Blue

by Lou Aronica

• ISBN10: 1936558009
• ISBN13: 9781936558001
• Publish Date: 16 January 2011 (first published 4 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Transferred
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Fiction Std, E Book
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[sstaley]

Once I heard about Blue, I knew that I needed to read it. Little did I realize what a well-rounded and emotional journey I would be going on. I thought I would be reading a fantasy novel, but soon found this book was more than that. Blue is a story of love, courage, relationships, faith, imagination and hope.

This novel centers on Becky, and her divorced parents, Chris and Polly. Being divorced myself, I know how hard it is on the children. Becky feels torn between her parents. I could relate to the feelings of the parents also. Becky has good relationships with both her parents, but an especially special one with her father. Becky had childhood cancer, and her father helped her through this trial by making up a story about a fantasy kingdom, Tamarisk. Becky and Chris for many years made up stories about all of the details of this kingdom. Years later, now a teen, Becky starts having symptoms that could be her cancer coming back. She soon finds herself able to visit this fantasy kingdom, that once was only a made-up story.

To read the rest of my review please go to my blog at:
http://whynotbecauseisaidso.blogspot.com/2012/02/blog-tour-review-of-blue-novel-by-lou.html

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

I downloaded this as Friday Free Book from Barnes and Noble. I was disappointed that this book was not properly formatted for the ebook format. The print was tiny, unadjustable and ran from the very top of my screen to the very bottom. As a result, I had to read the book in short bursts as I would become exhausted trying to process such tiny print. There were also weird line breaks and hyphenation as a result of the poor formatting.

Once I got past the technical difficulties of the format of book, I did find the plot quite intriguing. A young girl stricken with cancer creates a fantasy world, Tamarisk, with her father to escape the realities of her treatment. Their belief in Tamarisk makes it a living breathing, evolving world that that needs help when the young girl becomes ill again.

Overall, the plot pulled me in. However, the poor introduction of characters traipsing in and out of Tamarisk, our world and the space between the two worlds was jarring. Specifically Gage's and Lisa's roles in the overall arc of the story were confusing and felt quite out of place as their roles were never clearly defined or explored. Additionally, the changing point of view throughout the story was poorly executed. At times, it seems as if the story was told from a 3rd party point of view and would suddenly change, seemingly on whim, to a second or third point of view.