A Different Blue by Amy Harmon – eARC Review

Publication Date:

30 May 2017

Publisher:

Spencer Hill Press

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.

Review:

*I was provided a copy by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I’ve been hearing about Amy Harmon’s books for a few months now but until A Different Blue I haven’t read any of her books… I do have Making Faces and I plan to read it as soon as I have some time. However I really didn’t know what to expect from her books. I can tell you that I ended up loving A Different Blue. It was such a beautiful story and the characters showed such an amazing development that it was impossible not to love it.

First of all let me talk about Blue. She’s such a strong girl. Blue hasn’t had the easiest life. She was abandoned at 2 and lost her “dad” when she was really young. Her life was made of loss which made her be someone who doesn’t care for anything and someone who is lost. However, she grows so much during this books. I loved her development. There were a lot of things happening to her that could had taken her off her way of becoming better but she doesn’t let that happen. It was great to see her become such a strong girl. I also loved how much Wilson “ought” to help her. Here’s the thing, by reading the blurb you might think there’s a teacher-student relationship in this book. I know a lot of people don’t like this but I can tell you the blurb is a little bit deceiving. Yes, there’s a teacher who is Blue’s teacher at one point. However, they only become something more a long time after Blue finishes high school. Also, it’s important to say that when they first meet Blue is 19 and Wilson is 22 so a relationship between them is not that weird. Anyway, I loved Wilson and how much he did for Blue. He really tried to help her to find herself, especially because he had already been through something similar. His past was not as sad as Blue’s life but his experiences ended up helping a lot. He was a little bit dumb sometimes and he frustrated me a bit at one point but he ended up being a great guy. I can tell you that what I loved most about Blue and Wilson’s relationship was that they were friends before anything else. For the longest time Wilson was there for her only as a friend to help her on what she was going through.

Because this was my first Amy Harmon book I didn’t really knew what to expect from her writing but I can tell you that I loved it. The book was a little bit slow but it was so beautifully written. I also loved how she included flashbacks from Blue’s past because it really helped to see how that events had shaped her. I could tell you that I would like this book better if it was in a dual POV but to be honest it wouldn’t. Because this was Blue’s journey I feel like it was fitting that it was told only in her POV. However, there were some points when I really wanted to know what was on Wilson’s mind XD.

Overall, this was such a beautiful read. This is one of those books that is really inspirational and makes you think about things. It also helps that it was so beautifully written. I absolutely adored A Different Blue and I can’t wait to read more of Amy Harmon’s books (Making Faces, I’m coming for you :P).