Out of the Blue by Jason June

Abstract

Reviewed by: Out of the Blue by Jason June Sarah Sahn June, Jason Out of the Blue. HarperTeen, 2022 [384p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780063015203 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780063015227 $12.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr 10-12 Everything is on track for the last few months of Sean's junior year to be perfect, just like the gay romcoms he plans to direct—that is, until boyfriend Dominic abruptly dumps him for Miguel, star swimmer and the most popular guy in school. With prom just over a month away, Sean doesn't have much hope that things will get any better, but then he finds Ross washed up on the beach near the L.A. swim club where he works as a lifeguard. Ross is a merperson on their Journey, a merfolk rite of passage where they have to live as a human for a month and help another [End Page 322] person in some way before they can return. It's a stupid tradition, as far as Ross is concerned, as humans are selfish, destructive, and weirdly obsessed with gender (merfolk are, much more sensibly, all they/them). To get the Journey quickly over with, Ross agrees to pretend to date Sean and make Dominic realize what he gave up, but of course, as in any good rom-com, it isn't long before fake dating turns into real feelings. Alternating chapters contrast Ross' fish-out-of-water bewilderment and their wry outsider observations with Sean's self-conscious film-director narration (movie lovers will spot plenty of references). Scenes of sexual intimacy between the two are tender and full of joy, and Sean supplies some needed size diversity to a genre that typically centers the thin and conventionally beautiful. Readers who are drawn to the whimsical premise will stay for its emotional truthfulness about the earth-shattering intensity of first, if not forever, love. Copyright © 2022 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois