Blue by Kayce Stevens Hughlett
Published by BQB Publishing on September 10th 2015
Genres: Contemporary Women, Fiction, Psychological, Suspense
Pages: 234
Format: eARC
Goodreads

One insecure perfectionist. One guilt-ridden artist. One child-woman who talks to peacocks. A trio of complex heroines on separate journeys toward a single intertwined truth.Imagine living exclusively for others and waking up one day with a chance to start over. The terrifying new beginning reeks of abandonment and betrayal. The choice for Seattle resident Monica lingers between now and then. . .them and her. Izabel's idyllic existence on Orcas Island is turned upside down during the birth of a friend's child. Suddenly, pain rips through her own body, and life as she knows it shifts, hinting at a forgotten past and propelling her toward an uncertain future. On another island, young Daisy awakens surrounded by infinite shades of blue. Is she dreaming or has she stepped through the portal into a fantastical land where animals spout philosophy and a gruesome monster plots her destruction? Blue - a subtle psychological mind-bender where each heroine is her own worst enemy. Eccentric. Loveable. Unforgettable.

Finished with my first book from Netgalley! I can’t recall what brought me to select this book, but nevertheless, I picked it up Wednesday afternoon and really allowed the story to envelope me. It was a quick read and, by Thursday afternoon, I came to the last page.

In the first part of the book, I was quite confused about the connection between the three storylines. Each chapter came from one of the three main characters: Daisy, Monica, and Izabel. But, unlike a story such as A Song of Ice and Fire, where each chapter tells the same story from a different character’s point of view, the only apparent thread that initially tied these three strangers together was azure ubiquity. Hughlett’s writing was descriptive but concise, painting an easy portrait of each woman and her environment, even the psychedelic landscape of Daisy’s Tausi. (It was wacky, bizarre, and incongruent with reality, yet it left me smiling, shaking my head, and saying, “WTF?”)

Of the three characters, I think I was most drawn to Monica, most likely because she works with older adults, and that’s one of my professional areas of interest. One of the things I think Hughlett really pegged was Monica’s workplace; the residents in various stages of aging and dementia, the repetitive routine of a memory care facility, the infantilization of older people. It can be incredibly difficult on the adult children as well as the staff who interact with patients in these settings, and that sense of monotony Monica experiences felt incredibly genuine to me.

Unbeknownst to me when I started this book was the interweaving of psychology into the stories. As a student of psychology, and a budding mental health professional, I have a tendency to turn my nose up when authors and screenwriters attempt to include therapists as characters, describe therapy sessions, or formulate diagnoses. It seems like everyone’s favorite diagnosis (especially on crime dramas) is dissociative fugue, despite its incredibly low prevalence. However, in this book, I felt like the author portrayed this diagnosis remarkably well, and described it in far better (and accurate) detail than I have seen in other stories.

But something that’s been gnawing on me for days is the ending. One one hand I am bothered by a nagging sense of incompletion. Starting in Part Two, the storylines are like magnets, drawing the characters toward one another without a hint of their awareness. I loved the way these unconscious attractions were weaved, creeping closer and closer to one another, but them -BLAM- it ended so abruptly. It left me wanting just a bit more; not another book in a color-themed series, but just enough to soften the ending. Yet, on the other hand, it also felt like the story’s natural ending point, with Monica, Izabel, and Daisy together in the same room. I have a hard time imagining how one might improve upon it. Perhaps that’s the mark of a great read, one that keeps your thoughts for days after it’s back on the shelf…

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. If you’ve read it too, I’d love to hear what you think, too!