Blurb
Reminiscent
of Sex and the City meets The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Patricia
Leavy’s Film Blue is a captivating and inspiring story about
the pursuit of dreams and what it truly means to live a “big”
life.
A
couple of years after finishing college, Tash Daniels has put her
love of filmmaking on the back burner. She’s working retail,
club-hopping, and scraping by to pay the rent. Usually attracted to
the wrong guy, she’s at a loss when she finally falls for the right
one. Sexy deejay Aidan is living his life authentically as an artist
and encourages her to do the same. Will she open her heart? Will she
bet on herself and her dreams? Is a girl with a dream truly on her
own in the world?
Tash’s
friends are along for the journey: Jason Woo, lighthearted model on
the rise; Penelope Waters, earnest graduate student with a secret no
one suspects; Lu K, fiercely independent hot-girl deejay; and Monroe
Preston, the glamorous wife of a Hollywood studio head. Frequently
bathed in the glow of the silver screen, the characters show us how
the arts can reignite the light within, pushing us to confront our
fears so we can choose how to live in the present.
Film
Blue is a novel about following our passions, the hidden side of
our dreams, the power of art, what it means to truly live a “big”
life, and finding the people to go with us on our journey. A tribute
to 1980s pop culture set against the backdrop of contemporary New
York and Los Angeles, Film Blue celebrates how the art we experience
and make can shape our stories, frame by frame.
Excerpt
After
grabbing a hand basket and making a beeline to the freezer for some
ice cream, she started searching for the items on Penelope’s list.
As she fumbled for the note, mumbling, “Ah, where is that stupid
thing?” she heard a voice say, “Maybe you’d have better luck if
you shut your eyes and put your hand in.”
“Huh?”
she queried, looking up at the six-foot-tall guy standing before her,
dressed from head to toe in black. He had bleached blonde spiky hair,
high cheekbones, a strong jawline, and a piercing through his right
eyebrow that she thought was simultaneously cool and disgusting.
“You
know, sometimes if you’re looking too hard, you can’t find
anything.”
“Uh,
yeah,” she said, staring into his evergreen eyes. Oh my God, he’s
seriously hot.
“Here,
tell me what you’re looking for and I’ll shut my eyes and stick
my hand in for you.”
Raising
her eyebrows, she said, “How stupid do you think I am? Maybe I
should just go outside and scream, ‘Somebody rob me!’”
He
laughed. “Fair enough, but you try it.”
Tash
smirked and stuck her hand into her bag without looking. “Uh huh,
here it is!” she exclaimed as she pulled out the small, crumpled
paper. “That’s uncanny.”
“Sometimes
you just have to concentrate less, you know? What’s so important,
anyway?”
“Oh,
it’s just my roommate’s grocery list. She’s pretty uptight so I
can’t screw it up. You wouldn’t believe the things she writes,
like ‘two organic red apples and flax seed powder,’ whatever the
hell that is. Anyway, I should probably get back to shopping.”
He
smiled and waved his arm, to indicate she could pass by. With only a
few aisles in the small store, Tash bumped into him again in the
produce section.
“Should
I even ask what that’s about?” she remarked while giggling,
looking at the twenty or more coconuts in his basket.
“Oh,
these are for a party I’m deejaying for a couple of friends over at
NYU.”
“They’re
serving whole coconuts?” she asked, mystified.
He
laughed. “People try to get them open. It’s like a drinking game
kind of thing. It’s pretty funny.”
“Gotcha.
Do you go to NYU?”
“No,
I went to school in Chicago and moved to New York after I graduated.
I’m a professional deejay. I’m just doing this party as a favor.”
“So,
what kinds of clubs do you spin at?” she asked.
“Uh,
well, tomorrow I’ll be spinning at the Forever 21 store in Times
Square.”
She
smiled. “Well, do you get a discount at least?”
He
laughed. “Didn’t think to ask for that. So, what’s your name?”
“Natashya,
but my friends call me Tash.”
“I’m
Aidan. Do you live around here?”
“Just
a block away. I share a place with two roommates.”
“Pretty
awesome area, good for you.”
“Yeah,
well we’re in like the only non-restored building in the
neighborhood. Don’t get me wrong, I love living here and it’s
pretty close to my work, but we’re not in one of the swanky
buildings with a marble entrance. It’s more like splintery wood
floors and a scary old-fashioned elevator that makes me want to take
the stairs.”
He
smiled. “What’s your work?”
“I
work at a couple of stores in SoHo.”
“For
the discount, right?” he joked.
She
laughed. “Well, nice to meet you but I’ve gotta finish up and get
going.”
“Sure,
me too. Maybe I’ll see you around. If you’re not busy, stop by
Forever 21 tomorrow.”
“I
have to work.”
“Well,
can I maybe get your number?” he asked.
“Why
don’t you give me yours instead?”
“Sure,
that’s cool.” He put his coconut-filled basket on the ground and
held out his hand. “Give me your phone and I’ll put it in.”
“You
don’t want me to have to search my bag again. Here,” she said,
handing him the note with Penelope’s grocery list. “Do you have a
pen?”
He
smiled and pulled a red crayon out of his pocket. “Don’t ask,”
he said as he wrote his number on the little paper. “Here,” he
said handing it to her. “See ya.”
“See
ya,” she replied.
When
she casually glanced around the store a few minutes later, he was
gone. She brought her basket to the checkout. The cashier asked, “Did
you find everything you needed?”
“Yeah,
yeah I did.”
About
the Author
Patricia
Leavy, Ph.D., is a bestselling author. She was formerly Associate
Professor of Sociology, Chair of Sociology and Criminology, and
Founding Director of Gender Studies at Stonehill College in
Massachusetts. She has published over forty books, earning commercial
and critical success in both fiction and nonfiction, and her work has
been translated into many languages. Patricia has received dozens of
accolades for her books. Recently, her romance collection Celestial
Bodies: The Tess Lee and Jack Miller Novels
(https://www.amazon.com/Celestial-Bodies-Tess-Miller-Novels/dp/1737862417)
was the 2022 Firebird Awards first-place winner for Romance. The book
also received 2022 International Impact Book Awards for Women’s
Fiction and Romance, a 2022 NYC Big Book Award for Distinguished
Favorite Anthology, and a 2022 Literary Titan Gold Book Award for
Fiction. Patricia has also received career awards from the New
England Sociological Association, the American Creativity
Association, the American Educational Research Association, the
International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, and the National Art
Education Association. In 2016 Mogul, a global women’s empowerment
network, named her an “Influencer.” In 2018, she was honored by
the National Women’s Hall of Fame and SUNY-New Paltz established
the “Patricia Leavy Award for Art and Social Justice.” She lives
in Maine with her husband, daughter (when she’s not away at
college), and her dog. Patricia loves writing, reading, watching
films, and traveling.
https://patricialeavy.com/fiction/
https://www.amazon.com/Film-Blue-Novel-Patricia-Leavy/dp/1737862433
Patricia
Leavy will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner
via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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