Book review: “Out of the Blue” by Jason June
About
“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. ”
Review
I enjoyed reading “Out of the Blue” by Jason June. There aren’t enough queer merfolk books out there. Everyone loves a good coming-of-age story, and what can be better than a combination of a coming-of-age rom-com and a non-binary Little Mermaid retelling.
Crest may not be your typical Ariel - although they do share fabulous red hair - and Sean would never call himself a Prince Charming (that boy has the lowest self-esteem ever), but their story is no less epic. Fake dating, “Merman in my Tub”, “Public Secret Message” tropes, and the concept of non-binary merfolk who do not focus on gender identity or sexuality and have some cheeky lingo were some of my most favourite aspects of the book.
I am not a fan of romcoms, so some parts were too cheesy for me. I am not sure that I liked the way Kavya was sometimes used as a “minority best friend,” and some of her actions went beyond “trying to save my BFF from the worst mistake of his life,” which made me somewhat wary of her character. Although her background story was compelling on its own. Perhaps, if she got more screen time, her character would have seemed less flat to me.
It is hard not to love Sean or Sean and Crest together. As the story is written from a dual POV, we get an opportunity to see how they perceive themselves and each other, and some of those moments were so adorable. I think the ending was well done, although it felt almost anti-climatic once we hit the epilogue.
The main idea of a journey and discovering yourself and how sometimes we are pushed to make big, life-changing decisions at the age when we are barely able to keep our heads above water. The realism of struggles that Sean and Crest (and other characters) have to go through makes “Out of the Blue” (besides an epic pun of a title) a very relatable story.
I wonder if there is a chance for a sequel? 😉
Thank you so much to team HCC Frenzy for providing me with an early copy for review.