The premise of this book drew me in, the protagonist a young photographer of mixed heritage is considering having and raising a child in an inherently rascist community. As a young child in the area is murdered by police she and her husband take a step back to review their own relationship and those from their past. Their relationship appears to fracture and her mental health appears very fragile after issues with her pregnancies. She also becomes emotionally involved with her young student Noah as he has a violent brush with the police and ends up in hospital.

Must admit I struggled with this one, my attention was lacking, that’s not to say other readers may have found more depth in it

Thanks to Netgalley the author and publishers for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

As our narrator grapples with pregnancy and motherhood, another woman waits desperately for her son to wake up from a coma. Blue Hour is a beautiful and power meditation on themes including pregnancy loss and the challenges of early parenthood, biracial identity and heritage, violence against young men - non-white in particular - and the trauma of losing people. Written in lyrical prose and delivered in vignettes, this writing is visceral, raw; full of emotion, rage and tenderness. Really enjoyed. A compelling and impactful read.

🔵 REVIEW 🔵

Blue Hour by Tiffany Clarke Harrison
Release Date: 29th August

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

📝 - As our narrator grapples with ambivalence about motherhood, yet another act of police brutality makes headlines, and this time the victim is Noah, a boy in her photography class. Unmoored by the grief of a recent devastating miscarriage and Noah’s fight for his life, she worries she can no longer chase the hope of having a child, no longer wants to bring a Black body into the world. Yet her husband Asher—contributing white, Jewish genes alongside her Black-Japanese ones for any potential child—is just as desperate to keep trying. Throwing herself into a new documentary on motherhood, and making secret visits to Noah in the hospital, this when she learns she is, impossibly, pregnant. As the future shifts once again, she must decide yet again what she dares hope for the shape of her future to be.

💭 - This was a very quick read at just 160 pages, and the first book in a long while that I’ve finished in just one day. We are thrown into the world of our protagonist, one which she is struggling to get a hold of herself. Written as if talking to her husband, the cracks in their relationship are evident, even as they come together to mourn the losses occurring around them. Despite the hugely emotional topics that are touched upon in this book, I still felt somewhat detached from it, and I think that might be in part due to the writing style. The scenes jump quite quickly, and I think I would have preferred some more development in places to really feel engaged in the story. Many others might find themselves more connected to this one though, so I by no means want to discourage reading this book!

#bluehour #bookreview #arcreview #netgalleyreview #bookreviewer #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #contemporaryfiction

An emotional novella that captures an interracial couple trying to conceive after pregnancy loss, Blue Hour is a beautiful stream-of-consciousness book. While I found it hard to follow since this style of writing is really not for me, I appreciated the narrator’s meditation of motherhood, race, bringing up race, grief, and injustices in the police force. It felt like an important read if only for the themes, since I feel like I didn’t quite spend enough time with our protagonists to feel any deeper?

I started this book feeling confused by the first few pages as it appears to just launch into the story without any preamble, character build up, plot etc but after feeling confused I quickly settled in and ended up reading the whole book in one afternoon. I admit to crying in places as the writing was so effective and the story so moving. I understand this book could be very triggering for some but that doesn’t take away the need for it’s voice to be heard.

A short read, but packs a punch. The story is about the aftermath of miscarriage and all of its trials for a couple trying desperately to conceive. So of course it is a story full of grief and pain. But it is beautifully written. I don't know if I would recommend this to someone that has experienced this in their lives but all the same for me it was an excellent and emotive read.

Blue Hour by Tiffany Clarke Harrison is the journey of an unnamed narrator; a mixed race photographer in America. This novel is a captivating story of the narrator's experience as a mixed race woman in America navigating through grief and tragedy, racism, prejudice and police brutality. These themes were brought together in the narrator's conflict as a mixed race woman married to a white man wanting a child. This novel is heartbreaking and difficult to read with strong scenes of miscarriage and violence. In a nutshell, this is an insight into motherhood, loss and racism and how all these come together and shape the experience and truth of mixed race and black women.
Rated 5 stars from me it is one that would definitely recommend, but not to the faint hearted.

My first NetGalley read and wow this packed a punch for such a short story.
An emotional read, with lots of triggers including miscarriage, police brutality and racial injustice.
This book had me totally invested and I read it within 24 hours. Would love to read more by Tiffany Clark Harrison.
Thank you!

Blue Hour by Tiffany Clarke Harrison is a moving novel about trauma and hardship with an unusual style and structure.

This is a short intense read which deals with some serious themes. The unnamed female character is narrating to her husband Asher. It’s a very emotional read, she is a biracial woman married to a white man in America where violence against people of colour is common. She is a photographer and she is devastated when one of her young pupils is shot in the street by the police. One of the main themes of the book is infertility and miscarriage, she is desperate to have a baby and the strain of the miscarriages she has understandably have a strain on her marriage. This is so moving and distressing to read and the emotion is so intense throughout this short book. Although I enjoyed this read , it is a book about racial injustice,police brutality baby loss,identity, grief and fear. Well worth a read.

There is a lot going on in a very short novel. Trauma, relationships, miscarriage, racial injustice. Beautiful writing and a lot of grief.

I’d describe this book as realistic fiction. The author has done a fantastic job of creating imaginary characters and situations that depict the world and society. The characters focus on themes of growing, self-discovery and confronting personal and social problems. The language is clear, concise, and evocative, with descriptions that bring the setting and characters to life. Dialogue is natural and authentic, and the pacing is well-balanced, with enough tension and release to keep the reader engaged.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

This is a short but memorable novel, about what it is to want to be a mother while struggling with the concept of how to be a mother both in terms of personal trauma but against a backdrop of racism and unrest in modern day America.

Our unnamed biracial protagonist is seeing her therapist to try to work through familial trauma from her youth, while she is also struggling to conceive and carry a baby to full term. Meanwhile, there is rising police brutality which suddenly hits close to home and has a profound impact on her.

This book is sad, it does not hold any punches and prepare to feel a lot from just 130 pages. It echoed for me, Emilie Pine's Note to Self, which stayed with me long after reading too. There is hope though, so if you can deal with the storyline then, I do recommend it.

4 stars

Thanks to @verve_books for the ARC on @netgalley.

"This is motherhood"

Blue Hour by Tiffany Clarke Harrison is a short, fragmented novella about an unnamed biracial photographer, with snippets from her life with her white husband and their fertility journey.

In America, police brutality is at the forefront of the news. After our main character's pregnancy ends in loss, she is no longer sure about bringing another Black body into it - but her husband, Asher, wants to keep trying.

"I love him or her so much, and they aren't even here. I'm afraid for them so much, and they aren't even here."

Our main character is in therapy to deal with her feelings around her miscarriage, her guilt over past events, and her fear of having a Black child in a society that inflicts so much pain and violence upon Black bodies.

It's a hard book to read - it's devastatingly sad in parts, particularly in relation to miscarriage. It's also a love letter to motherhood - especially for those for whom motherhood was never the main goal. The writing style took me a little while to get used to - it was almost like poetry - but when I got a handle on it, I felt that it flowed well.

It manages, in its desperation and sadness, to be hopeful - which is quite an achievement, given the strength of the writing on trauma.

I can't say I "enjoyed" it - but I really appreciated it, and I would recommend it to people who like books like Emilie Pine's 'Ruth and Pen' or Claire Kilroy's 'Soldier, Sailor'. If you're someone who would rather not read about miscarriage or infertility then I would either recommend that you proceed with caution or choose a different book.

Thanks so much to @verve_books for the eARC via Netgalley.

A really brilliant book full of compassion and empathy, but also anger and a keen understanding of what our world is like and how it might be better. Soulful, moving and often gripping.

A beautifully written story giving a tragic insight into child loss, relationships and race discrimination in America. It took a few pages to get used to the writing style but once I did I loved it. The protagonists thoughts rolled around my head all the time that I wasn't reading this, which is always a sure sign of a good book.

Devastating raw and holy s**t beautiful.

As a black woman this was an absolutely gut wrenching and real read. I felt as though all of my internal monologues over the past few years were written out lyrically in this book and it hit me like a ton of bricks. The story flowed, to me, more like one long poem as opposed to a novel. Which, I can definitely see why it wouldn’t be someone’s cup of tea (not typically my cup of tea either). It did take me a while to really get into the flow of the book but once I did I allowed myself to get swept away in the current of grief and fear and raw emotions that filled this book. I think the lack of structure in the book made sense to the topics being discussed because it was a time in the main character’s life that didn’t make sense, or feel structured. Allowing for the readers to follow along in confusion and stumble over the same thoughts and feelings that the MC was trying to work through herself. The feeling of the main character trying to bring life to the world while other lives, ones that look like her, are being violently ripped from the world. Though beautiful it was incredibly hard to get through and hard to stomach. I'm very grateful to NetGalley for this ARC #BlueHour #NetGalley

Blue Hour is a once in a generation novel. The way this handles miscarriage, grief and the fear of bringing a black child into a world that may not be accepting of it is unlike anything else I have read before. This tiny but mighty treasure is not to be missed.

This ARC was provided by NetGalley and VERVE books in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book and how it tackled difficult topics such as: infertility, violence, mental health and grief. I feel that these are very important topics that need to be discussed with honesty and in a realist manner. I would recommend this book as it starts a very important conversation that needs to be had.

{blue hour ~ noun
the period of time just before sunrise or just after sunset when the sun casts a diffuse light from below the horizon and the sky takes on a vivid blue tone}

(TW: I briefly mention child loss/miscarriage, police brutality & racism)

Blue Hour is 160 pages of raw, unfiltered emotion. I would even go so far as saying it is vital reading. It’s a heavy book and a sad read documenting the visceral pain of child loss and miscarriage and the force with which it throws you from your orbit.

Set against a backdrop of racism and police brutality, this book weaves a stream of consciousness with such considered grace. It’s not often I find myself savouring every line and re-reading sections, as if every word is aware of the weight upon its shoulders.

Written in the second person, the narrative is just another layer to such an immense piece of fiction. So much so, that it doesn’t feel like fiction at all.

This novel is stunning and I will never not recommend.
I really hope to see more people reading and raving about this- it absolutely deserves so much hype!