Shades of Blue is a story about two teenage neighbors that grew up as best friends. Sam and Jojo live two completely different lives and have two completely different personalities. Jojo has a happy, understanding, and supportive family. Jojo’s family does everything together and they do not keep secrets from each other. On the other hand, Sam has a very broken family. Sam never knew his dad, and he has only known his mom to be a drunk along with his stepfather. Sam’s family has many secrets and his stepfather is a very abusive drunk.

In Shades of Blue, Joyce Scarbrough tells about friends Sam and JoJo, who go on a journey to prove Sam's abusive stepfather, Russ, guilty for his crimes. This realistic fiction book is set in the present day in a town and features two teenagers, a boy named Sam and a girl named JoJo. Sam and JoJo have been friends since they were five years old. A bully, Chip Wiley, bullies Sam and JoJo. Sam, being the braver of the two, protects JoJo, but they have other things to worry about. Russ attacks them both, and they need to find proof to where Sam's real father went.