The Song of David
By: Amy Harmon
Available: June 15, 2015
Cover by: Hang Le
Synopsis:
She said I was like a song. Her favorite song. A song isn’t something
you can see. It’s something you feel, something you move to, something that
disappears after the last note is played.
I won my first fight when I was eleven years old, and I’ve been throwing punches ever since. Fighting is the purest, truest, most elemental thing there is. Some people describe heaven as a sea of unending white. Where choirs sing and loved ones await. But for me, heaven was something else. It sounded like the bell at the beginning of a round, it tasted like adrenaline, it burned like sweat in my eyes and fire in my belly. It looked like the blur of screaming crowds and an opponent who wanted my blood.
For me, heaven was the octagon.
Until I met Millie, and heaven became something different. I became something different. I knew I loved her when I watched her stand perfectly still in the middle of a crowded room, people swarming, buzzing, slipping around her, her straight dancer’s posture unyielding, her chin high, her hands loose at her sides. No one seemed to see her at all, except for the few who squeezed past her, tossing exasperated looks at her unsmiling face. When they realized she wasn’t normal, they hurried away. Why was it that no one saw her, yet she was the first thing I saw?
If heaven was the octagon, then she was my angel at the center of it all, the girl with the power to take me down and lift me up again. The girl I wanted to fight for, the girl I wanted to claim. The girl who taught me that sometimes the biggest heroes go unsung and the most important battles are the ones we don’t think we can win.
I won my first fight when I was eleven years old, and I’ve been throwing punches ever since. Fighting is the purest, truest, most elemental thing there is. Some people describe heaven as a sea of unending white. Where choirs sing and loved ones await. But for me, heaven was something else. It sounded like the bell at the beginning of a round, it tasted like adrenaline, it burned like sweat in my eyes and fire in my belly. It looked like the blur of screaming crowds and an opponent who wanted my blood.
For me, heaven was the octagon.
Until I met Millie, and heaven became something different. I became something different. I knew I loved her when I watched her stand perfectly still in the middle of a crowded room, people swarming, buzzing, slipping around her, her straight dancer’s posture unyielding, her chin high, her hands loose at her sides. No one seemed to see her at all, except for the few who squeezed past her, tossing exasperated looks at her unsmiling face. When they realized she wasn’t normal, they hurried away. Why was it that no one saw her, yet she was the first thing I saw?
If heaven was the octagon, then she was my angel at the center of it all, the girl with the power to take me down and lift me up again. The girl I wanted to fight for, the girl I wanted to claim. The girl who taught me that sometimes the biggest heroes go unsung and the most important battles are the ones we don’t think we can win.
**This is David ‘Tag’ Taggert's book, a
supporting character introduced in The Law of Moses. This is a
stand-alone story.
5 Star Review by Allison East
Every time I read an Amy Harmon book, she devastates me. The power of her words wreck me, each and every time. The characters, the story, the plot. The intricate way she weaves a story that simultaneously makes me laugh through the pain, cry through the agony, smile through the joy, and every other emotion I could feel on the gamut, she makes me feel. The Law of Moses was one of my favorite books last year, easily top ten- The Song Of David is going to be just like that. And it all comes back to her characterization.
David "Tag" Taggart has had a rough life- with parents that were loaded with money, but not so much on emotion. And after his sister Molly was killed he was convinced everything in life that was bad happened to him for a reason. That he deserved the life he was given. He received a inheritance and used to to open his places- his bar, his gym, his life. And then- he disappears, leaving behind tapes- cassette tapes to be exact, weaving his song, he love song- to Millie. And that's how the book reads. It goes back and forth from Tags tapes, to Moses' point of view. And if you don't know who Moses is- read him first, but all you need to know if him is that he is FABULOUS- and Tag's best friend.
“Are you going to devastate me, David?” she asked. “God, I hope not,” I prayed aloud. Anticipation dissolved the lingering space between us, and I pressed needy lips to her seeking mouth. And then we melded together, hands clinging, bodies surging, music moaning, dancing in the wreckage. Sweet, sweet, devastation. “Too late . . .” I thought I heard her whisper."
Millie. Oh my good God Millie. Where did she come from and how can I be her friend? I would love to have someone as just downright GOOD like her. Positive, upbeat. When she has a shite hand, it doesn't get her down, it's just the perks of the hand she's been dealt. And that made me LOVE her fiercely- as Tag did.
“The ability to devastate,” I repeated. And my voice broke. If that wasn’t a perfect description of the agony of love, I didn’t know what was. I had felt that devastation. I had survived it, but I didn’t want to survive it again."
Henry- Millie's brother, loved him fierce too. Even though you could tell he had problems of his own- obviously, he just related to people differently, by quoting sports statistics. He was a fanfreakingtastix secondary character- just as important as the main ones.
Whenever I read Amy's books- she makes me whole again. When I'm in a slump- I know I can re-read Law of Moses or Infinity + One, or Making Faces, and be thrust right back into five star land. And that's what the Song of David is to me. It hovers in five star land, barely. It is a hop, skip and a jump from the magic wanderlust that is six stars, and most books to me- are in 3-5 star land- SIXville, is reserved for magical books. Awe inspiring books. And Song of David, just leapt the fence- and is just chilling there with Archers Voice and Jake Undone for me- and Amy, if you don't know- those are my two favorite books of all time. Bravissimo sister- I knew you were special, but I never knew you had the power to devastate me, and you did, you just did.
“I can’t see my way forward,” I repeated, giving her my back, willing the churning in my gut and the swaying in my head to ease. “I can’t either,” Millie said softly. “But it hasn’t stopped me yet.”
About Amy:
Amy Harmon is a USA Today and New York Times
Bestselling author. Amy knew at an early age that writing was something she
wanted to do, and she divided her time between writing songs and stories as she
grew. Having grown up in the middle of wheat fields without a television, with
only her books and her siblings to entertain her, she developed a strong sense
of what made a good story. Her books are now being published in several
countries, truly a dream come true for a little country girl from Levan, Utah.
Amy Harmon has written seven novels - the USA Today Bestsellers, Making Faces and Running Barefoot, as well as Slow Dance in Purgatory, Prom Night in Purgatory, Infinity + One and the New York Times Bestseller, A Different Blue. Her newest release, The Law of Moses, is now available. For updates on upcoming book releases, author posts and more, join Amy at www.authoramyharmon.com
Amy Harmon has written seven novels - the USA Today Bestsellers, Making Faces and Running Barefoot, as well as Slow Dance in Purgatory, Prom Night in Purgatory, Infinity + One and the New York Times Bestseller, A Different Blue. Her newest release, The Law of Moses, is now available. For updates on upcoming book releases, author posts and more, join Amy at www.authoramyharmon.com
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