3.5 Stars

This one was cute, you guys. I want to quickly point out a couple of things, though. First, the book is categorized by NineStar Press as New Adult. Which, I guess since the characters range in age from eighteen to just over twenty, it technically is. But, to me it read much more like a YA book. It was much more innocent and sweet and, basically, sex-free, if that’s important to you, than most books that are tagged as New Adult. It wasn’t an issue for me; I absolutely love YA books. But, I know some folks just don’t read them. So, there’s that. And, second, I have just a tiny little niggle with the blurb. The blurb insinuates that Oliver’s encounter with the tall, dark, and handsome stranger is what inspires him to write again, and makes it sound like some super significant chunk of time passes before he sees him again, but that isn’t actually how it happens in the book. Not a huge deal, but I thought a bit misleading.

Since this is a short story, I’m going to say very little about the storyline. Oliver’s first experience as a published author came about when he was only eighteen and was not a good experience, to say the least. He was totally taken advantage of, and he couldn’t wait to turn in the final book owed the publisher and not have anything to do with writing ever again. He can’t help but be a writer, however, and secretly completes several manuscripts but keeps them hidden. Eventually he’s found out, of course, and becomes a published author once again. But this time Ollie is surrounded by people that genuinely care about him, and it makes all the difference.

A World in Blue by Danni Maxwell is an adorable little story and a promising debut from this young author. It was a little melancholy in places—Ollie loses his mother at the very beginning of the story, and keenly feels her loss throughout—but mostly it was very sweet and quirky, and made me smile. Also, I had mixed feelings about the length, to be honest… On the one hand I felt like the characters could have been a bit more developed, and that the relationship between the MCs definitely could have been fleshed out more. But, on the other hand I feel like, as a short story, it did exactly the job the author wanted it to do. I connected with Oliver on some level, I cared about what happened to him and was rooting for him the entire way. And, I have nothing but hearty eyes for Blue. I loved him bunches. The story wasn’t perfect; it was a bit repetitive at times (I get that it’s important that the eyes were blue, but…), and I really do think I might have enjoyed it even more if Ollie and Blue were given a bit more depth as a couple. But, I would absolutely recommend it as a fun, quick read!

Reviewed by Jules

I received a copy of this for review from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

"...a boy who doesn't believe in happily-ever-afters and another who just wants to be someone's happy ending"

When I first selected this title to read, I didn't realize it was a short story. I had the same problem I often have with shorter works. I want more. I wanted more with the main friend group -- it was hard to believe Oliver and Eli as best friends (especially since Eli only seems to show up conveniently). How do Blue and Olivia's boyfriend, Hunter, factor into the dynamics? Given that this tale is less than 100 pages long I do not feel like I know any of the characters. While the ending brought a smile to my face, there was no real emotional push behind it.

I love the premise behind this story. How do you tell the guy you're falling for that you are actually his favourite author? There is also the storyline of Oliver learning to give his dreams a second chance.

As for the writing itself, I found it heavy on the exposition. There also seemed to be a formatting issue which led to some confusion.

This is a cute little love story. I feel it would have been better served in a longer format which would allow for more showing and less telling. It would also give the author time to explore the motivations, dynamics and personalities of the characters.

I wanted to love this story. There were moments when the writing was brilliant, but more often than not there were moments when I was left wanting more. As short as it was, I really began to connect to Oliver and Blue. And Fig too.

There wasn't enough description, the writing and imagery was a bit on the thin side, it read more like a summary of an epic romance than a story of one. I wanted to experience more of the passion that I just knew the characters were feeling but not expressing.

If this ever gets expanded I would definitely check it out again.

3.5 stars bumped up to 4 stars because the latter half was stronger than the first and did make me smile.

It took me a while to get into because of the writing style. The narration is third person singular which is not my favourite but fine. However the author kept referring to both MCs as "he" which resulted in confusion as to who was doing or saying what.

There was a great backstory for Oliver, but not so much for Blue which I think would could have been rectified if the story had been a little bit longer and fleshed out.

However it was a sweet love story and Oliver and Blue were adorable. Their attraction was instant but luckily it didn't go down the route of insta-love. Their friendship and journey towards love was beautifully written.

We also had the added bonus of being in a world of books; writing them, working in a bookstore, and working in a library.

I didn't pay attention when I got the book to know that it was going to be so short. It turned out to be a positive, as I started it at midnight on a Sunday night and finished it within about 45 minutes.
First off, I loved that the relationship between Oliver and Blue was almost a slow build, despite the instant attraction and flirting between the two. Oliver having to overcome his anxiety wasn't based solely on his feelings for Blue. Oliver did it for himself, first and foremost.
Because it was such a short book, I feel like plot points were rushed along when they could have been given more details. Rushing through Oliver's books and the writing of such was fine, but I would have loved to learn more about his process and the inspirations for those books.

I really did enjoy this novel, though. I thought it was sweet and relatable.

[Please keep in mind that these are all my honest opinions!]

I was so desperate to like this book, you have no idea. But alas…

Where to begin? With the writing style? The characters? The plot itself? Let’s start with the writing style and we’ll go from there.

The whole story is a longer summary of the synopsis. It’s all telling after telling after telling. That’s it. That’s the writing style, plain and simple. There’s basic description, like blue eyes (literally everyone in this story has a different shade of blue eyes), brown hair, tall. Those don’t add much to characterization or help visualize the characters at all. They’re just glimpses of what that character looks like, not the whole image. There’s no emotion either to make up for the lack of description. We’re just told what the character is doing, how he’s feeling. It’s all just telling, and it gets boring after a while.

Which brings me to my next point: The story happens too quickly without transition between scenes. It’s quite confusing. And not only with the change in scenes, with the plot itself. Here’s an actual quote from the story: “I think I’m in love with him.” He, the main character, literally just met the love interest. We see no *spark* fly between the two, their interactions are plain and (let’s be honest) quite boring. In my opinion, in order for the romance to pass off as cute and believable, the reader needs to like the love interest. Did I like the love interest? I don’t know, he’s a cardboard cutout. How can I ship two cardboard cutouts? (I’m really sorry!)

So, the characters. There’s not much to be said about them. I don’t know who Olivia, Oliver, Blue, Hunter, Sammy, or Elie (who only comes when it’s convenient) are. They’re just words on a page, names attached to literally nothing. I can’t pinpoint who they are as characters because there’s nothing to pinpoint. And I got confused between Olivia and Oliver. Their names are way, way too similar. But let’s talk about the main character, Oliver. I finished the whole story, read from start to finish, but yet— yet— I still don’t know who Oliver is. Who is he? What’s his other hobbies besides writing? What’s the other characters’ hobbies? Interests? Personality traits? Who is Eli, because he’s only mentioned like four times even though he’s Oliver’s best friend?

And then, of course, the plot. As I said before, the plot is just the longer version of the synopsis, a detailed outline before the actual writing starts. A first draft, and not only because there were grammar mistakes, some more obvious than others, but because of mistakes like this:

““Hello, Olivia.” She jumps down, her feet on the ground…”

It seems obvious that, duh, the girl that jumped down to the ground said that. But nope. That girl is Olivia. So who said that line? Oliver? Blue? Olivia’s dad?? We don’t know because there was no space between the dialogue, which was said by a different character, and the action, which was done by another character, so it makes it sound like Olivia had said that line… to herself? This mistake is not only in this particular sentence. It’s in the whole book. (It was Blue that greeted her, by the way.)

And then, hey! We have some random drama…that lasted for like a whole paragraph. I don’t understand why Oliver wants to break up with Blue because the characters he’s writing about resembles their relationship? His logic and argument are so… unbelievably illogical? Is that the right word? It just feels like the author wants to add that in the middle of the plot because nothing was happening.

And the random rants I had while reading:

- I mean, it’s really sad that Oliver’s mom committed suicide, but there’s literally no emotional impact that might’ve come with her death. Oliver mentions her like three times and that’s it even though his world basically turned upside down with her death. Her character and death held no important message, no emotional baggage, nothing… Except to make the character believe that Oliver doesn’t believe in ‘happy endings,’ which only became convenient when a love interest is introduced to add drama (and that’s too big of a word for it because are you sure that’s drama??).

- “Oliver looks at Blue like he’s looking at the sun, and smiled.” This is by far my favorite quote because… people don’t smile when they look at the sun?? I mean, special powers, that is. Every single person I’ve met thus far in my life squints, scrunches their face up, and shuts their eyes when they look at the sun. As I said, special powers. No one had looked at the sun and smiled. The moon, maybe? The stars? The sky at sunset? But the sun???

- Why do I suddenly hate the color blue? What is wrong with me? Is it because it’s mentioned like half a million times in the story, or is it because I have some kind of subconscious grudge with it??

Finally execution? The synopsis was just a longer version of the plot, the characters are cardboard cutouts, and the story isn’t that… special (thank god for all the male/male books out there!). So is it worth reading? That’s up to you, of course, but it’s really short.

'A World in Blue' is an incredibly short, but fairly sweet, YA level M/M romance.

The writing is ok, the plot unfolds nicely enough (though is perhaps a little twee and convenient at times),. The characters (and their situations and emotions) seem believable and likeable enough.

Despite starting with the main characters mother having died by her own hand, the author uses this suicide as a rather lightly touched plot device - in fact everything in the story is rather skated over, but then with such a short story there really can't be space for all that much attention to detail.

Still, a good enough little tale, with a sanitised lack of detail about teen love and relationships, though it does cover strong emotional connections of varying kinds. Ideal for younger YA readers or if your the kind of person who is bothered about that aspect of what their teens are reading. In those respects the book serves it's purpose so, despite it's lack of length and depth, I'm going to give 3 stars.

A World in Blue is the work of debut author, Danni Maxwell.

Oliver is just 18 when he is offered a book contract on the same day that his mother commits suicide. He is ready to give up on life now that his mother is gone. He certainly never expects to be inspired to write again, or to fall in love.

A World in Blue is extremely fast-paced and jumps forward often. Don't blink or you will miss something. Although it is short and quick, at the bottom of it is a sweet romance by Danni Maxwell. It is worth a read if you are looking for something short and kind of sappy sweet.

What I love:

I love the fact that the author makes the main character gay without being obvious or making a fuzz about it. No big out of the closet situation and drama. He is just who he is without a need to explain himself or who he is. KUDOS! Being gay shouldn’t be the main event… only for oneself.
The story is literally a dream! Not only for the magic encounter, the love story, or the perfect chemistry that they have but because Maxwell does exploit the dream of all bookworms! The perfect place to read, to eat, and to take your pet, and who wouldn’t like to be a writer? and have that many opportunities?

What is there to improve:

Well the narration is third person singular and that is fine, but I found it sometimes complicated when the author referred to Blue or to Oliver as “he”. We are dealing with a relationship of two guys, so making it a “he” adds a lot of ambiguity to the story as you just don’t know sometimes who is doing or saying what.

Thank you to Nine Star Press & Netgalley for allowing me to read this book for free in exchange for an honest review 🙏🏻❤️

This story was very short and sweet. It was about a young male/male romance between Oliver and Blue that was endearing to read and quite different. Oliver was very relatable in that I often find myself pouring my heart out through writing in ways that I can't seem to form with words when having a conversation verbally.

I do feel that this book is too juvenile to be labeled " new adult" and should be classified as young adult or even middle grade. The guys joke about pillow fort sleepovers and melt into " goo" and choose to ignore one another for days instead of communicating. The " Lolly " nickname from a stepdad who barely knows his 22 year old is a bit odd as well.

Also didn't like that the two names were almost identical : Olivia & Oliver. It seems a bit too "convenient" that his new father is a publisher , Blue works at the library and Olivia's boyfriend, Hunter works at the bookstore. They're surrounded by books way more than the norm.

I would recommend this as a light and fluffy beach read for younger ages , it's very short and easy Breezy to fly through. Also really love the cover 🙌🏻❤️

It was cute and fluffy. Oliver and Blue were adorable. The story was different and interesting. I just wish it were more. It seemed rushed at a lot of parts and you don’t really get to dive deep into any of the relationships enough to be deeply invested. I cared about Blue and Oliver, but I would have cared a lot more if we got to see more than just the surface of their relationship. It was almost like reading from a stranger watching them fall in love. You see that they are falling in love. And you get glimpses into their feelings. But you don’t really see the private, deep stuff that really builds a relationship. Overall a good, cute book.

First thoughts about this book, I love the concept of the protagonist being an author. There are few books that I’ve read where the main character is an author or writer and I’ve always wondered how those authors write their books like that. I’m amazed by it because I feel like it’s not easy. You can relate too much to the character you create I wonder if you ever kind of put yourself into their situation or vice versa.

Let’s start talking about the characters and let’s start with Oliver.

I find Oliver’s character as okay. He’s a great author as his books were immediately on top charts after release. He was described as sarcastic and witty but never funny. However, there are times that I find him funny. And the way he treats Blue is so cute. I just kind of didn’t like him around the almost end of the book, where there were confrontations and stuff. I mean, he’s making his life hard even if it’s just so easy. He worried and over think too much on things that aren’t supposed to be complicated. He’s torn, I understand. But he could just wear his big boy pants and face it rather than do as what he did. There’s a thrill on his secret but I don’t think it’s that hard to tell that kind of secret to the person you love and obviously trust. But then, I guess his way of revealing his secret is also a good idea.


Now let’s talk about Blue, Oliver’s boyfriend.

One word to describe this character is munchkin. Munchkins are cute. He is that cute! Like super duper I-wanna-pinch-your-cheeks-so-bad cute. And even though he was described as taller than Oliver, I find him small because he is so shy! And seriously! He is cute! There’s no other word to review Blue’s character but cute. Bye!


I love the story of this book. It has a unique concept. I’ve always wanted to read books about undercover author. Like you’re writing a book under a pseudonym and then people will talk about your book around you without them knowing that you’re the author of said book. That’s one of the reasons why I don’t openly share my Wattpad account. Aside from the fact that I’m terrified if someone sees my stories, I’m also kind of scared that they would judge me according to my stories. This part right here is where I can relate to Oliver when his manuscript was discovered by his half-sister and step-father.
It’s a great touch too that Oliver worked in a bookstore where he can see his books and hear people talk about his books. I liked that part of the story.
I’m not one who read gay books in the usual basis. And since I don’t read that many gay books, I find myself adjusting while reading this book. And I’m happy that this book took easy on me.

The narration is good. It’s in third person POV but it’s not the type that is hard to follow. It was actually easy, so easy that I feel like flying through the pages. However, there are conversations that are confusing as to who said this line and who didn’t. There are lines that were told by Oliver but it was Blue’s name that follows. I mean, there was less indication of who said the lines that it made confuse at times while reading it. There are also grammar errors (I think?) because there are sentences that confuse me and feel like there are words missing.

And it was the shortest epilogue I’ve ever read. But it was still good.

To wrap this up, this book is really cute and fluffy type of read. If you’re the type of reader who just wants a quick, cute, fluffy read, this book is perfect for you. Anyway, I recommend this. Read it bessies!

This was a sweet and loveable story. It’s a quick and easy read.

Oliver’s mother dies and that’s when he finds out that he has a half sister named Liv( crazy right ) he then later meets Blue. Who happens to be volunteering at the book store that Oliver works at.

This was a wonderful story that deals with love, loss and over coming grief. I do wish that the story was longer so that we could get more into the lives of Oliver and Blue.

I was given this as an Arc from the author/ publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a beautiful and sweet love story. Oliver is quite low on self esteem initially but slowly gains confidence and decides to take a chance on his writing with the help of his half-sister Liv and her father David. Then he meets the cute, shy and nerdy Blue and it’s like his whole life changes. Their attraction is instant, the development of their friendship is very tenderly written and it was so obvious to me that they were in love even before they did.

It’s a heartwarming tale of self belief, overcoming grief, first love and happily ever afters. The fact that Oliver works in a bookstore and is an author while Blue is a volunteer at the library and a bookworm were just a lovely bonus to my enjoyment. The ending is wonderful and brought a big smile to my face. My only gripe with this book is that it’s a short story and I really wish the author writes a full length novel about these characters.

A fun quick read that left me wanting more. This is such an enjoyable short story that I could not put down. I enjoyed this book so much I really want to see how the relationship progresses between Oliver and Blue in the future. I would highly recommend it, a great read for the summer.