Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Out of the Blue by Jason June

33 reviews

finntheguy's review

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emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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lexa's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted

3.75

I this was fun. Not super memorable, but fun. Dragged a bit in the middle, and some very high school actions from characters (which I suppose is expected for a YA book). 
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bookcaptivated's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • 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

4.0

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kbairbooks's review

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad fast-paced
  • 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

4.0

I am… so conflicted. On one hand I loved this. I like the writing style, I like how well rounded Sean was with his different hobbies and interests, I like Sean and Crest together, and I liked the ‘fake dating’ going on. On the other hand I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the cheating wishy washy ex (although an argument could be made that that was the point lol) but I kinda also don’t like Miguel. I also really didn’t like Sean’s best friend despite her reasoning for her actions. And honestly I’ve never seen an ending like that and I feel like it was age appropriate yet at the same time I didn’t like it. Again so conflicted but I also kind of loved this book.
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rickireadss's review against another edition

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3.0

i REALLY wanted to like this but it ended up just being very mid. the idea was cool, the execution was subpar. i liked our mcs but also wanted to just shake them because wtf were some of those decisions. i think the ending was severly lacking - i just didn't like it. the narrator for cress/ross had a very annoying voice, which made me not want to continue listening (sorry not sorry). i think the LGBTQIA+ rep was good though! just the plot and actual story was ehhh, so-so.

⚠️: infidelity, toxic relationship, car accident, body shaming, mental illness (depression, sc), fatphobia
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discarded_dust_jacket's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I have mixed feelings about this one. It was definitely cute, and I did like the characters. It was an interesting story too, I just, wasn’t pulled in. 

Maybe it was the pacing; some parts did feel a bit over-written, and the narrator did tend to go on mental tangents a lot, which always makes my focus wander.
But that ending?? UGH. Like yeah, I get it. The point is to not sacrifice who you are for someone else or to build your whole sense of self around a relationship. Sure. That’s a good message. But I still closed the book feeling deeply unsatisfied.
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bashsbooks's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • 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

Out of the Blue is cute, and I love that one of the main characters is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns. But I don't think it successfully pulled off the subversive ending that it was going for, sadly, and I think the reason why pervades the whole book: it gets distracted by being preachy.
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al3xa's review

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fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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emily_mh's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced
  • 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

I feel cheated by this book. Everything about it was set up like a romcom: the cover, the tropes, the implied retelling of The Little Mermaid, the fact that Sean, one of the MCs, is obsessed with romcoms and points out all the romcom beats in the story… All this for it to end without the most important romcom beat, the Happily Ever After. The characters didn’t even get a Happy For Now. It was like a slap in the face, and aside from being a tonal shift the ending didn’t make sense for other reasons, too.


For example, the narrative is truly focussed on Crest and Sean’s relationship. Any character development is to the level you would expect in a romcom, NOT in a coming-of-age story where the relationship is there for formative purposes, which is what the ending turns the story into. So the ending feels jarring as it depends on having major character development in both MCs, which wasn’t the case. Ironically, the ending is the reason why Crest CAN’T have any major character development, because it depends on their views on humans and the Blue remaining the exact same. I was hoping at least for them to learn that there is a lot of nuance regarding humans and the environment given power systems like capitalism and white supremacy. I was also hoping they might seek to change the parameters of the Journey, because its conditions are unfair and don’t allow meaningful connections between human and mer to form. But Crest just returns to the sea, holding much the same beliefs, only thinking that they might try to spread love for humans among mer, which seems a bit of a weak resolution.


As you can tell it seems I didn’t like Crest in the end, but in fact I didn’t like them most of the book. They didn’t really try to give humans and life on land a chance because of their uninformed view of humanity. I also hated how hot and cold they were with Sean, getting so angry with him out of nowhere and not allowing Sean to explain. And then they really cheapened their connection with Sean when after one little misunderstanding (again, not allowing Sean to explain), they cheated on him.


The only reason this isn’t getting a one star is that there were some redeeming qualities. I was enjoying it in the beginning, I liked Sean as a character, and the worldbuilding surrounding the mer was interesting (despite the literal infodump in the middle).
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haley_marie's review

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adventurous emotional lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This would be a great book for kids on the younger end of the YA genre. As a 23 year old, I thought it was a cute story and felt like a cheesy, corny teen drama. The writing was a little immature for my taste, but I’m also not the target audience. I would definitely give this to my 7th-10th grade child to read. 
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