Out of the Blue

By: Jason June

Narrated by: André Santana, Neo Cihi

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

From Jason June, author of the breakout teen debut novel Jay’s Gay Agenda, comes Out of the Blue, a stand-alone dual POV queer rom-com that asks if love is enough to change everything you’ve grown up believing. Perfect for fans of Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas and Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly.

Crest is not excited to be on their Journey: the month-long sojourn on land all teen merfolk must undergo. The rules are simple: Help a human within one moon cycle and return to Pacifica to become an Elder—or fail and remain stuck on land forever. Crest is eager to get their Journey over and done with. Humans are disgusting. They’ve polluted the planet so much that there’s a floating island of trash that’s literally the size of a country.

In Los Angeles with a human body and a new name, Crest meets Sean, a human lifeguard whose boyfriend has recently dumped him. Crest agrees to help Sean make his ex jealous and win him back. But as the two spend more time together, and Crest’s perspective on humans begins to change, they’ll soon be torn between two worlds. And fake dating just might lead to real feelings . . .

This sophomore novel from Jason June dives into the many definitions of the word home and shows how love can help us find the truest versions of ourselves.

Not bad, but not great

I was excited for some mer-rom and the summary of this book sounded fun enough, and I did enjoy it to good degree. Unfortunately, several things caused me to lower my rating more than I'd hoped.

The writing style felt stiff. It made me think of an unnecessarily big red circle on a video telling you where to look, how it over-described things the author wanted you to pay attention to. Dialogue often felt like characters reading a script, and I mean their choice of words more than narration. Additionally, the lengthy inner monologues tremendously slowed down any critical situations that begged for a fast pace.

All of the characters were kind of 'blowholes', as the mer put it. Even in their numerous moments of coming clean and heart-to-heart talks, I generally still came out wondering what the flick they were doing. It didn't help that cheating, fighting cheating by cheating, and trying to get back a cheater, is a whole trope that leaves a sour taste in my mouth, even if they kinda acknowledged the errors of their ways in the end. The romance I wish were a bit more about affection, and a little less hormone-y. There was SO much focus on the physical stuff.

The book had a great rep of LGBTQ+, but Crest having such strong feelings about the gender topic solely because genders don't exist for mer, and bringing it up constantly, seemed more like a message and less a natural part of the story. Following that logic he really could have hated nearly everything on land that doesn't exist in the ocean, which left the focus on genders feeling artificial.

Considering most of the plot decisions, I was a little surprised by the ending, pleasantly so. It didn't raise the book's rating in my eyes, but allowed me to leave this story with less frustration. And despite everything, I don't regret picking this book up, as it did have its moments and can be a relatively enjoyable listen for something light while working on your own stuff.

Unexpectedly cute but

Needs a bit more editing. Sort of charming in a cute way though, only thinly veiled is the moral of the story.

not it for me

I was incredibly excited for this queer mermaid fantasy / romcom summer read. It sounded like it would hit everything on my wishlist! I'm doing a queer reading challenge for Pride month and a romcom summer reading challenge. I've also challenged myself to read more diverse books this year, so a gender non conforming mermaid was DEF on the top of my list. So I bumped it to the top of my list and started it right away, with an audible credit.

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. There was plenty of LGBTQIA+ rep, with the vast majority of the cast falling somewhere under that umbrella. That was great! However, the merfolk not using gender terms and not having genders was brought up too much for my taste - instead of feeling inclusive, it felt like it was trying too hard and drawing way too much attention to the gender stuff.

I also didn't really feel any chemistry between Crest / Ross and Sean. There's a lot of physical attraction but its played as love, and it just didn't hit right for me. Also the cheating trope comes up more than I would like. I wish I had known ahead of time about that, cuz it's one of my least favorite tropes.

Overall, I thought it was a great concept. But it didn't hit the emotional highs I was looking for and I didn't connect with the characters as much as I hoped I would. I'm sure it's someone else's ideal, though, do hopefully those readers find it!

I just can't get into it

I've tried. Really. I've had this in my collection for months and every time I start it, I just can't get into it. I usually love stories like this but this one just doesn't click for me. That doesn't mean it won't for you, though.

A perfect love story

I absolutely fell in love with this book just by looking at the cover alone. Finally! A lgbtq+ love store with a confident chubby lead character who’s the fastest swimmer on his team! I can identify with that and that alone made me happy!! Furthermore, the characters were believable, the narrators are fantastic, and the level of detail and what is described is so sublime. This truly was the best book to start my year with!!!