Review: A Different Blue

Title: A Different Blue

Author: Amy Harmon

Publisher: 30 May 2017 by Spencer Hill Press

Pages: 330 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: young adult, romance contemporary

My Rating: 5 cups

Synopsis:

Blue Echohawk doesn't know who she is. She doesn't know her real name or when she was born. Abandoned at two and raised by a drifter, she didn't attend school until she was ten years old. At nineteen, when most kids her age are attending college or moving on with life, she is just a senior in high school. With no mother, no father, no faith, and no future, Blue Echohawk is a difficult student, to say the least. Tough, hard, and overtly sexy, she is the complete opposite of the young British teacher who decides he is up for the challenge, and takes the troublemaker under his wing.

This is the story of a nobody who becomes somebody. It is the story of an unlikely friendship, where hope fosters healing and redemption becomes love. But falling in love can be hard when you don't know who you are. Falling in love with someone who knows exactly who they are and exactly why they can't love you back might be impossible.

My Thoughts

‘What we believe affects our choices, our actions, and subsequently, our lives.’

Having read Amy’s previous books (though of a different genre - ‘The Bird and the Sword Chronicles’) I was intrigued to try something of hers that was not fantasy.  I went in with no real expectations, except knowing Amy to be a talented author, and in the end, was blown away by, ‘A Different Blue’. Amy Harmon can most certainly write, and this little book is really quite extraordinary in making you a part of Blue’s journey.

‘My life, my history, would be laid out before me like a movie script . . . complete with crime scenes and character descriptions. And like a movie script, none of it seemed real.’

This tale slowly and subtly creeps up on you, until you cannot put it down until complete. The power lies in it’s quiet reflections and intricately weaved sublayers. So many lessons here to learn from and move on from. Blue is a wonderful leading character with so many complexities that you cannot help but feel her hurt and pain. Then there is Wilson, this extraordinary caregiver, putting her first all the way through. The synopsis does not begin to convey the power of this book and I am so glad I went into this trusting the storytelling gifts of Amy.

‘My heart pounded in my throat and my mind screamed at me, demanding I catalog every detail of the event I had dreamed about but never dared hope for.’

Let me make it very clear, romance is not the sole focus here. This is a story about a girl and her journey of self discovery - literally and figuratively. Yes, Wilson (our leading man) assists with that but he is a guiding hand in what remains a story about Blue. Their relationship is a slow burn so as not to be drawn away from other key elements and the slow and steady evolution of their relationship is all the more rich for the gradual growth and understanding.

‘Why don’t you focus on where you’re going and less on where you come from?’

Then there is the symbolism which is infiltrated throughout, with again subtle ties to Native American legends, woven both perfectly and poignantly. Often reading like a history lesson, there is much to love and appreciate here.

Amy Harmon's writing is beautiful and lyrical and this book holds such depth and soul, sorrow and pain, hope and humour, with moments that will simply steal your heart away. Do yourself a favour and go read some Amy Harmon. You won’t be disappointed.

‘Who we are is made up of the little choices, the little acts, the little moments that comprise our lives, day after day.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release