Jason June, Out of the blue, Harper Teen, May 2023, 400 pp., RRP $27.90 (pbk), ISBN 9780063015210
New York Times Bestseller, Out of the blue by Jason June redefines the true meaning of home, questioning if love is enough to change everything you’ve grown up believing. Meet Crest, an angsty teenager who despises the human world. Good thing they’re a mermaid! Crest is not excited to be on their journey, a right of passage for the Mer to help a human being within one moon cycle and return to the ocean to become an Elder. In Los Angeles, they met Sean, a human lifeguard, lover of rom coms who has recently been dumped. Crest agrees to help Sean make his ex-jealous and win him back, but as the two spend more time together they discover that fake dating has a habit of leading to real feelings.
Growing up as an avid reader, I struggled to enjoy fantasy. Each story read the same, the princess falling for her prince, getting married and living happily ever after. With his cannon of queer young adult fiction, Jason June cleverly subverts such tropes, offering young, queer readers a glimpse into their fantasy dreams. A delightful read, Out of the blue offers an enchanting existence, a plane of adolescence where being queer is the norm, a colourful identity to be celebrated for the world to see. To say I devoured this book would be an understatement, and this is largely due to the incredible array of diversity. The inclusion of Crest as a nonbinary protagonist is one of the story’s many strengths, providing a representation too often ignored, and seeing such an identity seamlessly integrated into the story filled my heart to the brim with pride. Alongside his other works (Jay’s Gay Agenda, Riley Weaver Needs a Date to the Gaybutante Ball) Jason June offers valuable diversity, and an urgent voice for young people no matter age or what stage of their identity journey they may be at.
June engages in wonderfully fulfilling world building, from the get-go, and readers are submersed into the magical lives of the Mer, from their ancestry, social norms, and language. Audiences will find themselves completely transported into a magical underwater landscape. The plot itself is enjoyable, and while some readers may be discouraged by the rom com clichés, they contribute to a beautifully written romance, perfectly resonant to a genuine teenage experience. The characterisation does leave something to be desired and I felt as though Crest and Sean deserved a little more development prior to their meeting, but this is resolved as the characters learn and grow from each other as the story progresses.
A perfect read for any high schoolers, June’s narrative provides a safe space of exploration and acceptance for all readers, whether this be open discussions of gender and sexuality, relationships, body image, and everything in between. A great addition to your TBR list for fans of Heartstopper, and They both die at the end.
Reviewed by Jade Breen
