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blewballoon's review
- 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
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.
Moderate: Cursing and Sexual content
Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Car accident
spark_879's review
- Strong character development? Yes
4.0
Minor: Fatphobia
kiwii091's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Minor: Fatphobia, Sexual content, and Blood
theaceofpages's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Firstly, yay for enby merfolk! DeFINitely one of the things that drew me in. I'm a little older than the target market for this, so please keep this in mind for my review.
Crest (ugh Ross) is forced to go ashore for a moon cycle so that they can become an elder merperson. They expect to hate every minute - humans are terrible after all. But they don't count on meeting Sean, a lifeguard, who shows them that humans can be good. They agree to help Sean get his boyfriend back as their selfless act so that they can return home at the end of the month, but as the fake dating trope goes, they end up falling in love. Crest then has to decide if they want to go back to the home they have always loved, or if they should stay on land with Sean, never to return to the mer world.
I have to agree with Crest. People are terrible. I know that drama is pretty typical of YA books (and this book is very YA - I don't mean that as a good thing or a bad thing but as a simple fact) but oh man, the characters were incredibly annoying. Is it accurate for their ages? Yeah, probably, but that doesn't change the fact that I ended up hating pretty much all of them. I did kind of like Crest (or at least disliked them less) but they too weren't the greatest. (sidenote: I liked the way they referred to people and didn't gender everything!)
That being said, this was a fun and easy read. Between being annoyed at everyone and the dragging middle I had a good time reading this. I think queer teens will enjoy this one! Just be prepared to be annoyed at everyone. And hey, queerphobes aren't really a thing in this book so if you are looking to escape that this would be a good choice.
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Sexual content
People assume Sean will be a bad swimmer because of his weightrefrejarator's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Minor: Body horror, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Blood, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
All warnings are super mild and dealt with in a really great way, and personally found it to be very safe.evelynyle_88's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I never knew I needed a book of merfolk that came out so perfect like this. Out Of The Blue was just a perfect light fantasy with a gentle touch of magic for me. This is perfect for me who love The Little Mermaid in general.
This book has a sweet and cute story (but with some heartfelt moment) that made me; who read it... cry. I just love Sean and Ross (a.k.a Crest). I love them so much equally. They're made for each other. A fantasy dream book of merfolk and brief their history for me.
Oh! And I love Kavya too.. also Elder Kelp! We can't forget about them and their wisefulness. Thank you for bringing this book to life, Jason. I appreciate you. Can't wait to read Jay's Gay Agenda as my other read for your book!
Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, and Car accident
Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Alcohol
rubadubindabathtub's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Fatphobia, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship
rickireadss's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, and Car accident
Minor: Mental illness
bashsbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Car accident
Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Transphobia, and Alcohol
-Explicit description of drowning -The transphobia is specifically some very brief misgenderingemily_mh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, and Vomit
Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Body shaming, Confinement, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: earthquake, divorce