A wreath of stories set in the winter of a Colorado community which spreads along a country road between a hamlet with a few villages and Blue Moon Mountain. It starts with the suicide of the vet who has long suffered from schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder, and the death echos out among his family and those close to him and those close to them and to other residents, new and long term of the town. These are depictions of longing and loneliness and love, desire and disappointment and moving on. ( )

“He had something poetic to say, but it wouldn't form in his mind. Something about how intimacy and love were the only sanctuaries, safe places for the human soul, like this mountain was a sanctuary in the rest of the crazed world, and the only road to intimacy was communication...”

“They had been hiking, individually in Montana, and both had stopped for lunch and to make cairns on a large bolder field, stacking rocks to show themselves the way. They saw each other doing that, and spoke of cairns and directions, and then fell in love. I was conceived in a meadow. I too was supposed to show them the way, which, they said, I did.”

I have fallen hard for Laura Pritchard. Yes, I loved Hell's Bottom Colorado, but this novel, really kicked it into high gear. I included a couple of quotes, but those were just 2 of many passages, I had tagged along the way. Her writing is breath-taking, but also tough, edgy and profane. She knows and understands the human spirit.

This story follows the residents of a rural community in Blue Moon Mountain, Colorado. Heartache, loneliness, kindness and passion, rules their everyday lives, like it does all of us. Fans of the late, great Kent Haruf, now have someone to follow. Rejoice! ( )

I really loved the way this book was structured--multiple POVs in the voices of the people living on a remote mountain in the Rockies. ( )

I made it to page 19 and had to stop. At first the story seemed promising, a man with a mental disease kills himself. However the second chapter started talking about sex and more sex and just sex. I don't care how many orgasms the character had and how good they were. I really don't care. Needless to say I had to stop reading it.

Laura Pritchett's latest book transported me to Blue Moon Mountain in Colorado where a small community of an eclectic group of people learn to cope with tragedy and turn to each other for support. Ms. Pritchett can get right down to the nitty gritty with her characters and show their strengths and weaknesses in her lean prose style that speaks volumes. It is one of the coldest winters the residents can remember…so cold even the resident bears are acting oddly. Life must go on after unexpected losses and the disparate cast of characters do their best to reach out to one another for help and comfort. The blue theme of the title continues through the book with poetic descriptions of the sky, snow, and earth. The author is in tune with nature in all its phases including human nature and passion. This is a beautiful book to savor as the tone shifts playfully back and forth from romantic to humor while the grief of loss is always in the background.

It's not necessary to read the two preceding books that shed light on a few characters in The Blue Hour, but I guarantee that Hell's Bottom, Colorado and Stars Go Blue are both as thought-provoking and artfully written as her latest. Pritchett's books may be on the slight side as number of pages go, but they are full of compassion for nature and fellow human beings and create memorable slices of life in rural Colorado. ( )