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. Do you know who manages to be a distinct character with a will while only being able to speak via fragments from the radio? Goddamn Bumblebee from Transformers. FROM TRANSFORMERS.

The world-building in this book is so cool. All the sudden last December angels just started, like, full up falling from the sky?? They’re all dead when they land, they bleed gold blood, and people take their luminescent feathers from their bodies and sell them for thousands of dollars online. There’s cults revolving around the angels being a sign of the rapture, and they’ve gained a huge following online (called “wingdings”). Anthony, Andrew (7 November 2022). "Out of the Blue by Harry Cole and James Heale – the salad days of Lettuce Liz Truss". The Guardian . Retrieved 16 December 2022. Roses aren't any less beautiful because they don't live long. No one looks at them and thinks, man, what a tragedy they'll only be around for a little while. You just appreciate them while they're there. Or if you don't, you're missing the point.” 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. This review sounds harsh and more like a 2 star rating than 3 stars, but I want to point out that it isn't a bad book, especially for a debut novel. I just think my expectations were too high and that I'm not the right target audience.For me, though I loved the idea of a queer mermaid, and I was excited by the rep at large, this really wasn't the book for me. I was provided an eARC copy through NetGalley in exchange for a complete and honest review. All opinions and quotes are taken from an unfinished version of the book.

Who is Teacake? What's her real name? Is she political, is that why she was executed? Is she a victim of the system? What's awaiting her when she goes home? Does she want to go home? Does she have mixed feelings about it, granted that HER PEOPLE ARE SEEMINGLY BEING EXECUTED EN MASSE? WHY IS SHE NOT TRYING TO COMMUNICATE WHAT'S HAPPENING IN HER WORLD TO THESE PEOPLE THAT FOUND HER????? 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. And the other thing -- I fully admit that this is going to be a deeply personal irritation, but I was a competitive swimmer for most of my childhood and I JUST CAN'T with the details. Like, I get *why* Sean has to be a swimmer - so that his "oneness" with the water can help Ross see him as more than just a "self-centered narcissistic blowhole."Liz Truss became prime minister on 6 September 2022, following the resignation of Boris Johnson and her victory over Rishi Sunak in the Conservative leadership election. Two days later, The Guardian reported HarperCollins's intention to publish Out of the Blue: The Inside Story of Liz Truss and Her Astonishing Rise to Power, to be written by Harry Cole, the politics editor at The Sun, and James Heale, the diary editor at The Spectator, with a planned publication date of 8 December. [1] While the publication is not an authorised biography, Andrew Anthony with The Guardian speculates that Truss was the source for a substantial amount of the book's information. According to Anthony, this might be due to Truss's frequent rumoured media leaks to Cole. [2]