So much of this book hinges on physical affection. Now, I don't mean this is a super sex positive book, or these characters care about physical affection. That's all fine. What I mean is, not only does sex as a topic come up at times where it feels really strange, and not only do we get random "as a top" moments where a character is bringing up his sexual role as a personality trait (weird but okay, man), but the thing that Crest thinks about the most when it comes to the biggest decision of their entire life is all about sex. The second Crest starts considering staying on land, it's about whether or not they want to give up human physical affection, if sex is better than the mer version, etc. They even try to reconnect to their old life by jumping into the mer version of sex with someone. Like, maybe it's me and my asexuality not at all understanding why you would base literally your entire future off of sex, but it sure did feel weird and surface level. Especially because Crest does such a 180 to get there, and yet they don't have an actual character arc to mirror it. I really enjoyed the relationship that built between Ross and Sean, and I really appreciated the non-binary rep from Ross. In the world of Mer, gender identities don't exist, making all merpeople nonbinary with they/them pronouns, as well as Mer neopronouns which Ross does not employ on land because they're trying to keep their Mer identity a secret.

The only thing that really specifically annoyed me was the fact that this book seemed to very actively resist the use of they/them pronouns in reference to the beings. I was seriously sitting here like,,, really,,, y’all seriously gotta strictly enforce the whole Western gender binary thing onto creatures who may not even have a concept of gender??? or might have a completely different gender binary?? Like, they call them she or he, and the people who don’t call them that call them “it.” Every time I saw that I was just sitting there like “just say they/them/their.” It was so annoying Here’s an interesting and useful article about why you should use the singular they. It’s more inclusive and less awkward than using “he or she or it.”Jaya is our narrator, and the guilt over her mother’s death and the disgust she has for all of the cults and wingdings fuels a lot of her decisions. She sees the angels (or, “beings”) as people, and she doesn’t like that no one else does. All of the friendship, relationship, and family dynamics involving Jaya were so well-written, but I think the most interesting relationship she has is with her dad, who’s one of the wingdings and is the one that forced his daughters to come to Edinburgh with him to try and catch a live Being. I watched them walk away, and with each step they took it was solidified in my heart that all this is real. That magic is real. You just have to know where to look for it.” Also the cult aspect of the story was just as creepy as one would expect. Though I wish it had gone more in depth, and I felt like the whole climax involving the cult was kind of laughably unbelievable (I mean,,, like,, Leah really knew the entire floor plan off the top of her head?? seems a little fake but ok), it was satisfying, and that’s all that really matters. The female best friend was once again, insufferable. This was an issue I had in Jay's Gay Agenda too, and sadly the author repeated it here. Sean would have also shaved. I have never, in my life, never met a swimmer who didn't. It's just part of the culture.

Well, literally every character in this book is so well written you will want to hug them at some point of the book. I mean, I even wanted to hug that plum-color-dressed side character and tell her all will be fine and there's nothing to worry about. Not to mention Jaya with her quiet exploration of her own mourning, Rani with her fixation over angels so she can find something to cling to when everything else seems to be falling apart, their father who seems to be too tired of questioning life, death, and God on every step so he can prove his family he's worth it so they know not all is lost. And there are Alli and Calum with their own fight with life and love-and-hate relationship only siblings have. This is about Jaya, a Cool Teen whose life is looking a bit tragic at the moment because her mom is #RecentlyDead and now she’s being trotted off by her dad, who is fully freaking. Also her younger sister is there. Baio, Ariana (19 October 2022). "Upcoming Liz Truss biography has already had its title changed". Indy100. The Independent. Archived from the original on 20 October 2022 . Retrieved 20 October 2022– via MSN. Crest is also certain humans are awful, is really rude about people existing, and weirdly is super offended by people eating fish.... as if other sea creatures don't eat sea creatures. They're offended and looking for a fight for so much of this book.This is why hope is dangerous: it it’s taken away, you’re left with even less than you had before.”At the risk of sounding like the kind of completely negative person I try so hard not to be, Out of the Blue is literally the first new book I’ve read in 2018 that I’ve liked. Seriously. I have no idea what this says about me, but if you take anything away from that statement, it should be that this book is amazing. Overall, despite the gripes that I had, I just had a really good time reading this novel and found myself very emotionally invested. It's also generally super unique and actually made me crave more novels about Angels, which I never thought I would say.