Running Barefoot

This has probably become my favorite book! Since I grew up in the Southwestern United States, the American Indian lore in this book is fascinating to me. The love story is sweet. My husband is retired military, so the military touches are welcomed by me. It's just a great read. I lent it to my sister-in-law, and she finished it in a week and loved it, as well. I'm passing along the info for this book to everyone who knows I like to read a good story.

I absolutely loved this book. I could not put it down. Characters that you liked and a story that gently unfolded and told the tale of two young people that you wanted to see succeed. Check out "Running Barefoot" but only if you've got the time to spend because you won't want to put it down.

Good, but Amy missed an opportunity by not developing the resulting relationship of Samuel and Josie. So much richness could have been brought out by delving into the beginning of their marriage like where they settled, the beginning of their intimacy, if they had children. I wanted more of them and while they were briefly mentioned in the subsequent book, The Law of Moses, I felt I just hadn't had my fill of them.

and it has a happy ending...friendship between a very wise and mature 13 year old and a very proud and angry young man...she shows him how to see the beauty in words using scripture, a dictionary, timeless classic stories...she shares her love and knowledge of music with him and he teaches her about his native american legends...it takes a few years for them to acknowledge their friendship has grown into love for each other...well written!

This book kept my attention all the way through, although I plead guilty to skipping over a lot of the involved native legends and music theory parts.. I kept wanting to get on with story. The author tells a story brilliantly, but overlong detail into native culture and music theory are tedious and do nothing for the story..Ms Harmon is an extremely talented writer, and if she will stick to story telling and leave our education to someone else, her books would be perfect.

This was one of those stories that left me feeling so much that I don't think I can even describe the feelings. The loneliness of being different from others, the loss from death and the sense of abandonment when another moves on, the longing for the deep friendship that Josie and Samuel had, the long journey that brought them to their HEA. I would love to read more about Josie and Samuel. This is one book to be re-read and I plan on reading A Different Blue, also by Amy Harmon.

Amy Harmon combined her knowledge of music, American Indian culture, and a small town, to create a beautiful love story - a perfect harmony! There is also tragedy and a true feel to how the citizens of a small town deal with tragedies. Josie and Samuel are true to their characters, even when Samuel leaves town for a while. I loved watching Josie and Samuel grow up, changing just enough to be the adults they were without veering from their original mold. I hated to see this book end!

love this!! great characters, simple plot and the slowest of all slow burn romances. maybe too slow, but what you lack in firery romance harmon makes up for in giving you a complete and in depth knowledge of the characters.

Running Barefoot was a freebie from a facebook link and had lingered on my kindle for a while, until I was in the mood for it, but I'm sorry I waited so long - it was a lovely story; romantic and interesting. I liked the characters and was happy with the progression of the story. I did think the love story between Josie and her fiancé was rather rushed and skimmed over, but loved the story of her and Samuel.

I was intrigued by the synopsis of this book, and loving Native stories, read it quickly. As an avid reader I could NOT put this story down. It encompasses my two loves, music and the deep understanding of loving a Native man who struggles to balance tradition with modern society. And like Josie, he was my first love. Now I call him husband. This story had me in tears... I have not been moved by a novel like this in a very long time. Thank you.

Amy Harmon is one of the happiest discoveries I've made in years. After stumbling onto one of her novels a short time ago, I've been patiently making my way through her entire booklist.

Harmon's customary subject is a deeply troubled character, often with an abusive background. These people have pasts so distinctly unusual that it would be easy to just write them off as lost, and let it go at that. All of the stories are romances. All of the romances are logically inconceivable. The characters are drawn together by an urgency that some would call "fate". The love is so strong that it is impossible to deny it.

This story fits right into that genre. Samuel, the male lead, is a "halfbreed" Navajo/White, teenaged boy who flees an abusive family on his Reservation, to live with his paternal grandparents (the White side of the family). His nuclear birth family has been torn apart by his father's early death, and his mother's remarriage to an alcoholic Navajo man with 5 children of his own. At odds with him, Samuel eventually leaves, hoping to finish high school with Don and Nettie Yates, his grandparents, who live in Levan, Utah, a small, "blink and you'll miss it" town dead center in the State.

He doesn't fit in with the local students, and suffers through racism and bigotry. He meets Josie Jensen on the school bus, where they have been assigned seats across the aisle from each other. Josie is also an outsider type, in her case, because she is breathtakingly intelligent, reclusive, and gifted as a pianist. She has also suffered the death of a parent, in her case her mother, and left to become the surrogate mother to 4 much older brothers and a deeply grieving father, at just 9 years of age. We see how she adjusts to this new role and learns everything she needs to know about running a household within the first year, learning to cook, clean, garden and run the household finances, by plumbing the knowledge of her neighbors.

She meets Samuel when she is 13, and he is a Senior in high school, probably 17 or 18. He rescues her from a taunting, bullying classmate, who is, like most of the boys, drawn to her because she has matured, physically, very early, is beautiful, and looks closer to 16 or 17, than 13. Samuel's rescue results in her being seated next to him, in the bus, rather than across the aisle, and keeps her out of the hands of her bullying classmate.

Their subsequent relationship becomes about classical music, literature, and Navajo culture. She helps him to pass his English class by suggesting they read Wuthering Heights out loud to each other, and discussing it, on their twice daily bus rides to and from school. During these rides, they fall in love, and Samuel is smart enough to realize that a relationship between an adult man, (and, at 18, with his history, he is very adult), and a 13 year old girl is a death trap, ESPECIALLY for him, and so he takes steps to avoid the public circumstances which would punish him for this.

He leaves and joins the Marines after high school graduation, while Josie continues to grow up, and eventually becomes engaged to a classmate. His path through life becomes a successful climb, culminating in the respect of his peers, a teaching position with the Marine Corps, and, finally, law school. Josie, on the other hand, suffers blow after blow and her path is blocked, losing her a full music scholarship to BYU, her incipient marriage to her fiance, and leaving her stuck at home, caring for her family, watching while they marry, move away and have families of their own, while she becomes her father's caretaker, after he suffers a debilitating stroke.

Samuel finally finds his way home, after 10 years, hoping to have the relationship he always wanted with Josie, now that they are fully adult, at 23 and 28, and free from the threats to himself that the age gap would have produced. He finds her beaten down in a way that he doesn't foresee, and he no longer recognizes the girl he came to love, in the beginning.

He realizes that the way he has handled the past decade, due to his own unique personality structure, and her responses to his actions, has created a vast chasm between the two of them. He hasn't recognized that the catastrophic events in her life, some of which he has actually KNOWN about, thanks to his grandmother's friendship with Josie, has altered her own personality. Though she still loves him, she avoids becoming involved with him out of fear that he will leave her again, and she cannot face one more loss, of that magnitude, in her life.

The true beauty of this book unfolds in the last portion, where both of them are drawn together again, this time due to his urgent feelings for her, and his upcoming transfer to Camp Pendleton, outside of San Diego, and law school. Though he wants to marry her, finally, and bring her with him, she refuses, and he leaves again. Josie has become walled in by her need to be the caretaker for, not just her father, but her immediate family, and her extended family and friends. She believes that it is necessary for her to remain, and deny herself the satisfaction of a marriage to the man who loves her completely. Samuel gives her the choice, and, when she rejects him, he leaves without any further attempts to change her mind.

We watch Josie, now, as she comes to her own understandings, takes her life into her hands, and makes the decision to take the leap of faith which will ultimately bring her to the place she should have been in from the beginning, had she only been free from societal forces, to make those decisions.

This is a complicated book, with overtones of pedophilia. The characters, however, are so incredibly mature and self aware, that the reader completely forgets about the age difference. A relationship like this would have been, only a few centuries ago, acceptable at those ages. And, of course, the fact of the story being located in a small, very rural and conservative town in the middle of Utah, plays into these perceptions. The author completely ignores this aspect, even going so far as to not mention Mormon tradition while referring to the religious natures of the people involved, (while mentioning it in regards to history, casually, once or twice). For the discerning reader, however, this omission almost screams to be considered.

Harmon has a deft hand. She forces the reader to see the characters as they are in their hearts, and not as a young, blond and blue eyed Mormon girl in love with a Navajo Reservation raised Native American Indian man. As she has done in her previous and subsequent books, she creates characters that we come to know as humans who are colored by their upbringings and beliefs, but not defined by them.

This is not a book about large themes that will shake your world. It is, however, a book you will likely not forget easily. The characters, (and I mean just about ALL of the characters in the book), are honest, intelligent, unselfish, noble, and respectable people. They make decisions and hurt each other, but clearly struggle to do the right things throughout their lives, and attempt to find the paths they are meant to be on. It is sublime. Harmon's stock in trade is creating characters who you want to be, or simply be like. They are among the best of us, living lives with huge obstacles to their own personal satisfaction.

Harmon's books are far more important than they appear to be. They are all beautifully written. They exalt the beauty and goodness inherent in all of us, if we could only clear away the clutter of culture. It is clear that Harmon, being herself raised in Levan, Utah, understands the advantages and the disadvantages of living in such a tiny and remote hamlet (according to Wikipedia, Levan, Utah has a population of 688.) This is a VERY small town. A very small MORMON town, with all the bigotry and racism that that implies.

Harmon forces us, the readers, to recognize these facts, and include them in our understanding of the relationships of the people, on our own. She doesn't help with this. She assumes that we already know enough to guess at these forces. That becomes a compelling urge as we read through the book.

I live in San Diego, (born and raised there) and I also spent a year in Ephraim, Utah, in college, (population, at that time, about 1000). I lived, also, for a time, in Provo. (I've also, oddly enough, been through Levan while visiting friends in Nephi.) And though I am not Mormon, I have many close Mormon friends. I understand these people. I may be uniquely situated to understand these people, given that I've lived both in Utah and in San Diego. I ALSO have, interestingly enough, some Navajo friends, and have spent time on their Reservation, and have lived on a Reservation outside of San Diego, during the course of an early career path that included working with the Tribes and the San Diego Welfare Dept.

This story rings absolutely true to me. I can attest to the fact that the author has really gotten it right. It is well worth the time you will spend reading it.

5 Stars. Buy it. And, while you're at it, buy all the rest of her books. While they share some larger themes, each book is individual and unique. The stories are all different. The circumstances are all different. Each one is a small treasure that you will keep in your hearts forever.

The writing was very well done. Despite the first several pages just describing events and people and what not I was pulled in from the get go. The writing is fantastic. I highly recommend looking up the music they mention and playing it while reading it. It gives another dimension to the book. My only dislike was that I felt the ending was a bit rushed. I would've liked a bit more details but I understand why the writer wrote it that way.

I just finished reading Running Barefoot. It is an amazing story! I cried through the whole book. This book is beautifully written and is now my 2nd favorite book that I have read this year.(A Different Blue is the 1st) Amy Harmon is a incredible writer and I hope one day I will get to meet her. She has a gift. I highly recommend this book ..just make sure you got tissues beside you! Now I'm going to find more of her books! Happy Reading!

Oh how this precious story has pulled at my heartstrings. Samuel and Josie's love story is so unique and special that it needs to be shared. This will stay with me for a long time to come. I loved everything about it, but most importantly, I loved the way it made me feel; just as the music did for Samuel and Josie-that's the power of a true Artist-Bravo Amy Harmon!

What a wonderful book! Except for the editing errors, the story was entertaining; humor and just the right amount of suspense and romance. I am a musician, so that helped my enjoyment of the book. The inclusion of Native American culture was an added bonus. It took me several interrupted days to complete the reading of the book, and I enjoyed every minute of it! Thank you, Amy!

This was my first Amy Harmon book, but definitely not my last one. I've read it twice already. I don't know what caught my attention the most the first time: her writing or the plot of the story, but put them together and you get a winner! I hope she will continue the story of Josie and Samuel in San Diego. A good writer makes the reader to want more of the characters, and she is a good writer! By the way, I am a 72- year-old retired English teacher, who is waiting for more.......

Amy Harmon is an excellent writer she did a wonderful job on writing Running Barefoot. I just couldn't put this book down and finished it in one day. I loved the stories of the Navajo Tribe and the Navajo language. My grandmother was half Cherokee and I remember all the stories she use to sit and tell me, my sister and brother. It brought back some wonderful memories. This ia another book that I purchased from the store. Doris Fox

Finally, an author who writes intelligent, beautifully written love stories that are sensitive, honest and tender without sordid sex scenes. The characters are well developed and realistic, like people you have known. They are facing life's hardships with integrity,yet still wrestling with the difficulty of humanity. I could not put it down. Read this book, and any other Amy Harmon book you can get.

I love Amy Harmon and her writing! Her story telling abilities are so captivating and poignant. As I was reading this book, and have in Ms. Harmon's other works, I could feel the characters' highs and lows of emotions. It's like she taped into my young girl crush from high school and put it in her book. Well done! I would never hesitate to purchase an Amy Harmon book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book on a deep level. The characters were moving and well-developed. The spirituality in both the Mormon and Navaho religions touched me and proved to me yet again that we have a Heavenly Father who has a plan for our lives and that our beliefs are not that different if we stop to contemplate. I would recommend this book to my family, friends, and church family.

Amy Hanson's writing leaves me feeling the pain and the love, the high and the low. It is a reflection of life and all the unexpected events that happen and make you either stronger or weaker. But still thank goodness there is the HEA and I love it.

This was a sweet, tender, coming-of-age story for the first half of the book. The friendship that struggled to blossom between two unique characters cramped on a school bus was precious. The elegant touches of classical music and Navajo culture added to the beauty and charm of Josie and Samuel’s story. (The author did a lovely job capturing the heart and soul of each song, too.) Unfortunately, the second half of the book was disappointing, boring, and quite unromantic.

What were beautiful touches of classical music and Navajo culture in the first half became frequent tedious passages in the last half. This overbearing dosage of legend after legend after legend and bible interpretation after bible interpretation overshadowed Josie and Samuel’s relationship and diluted their love story to the point I stopped caring whether they got together or not.

And although I appreciated Samuel’s respect for the age difference while away, his behavior in the last part of the book left little to like about him. He came across as bossy, controlling, indifferent, and selfish.

The back of the book reads, “Samuel teaches Josie about life, love, and letting go.” None of this happens in the book. Josie is the one who taught Samuel about life and love. There is a pivotal scene at the end that emphasizes this point. And it was actually her father who helped her to let go and move forward. However, part of her father’s “insight” shocked the heck out of me. (This is explained under the spoiler heading below).

SPOILERS

Examples of how Samuel came across as selfish and indifferent:
1) Instead of clarifying to Josie, his best friend, the woman he loves, why he stopped writing, he remains distant, knowing full well it is hurting her and lets her live with her broken heart for 10 years without explanation.

2) Samuel knows about Josie’s dream. He reminds her of it when he returns 10 years later and says, “I seem to remember you had big plans to travel the world, playing the piano.” But later, when he says he wants her to marry him, there is no mention of this in the life he has planned out for them. Instead, he says, “I want you to come with me to San Diego. I want you to marry me. You can go to school—or just play the piano all day.” (Nothing about performing around the world.)

3) Samuel also had a major decision to make. Even though he wanted to marry her, he did not want to include her in making any major future life plans.
He says, “And then I have to decide.”
“Decide?”(Josie asks)
“Decide whether I want something else.” Samuel was being cryptic again.
“You mean something beside the Marine Corp?”
“Yeah.” Samuel set his glass down and pushed away from the counter. “What are you doing today?” He changed the subject abruptly, as if his future was not something he wanted to discuss...

Then he makes the decisions on his own about his future and tells her:
“I’ll be at Camp Pendleton in San Diego for the next couple of years, Josie. I accepted an assignment at the base with the sniper division. I will be an instructor, training and working with Marines who are expert riflemen. I won’t have to live on base, and I won’t be considered active for deployment with my unit. I’ve been accepted to law school at San Diego State, and I can attend classes in the afternoon and evenings.” He had it all planned out without her, which is a bit one-sided if he’s hoping to marry her and make a life together.

4) After he states he wants her to marry him, (he doesn’t actually ask her to marry him) she asks him why he can’t stay in Levan, “Why do you have to leave?”
He responds, “My future isn’t here.” He says “My” future not “Our” future. It’s all about him and what he wants. There was no negotiating with this guy. There wasn’t any talk about coming with him for a few years while he finished in the Marines; then they could travel the world while she performs, then settle down in Nephi or Provo so she could be nearer to her family - nope none of that. Couples usually discuss these things; make compromises. But not this guy. Samuel was not going to give up or compromise any of the things he wanted in life. Yet he was asking her to give up the two things she loved most for him: her family and her dream of traveling the world being a concert musician. She had to come with him or the relationship was over. And when she said she couldn’t leave Levan, the relationship was over. He didn’t even fight for her.

What shocked me about Josie’s father:
Josie’s father told Josie that God basically killed Kasey, her fiancée, so she could find a better partner. I’m not religious, but religious or not, this did not sit well with me. The idea that God just picks a few people to make happy and then destroys anyone else that gets in the way is bizarre. If that’s the case, why did God kill Josie’s mom then? What about Kasey’s life & happiness? Or Kasey’s parents’ happiness? What did Kasey do wrong to deserve to die? He loved Josie and respected her.

In fact, Josie said all this about Kasey, “I fell so hard I saw stars...it was all so easy with him—easy to love him, easy to be loved. Before falling in love with Kasey, I had assumed I would go to college and get a degree in music...After Kasey, I wasn’t quite as desperate for that dream. It wasn’t that I had lost my ambition, but I couldn’t imagine any of those things giving me more joy than just being near Kasey...Kasey was like air to me. No matter how much time we spent together, it was never enough. He always made me feel like I was the best thing that ever happened to him.”

Regardless of my disappointment, I would recommend the first half of the book. That was a solid 4 star.

I gave this a chance because I truly enjoyed Making Faces. The book held promise but at about halfway through I struggled to read and put it down then picked it up only to put it down again. Not sure where Ms. Harmon's development editor is but she appears to have been asleep at the wheel. So much redundancy. Although a few references to composers would have been interesting, I was bored to tears at the constant reference to musical scores and their composers. Same with "another" Native American folktale. At one point in the story there were three in a row, and two of them were about 3 pages long. Filler filler filler. I found myself skipping through most of the book just to get to the story. The same with all the Christian references. And the tender moments were so innocent to me, to the point of ridiculous. There was no passion in this book. I respect that Ms. Harmon does not do passion in graphic detail but after the initial meeting between Samuel and Jo I never really felt the attraction or connection. I think there was a ton of missed opportunity here. But if you like learning about classical music, Native American Legend and Young Adult books this is for you.

Every book I read by Harmon touches me deeply, all in different ways. She creates characters of such depth and beauty, the reader truly feels like part of the story. There is a lyrical beauty to Harmon's words that I hope and pray never leave me. Just as I hope the lessons I learned alongside her main characters never leave me. I am awed and humbled by this work.

Refreshing and innocent love story

I loved the complexity of the relationship between the main characters - young Josie starts off as the teacher and Samuel the student, then the reversal of that role later in life. A very poignant story.
Interesting parallels drawn between old literature and classical music (so you learn a little something too).

This book is a great read for someone looking for something which is a mixture of easy and light, but still want a story that grips them by the heart.

This novel has the combined attributes of seemingly real protagonists and an unusual setting. The YA aspects are those which make me reminisce rather than feel that the book is intended for a younger audience. The musical overtones and Native American aspects are instructive and the morality portion leaves out any preachy feel. This is an author to watch.

I had a thoroughly delightful experience while reading this book! Not only do I know the author personally, but I live near the town of Levan, which is the setting for the story. It was an education for me to read about the history of Levan, as well as a great diversion from the cares of the world, to be immersed in the daily lives of the characters in the book, many of whom were named for people I know. And I've always been fascinated with the Native American culture, which is portrayed very well here by the author. I found the descriptive aspect of the book to be captivating, and close behind in keeping my interest was the humor inserted throughout. Those strengths in writing even served to minimize the occasional structural errors my strong language background reminded me of as I read, which the average reader would not even notice....

The love story of Samuel and Josie is beautifully told and heart-wrenching in and of itself. What truly, however, elevates this novel from the mundane to a meritorious read is the skillful way Ms Harmon weaves together parables from the Bible, music history, and Navajo legends to illustrate the development and growth of her characters. This book took me on a journey into the rich inner lives of two young people in such a way I seldom see in the romance genre. I highly recommend this book.

Amy Harmon has stolen my heart once again. She is a true literary genius. I usually read books that are for sheer enjoyment of the adult kind. But it's Amy Harmon who reminds me of why I love to read. This book is about the epitome of true love. How your love for someone can span years and only grow and blossom into something beautiful at the right time.

Great Story. I could hear the music and sense the creative soul of the heroine. We all want a hero just like hers. Her soul was in the music and her love of life was so uplifting. Even through dark times, you could sense her singing soul.
I finished the story in one day with a lot of effort and finished with a smile in my own soul and hearing her music playing. It wasn't a story about music but about how music can soothe the soul

From first page to last I found this story mesmerizing. Beautifully written with a strong female main character and a love interest who is beautiful inside and out with an iron willed moral code. I would recommend this book for teen girls as well as adults who like a great love story .

I was going through my Kindle looking for books that I could share with my daughter. I have only gotten back into reading in the 18 months or so and I have over 450 books on my Kindle. I don't usually write a lot of reviews, but I feel I have to for this book. This book is one of the best books that I have ever read. I read all genres of books, and this one just hit the mark for me. The character development and build in this book is second to none. If you're looking for a light, but fulfilling read, this is the book for you. Go on....go get it now!

It was truly refreshing to read a love story that was not filled with sex and four letter words. It is a beautiful story with many thought provoking stories within the story. This book sets itself apart from so many of the current best sellers that seem to be "cookie cutter" story lines used before by the author. I will be looking for more books by this author.