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asparagusisreading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Body shaming, Sexual content, and Car accident
fanboyriot'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
3.5
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Car accident
Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Alcohol
shelvesofivy's review
- 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
3.5
There were times where I wanted to shake certain characters by the shoulders because of their hypocrisy. I think I'm also a little bit upset that
All of that said, I love that we have nonbinary and fat MCs, I love fake dating stories, and I love the ways this reminded me of Aquamarine. Unrelated, but the cover art is also so lovely and a huge reason I got this book in the first place.
Minor: Infidelity, Mental illness, and Sexual content
offbrandclubsoda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Car accident
Minor: Mental illness and Transphobia
smarty007'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? No
4.5
Moderate: Infidelity and Mental illness
aus10england'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
3.25
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Alcohol
cassielaj'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
3.5
I will say, the fat rep in this is fantastic
Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Sexual content
anniereads221'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
5.0
Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, and Vomit
sssssoup's review
- 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
2.5
Things I liked:
-The casual representation was really nice to see
-I thought the world building with the merfolk and their culture was interesting and pretty well done. I especially liked the stuff about gender
-I liked Crest’s exploration of gender presentation
-It was a pretty fun and quick read
-The portrayal of teenagers felt pretty realistic. Teenagers make a lot of stupid choices, as did the characters in this book (I myself am a teenager)
Things I didn’t like:
-Personally, I found all the mer-slang to be cringy and overused
-The extent of Crest’s confusion about human culture didn’t make sense to me. They supposedly took human culture classes for years, yet they didn’t know how to cross the street or open a door? Also, in one of the first chapters, it says that Crest has mer magic to help them understand human things if they get confused, but it’s only used one time and never mentioned again?
-I was uncomfortable with how much the teenaged characters talked about sex-related topics (I myself am a teenager and I thought it was weird). It’s not bad to have teenage characters who aren’t ashamed of being horny or anything, but I felt like Sean and Crest were often reduced to their sexual attraction and I found it took away from the other more important parts of their characters. I also didn’t like how their relationship was built so heavily on physicality and lust, yet they kept talking about how they were in love
-The pacing was also off in my opinion, especially toward the end. It felt like the author kept adding in more and more things just to add to the drama of the situations. I saw another reviewer who said that they should’ve focused in on a few things instead of having so many, and I’m inclined to agree
Overall, it was a fun, quick read that you don’t have to think too much about, but I was disappointed because I didn’t love it like I thought I would. I don’t hate it, but I definitely won’t be recommending it to anyone either.
Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Body shaming, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Vomit, Grief, and Alcohol
danajoy's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.75
If you want a romance that feels well rounded with completely realised characters that you buy the love between then this could be a disappointment.
Out of the Blue is conceptually fun and filled with representation. I love the Nonbinary merfolk and that the cast don't have to come out.
Sean is a life guard that finds 'Ross' when they wash up on the beach to start their coming of age journey on land. Sean is heartbroken after being dumped for someone else by his boyfriend and 'Ross' thinks humanity is horrible and destructive and can't wait for the month to be over so they can return to the sea.
I read a review that I can't help but agree with. The main couple's relationship is based on lust and never really evolves beyond it but they call it love. It is all horny teenagers who are more interested in making out or having sex than anything else.
The writing is quite juvenile but the content isn't really. It feels like there is some disconnect between the target demographic and the writing style as I assume this is meant to be older YA.
Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content, and Car accident