Thank you to PRH Audio for the ALC and Penguin Teen for the ARC of On the Bright Side by Anna Sortino. All opinions are my own. 

On the Bright Side is a great coming of age story with romance and an exploration of disabilities. 

As an adult, I am not the target audience for this book, but I do think I still got a lot out of this book. If I had read it as a teenager, I might have loved it more though. 

I really appreciated the dual points of view in this story because Ellie and Jackson had such different upbringings and situations they were going through. I think I enjoyed reading from Jackson’s POV a little more though because he was just so sweet and likable. 

I didn’t dislike Ellie, but I found her a bit irritating at the beginning of the story. She acted as if everyone was against her without even knowing people very well. I do think she grew as a character throughout the story though. 

Ellie’s family was terrible, and I felt bad for the lack of support she received at home. No one should ever feel lesser than because of their disabilities. 

Jackson’s parents were a little better, but I hated how they kept dismissing Jackson’s health problems. It did such a disservice to him, and it made it feel like they didn’t know their son at all. 

I appreciated the friendship between Ellie and Jackson. I liked that they didn’t let other’s opinions affect their opinions of each other. Even though they had such different lives, I think they really complemented each other. 

In the past, I’ve read several other books with deaf protagonists. While there are definitely similarities to those books, I liked the author’s approach in this story and how she talked about disabilities as a whole. The stigma associated with various disabilities was discussed, and I found it interesting to read about someone who was new to their disability versus someone who was used to it. 

I listened to the audiobook version of this book and really enjoyed the narration. I also appreciated the sound effects that denoted when a character was signing versus speaking verbally. 

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys YA contemporary stories.