Time-hopping, swoony romance that explores family, friendship, mental illness, and trauma recovery, and leaves you with a sense of hope? Check! Mae’s life is filled with secrets—those she keeps from others, and those others have kept from her. The secrets she keeps protect the fragile new life she has with her mother, who struggles with mental illness. But the secrets others have kept from her begin to unravel when Mae’s “blinks” return—unpredictable episodes that toss her into her family’s past. When the world she’s tried so desperately to hold onto falls apart around her, she finds herself back in her mother’s hometown, the place Mae was happiest, in a life she thought she’d left behind forever. But, desperate to protect her bipolar mother from herself, Mae is determined to maintain control and keep everyone she cares about at arm’s length. That is, until her former best friends—and her first love—start to break down the walls she has so carefully constructed around her heart. 

Though it handles serious topics, Blink and We’ll Miss It is a delightful, captivating story about one girl’s courageous attempts to cope with her mother’s mental illness and decades of family trauma. Such topics might have become heavy, but Kochis handles them so deftly that the entire story was a delight to read, start to finish. This is not an explicitly Christian book, and can easily be enjoyed by people of all backgrounds. For those who have experienced the effects of mental illness in their own lives, readers will find a kindred spirit in Mae. Readers who do not share this life experience will get a real and compassionate glimpse into the challenges faced by those with mental illness, and the depth of strength and courage it takes to grapple with those challenges. 

Kochis has populated the pages with lively and memorable characters who feel real and relatable, as though they might walk right off the page. She also brings to life the community of Minnesott Beach, NC with vivid descriptions and rich sensory details. 

The back cover calls Blink a “swoon-worthy novel about finding the strength to forgive, the courage to move forward, and the vulnerability to fall in love.” It is everything it claims. It is as much about family as it is about friendship, and is ultimately a story of hope. Kochis celebrates the uniqueness of neurodiversity while being honest about its challenges, and proposing a vision of what healing can look like. As Mae grapples with the woundedness in her own life, doing her best to cope, she also discovers how the wounds of those around her have affected their lives and choices. Everyone has issues they’re dealing with under the surface, and we never know what the person next to us is going through. It gives a realistic portrayal of working through trauma, while never losing that sense of hope.

The magical realism of Mae’s “blinks” add another layer of depth as she slowly discovers long-kept family secrets, and has to choose whether she will continue to keep what she’s learning to herself, or risk trusting again. Mae has to decide whether or not she is willing to be hurt—and possibly hurt the people she cares about—in order to open up and love.

Kochis has succeeded in writing an authentically human story, filled with characters who are both realistically flawed and still sympathetic. They don’t do everything right. They make mistakes. They hurt one another. They have to choose to forgive. And it’s not easy. Families are messy. Friendships are messy. Being a human is messy. And yet, through all that messiness, there remains a beauty born of genuine, selfless love. It is a love that has to be practiced, and those attempting it do not always do it well. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible. One of the subtleties that struck me in Kochis’ writing is how often we can believe that we are doing something for someone else’s sake, when we’re really trying to protect ourselves. Learning to identify that selfishness, and rooting it out, is what makes real love possible. 

Blink is billed as “swoon-worthy,” and it doesn’t disappoint! There are plenty of swoony scenes for the romance lovers out there. Swoony, as opposed to steamy or spicy. The romantic tension is on point, and kept me reading long after my bedtime! Cautious parents should know that there are a couple passionate kisses, but handled tastefully. And some ogling, but it’s 100% realistic for teenagers. 

On that front, Kochis has written realistic teenagers, and has neither “sanitized” nor sensationalized their behavior to suit a particular audience. As stated above, they are flawed and don’t always make the best decisions. Then again, neither do the adults. But these things are all tastefully handled, neither promoting nor preaching, but merely depicting believable behaviors and presenting the story as experienced by the first-person narrator. There is some mild underage drinking, the aforementioned kisses and ogling, and one scene of implied premarital sex (not the main characters). There are also relatively frequent uses of “hell” as an expletive, and a couple of uses of “damn.” And I should mention a possible trigger warning, as one secondary character does attempt suicide “off screen.” But don’t let any of these things scare you off. It is well handled, and well worth the read. I’d recommend it to older teens and above (I thoroughly enjoyed it as an adult), though if a parent chose to give it to a mature younger teen, it is a clean read.

Overall, Blink and We’ll Miss It is a powerful story about what it means to love and be loved in the midst of challenging circumstances. I highly recommend it for anyone who loves stories filled with strong friendships, swoony romance, and magical realism, and which explore serious topics with both the sensitivity and solemnity they deserve. Both teens and adults can enjoy this book, and it would actually provide great conversation starters amongst teens and parents, between friends, and even in book clubs or youth groups. May Mae’s story inspire us to be more authentic with the people around us, and to give even people we find difficult the benefit of the doubt.