BLOG TOUR - REVIEW & GIVEAWAY: A Different Blue by Amy Harmon

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.

Book Links: Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords

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.

Author Links: Facebook / Website / Goodreads / Twitter

My Thoughts:

"Once upon a time there was a little blackbird, pushed from the nest, unwanted. Discarded. Then a Hawk found her and swooped her up and carried her away, giving her a home in his nest, teaching her to fly. But one day the Hawk didn't come home, and the little bird was alone again, unwanted. She wanted to fly away."

The first thing that I have to say about A Different Blue is that the book description doesn't even begin to describe the journey of emotions that you will take whilst reading it. And it doesn't completely capture how amazing the story truly is. When I read the blurb I thought I was going to get a book that tackled the teacher/student relationship. That is not what I got at all.

Blue Echohawk is a girl who has a past filled with memories of her time spent with Jimmy Echohawk. Abandoned at the age of two Jimmy takes her along with him on his journeys. Travelling the land, Blue has no schooling until at the age of ten when Jimmy passes away. Unlike most of us, Blue has no idea who her parents are, the exact date of her birth or what her real name actually is.

Jimmy's little blackbird died a slow and painful death. In her place I built a gaudy, colorful, blue bird. A loud obnoxious peacock with bright feathers, who dressed to call attention to her beauty at every moment, and craved attention. But it was all just a bright disguise.

Now nineteen and in her last year of school. Blue is attractive, sarcastic, quick witted and not too sure of where she fits into the world. But she is about to have someone enter her life who takes the time to look beneath the surface. Who challenges her and who helps her to find herself and become the person she wants to be.

It was perfectly fine to have a crush on the fictional Mr Darcy, but it wasn't acceptable to have a thing for the real one. And I had a thing for my young history teacher. No doubt about it.

Mr Darcy Wilson is Blue's new History Teacher. He is PERFECT!!! Actually he is so much more than perfect. He is caring, nerdy, gorgeous, musical, British. And he is not at all fazed by the vibes that Blue puts out. He questions her and makes her think. And he genuinely wants to get to know her. I am completely in love with Wilson. I adored everything about him!!

I watched him, the length of his lashes against his cheek, the lean jaw emphasized by the sight shadow of a day's beard. His face was serene, lost in the music that he was creating. And I marveled that he had become my friend. I wondered if there were other men like him. Men who loved history and carried handkerchiefs and opened doors for girls...even girls like me. I didn't know anyone like him.

There are things that are thrown at Blue throughout her journey and that is when we really see how amazingly strong she is. She is brave beyond words. And then there were times that she was vulnerable and exposed. She is such a complete character and I loved her!!!

A Different Blue is not a mile a minute story. It is a story that will hold you in it's clutches from the very start until the very end. And even when you have finished reading it, you will find that it has taken a spot in your heart and that's where it's going to stay. Beautifully sad, beautifully heartbreaking, beautifully uplifting, beautifully perfect. I really can't think of better words to describe A Different Blue. It was emotional. It was breathtaking. It was flawless.

I am now a for life fan of Amy Harmon. I will read whatever she writes. A Different Blue is going at the top of my favourites list and I know that it will be a book that I will lose myself in again.

5/5 Brilliantly Awesome Stars!!!

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