[Throwback] Book Review: Stinger (A Sign of Love Series) by Mia Sheridan

Stinger by Mia Sheridan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Get a copy here!
AMAZON | 

I feel like sharing some of my old reviews here today!

So I take some of those of my best favorite books from Goodreads and post it up here. You might find this review a bit awkward because this came from that days when I first started reviewing. But I do some 'polishing' so I guess it looks less like crap now... ;)

“Sometimes, you don’t even realize anything is wrong until someone comes along and changes you, and makes you want more.”

-Carson Stinger-

Another lovely book from Ms. Mia! \o/~~

Finally after putting this book on postpone for weeks, I picked this up from to-read list. Well, mostly because Kyland, the fifth book from A Sign of Love series, is coming soon in the end of this month and Lord, I cannot wait!!!!

I first read Becoming Calder (followed by Finding Eden), Archer’s Voice then Leo. I didn’t continue to Stinger that time because I found that Leo did not quite catch my breath the way the previous two books did. I went around another series and ended up forgetting Stinger on my shelf. Now that I read it, I feel like scratching the ground underneath for leaving Stinger unread for weeks…

Stinger began quite hardcore for me. The background of the hero as straight male performer kind of froze me for a sec there. I was like ―uh, this is our hero today? Um, okay, uh, I... uh, I can work with that. I think. Then I kept going anyway because of the contrast background between Carson Stinger, the hero, and Grace Hamilton, the heroine. It was really intriguing and unique.

Is that possible that two days could make one’s life completely changed?
Is that possible for someone to change one’s way to see the life they’ve been leading on all their life completely over a brief time such a weekend?

Is that possible for two people with two very different worlds to take the same path that will lead them to the same destiny?

The answers are all yes. Or at least that’s what happened when a law student Grace Hamilton met ‘hot’ star Carson Stinger in a lobby hotel on Las Vegas one fine weekend. Grace was there for a law student conference; that was the very same day of Carson to attend Adult Entertainment Expo in the same hotel. It might be fate. It might be bad luck. For Grace to meet such cocky and full-of-himself Carson. Grace had enough with him after such stupid lobby and café run-ins they had. But another coincident meeting on the elevator changed everything as being forced to stay together in a stuck lift made them know each other more and apparently had showed their true colors. As they learned each other’s bit pieces of life, some weird offering was laid on the table for them to take. Or not. It was casual offer to spend weekend together. Just casual like what usually happened between two strangers in City of Sin. Well, it should’ve been no harms done. But what if that weekend has turned into anything but casual for them? When those two days they spent together became such a turning point for… everything?

Stinger was based on the history of sign Scorpio. The story was divided into three parts: Scorpion, eagle, and dove, which represents a different stage of Scorpio’s transformation. Just like each phase has different meaning; the plot of the story followed the history of this stage of transformation as well.

Scorpios, above all others, have the ability to transform selfish poison into universal love

I didn’t know about it before, though, so this is like a good trivia for me! What I love from A Sign of Love series by Mia Sheridan is the fact that she made a really great story as the analogy of the signs. Every part was written very carefully and very well-built. I just could imagine what kind of research Ms Mia had done to make such awesome series.

Just like Becoming Calder and Archer’s Voice, Stinger totally hooked my heart. Yes, I was a bit indifferent of the fact that Carson here was a ‘hot’ star. But well, this is Mia Sheridan we talked about. She really has the ability to bring the loves out of things that consider not people’s cup of teas or beyond one’s could imagine becoming the main attraction of a romance book. The very different background of Carson and Grace is what actually the main point of the story. I could never imagine that this combination would work… and beautifully even. The more pages I read, the more I know that Carson, of all people, deserves to be loved unconditionally by someone kind as Grace. I just… wow, this story contained a lot of baggage. It was not just a romance, hell, Mia’s ability to write romance is unquestionable, and as usual the romance was damn strong, the chemistry between the main characters successfully made me biting my nails in jealousy. Just how rich this story of life lessons. It taught us that no matter what kind of past we had, it would never be something that people could judge us with. The past is not what shapes us now. But how we handle the past does. I learned a lot from this story.

As always, Mia’s book made me sobbing all night long. Just how she described things in such angle to makes us see from different point of view toward certain things. This book kind of changed my way of seeing people with crude jobs. I never really thought that even ‘hot’ stars have their own insights of life that we could learn from ―not that I see their opinion useless before, I was just never really pay any attention of them. Or at least that’s what Mia tried to show us here. It might gain some eyebrow raisings from people, but I must say that I’m really proud of Carson’s character. Oh just wait until you read the story all by yourself.

I guess not much that I could say about this book, except the fact that this definitely goes to my ever-after-book shelf along with Calder and Archer’s books. Go read this book and prove my review! :)

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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[Throwback] Book Review: Becoming Calder (A Sign of Love series) by Mia Sheridan

Becoming Calder by Mia Sheridan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Get a copy here!
AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

I feel like sharing some of my old reviews here today!

So I take some of those of my best favorite books from Goodreads and post it up here. You might find this review a bit awkward because this came from that days when I first started reviewing. But I do some 'polishing' so I guess it looks less like crap now... ;)

Oh why there are only five stars because some certain really good books deserve more than five stars, they deserve millions of those stars! Just like this book!

"Where do you find your strength, Morning Glory?""From you".

So, Becoming Calder is the first ever book from Mia Sheridan that I've read. And this book is... OH. MY. GOD. Truthfully, I read this book without even reading any blurbs of this book or the short synopsis or anything. I just decided to read this book simply because of the cover and the title. Especially the title. Well, that small words under the big title, yes, that 'A Sign Of Love novel' intrigued me. I don't know why, it just did and I am grateful for that.

Becoming Calder is a love story between Calder and Eden that inspired by greek mythology of Aquarius sign. They met for the first time in Acadia, somewhere on Arizona whose people belongs to a religious cult that believe in gods and is led by a cult leader. Okay, usually I begin my review by retelling the brief story of the book but this time I think I'm not going to do that without sounding strange. I know some people are not really into mythology-related kind of book and I might just make it worse by my lame retelling ability. But I just want people to know that this book is way more than just an inspired-by-myth. It has really passionate romance feels and is definitely worth-reading.

I was having a little problem at the beginning because I didnt really read the blurbs of this book so I tried to grasp the story to know where it led me into. I was kind of surprised that the book included this 'cult' aspect then more surprised because the modern life (I mean the non-cult way of living) was there too. I was really curious about this people living in Acadia, like, heck, I couldnt even imagine if there's actually one like that in real life. But Mia wrote this book really beautifully that I didnt even have time to feel weird about this cult aspect but more focusing on the hero and heroine and their sweet and full-of-barriers love story. I loved how Mia became so detail in describing living in Acadia, how it was actually there was a modern life outside of Acadia that the cult leader made it sounds like sinners' world, how she covered it all with this thin mystery veil of this strangeness. I really loved Calder and Eden's characters. I could feel the passionate love between them. Even their simple interactions spark loves! Mia has this thing with words that mesmerized me chapter to chapter.

I'd know that voice anywhere. I'd know that voice in the midst of a thousand clanging symbols, or in the deep darkness of a never-ending cave. It moved inside me.

"I know you in the dark, just as I know you under the bright daytime sun. I'll know you in Elysium, and in any other place the gods deem to send me for loving you. I'm not afraid."

One thing for sure: This book overwhelmed me. I never met a book with this complex aspects blended into one romance book. Yes, I met so many romance books with various theme that came along with it but I never met a contemporary romance novel with astrological greek legend inspiration. Really original and unique! And not to forget, the romance is the sweetest!

"If I were just a boy, and you were just a girl. I wouldn't kiss you once like you asked"

I loved this book! 

Awestruck-can-not-move-on-after-finished kind of love.

Mia is really genius who knows when to fill the romance feels in between the desperation and knows when to stop torture us with the awful condition of the characters and sure knows when not to ruin the beautiful moments of Calder and Eden. I really enjoyed reading this despite the cliffhanger in the end of the book but whatever, I'm reading Finding Eden now! I'm so going to read other books from A Sign Of Love after this couple!

p.s. Oh and I really liked all the small trivia I got to learn from this book, yes, those with constellation and penguin and especially Morning Glory. Really sweet! :)

"A morning glory is a beautiful flower, delicate like. Blue, just like your eyes."

"...it's not just a flower. It's also a weed, totally invasive. Stronger than it looks."
Morning Glory.

As beautiful as a flower. A strong as a weed.

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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Book Review: Falling Away (Fall Away, #3) by Penelope Douglas

Falling Away by Penelope Douglas

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Get a copy here!
AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

Okay, this is my third time of reading Ms. Douglas’ books and this book is the third book of the Fall Away series. I was so damn excited to read this book (as I loved Bully and really loved Rival) but found myself keep holding back because I wanted to be wrapped in perfect emotion before starting the book. I decided to put Falling Away on the top of my May reading list because the timing was perfect. Lately I’ve been swimming in the sea of YA books so I was more than welcome to dive into NA genre.

Sooooo, as always Ms. Douglas mesmerized me with her ability to write romance. I loved how she paid full attention to build each character of her books. I loved that she opted to use the style of revealing things bit by bit to keep readers on the edge of their seats all the time. I loved that whenever she created a twist on the book, she went big on that like every single time. Falling Away surprised me big time with my change of opinions on some characters I’ve met on previous books. This was a story of K.C. Carter and Jaxon Trent. I made some expectations about these two characters but once I finished with the book, I was blown away. I ended up loving the character that I thought I’d hate for sure and disliking the one I thought I’d love. Seriously, I learned my lesson here: 
to never judge people solely based on their present acts, you should know them very well first before making your opinion. 

‘The more you suffered, the more you survived. It shaped people in different ways, and what broke one person could empower another.’ 

(Jaxon Trent; Chapter XX, Falling Away)

K.C. Carter was never one to stray from her neatly mapped life. Growing up, her mother always made sure to keep K.C. on the right path. The careful, free of possible silly mistakes, right path. And that was what she did: taking political science major on college, staying with same-safe boyfriend for five years now, always being a perfect daughter, keeping distance from any potential troubles ―basically keeping herself on the right path.

But ironically it only took one night through one stupid mistake to make her arranged life crumbled down. Instead of in Arizona, K.C. was back to Shelburne Falls tutoring some troubled high-schoolers on her old school all summer with a horror of her tuition being cut off. And if it wasn’t bad enough for her, there was another big hassle next door waiting to jump out any moment.

Jaxon Trent was the picture perfect of guy with charisma. In such a young age, he got everything under control on the palm of his hands. No one wanted to mess with him. For years, he made sure to walk with his chin up and straight to the front without ever looking back. After all he wasn’t a scared kid any longer with bruises all over his body and soul. Nothing could break him apart anymore. Until he realized he still got one weakness of all things, in a form of girl staying next door.

K.C. had known Jaxon for years. He had been constantly watching her every move when they were still in high school. Never once though, Jaxon backed down. If any, he might be even bolder than before towards her. As K.C. tried real hard to fight the temptation which was Jaxon, in the end she could not deny him. Little did she know that Jaxon’s freak of taking control over everything was shaped from past experience that was not any different from hers. Well, him might be even worse. When they finally agreed to stay on each other side, K.C. was finally able to fix her issue with the help of Jaxon who kept pushing her to her limit. But when she tried to push him back to his own limit, he showed the reaction she’d never seen on him before. Something radiated from him, something dark, something awful, something unforgotten and might be unforgivable. Could she help Jaxon to see the light inside his heart eventually? But what most important, would she want to stay after all? What with her raw wounds and Jaxon’s insecurity that capable of not only hurting him but hurting her as well?

Falling Away was great. I loved the plot, the climax, all the unravel secrets hidden behind the layer where the main characters stood in front of. Again this time, Ms. Douglas brought up a real issue of our society which was how parents’ bad behavior shaped and affected the kids’ personality growing up. She put all the real facts onto words of story. And it was kind of sad yet so damn touching when the abused kids―no matter physically nor mentally―tried to mend their souls by pushing each other’s limit points so they could fight their demons together. K.C.’s issue was really awful. My heart sank when I found out that she had been going through such thing all her life, being forced to be someone she wasn’t supposed to. This is something that might happen around us if we look carefully enough. And what with Jax’s issue, it might be even more things like this happened every day in our world. These might be a cliché issues to be presented in a contemporary NA book but I’m personally glad that lots of author decided to keep bringing this issues up so that more people would realize that these very things do happen around us. Child-abusing, physically and mentally, is a very heavy issue that even nowadays it’s still hard to prevent it from happening. I loved that this book showed us that even abused survivors could keep going with their life as long as there was loves keeping them warm every moment. Jax had been through a very rough experience as a kid and it shaped him to have such personality which was enigmatic, control freak, and totally insecure. It’s very fortunate of him to have people he could call family to keep his sanity intact. And when he met K.C. who has been through quite similar thing in the past as him; it made him wanted to be stronger so he could save her. Sadly, he forgot to save himself in the process because saving K.C. meant to give her the best of all. And he certainly wasn’t the best.

This was quite logical but I found myself really frustrated over Jax. It’s really sad, though, because I was hoping I’d love Jax as much as I love Madoc or maybe Jared (after all it’s hard to not comparing each related hero on a series like this). He had a really bad issue of labeling himself as lowest crap that he kept hurting K.C. to make her go away. It happened over and over again that I thought Jaxon was a bit labile in temper. Even until the last chapter, I still sensed of him wanting to take control over everything. It, for me, showed that he wasn’t a hundred percent healed. It kind of made Falling Away had a happy ending but still with a side-note that they had a potential to breaking apart in the future. It made me feel uneasy for them.

I loved K.C. character here so much. I felt bad of hating her during Bully…I loved her strong personality! She amazed me when she decided to take a step standing up for herself especially at the moment when she was being hurt by the only guy she cared for.

‘I guessed we’ve all built ourselves up through sadness, disappointment, and experience. It just happens at different times and in different ways.’

(K.C.; Chapter VIII, Falling Away)

And that moment when she chose to stay at the lowest point of her beloved one, God, that scene was so beautiful. I was in total awe of her that time. It’s really good to pair this couple together. Jaxon helped K.C. to bring her ‘wild’ out. And now the ‘wildness’ K.C. had would teach Jaxon to lose his some over control. That’s exactly what a relationship should give to you!

‘[…] And relationship are supposed to make your life better. You don’t drag each other down. You hold each other up.’

(Chapter XXI, Falling Away)

I loved this book but it’s quite hard to relate with Jaxon (I understand his past but he made it difficult for K.C. to save him whenever he was having his weak moments, also what he said to Jared about Tate was quite mean…). The ending which had a sense of possible threat to them in the future made me not fully relief when I reached the last page. I’ll settle with 4.5 stars, though, because I just loved K.C. and Ms. Douglas :)

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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Book Review: Down the Wormhole by Ana Franco

Down The Wormhole by Ana Franco

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

*I received a digital copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*

I was contacted by the author personally to read Down the Wormhole and give it an honest review. Foremost, it’s always a plus point in my eyes for authors who don’t mind to personally contact the readers to read their books. I don’t know, maybe because I just love authors who love to connect with readers…

The blurb was intriguing that’s why I agreed to do as the author asked. Here, let me cite the part that made me curious about the book:

‘In a city there is a tiny lane that separates two orphanages –one for boys and one for girls. Inside live two very special groups of teenagers. These teenagers carry a secret and leave it tucked safely away in their mysterious lives.’

My mind immediately thought that reading this book would be such an interesting ride. Well… turned out it was fine. I mean, this book wasn’t real bad but I wasn’t crazily in love with it either. The concept was good and had big potential to be an amazing book but it wasn’t delivered well which was quite unfortunate.

The beginning was all over the place. I had a hard time immersing myself into the story. The story went back and forth without clear slates between each event. It was really hard to keep up with constantly changing circumstances. It went on like that until the end of the book. It was seriously pretty frustrating.

Down the Wormhole combined several mythologies as the background characterization of each character on the book. I admit my knowledge of these mythologies is limited so I had to do some side researches to connect with the story. But still, the author didn’t provide clear background story for each character so it was real difficult to relate with them. It was unknown why these gods lived in human world, moreover in orphanages all of places. The main character, Kitty, being the ‘normal’ one was no different. She was described as an orphan without any further identities other than her name, Kitty. Where did she come? How could she be so clueless about her own basic information? She’s been living for almost 18 years, seriously; it was a bit irrational that she’d no idea about all these all this time. And what’s with all the characters and their explosive non-sense demeanors? Kitty, for example, had a serious bad issue of temper. One second she could be all shy and quiet around people, next second she was all angry and cranky to everyone around her. Her exchange banters with Thomas (the Amergin slash hero of the book) might be quite funny sometimes but most of the time it happened unreasonably. I thought she’d be like that just in certain scene but it happened again and again throughout the book. What worse, everyone was like that. Except Natalie, maybe (but then she, too, had a problem with being all defenseless in front of the enemies so she wasn’t much better). It made every conversation they had with each other just made no sense to me. And is it just me or Kitty and Anna (the Aphrodite) actually had some personal issues I missed that’s explained somewhere on the book? No offense. But everything about the characters just didn’t make sense to me…

And talking about the plot, I personally thought that the main issue of the Down the Wormhole was unclear. Only after I reread some parts I could understand the direction of the story. But for some people it might seem like a messed and badly-built plot. Why? A story is basically based on several events which connected in logical and rational ways to build the climax (or climaxes) that leads into some conclusions. Down the Wormhole had a problem about connecting each events. It jumped here and there. The scenes that contained essential information was put randomly thus most readers would definitely miss some points about real purpose of the book.

I must admit that the concept of the story was good with all the mythological background for the characters. I also thought that when the big mystery was unraveled, it did a good job surprising me. I kept waiting for the continuation for this very thing and how it would conclude in the end but sadly it wasn’t dwelled further. This could be a great twist but the author chose to overlook this point and focus on the other thing. For me, though, I think it’s all just a matter of the way the author delivered the concept via some basic elements of writing a story. Creating a raw concept in mind is easy but the tricky part is how to form a good and logical plot (consists of several events and climaxes) regarding the concept. What trickier is how you put them into pages of sensible words. And the trickiest is to make sure that the readers get the message.

But, really, Down the Wormhole had a fresh concept of YA fantasy with the entire mythological thing (as far as I know). The author clearly knows a lot about mythology. I’m sure it’d be such a great story if being told in a better writing style. Hopefully I’ll see more of Ms. Franco’s works about this theme in a much better way of writing :)

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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Book Review: A Different Blue by Amy Harmon

A Different Blue by Amy Harmon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Get a copy here!
AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY (CD Audio)

I’ve been eyeing this book for a long while but never made a move to put it on any of my monthly reading lists. I don’t know why, though. Maybe because the first time I saw the cover, it gave away something like heavy and rather dark impression (Which was rather silly now that I think about it…). I’ve been in the mood for some joyful reads lately and I knew somehow that A Different Blue wouldn’t give me that without torturing my soul first. But this time I decided to challenge myself because lots of people said this book was really amazing and I wanted to find out why.

Beautiful didn’t even cover what I thought about this book. It’s definitely not a romance. It’s so much more than that. It mainly told a story about life, about people with their bitter pasts and how each way they dealt with it, changed the life afterward. It’s about overlooking your past no matter how bad they were and stop labeling yourself with anything because doing that only meant limiting yourself from life’s offer of possible constant-changes.

“You all have a story. It’s been written up to this point, to this very second. And I want to know that story. I want to know your history. I want you to know it.”

(Chapter I, A Different Blue)

Blue Echohawk didn’t know anything about her past except of the fact that she was clearly a very unwanted kid. What was it called of two-year-old kid abandoned in someone’s truck with only a blue blanket as the company if not ‘unwanted’? Blue knew very little of anything that should have been one’s basic identity. No information about her real parents’ whereabouts or even just simply their names. She wasn’t sure her own age. She didn’t even know whether Blue Echohawk was her real name. Unlike other kids who could recite very well who they really were, Blue had no idea what to say when being questioned about all those things. It was as if she only had blank pages for all those years she’d had in the past. As if the name of Blue Echohawk never made it to the book of history of people.

“What if what you believe about yourself or about your life is simply a myth that is holding you back?”

(Chapter II, A Different Blue)

Raised by a drifter who was kind enough to put her under his wings but was not good enough to stay as a permanent citizen in certain town, she ended up entering school late. 19 years-old (Or maybe it was 20 years-old?) Blue was just a senior in high school. This fact itself already made people absentmindedly giving her side glances everywhere she goes. A girl with too much number on her shoulder, who preferred boys’ companies than girls’, who loved to wear too much make-up and tight jeans. That was more than enough for Blue to earn the worst title a girl could ever have in high school. Or at least that’s what they believed about her. Blue had no intention to defend herself to all the names they called her. After all, it would be a stupid lie if she said she didn’t believe in what they said. If Blue said she wasn’t all that, it would be like believing a myth.

“Now I want you to take one moment from your life. A moment where the dye was cast, where you crossed your metaphorical Rubicon and you couldn’t go back. […] For better or worse, how did it affect the direction of your story?”

(Chapter III, A Different Blue)

Since the day she was left parentless, Blue had been living with a drifter named Jimmy Echohawk. Even though he was such a quiet man, for the first time in her life Blue felt contained. Jimmy had succeeded in being a replacement for her absentee parents; teaching her how to live; helping her to find a reason to keep alive. If Blue was a compass, Jimmy was definitely the north. But one day everything had changed. Even though ‘alone’ wasn’t a new word to Blue, this time it shredded her life into confetti. Because this time, she knew exactly that who she’d lost was the one who she needed the most.

“What beliefs keep you moving forward? What beliefs define you?”

(Chapter VI, A Different Blue)

Losing the only hope she got, Blue had changed into a different person. A different Blue. Gone now the north where her needle was supposed to go in the end every time. Blue was no more that little blackbird Jimmy had raised and taught to live in the bright side. She was the blue bird with dazzling beauty in the surface ―that always made her the center of attention― yet dull in the inside.

“Things are rarely what they seem. What is the truth beneath the surface, beneath the apparent facts?”

(Chapter VII, A Different Blue)

It was easier to let people define you when they obviously had no intention to listen to your words. Blue was defined as trouble, a mess, a trash, an unimportant thing by her classmates. She acted like one too just to keep them at a distance. Just so they couldn’t find the truth beneath the surface. The lonely, scared, insecure girl she was.

“If you predict your future based on your past, what does your future look like?”

(Chapter XII, A Different Blue)

When people called her trouble, they put a label on her. When she believed that she was something, she put a label on herself. Those labels soon would fill every space available in her face, making it difficult for people to see the truth in her eyes and difficult for her to see what future offered more for her life. Labels were just going to be a bunch of things that people forced her to be and things that she wanted to be. Blue Echohawk’s life might be just a myriad of miserable moments. But just because her life earned that label, should her future mirror it too?

Oh goodness… I have a lot to say about this book I don’t even know where to start!

This story is brilliant! Every word was written very beautifully with deep meaning in each spell. I loved how the plot flowed naturally, how Ms. Harmon told the story of Blue in the reference of school lecture of History. It was very neat and created quite strong chemistry among each event. Blue had a strong character. She was marred by unfortunate childhood in which she was abandoned at a very young age. Growing up she lost herself to public judgments that cruelly labeled her with negative names. She learned to ignore them and numb herself from feeling the real pain inside. And then she met Darcy Wilson (Mr. Darcy!!), her History teacher who later being the first person who was willing to learn about the truth beneath the bunch of labels. Through his lessons, Wilson led Blue to take gradual steps to rewrite the history of her life.

“[…] we all feel like nobody. We all feel like we are on the outside, looking in. we all feel scattered. But I think it’s that self-awareness that actually makes us somebody. And you are definitely somebody, Blue. You may not be a work of art, but you are definitely a piece of work.”

(Chapter V, A Different Blue)

When things got harder, that’s when she decided to put a halt to all her bad behaviors. Blue experienced her redemption one evening the moment she heard the melody of Wilson’s violin in the dark hallway of school. This was such an emotional scene that got me crying my first tears for A Different Blue. And then when she thought everything’s going to be alright after the redemption, her hope was once again tested. I loved seeing Wilson’s consistency in keeping Blue stay in the redemption path. He constantly reminded her to take a careful step in her life in order not to gain any regret in the end.

“Some moments you don’t get back, Blue. You don’t want to spend a lifetime wondering about those moments you didn’t seize, about the things you should have done but were too scared to do.”

(Chapter XIII, A Different Blue)

He showed Blue that nothing was impossible to do especially when you’re about to write your first word on a new sheet of your life. He introduced Blue to options and possibilities available around her. He let her grow her belief and hope again. I cried a lot reading this book. Somehow my wariness of gaining a heavy feeling while reading this book ceased away. I found myself totally focusing on Blue’s life struggles. She’s a really really strong girl. I was constantly mesmerized by the way she took every decision. It wasn’t all sweet and rainbows. There was hard decision, hurtful, sacrificial, where she found herself constantly feeling wary whether it was good or a bad one. She was amazing. Despite the unfortunate past she had, Blue managed to stop the repeating dark cycle on her phase. There was something in her heart that remained good, still. There was one scene (besides the redemption scene) that has left a really deep mark in my heart. It began from the end of chapter 20 until the end of chapter 21. Though I was sure I couldn’t stop crying all the way until the next 2 chapters…

The way Ms. Harmon built the story, putting each detail in line, created a very well-plotted tale. How she opted for a slow pace for one thing and a steady one for the other thing, how she created every character with such a realistic personalities and always managed to lead the readers to see their bright sides… it’s all perfect in a way it changed my way of seeing life. It’s been a while since I found a book that made me feel this way. Blue Echohawk had something that I’m sure everyone could relate to with things in their life. Not necessary the bitter past or the certain problem she struggled to deal with. It was something in the way life had touched her, given her a taste of losing, failing, and standing on the edge of a cliff again and again. And we got to learn how she dealt with all of that in an unwavering way because nothing’s impossible in life as long as we believe it is. Oh and I just loved what Ms. Harmon did with the side characters. There was this side character named Manny that even though he appeared only in a few scenes, that very scenes actually meant so deep.

Wilson was really a true gentleman until the end. It’s just so damn beautiful how their relationship built-up slowly innocently in a very mature way (okay this is confusing…). I meant because it was not commanded by lust, it’s purely built up from sincere feelings of both parties and they both understood each other deeply.

“Blue. Whatever we learn will only make me love you more. You’re right. I know too much. And because I do, there isn’t anything anyone can say that will make me doubt you or the way I feel about you.”

(Chapter XXVII, A Different Blue)

Wilson was a funny guy and very mature too. And oh mother father, just how many men still have a personality like him nowadays? Who’s so damn patient, who doesn’t put physical attraction as top priority in their relationship? I swear I’ve fallen in love with Wilson the moment he said this…

“Someday… you will want me because you love me, not because you’re lost, not because you’re desperate, not because you’re afraid. And that’s the goal.”

(Chapter XXVIII, A Different Blue)

The ending was an HEA in a realistic way (you know, the not-everything-ended-up-happily-ever-after-but-some-did-and-it-was-fine-anyway kind of HEA). I loved this, though!

This was my first time reading Ms. Harmon’s book and I definitely would rush to get every book of hers after this. Dude, just how glad I am that I decided to pick this book to wrap my March reading list up :)

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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