooses work over her mother and herself.

When Kate shows up at Dalton’s home he immediately wants her to leave and hates that she’s there. What seems like a terrible and negative relationship slowly turns into acceptance when Kate offers Dalton her aid…as long as she keeps her distance.

I relate to Kate and her relationship to her father, so the book really caught me. Although my story is not identical to Kate’s, I was still able to take in the message of not allowing yourself to waste energy on negative feelings toward another and to accept it. “It is what it is”…right?

However, even though I connected deeply with the relationships in the book, it left me hanging at the end, which was disappointing! I would have liked to see things get wrapped up, instead I was asking myself the “what ifs” and “what nows”. Overall though, I really enjoyed it!

Review based on ARC copy ( )

This is the first book that I've ever sat down with, dove into the first pages and before I knew it, it was 3 hours and 200 pages later. I closed it with a heavy sigh. I held it in my hands for few minutes after and had to literally wait for the hypnotic grip it had on my senses to pass. While it was a short read---a little over 200 pages is quite short by normal standards, it was completely intriguing all the way through.

The main character, Kate, is an artist. The first-person present tense that the story is written in really puts you right into her world and lets you see things through her eyes. What makes this even more interesting is that she seems to look at the entire world around her with the eyes of a painter. Colors are described by the acrylic color she would use to capture them in a painting. Trees and places and buildings are taken in with the consideration of how she would portray them. It's a completely unique way to see through the eyes of a character and makes it easy to get a sense of who Kate is.

Its a story about a broken family, about a girl and her dreams, and keeping a tight hold on those dreams even when sacrifices have to be made. This was not always an easy read. Her father was cruel and angry and I often wondered how she found the strength to stay near him. My heart would break for her every time she would get glimpses of hope and then be dumped on almost in the same breath. Yes, I even shed a tear or two while reading this one.

While I found the ending a little predictable, it was how the story needed to end. All in all, a powerful and satisfying story---one that is definitely worth a read. ( )