A Flash of Blue product reviews

The thing that caught my attention about this book first, was the cover art. It's got a bold circle of electric metallic blue in the mid 1/3 of the cover, that then has the same metallic lines radiating outwards around it. It is otherwise a plain blue and white cover, but something about it intrigued me. The blurb gives just enough information to really grab you. All I knew going into the book was that Amber had taken something that wasn't hers and that her brother was dead. And that there was trouble.

I started to read this book a day ago. The prose was really easy to sink into. There is a prologue so you get to understand how the situation played out beforehand, that leads into the book. Amber does something in that prologue, which as the reader, I didn't think would have lead to her brother's death. But for Amber, she carries that guilt and blame with her into the first chapters of the book. As the story unfolds a year after the events in the prologue, you can see the damage of her guilt. But also the guilt and grief that each character is carrying around.

Liam had a secret, which I twigged to quite early on. But it is the grief that tears the characters apart. It is often like a train wreck, where you want to put it down but you can't. I did put it down the first night and found myself waking often wandering what would happen next! The trouble Amber gets herself into is pretty intense and there are many times I wanted to scream at her to tell someone what was happening. But the other characters also weren't helping in the way they were dealing or not dealing with things.

Although some awful stuff happens, it is not too graphic. There are hints at things that could have been much worse if they had proceeded. For this reason I think it would be a fine book for pre-teen or teenagers to read. This book is ultimately about relationships and how grief can change them for the good and for the bad. But there is also a bit of a lesson in being community minded as well, and about second chances as well. Life goes on. I would definitely recommend this book.