Out of the Blue: A heartwarming picture book about celebrating difference

Product Information

If I began with the story itself, there's already so much to say. It is very original, and more importantly well-executed. I love supernatural creatures in books, and I've been searching for a YA novel with angels for what feels like ages. Unfortunately, they're often depicted as brooding, handsome (male) heroes and everything always ends up in romance. I needed something else, something more, but I felt I'd never find anything close to what I wished. And now I found it. This books is everything I dreamed of. If I focus on the fantasy part, I can already say it's stunning: you get these amazing creatures falling from the skies, and the descriptions! My God, the way the 'Beings' were described was so realistic and fleshed-out, yet so mesmerizing and magical: Were we meant to meet? I believe so, one hundred percent. But I need to live for myself, build my life, follow my dreams, before I can be somebody's partner. I want to find the love of my life, and I think there's a world where Crest could have been that, but I need to love myself -- *live* for myself -- first."

Out of the Blue is a pretty underrated dystopian-like, stand-alone novel! It follows the narrative of Jaya, a biracial girl who recently lost her mother and is dealing with the aftermath, as well as the sudden appearance of “Beings,” - or angels - that have started falling out of the sky. Although this book was on the short side, it was still a beautifully-written story about love and loss, trust and hope. The character relationships were wonderfully explored, although I wish there was a bit more, if only because we only get to see them for a short time. Nonetheless, I would recommend this story for YA contemporary readers who are here for tremendous character growth and loving relationships! Again, it's not the sex I have a problem with; its the fact that every scene in the book is an opportunity for the characters to make it sexual/physical and then say it's love. There are inklings of other potential plots -- like Sean's interest in film, or swimming -- but they're ultimately just vehicles for physical moments. Like, everyone is *constantly* making out with each other. Which...maybe this is the equivalent of me identifying with King Triton in The Little Mermaid, but it just bothered me that those things are equated like that. Lust and Love are too very separate, albeit intertwined, things. Maybe if we had broadened out more -- spent more time with Kavya or other characters or one dates where they actually talked about things, the "romance" aspect would have come through stronger. Do know that you have to prepare for cheating if you decide to read this book. I am a strong advocate against the cheating trope, and while this book definitely didn’t contain that, it did have some cheating sections that frustrated and irritated me. However, I felt the author wrote this into the book quite well, so while I disliked it, I didn’t hate it. This quote may not be in the published version of this novel, it was copied from the advanced reader’s copy.) I, however, didn't like either of the characters. They're both so stylized it's impossible to see them as people or get a solid handle on them. Sean is in a director headspace for most of it, and talks about scenes like they're in a movie, throws in random charts of shots- it's all very pretentious and feels like the majority of his personality. And Crest uses mer-based language constantly, to the point of it feeling kind of like a Disney Channel original.Character MVP: ....I guess Sean? They were all a little flat and one-dimensional and hard to connect or invest in.

As the authors didn’t have the time, the research is minimal, and, apart from the fact that she had an 18-month affair with a senior Tory MP in her early career (which might show that she is either human or devoid of any ethics as long as her career can be helped), I did not learn anything new. This was such a sweet story!! I loved the combination of fantasy and realism, and while certain sections of this book were absolutely ridiculous, it is just fiction, and fiction involving teenagers and merfolk at that.The biography follows Truss from her middle-class upbringing in Leeds – her father was a maths lecturer, but a passion for mental arithmetic seems to have been the extent of left-leaning Professor Truss’s influence on his daughter – and on to Oxford, where she enjoyed a career as a minor campus provocateur. An active Lib Dem as a student, she ditched the liberals for the Tories before graduating, went to work at Shell and shortly thereafter met and, in 1999, married, Hugh O’Leary, an accountant. Truss spent the ’00s in furious pursuit of a parliamentary seat. She narrowly lost Calder Valley in 2005 (finding time on the campaign trail to have a widely publicised affair with Mark Field, the MP sent to mentor her) before winning South West Norfolk in 2010 (her selection much dogged by the shadow of the affair). It’s hard to imagine that there is much appetite for knowing more about Truss. Even her most ardent supporters could probably do with knowing a little less. But here it is, nonetheless, a 300-leaved lettuce that was past its sell-by date before it reached the shelves. Truss maintains she is interested in outcome, not process. Seldom has a prime minister been more wrong about herself I also thought the fake dating was solid, there was good communication, a well paced shifting from fake to real, and there was definitely chemistry between the characters. Out of the Blue was an adorable coming-of-age story involving teenage love and struggling to find where you fit in the world. Combined with humourous characters, brilliant lgbtq+ rep and merfolk (!!), this turned into the perfect little comfort read for me. While there were certain scenes that were a littleee over the top, it is a romcom involving 16 year olds, so what else can be expected? Super cute.

The sibling relationship between Calum and Allie was to die for. It’s complex and nuanced, and I’m really glad that this book also emphasized that people with disabilities are just tryna live their lives. Their disability isn’t their entire person. I’m also really glad that this story didn’t go down the “person with a chronic illness dies at the end” trope, because for a hot second there I thought it was going to, and seeing as how Allie is bi too it also would have bought into the “burying your gays” trope and that would have been,,,, yikes,,, but hey!! it didn’t!! so don’t worry about that if you were worried about it!! it’s all good! Un diwrnod, mae Dad yn dod o hyd i'w guddfan yn llawn o'i bethau melyn hyfryd. Drwy lwc, mae Dad yn gefnogol, a gyda'i gilydd maen nhw'n penderfynu ei bod hi'n iawn hoffi melyn. But my body, this one, the one I have on land, also craves one other thing. One other person. I need Sean. I need to kiss him again. I need to share myself with him one more time before I go.

About the contributors

Sean, my romcom loving bestie. We will definitely be watching romcoms together. I liked how he realized that he needed to focus on himself more and also on now instead of the future. Also I feel like he deserves an amazing partner in the future. I mean that every time Sean and Ross are together, it's basically entirely physical -- but equated with love. To the point where I kinda-sorta-maybe understand why Ross "loves" Sean; Sean organizes at least 2 dates that are sweet and demonstrate that he's aware of what Ross likes/needs. But I honestly have no idea why Sean "loves" Ross, except that he's attractive.