Another one I was not able to get into. The storyline was fine as was the writing, but the characters themselves didn't engage my interest or my sympathy. I was bored early and never quite jumped into the world the author tried to create within our known world.

I've tried to read this book a few times, but I just could not get into this story. Once I had lost interested 3 times, it was time to let this book go.

I liked this, and would recommend it to teens, but I didn't love it. The characters didn't have a ton of depth, and the angel seemed like more of a plot device than an actual character. The ending wrapped up a bit too neatly as well. The romance was cute, though, and the cult bit was pretty creepy and suspenseful.

This was an interesting story but one that I never really connected with. I liked the blurb, but the story didn't resonate with me.

OUT OF THE BLUE by Sophie Cameron is an emotional coming of age story. The main character in this debut novel is 16 year-old Jaya. She recently lost her Mom in a freak accident, feels abandoned by her first girlfriend, and is angry with her father. He has quit his job and temporarily uprooted the family including her younger sister in order to pursue a quest to find a Being. Yes, Beings (or angels) have been falling from the sky and no one knows why.

Sounds strange, right? But I really liked OUT OF THE BLUE much more than I thought I would. Jaya is an appealing character and her adventures in Edinburgh somehow felt plausible despite the idea that **she** is the one to find a Being who is the first to miraculously survive the fall to Earth. Jaya enlists new activist friends Allie and Calum to protect and hide the Being from fanatic cults and exploitation. Cameron provides a very read-able (790 lexile) exploration of mortality and grief, while also probing the consequences of good intentions and their impact on both friends and family relationships. OUT OF THE BLUE credibly reflects a diverse society (including biracial, lesbian and disabled characters) and received starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal (grades 9 and up). Look for it on our shelves.

This standalone novel was definitely one that really appealed to me but being nervous to read, I don't have the most positive of experiences reading angel books or mainly books that feature angels. But this one was different, it was good but had a few areas which I wasn't particularly keen on.

Jaya, our main character, witnesses the death of her mother. Her father is obsessed with catching fallen angels from the sky. So, Jaya, her younger sister and Dad end up in Edinburgh where plans are made to try and catch an angel. Suddenly, one does fall down from the sky but Jaya is shocked to see the angel moving around on the ground. She makes a split second decision to hide the angel away from those who are determined to catch one and sell for profit. During the hiding away, Jaya meets siblings Allie and Calum and the three of them work together, lying to loved ones about their movements.

I really liked the British references in this, Tesco's is mentioned (which is a British supermarket chain) and UCAS Applications (which is how those wanting to go to University in the UK apply through) so I enjoyed reading about the physical locations in Edinburgh. I've never been but would honestly love to at some point in the future. There is LGBTQIA+ representation as well as cystic fibrosis representation for one of the characters Allie. There is also a mention of organ donations and transplants which I personally think should feature more in fiction. The first few chapters I found a struggle to get into, the amount of hiding time with the angel was long. However, the last 50 or so pages really picked up for me. Don't be put off by the beginning, it was a good angel book.

Sometimes I like to step outside of my literary comfort zone and try something different. I normally do not like books about fallen angels or overt romantic notions. Honestly, it was also due in part to the cover as well because I love feathers. I am so glad that I decided to take the plunge and request this debut novel written by Sophie Cameron!
I was totally delighted when we got to see the angels and their descriptions have them multicolored feathers with the rosy palette instead of the traditional all white or all black feathers bathed in ethereal light. I was really sad when people pluck their feathers out and started selling them because it kind of felt disrespectful to the beautiful fallen beings.
The angels started to fall 10 days after Jaya’s mother passes away but the Angels are not like the normal fallen angels in stories past. They are truly dead and bleed gold and blood up on the streets. As a true testament to how messed up the world really is, the author created huge followings and cults revolving around the fallen angels called “Wingdings” who see the Angels as a sign the world is going to end.
The characters of the story are well-versed and very appealing in the sense that it’s easy to love them. Also, I like that the author jumped on the LGBT/Diversity aspect wagon to ensure that we have well-rounded characters within her intricate new world! The book features a bisexual girl who has a chronic illness as well as a gay girl with a multicultural ethnic background and the wonderous variety of characters did not stop there! Each character was so well thought out and had such vivacious dispositions that they easily took over some of the spots in my Top 20 Characters of the year! I love the message that the author was trying to convey about people with disabilities just being regular people and living day-to-day but was glad to see that the author didn’t take the Fault in Our Stars approach and kill off characters who are suffering with chronic illnesses at the end.
Jaya is so lost after her mother’s death and she is utterly disgusted with the actions and nearsightedness of all of the cults. To Jaya, the beings are just a different type of people and it makes her angry that no one else portrays them in such a manner. I liked her relationship with her father and the ending almost destroyed me! (But in the best ways!) I liked the genuine relationship between Allie and Jaya because it lacked the insta-love trope but there could have been more of more attraction between the pairing. I think I was more forgiving with their relationship than I would have been with a normal male-female pairing because they already have enough faux pas to overcome without having outside criticism picking apart their delicate relationship.
Teacake, the angel featured in the story, was probably my favorite character described in the book! I am totally envious of her gorgeous wings! Though I have to say that the blurb made it feel like Jaya and the angel would be the ones in the relationship. So that could be better described.
Overall, I think if some potential readers can get over their -Oh! This is a LGBT related book with a girl on girl love- short mindedness and embraces the total story as a whole, this book could be a huge crowd-pleaser for many years to come! (Movie deal? Yes! I think so!)
I will totally recommend this book to anyone who likes angel stories because it’s probably the best Angel related book that I have ever read. As I mentioned before, I don’t normally read Angel books because they are all the same and I am so tired of whiny heroines fallen in love with the forbidden fallen Seraphim. Thank you for making a book that is going to smash all boundaries and hold its own in a world full of close-minded literature!
The only reason I gave this book a 4-star rating was because the cults were so creepy and not well defined. There was potential there to make them better and to go more in-depth.
Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Children’s’ Publishing Group for letting me read and review this title in exchange for an honest review! Keep finding books like this for the world to devour!

"Out of the Blue" does not answer the question of how or why mysterious beings are falling from the sky. Instead, it is a thought-provoking exploration of how society would react if such a thing happened, told from the perspective of a teenage girl, Jaya, who grieves the recent loss of her mother.

Up until now, all of the winged beings have died upon impact. Jaya's father is determined to catch one alive to get some answers, but it is Jaya who discovers one who is injured, but alive, and wrestles with how to best save her, when she was unable to save her mother. She enlists the help of some newfound friends and their interactions with Teacake, as they have named the being, give the novel some humorous moments.

This is a story about grief, death, and friendship, with a balance of realism and fantasy, and a cast of relatable diverse characters. I was intrigued by the premise as well as the Edinburgh setting, having traveled to Scotland recently.

Out of the blue
4 of 5 stars
I had an angel obsession when I was younger, so when I started seeing angel stories popping up in paranormal fantasy I was excited. When I heard about this story with angels and a queer main character (Jaya), I had a lot of expectations. I figured Jaya and the angel would get together, they would save the angel from all the people who wanted her dead/experimented on, and they’d find a way to get her home.
Though it wasn’t exactly what I expected, I really enjoyed this story. The Beings that are falling from the sky aren’t confirmed as angels, though many people assume that’s what they are. There were a lot of questions around where they came from and why they were falling, but these questions weren’t a focal point of the story. Instead, Jaya and her friends (one of whom is her love interest) were trying to heal the Being so she could get herself home.
This book was both softer and sadder than I was expecting. I knew that grief was a theme, so I really should have expected the sad part. Jaya’s mother died ten days before the first Being fell and her death was unexpected and traumatic. A lot of the book was Jaya working through her grief and guilt.
There were a few moments in which my suspension of disbelief was stretched thin, especially as a biologist, but I got over it quickly. Overall, this is a great book and I would recommend it to anyone interested in YA paranormal fantasy.

This book is difficult to describe. What I was expecting was an angel-centered story where the MC builds a relationship with the angel, etc. What I got was so different and so much more! Grief, self-acceptance, accepting others, trust, disabilities, repairing relationships - it's all in here. Everything happens more with the angel as the center - the catalyst, if you will. I love all of the care that went into building the world around the angels falling. We don't really find out the reasons why the angels are falling or anything. It's so NOT about them.
What I would like to see is a companion novel or short story that tells either the angel's side or what the heck is happening in heaven that makes the angels fall.
So, who gets this book? Patrons dealing with any of the issues listed above get a solid recommendation as well as my readers who are down for something unusual and well-written.

Out of the Blue by Sophie Cameron
Angels are falling from the sky in Sophie Cameron’s debut novel. Where they come from, and what caused them to fall like shooting stars, is one of the great questions everyone in the world wants answered. That, and where the next being will fall. Eighty Seven have fallen so far, and all have died on impact.
Sixteen year old Jaya’s mother died just before the angels began to fall, and her father MIchael sees the appearance of the falling angels as a sign. He quits his job and moves the rest of the family to Edinburgh, Scotland, with the hope of being at the right place at the right time to help a falling angel survive. Jaya is reeling from both her mother’s death as well as the sudden disappearance of her first girlfriend, and she wishes her dad would give up the wingding obsession and pay attention to his kids.
Then a being survives a fall, suffering only a severely damaged wing, and Jaya is the only one around to witness it. Instead of getting assistance, she decides to nurse the being back to health-- first by herself, and then with the help of her new friends, twins Allie and Callum.
Out of the Blue walks a line between realism and fantasy, with a healthy dose of philosophy tossed in. The characters are vibrant and memorable. Themes of guilt, longing, and compassion carry through the novel and help make this a story that will stay with you after you’ve finished. It’s out of the Blue by Sophie Cameron, out in hardback May 15, 2018.

This book was very well written. It was fun, fast paced read that I finished in a few days no problem. Fallen angels haven't really went in quite that direction before, so it was cool. Also, main character is a lesbian, but you can hardly tell if the character is a male or female, so it doesn't really add or take away from the story, depending on your views.

I gave this book a good effort, but realized it's really not my cup of tea. I can tell that this is a book that teens will love, so I will not be posting a review anywhere, so as not to affect its ratings. Thanks for the opportunity to read this title- I look forward to reading more.

Thanks to NetGalley and Roaring Books Press for a digital ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Angels are falling from the sky. Coming down at breakneck speeds, the “Beings” are crashing through buildings, destroying highways, and even causing tidal waves as they plummet down to Earth. Jaya’s family has become obsessed with the fall of the angels, and her father is determined to catch one alive ... so much so that he packs up the family and moves them to Edinburgh, the city that has seen the most falls from the heavens. Jaya, who is is still coming to terms with the recent death of her mother, does not understand why her dad and sister are so captivated by the Beings. That is, until the day one falls from the sky right before her eyes.

Jaya decides to keep her Being discovery a secret. If anyone were to find out that an angel had been discovered ALIVE, who knows what horrible experimentation and exploitation it would be exposed to. With the help of some newfound friends who are just as interested in protecting the Beings as she is, Jaya works on mending her angel’s wing and helping her get home. But keeping a Being a secret proves much more difficult than she ever imagined.

More-so a story about grief, family, and acceptance rather than a dystopian fantasy, Out of the Blue by Sophie Cameron is a novel about a teenage girl coming to terms with the devastating loss of her mother, set against the backdrop of unexplainable phenomena happening on Earth. While Jaya may be the only person in Edinburgh NOT interested in capturing a Being, it appears that she and Teacake (as she affectionately names her found angel) were brought together for a reason. Nurturing TeaCake and helping her find her way home leads Jaya down the path of accepting her mother’s death and making peace with what happened to her on that fateful day eight months ago.

Cameron introduces a fresh concept to the dystopian/fantasy genre in the form of fallen angels, but unfortunately this phenomena is never explained or explored. Jaya and her family and friends, as well as the readers, never get any answers as to why the Beings are falling and from where they are taking their plunge to Earth. TeaCake, never learning how to communicate in English, provides no clues to her circumstance, and while it might have seemed trite if she suddenly spilled all the secrets of the heavens, the novel would have benefitted from some sort of explanation. Instead, readers are left to draw their own conclusions. But perhaps where Out of the Blue falters most is in its length. The amount of time spent from when TeaCake is discovered to the much-anticipated climax is too long and drawn out without really adding anything new to the story. Chapter after chapter finds the characters dealing with similar conflicts, while the last quarter of the book attempts to pack in more action than was seen throughout the first 3/4 of the story combined.

In Out of the Blue, debut author Cameron shows us that even in the midst of the fantastical, the core elements that make us human will always prevail. Even the heavens opening up above us cannot erase the grief caused by loss and the need to forgive and accept. Cameron’s novel will be loved by those who enjoy exploring the growth and journey of a person throughout the course of a novel. On the other hand, die-hard dystopian & fantasy fans should not enter Out of the Blue expecting there to be much world-building or focus on the angels. In all, Out of the Blue is a solid, fresh entry in the YA genre.

Over the past year or so, about ninety human-like, winged Beings have fallen to their deaths from the sky, apparently at random and all over the globe. No one knows why they’re falling or where they come from, although theories abound. Sixteen-year-old biracial Jaya and her sister, Rani, live with their dad in Edinburgh following the recent death of their mother. Catching a Being has become an extreme obsession for their dad, and using some calculations he predicts that the next Being will fall soon, and nearby--on Arthur’s Seat. He even has a date and time… except it turns out he’s a little off, and the Being falls weeks early, when Jaya is out for a walk on Arthur’s Seat. Miraculously, the Being’s descent is slowed by a tree and she survives. Afraid that the Being will be sold, become the subject of experiments, or be killed if discovered, Jaya hides her in her neighbor’s empty apartment and tells only Allie and Calum, siblings whom she meets on the street while they’re protesting the mistreatment of Beings. A secondary storyline concerns Jaya’s ex, Leah, who has joined a dangerous cult--its members are convinced that Beings are fallen angels, a sign of God’s wrath--against her will. Meanwhile, Jaya and Rani are mourning their mother, and the cause of her death--and Jaya’s refusal to talk about it--becomes clear as the story progresses. More than anything, this is the story of Jaya’s family coming to terms with her mother’s death and accepting the uncertainty of an afterlife. This is a unique story and premise. Teacake, the Being, is an interesting character, but like Jaya, we don't learn anything about her. This detail could be a strength or a weakness, depending on the reader. Although I appreciated Jaya, Rani, and their father's journey through grief, the portrait of the family was never really fleshed out enough for me, despite it really being their story.

This was an odd little book, full of large visions but only small resolutions. Although the concept has ontological repercussions, the conclusions are minor and individual. Libraries will probably purchase this for the big ideas but it will appeal to teens who like self-involved plots.

10 days after Jaya's mom passes away, "beings" start falling out of the sky. They have wings. Fast forward to months after the mayhem dies and more "beings" continue falling, and Jaya is spending her summer in Edinburgh, where her dad is attempting to "catch a being." Guess who catches one first? Yes, Jaya witnesses a fall, and adventure ensues as she attempts to hide the being from her father with the help of new friends.

There was A LOT going on in this book. Here are the main conflicts:
--Jaya grieving her mother's death
--Jaya working on her strained relationship with her father
--Jaya's ex, Leah, ghosting her and their other friends
--Jaya's relationship with Allie
--Allie's sickness and Calum's protection of her
Oh, yeah.. and the main thing: Jaya housing an angel that has fallen from the sky


Aside from there just being too much, I wanted more about the complexities of angels falling from the sky. It touches briefly on the moral and ethical dilemmas, but this should have been the focal plot point, in my opinion.

This book gave me diabetes and I loved every single minute of it.

“Out of the Blue” is a story about grief and how people handle it in different ways and the guilt over not being able to do more as Jaya suffers from the loss of her mother and the sudden appearance of fallen angels known as ‘The Beings’ not long after. Her father throws himself into studying and hunting the creatures dragging his daughters across the country in order to find one alive after the fall with no such luck until an argument drives Jaya out of the house and right onto a crash site where she’s forced to make a decision that could have disastrous consequences.

The biggest theme of this book is how one manages to come to terms with the death of a loved one and how that process can be affected by the rest of the world as it continues to move on. There’s a beautiful parallel written here that shows the determination to right a perceived wrong by saving one when you couldn’t save the other and the lengths people will go to protect the ones they love no matter the cost.

This book is so sweet with our collection of characters who are doing their best to protect the fallen angel and it’s such a stark contrast to the darker world that surrounds them. Seeing the after shocks of society in what realistically appears to be the end of days intermixed between these moments of pure love and compassion really conveys the message that you can accomplish more with love than you ever could with fear.

I adore this book it’s so much more than a run of the mill angel story as it focuses more on overcoming the past and setting yourself up for a brighter and more healthy future surrounded by those who care about you and I couldn’t recommend it enough!

**big thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

Great YA novel about the supernatural and other beings. Very well written characters.

<blockquote><i>”This is why hope is dangerous: it it’s taken away, you’re left with even less than you had before.”</i></blockquote>At the risk of sounding like the kind of completely negative person I try so hard not to be, <i>Out of the Blue</i> is <b>literally the first new book I’ve read in 2018 that I’ve liked</b>. 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 <b>amazing</b>.

First off, let it be known that this book perfectly fulfills my personal aesthetic. gorgeous angels with multi-colored feathers in a rose-gold palette and perfect singing voices?? <b>sapphic girls</b>??? a festival in edinburgh?? old buildings and beautiful art?? and <b>that cover tho</b>?? sign me tf up. That’s some <b>god-tier beauty</b> right there.

The world-building in this book is <b>so cool</b>. 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”).

The characters in this story are all so well-rounded and awesome. It also includes lots of diversity! I mean, we’ve got a lesbian of color, a bi girl with cystic fibrosis, and so much more, and everyone has such a vibrant personality.

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.

Jaya’s dad’s arc is literally SO SWEET. I cried at the end of this book. Full-on tearing up. There’s a huge stress in here on <b>surrounding yourself with people who love you</b>, and <b>letting go of the past</b>, and it completely wasn’t what I was expecting about a book where angels are falling from the sky.

And while it’s nice that a lot of things were unexpected, but at the same time I feel like the blurb might be just a tad bit misleading?? I thought that the relationship would be between Jaya and the angel, and I also thought that there would be more discovery as to where the angels come from. <spoiler>The fact that we never did learn where the angels come from at the end made me disappointed?? The entire time that’s kind of the entire overlaying mystery, but we didn’t really get any closure in that department.</spoiler> But, make no mistake, even though it wasn’t what I expected, I still loved the plot.

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 <b>people with disabilities are just tryna live their lives. Their disability isn’t their entire person.</b> 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!

The romance between Jaya and Allie was so incredibly sweet. I wish there had been more chemistry between the two of them, but there was no instalove and it was cute, so I don’t even really care that much?? Honestly my standards are so much lower for f/f romances than they are for m/f, like, tbh,,, as long as it’s not problematic there’s about a 90% chance that I would die for the ship. And I would D I E for this ship. They’re so cute. I love them.

The angel, Teacake, was super awesome and freaking beautiful, as I’ve said before. I really want to see this book made into a movie because, a) gay, and b) YES. HELLO. THE ANGEL, especially after all the wing grafts where she has different color wings ooooohhhh yeah, IS SO BEAUTIFUL.

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 <spoiler>(I mean,,, like,, Leah really knew the entire floor plan off the top of her head?? seems a little fake but ok)</spoiler>, it was satisfying, and that’s all that really matters.

The only thing that really <i>specifically</i> 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 <blockquote><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/0b56db1a0270109f0d0321ec973375d3/tumblr_inline_mmxlxkkwIo1qz4rgp.jpg" width="300" height="200" alt="description"/></blockquote> Here’s an <a href="https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/grammar/using-they-and-them-in-the-singular">interesting and useful article</a> about why you should use the singular they. It’s more inclusive and less awkward than using “he or she or it.”

But besides that, this was such a gorgeous book! I can’t believe that there aren’t any more Sophie Cameron stories out there, because I fell in love with her writing style in <i>Out of the Blue</i>. I can’t wait to see more books from her in the upcoming years, and I would highly recommend this story for anyone in the mood for a quick, sapphic read with gorgeous backdrops and even more gorgeous angels.