Review: Seeing for the First Time by Nicole Zoltack

Title: Seeing for the First Time
Author: Nicole Zoltack
Genre: YA, Supernatural, short story
Format: Ebook
Perfect for: those looking for a short story with a little bite
Star Rating: 3/5 Stars

Taken from Goodreads, "For the last ten years, Ana has spent summers with her Gram. With nothing to do, the closest beach two hours away, and Gram, who Ana is convinced is crazy, always in her garden talking to things that aren't there, Ana is bored out of her mind.

One day, Ana sees strange colors floating around Gram as she works in her garden. Gram says they're fairies. She can "See" them, and there are others who can see things. Ana's a Seer, too.

When Gram gives Ana a book that explains about the many different creatures, like selkies, unicorns, vampires, and others, Ana gets curious. She is shocked when she comes across the entry about famous werewolf hunting parents.

Determined to learn where she fits in, Ana's summer gets a lot more exciting as she sets off to find out what she can "see." Only problem is, she's not sure what to do when she finally discovers the truth. And she's not sure she'll live to tell anyone."


'Seeing for the First Time' is a short story rooted in fantasy and supernatural lore. Author Nicole Soltack's unique take on the supernatural makes 'Seeing for the First Time' a worth-while, well written e-read.


As far as characters go, we don't meet many of them. I liked the character of 'Ana', although I would have liked to have learned more about her. 


Storytelling-wise, 'Seeing for the First Time' was a pretty quick, action packed read. It wasn't too heavy in action'y bits or lengthy details. All in all, the quick plot was pretty solid.


Though quite short in length (under 20 pages), 'Seeing for the First Time' left me wondering, 'what's next'? Even though as a reader, I only got to see the wee beginnings of Ana's journey, I want to know what happens to her next. What will she do with her new found power? Will she meet any handsome seer's like herself (or even a reformed supernatural) and fall head over heels? Will her grandmother ever give up on her gardening enough to tell her more about this strange world that Ana now finds herself?


'Seeing for the First Time' is the first portion of a six part series. While I applaud the author on taking her own road in terms of self publishing, I would have loved if she'd, say, released all six parts as one novel, as opposed to separating it out. I would have loved a longer look into Soltack's world. 'Seeing for the First Time' gets 3 out of 5 stars.

If you want to read 'Seeing for the First Time', you can find it at Smashwords in the ebook format.