It’s officially released! Blue Honor was picked up by Booktrope publishing in 2014 and has undergone a fresh design and some clean up. Now it is finally time to present the story to the public.
Blue Honor teaches readers about the realities of life during the U.S. Civil War, from social anxieties of gender and race, to lazy days on a farm in winter. You’ll spend time in the field with soldiers and run through the hectic energy of the city. Along the way, you’ll watch a girl become a woman; a woman become free; witness how the power of the written word affects our very existence–both books and letters. Amid cannon and rifle fire, you’ll hope that the tenuous connections remain intact.
Blue Honor by K. Williams
Blue Honor by K. Williams
2nd Edition, Booktrope Publishing
ISBN 13: 978-1-62015-644-5
Available on Amazon Paperback | Amazon Kindle | B&N Paperback | B&N Nook
2nd Edition Reader Reviews:
“In its’ simplest form Blue Honor is a love story. All the requisites for a fairy tale romance are present. The beautiful young woman, with aspirations of her own independence, meets the dashing young military officer. He appears, seemingly from nowhere, and performs an act of heroism that captures her heart and her mother’s concern. But as beautiful as the love story is, below the surface of the romance is a complex story of coming of age. Blue Honor’s complexity lies in the multitude of evolutions it portrays. The story follows not just the growth of its’ characters, but the growth of a nation and its’ people.
Ms. Williams graphically depicts the turmoil and confusion of the Civil War: a young African American woman, discovered almost beaten to death, is nursed back to health by a Northern family; a dashing young Southern officer battles neighbors in his home state, as his ideology lies with the Union. We are shown what a truly strange war it is when countrymen battle one another: dinner with the family one minute; a return to the battlefield the next.
Because the extremes of the period are so hard to comprehend, Blue Honor’s vivid imagery is most appreciated. We are settled into a bucolic farm in Vermont one minute, and pulled into a bloody battlefield the next. Also hard to comprehend are the morays and mindsets of the period, but they are woven so gracefully into the lives of the characters that the reader appreciates the depth of their struggles and the enormity of their evolution.
This has been my second K. William’s read and both have been an absolute delight. Ms. Williams has the ability to transport the reader into her world and befriend the characters she cares so deeply about. Blue Honor is a definite two thumbs up from me!” — Mary Wexler, Actor, Justice is Mind.
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“From the moment I started reading the book I became entranced by the characters. K. Williams draws you into the story with vivid settings. I easily pictured the story and rather enjoyed the personalities of the characters as the story jumped off the pages. I felt I was stepping back in time and was given a real grasp of the complexities and struggles of the Civil War.
I’ve just finished the first 100 pages and cannot wait to get to the next page. I highly recommend this book as someone who thoroughly enjoys K. Williams’ books.” — Donna Cindy Payton, Amazon Reader
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“I need to carve out more time this week, to finish Blue Honor, by K. Williams. I’ve read historical fiction before, and I find them either plodding storylines that simply serve as a narration device for historical events, or the historical events serve as a less than compelling backdrop to a work of fiction. Blue Honor, is neither. K. Williams has created these characters and made a compelling love story, while also placing these characters in a time, place, and circumstance that transports the reader to a dairy farm in Vermont with the American Civil War on the immediate horizon. The story flows through the eyes and thoughts of Emily Conrad, the daughter of a well-to-do farm owner. With sublime descriptive detail, K. Williams has created this young woman, Emily, who has intellectual and passionate yearnings that are not readily satiated in this rural, mid-late 19th century setting. Emily is surrounded by well-crafted characters that in turn, hamper and hasten her desires. The men in her life are honorable and well-meaning, but the societal attitudes of the day make her feel alternately stifled and controlled. The young man in pursuit of her, Joseph Maynard, is aware of her willful nature and ambitions, yet he still refers to her in his mind as ‘the jewel’, referring to her as an object with no inherent value other than its beauty. The flames of war are coming, and Joseph, Emily’s brother Michael, her long-time friend and pseudo-suiter Evan, all West Point graduates and soldiers for the Union will soon cast their fate to the war. Blue Honor is a work that demonstrates the artistic depth that a pieceof historical fiction can convey. I see a couple nights this week with the fireplace, a glass of scotch, and Blue Honor.” — Charley Summersell, Empire State College
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“K. Williams novel Blue Honor is a vivid portrayal of a love story of Emily & Joseph that had me engaged right from the beginning. Set during the Civil War, the budding romance between a young northern farm girl and a handsome up and coming officer is hard to put down. The tale also entwines the less detailed life and times of Henrietta a slave that is taken in by Emily’s family. This is a part of the story I wish Williams had elaborated on a bit further. I understand she wasn’t the center of the plot but she is a character you grow fond of and wish to learn her whole story. Perhaps in a sequel!
Overall, I enjoyed reading Blue Honor, K. Williams did an exquisite job of transporting our imaginations back to this era and making it a worthy work of the period. Her research into the details really shows and you realize how much it matters to Williams to get it right.” — RL, Amazon Customer.
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“I will say that I do not feel the blurb does this book justice. I wasn’t pulled in by the blurb at all, in fact I picked up the book and started reading because this kind of book has always pulled me in. The intertwining of these families is so amazing, it just is seamlessly done for the most part. I became so heavily involved I read a little at a time, the better to digest what was happening. There was, at times, a lot to take in. This kind of attention to detail is exactly what made this book so beautifully done.
I highly recommend this book to history lovers, it is a wonderful example of a romance in the times of the turbulent Civil War. The depth of the characters is particularly well done, I had no problem imagining each and every one from the good right down to the bad. Kudos to K. Williams on a book that has made my favorite list, I will be going back to read it again. I am sure I will discover things that I missed with the first reading. Many thanks to the author for allowing me to read and review her book, I found it to be a wondrous story that I enjoyed immensely. Five stars for Blue Honor.” — KJ Partridge, KJ Reads A Lot
