bianca 𝜗𝜚⋆₊˚🕷️ 's Reviews > Blue Light Hours

─ 𝟓 ★ 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 💙💻 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞.

“𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚋𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚝𝚎, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚋𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚜 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗, 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚘𝚘𝚗, 𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚢, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚜𝚘𝚏𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚞𝚌𝚑, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚓𝚞𝚒𝚌𝚢 𝚙𝚒𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚗 𝚏𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚏𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚗𝚎. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚋𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚑, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎, 𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚒𝚙𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚒𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚜.”

This is a beautifully written novel, with Bruna’s lyrical prose that is as poetic as the relationship this mother and daughter have, and every single thing that brings them back together to the blue light hours sitting in front of their computer screens, sharing stories, moments and memories, helping them keep their bond intact throughout the years in this coming of age piece of work. I savoured every single page and had a wonderful time, smiling and tearing up with the tastes of happiness and worries.

Bruna was able to paint a beautifully intricate picture of a mother and daughter coming of age story and it’s deeply emotional insights, both together and apart where every single page makes you yearn more and more for them to see each other again. This novel speaks volumes with me considering I myself am Brazilian and I know how warm and sentimental we are, and the yearning was palpable, I could feel both the mother and daughter’s sentiments through the pages, with each one of their actions and sentiments being thoughtful of how each other would feel.

As the preview of the book says, “[…] 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙥 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙘𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙠𝙚𝙮 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙖𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙥”. It shows the fear they have to lose touch, to lose their bond, the struggle of their daily lives with their own problems. It’s just beautifully written, as well as a fast-paced read navigating both their lives and feeling their feelings. I adored the mentions of our beloved Brazil, the few sentences in Portuguese that weren’t translated to English which made me connect even more with the novel seeing the sweetness of mãe e filha 🩵.

“𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝒹𝓇𝒾𝒻𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝑜𝒻𝒻 𝓃𝑒𝓍𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝑒𝒶𝒸𝒽 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇, 𝒶𝓇𝓂𝓈 𝓉𝑜𝓊𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝒹𝓈 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑜𝓃 𝑒𝒶𝒸𝒽 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇’𝓈 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹𝑒𝓇𝓈. ℱ𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉, 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑔𝓁𝑜𝓌𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓈𝒸𝓇𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝓈𝒶𝓉 𝒷𝑒𝓉𝓌𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂. ℐ𝓉 𝒷𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂 𝒾𝓃 𝒶 𝓂𝒾𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓊𝓁𝑜𝓊𝓈 𝒷𝓁𝓊𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉.”

Thanks a lot to Netgalley, Grove Atlantic, Grove Press, Black Cat and of course Bruna Dantas Lobato for trusting me with this beautiful ARC in exchange for my honest review.