Blindsided: Essays from the Only Black Woman in the Room is a highly recommended memoir that uses the essay format to its best advantage. It tackles issues of women's lives and racial divide during the course of Dawn Downey's life, from childhood to adulthood. … It's rare to receive a memoir that crosses so many social and cultural boundaries; much less one that takes the time to explore how these relationships and perceptions ultimately affect a sense of racial awareness and self. …  It is highly recommended reading for anyone concerned about the evolution and processes of racism in America.
——D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

I cannot encourage readers enough to read Blindsided. There is much written these days about PTSD in relation to vets and abuse victims: this is about the PTSD that many black people feel daily. It’s eye-opening and chilling. At the end of Blindsided, Dawn Downey lists the names of so many of today’s black victims of racial abuse. Those are the ones who have made headlines like Brionna Taylor. But what about the others whose stories go unread? Dawn Downey speaks for them and as she does, she “prompts us to consider how we find our authentic selves in the heart of our discomfort." By doing so, her closing message is one of hope.
——Reviewed by Viga Boland for Readers' Favorite

"With riveting sermons of prose, Dawn Downey captures deeply private yet broadly relatable snapshots of life as a black woman in Blindsided: Essays from the Only Black Woman in the Room. From the complicated perils of language and the bloody crossroads of religion and racism, to the nexus of art and the size of one’s assigned space in the world, this is a fearless collection that is painfully relevant for today’s readers. Spilling such intimate insights through brilliant, well-drawn prose is an undertaking where most authors fail; these essays, however, are provocative, subtle, and captivating – often within the same breath."——Self-Publishing Review ★★★★★