Reviews

Out of the Blue by Jason June

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indiekay's review against another edition

4.0

I was really worried I'd hate this, because I really didn't like Jason June's first book -- I thought the writing was good in Jay's Gay Agenda, but I HATED the character and every decision he made. BUT I wanted to read this book because I love merfolk.

I REALLY liked the first 80% of this. It kind of falls apart after that for a bit (there's some similarities between this and Jay's Gay Agenda at this point that made me really go like??

Spoiler

does this author have a cheating kink???

but honestly it wasn't AS bas as JGA, so I'll forgive it.

And the ending.

Spoiler

The ending is NOT a HEA. And there's a lot of hints thrown in in the book that you think the human character is going to become a merman, but then he's like FUCK NO I DON'T WANT THAT, and goes back to the human world. And then in the epilogue his old childhood friend is now dating his best friend, and it's like ??? These bitches never even TALKED to each other during this book and now they're DATING?? I think I'd have honestly liked it more if the human MC and his childhood best friend had been dating in the epilogue instead.

That all said, it's not a bad book. Like I wouldn't buy the physical copy at full price, but if I saw it on sale I'd probably get it (the cover is GORGEOUS)

bellas__book_nook's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

bro what the actual fuck was that cheating trope. if i was sean I wouldnt take him back bc he FUCKING CHEATED!!! also not the whole dramatic reunion, saving, confessing love, etc just to NOT END UP TOGETHER. also side note this was not very ya and it made me feel very uncomfy that i had to read about a SIXTEEN YEAR OLD having sex like pls thats barely the age of consent

briparker195's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This read like a fanfic that you finish solely because it has the tags you want, but the writing is mediocre. Also read like a fanfic because it was a fast read. Did I finish it because it was a mermaid story? Yes. Did I feel like I was reading a 9th grader's 3rd attempt at a fanfic? Also yes.

true14216's review against another edition

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4.0

Cute merperson story about finding yourself and finding love.

lacellej2012's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

blesstherainss's review against another edition

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3.0

dramatic but we love to see it ngl

blewballoon's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

There were things I liked about this book. One is that it was refreshing to have a male main character/love interest who didn't have "hard planes of abs" for a change. I think there's been a lot of progress in terms of having romance novels with female leads that are a larger size, but I feel like there's still a big lack of the same for male leads. Another is that I like that the story concludes essentially that

friends and family are just as important, if not more than, a month long romantic relationship. Although, I do feel like the rest of the text didn't really support that conclusion since it spent a lot more time developing the romantic relationship than any others.

Unfortunately, I also disliked aspects of the book. I had seen that the reviews for this weren't great, but I tried to go in optimistically. I have to admit that the negative reviews are probably justified. The book did give me the vibes of reading merperson AU fanfic written by an inexperienced young author. I read The Spells We Cast by this same author and thought it was well written and very enjoyable, so maybe they have improved a lot. It does seem like this was a fun project for the author, so I'm happy they shared it.

Content Warnings

bookswithline's review against another edition

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DNF 22%. It gave me the ick when it got pretty sexual talking about a 16 yr olds thighs, but even worse when his penis was brought up. I understand that these are thoughts that 16 yr olds have, but this is a YA novel, I don’t go into it to read that, and also would not like to read about a 16 yr old that way when i’m 27. Also, it’s super repetitive, I feel like I heard the same things 100 times already.

sunflower7skull's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This was not really my kind of book, to be honest. It was fairly well-written but I found myself cringing often - in truth, I'm usually not one for romcoms anyway. But I loved the rep and overall didn't dislike the book, it just wasn't for me. I'd definitely recommend this book to someone who's a fan of romance books with unconventional twists and anyone who really enjoyed mermaid books growing up!

Content Warnings

avosage18's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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