Blog Tour: Excerpt & Giveaway- A DIFFERENT BLUE by Amy Harmon

  

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A Different Blue by Amy Harmon

 

★★★★★

Book Blurb:

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 in 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 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.

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Brittany's Review:

(Originally posted HERE)

 

Amy Harmon seriously blows me away. The first book of Amy's that I read was Running Barefoot and I loved it. I became a bit obsessed with it actually, so when Amy asked me if I wanted to review an ARC of A DIFFERENT BLUE, of course I jumped on the chance. And I'm so, so happy that I had the opportunity to read this. It's such a beautiful story. And just like Running Barefoot, Amy's writing in A Different Blue is incredible. This book pulled my heart strings in a million different directions and here I am, a few weeks after reading it, and I'm still in love with these characters.

 

I won't go into too much detail about the plot, as to not spoil anything for you. The synopsis does a really good job of letting you know what this story is about, but there are a few little twists and turns, especially at the end. There is so much that I loved about the main character, Blue. She's smart, she's funny, and she really has her head on straight, despite everything that she has gone through- and continues to go through. There is one particularly difficult decision that she has to make and, although the entire thing broke my heart, it was written so beautifully and made me respect Blue that much more for how selfless she was.

 

The "unlikely friendship" referred to is that of Blue and her teacher, Wilson, who takes Blue under his wing and really helps her come into her own. Quite a big deal for someone who is struggling with truly not knowing who they are. This isn't your typical "girl falls for her teacher" romance, not at all. Although you could sometimes cut the sexual tension with a knife, their relationship was about so much more. Underneath it all, it was their unconditional friendship and emotional connection that really made an impact on me. I fell in love with Wilson right along with Blue. He was always there for her, taking care of her, supporting her. And as much as Wilson taught her, in and out of the classroom, he also learns a thing or two from Blue. She teaches him about love and about sacrifice, and that sometimes things aren't always as black and white as they seem.

 

Let me say again how much I love Amy's writing. A few of the scenes in this book were truly some of the most beautiful that I have ever read. The stories and the characters she writes somehow crawl deep inside me and wreak havoc on my poor little heart. These characters in particular were so well developed and I cried every tear, laughed every laugh, felt every heartache right along with them.

 

On a lighter note, let me just gush about the fact that Wilson is British (yes, please!) and also shares a name with another literary Brit that I'm oh so fond of-- Mr. Darcy! Anyone who knows me knows how obsessed I am with anything Jane Austen and especially anything Pride and Prejudice related, and Amy is a girl after my own heart because I just ate up all of the P & P references in this book! Honestly, everything that Amy writes is pure gold in my eyes and I'm sure I will continue to read and love everything that she puts out. And I suggest you do the same!

 

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Excerpt from A DIFFERENT BLUE:

 

           “Tell me what you see when you look at this sculpture,” Wilson asked after a while, his eyes roving down the sensual lines of the stained mahogany. His hand traced the contours reverently.

 

            I'd whittled away the heaviness from the branches, creating hollows and sinews and shaping the suggestion of lovers wrapped around each other while still maintaining the natural innocence and simplicity of the merging branches. The branches were Mountain Mahogany, the wood a natural reddish brown. I'd rubbed several applications of black stain into one branch, and it gleamed like a black jungle cat, the golden red tones melding with the dark stain so the black looked like it was silhouetted in sunlight. I applied no stain to the other branch. I had simply buffed and glossed the golden red wood until it was glowing like amber. The effect was that the two limbs in the sculpture appeared to be different kinds of wood, branches from two different trees. The result was a statement all its own.
 

             I looked away. I felt hot and angry and my chest was tight with a feeling Wilson always seemed to stir in me.

            “I'd rather not.”

            “Why?” Wilson sounded genuinely confused by my refusal, since I was usually eager to discuss my carvings with him.

            “Why do you want my explanation? What do you see when you look at them?” I said crossly. Wilson withdrew his hand from the sculpture and grabbed my braid where it hung over my shoulder. He tugged it gently, wrapping it around his hand as he did.

            “What's wrong?”

            “Nothing's wrong. I'm preoccupied,” I protested. “And my art is not about what I see. It's about what I feel. And right now I don't really want to discuss what I feel.” I tried to pull my hair free from his hand, but he wound it tighter, pulling me toward him.

             “I see limbs, and love, and lust,” Wilson stated flatly. I stopped resisting, and my eyes rose to his. Wilson's eyes were wide and frank but his jaw was clenched as if he knew he was crossing that invisible line he'd drawn for himself.

            “I'm not surprised you see those things,” I said softly.
            “Why?” His eyes were intense, and I was suddenly furious. I was in love with Wilson, no doubt about it, but I would not be toyed with, and I sure as hell wasn't going to play kissy face ten minutes after Pamela left.

            “You've just spent the evening with Pamela.” I reminded him sweetly. “She is a beautiful woman.”

            Wilson's eyes flashed, and he dropped my braid, turning back toward the sculpture. I could tell he was mentally counting to ten. If I made him angry, it was his own fault. What did he think I was going to do, wrap myself around him after he'd ignored me off and on for months? I wasn't that girl. But maybe he thought I was. I took several deep breaths and ignored the tension that simmered between us. It was thick enough to cut with a knife and serve with a big dollop of denial. He took several steps, his hands fisted in his hair, putting some distance between us.

            I stood my ground, waiting for him to make the next move. I had no idea what he was doing here. And he didn't seem to know either. When he looked at me again his mouth was set in a grim line, and his eyes held a note of pleading, as if he needed to convince me of something.

            “You said your art is about what you feel, not what you see. I told you what I see, now you tell me what you feel,” he demanded.

            “What are we talking about Wilson?” I shot back. I walked toward him, hands shoved in my pockets. “Are we talking about the sculpture?” He watched me as I approached, but I didn't stop until our toes were almost touching.

            “If we're talking about the sculpture, fine. I see desire and belonging and love without space.” I said the words like I was a guide at an art museum, putting emphasis on the word space. “What do I feel? Well, that's easy. I've been at work all day. I'm tired, Wilson. And I'm hungry. And I don't like Pamela. There. That's what I feel. How about you?”

            Wilson looked at me like he wanted to shake me until my teeth rattled. Then he just shook his head and walked to the door. “I'm sorry I asked, Blue,” he sighed. He sounded weary and resigned, like one of those TV dads, just trying to tolerate his teen-aged daughter. “Goodnight, Blue.”

            I was too confused and befuddled to even respond. He walked out of my apartment without another word.

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Author Bio:

Amy Harmon knew at an early age that writing was something she wanted to do, so she divided her time between writing songs and stories as she grew. Having grown up in the middle of wheat fields without a television, with only her books and her siblings to entertain her, she developed a strong sense of what made a good story. Amy Harmon has been a motivational speaker, a grade school teacher, a junior high teacher, a home school mom, and a member of the Grammy Award winning Saints Unified Voices Choir, directed by Gladys Knight. She released a Christian Blues CD in 2007 called "What I Know" - also available on Amazon and wherever digital music is sold.  She lives in the middle of nowhere with her husband and four kids, and doesn't plan to ever move somewhere, because nowhere is sublime.  She has written Running Barefoot, and the Young Adult books Slow Dance in Purgatory and the sequel, Prom Night in Purgatory.  A Different Blue is her fourth novel.

Connect with Amy:

FACEBOOK / WEBSITE / GOODREADS / TWITTER


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