This is a really important story of loss and different perspectives. Because of the heaviness of the book, it wasn’t an easy read and did take me time to get through it. But it’s not meant to be a fast and fun book. It’s meant to make you feel and it does.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to this advanced copy of the book to read.

I really liked this book. It covered so many hard topics. Death, social bullying and so much more. I love the writing style. I would have picked this up from the book store.

This book is a very well written story. I loved the characters and the plot, and it had an amazing story behind it.

This was just so beautiful, but also very sad. It dealth with many heavy topics such as drunk-driving, death of a parent and a brother, racism and more. It was done very good by this author.

Real Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

I approached this book from a very different angle than I normally approach books because I knew it was a distinctly YA book about teenagers, loss, grief, and socioeconomic/racial divides. This isn’t a romance, though it does have romantic elements in it: it’s a character study in human collateral damage.

This is mostly a story about two teenage girls: Blue and Maya. Blue’s brother and Maya’s father got into a car collision in the middle of the night, and even though Maya’s father passed away as a result, it was never conclusively proven who actually caused the accident. Maya’s father had been texting while driving, but Blue’s brother had been doing a little underage drinking that night, too. Between the dubious status of whether or not her brother had been over the legal limit when the accident happened and the fact her brother got off very lightly with a plea deal on a manslaughter charge because her family could afford a very nice lawyer, she’s already not looking forward to starting up the new school year. And then she finds out Maya is coming back to school after being homeschooled for the past year, and Maya doesn’t waste any time letting it be known she wants to make Blue’s life miserable.

At the same time, there’s a third teenager with a story to tell in this book: a new kid in town named Devon. His story takes the longest to tell and it’s part of the romantic subplot, but he’s such a sweet character I just loved him.

It’s not the best book ever written, but this book is written for a specific audience, and it’s pitched perfectly for them. It’s dry, witty, blunt, sometimes crass, cynical, and not afraid to expose its heart to you. Even if it hurts. And I think we can all use a little more emotional honesty in our lives.

This book is best described as a cold hug. Reading it was bittersweet. But I loved the characters and how each of them developed, especially Maya's arc in the middle. The world-building was subtle and the plot was slow, yet powerful. The only critique I have is the love story between Blue and Devon. It felt out of place and badly developed. 3.5/5

This had a lot of potential but I do feel like it fell a little short of the mark. It discusses a lot of important themes and is pretty well written, I just couldn't engage with the content and I didn't connect at all with Blue.

It is pretty fast-paced though and covers a lot of areas of diversity which is always great to see. I just didn't sync with the style or the story, unfortunately.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc of this in exchange for an honest review.

Growing up Blue hated her name, even more so when her name became a way to define her as life turned miserable and she has no one to turn to except the new guy Devon whose life is just as much as a mystery. For Blue, starting back at school is something that she has been dreading as Maya is coming back. A few months ago, Blue's brother was involved in a car crash and Maya's dad was killed. Now she can't help but take out her anger on Blue, as since she is suffering, so should Blue. What happens next though is that the school will force Maya and Blue to work together and the pair will discover that despite their differences that they are both hurting and have no one else they can vent to, that truly understands. Meanwhile, Devon is also going through a hard time as his family has become walking Zombies filled with grief and Devon feels like he is losing himself also. Blue was a great coming of age story but also filled with a lot of angst and grief and shows readers too that everyone wears masks and hides behind a facade and you never know what goes on beneath the surface and that sometimes you just need to ask a simple " U OK?" as that may just make all the difference in the world - having someone to talk too.

Last year, Blue's brother, Jack, was in a car accident that lead to the death of the father of one of her classmates, Maya. Thanks to a lawyer hired by Blue and Jack's wealthy parents, Jack settles on a plea bargain.

Even though Blue was not involved in the accident, she's still facing the consequences at school where she has o to face the daughter of the man that her brother killed. Maya's taunts to Blue both in person and online finally cause her to retaliate. However, not everything is going wrong, as Blue meets a new student, Devon who she starts getting to know.

A lot of important topics are talked about in this novel, like privilege, grief and mental health.

Thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for providing me an eARC of BLUE in return of an honest review.

In this YA novel we are following Blue, a girl who's brother, Jack, was involved in a car accident that killed the father of Maya, her classmate. Now Maya has returned to school determined to make Blue’s life a living hell in the aftermath. On top of that, Blue has a demanding mother, a father who’s never around, a drama-addicted best friend, and Devon, a secretive new guy who’s determined to make Blue his own personal cheer-up project.

When Maya’s social media taunts and in-person digs finally push Blue to retaliate, they find themselves in afterschool detention and forced into a project meant to foster cooperation and civility.

As the layers of their tangled drama unravel, Blue learns more about Maya’s life-and her own sense of privilege-when secrets are revealed that cast a new perspective on everything in Blue’s world.

As been said, I have to say that I really enjoyed Blue as a character, she felt real as well as some of other characters, like Devon and Maya. They don't feel perfect and that is what makes me feel they are perfect, because nobody is. Their energy, their interactions, their development... so well done! I could feel Blue's emotions and struggles. I just- I just wanted to protect Blue, Devon and Maya.

Something, that maybe I wanted to see more or in a better way was about Blue's brother and her friend Jules. I know they weren't the main characters but I felt like I missed something about them to make them more realistic.

There was also a plot twist I dindn't see coming, and OMG I loved it.

I also loved the way L. E. DeLano writes, so I hope I can read more books by her in the future. It was a very good story with a lot of emotions, diversity, so powerful and with personal growth, nothing toxic.

thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

this was a disappointment. blue is an insufferable teenager — which i kept excusing and forgiving that it was the normal thing. but even with the "character development" i still felt it was a forced story. the writing is too far off on the younger YA side in consideration with the topics discussed, so that didn't blend well enough for me. overall, probably just was not for me but i wouldn't recommend it.

A fast, interesting story that will appeal to teens. I loved the details of Blue's family dynamics and even through the emotional rollercoaster of depression/anger, I found myself laughing at her perspective of who her mom is-- pyramid marketer, post-it note encourager, etc. And, Devon--who could not love him. He is the sweetest, most charming character I have ever encountered.

*the characters are well-developed
*tough topics are handled in a realistic manner
*includes backstories/twists that I didn't see coming
*mental health
*communication
*perspective
*diversity

BLUE is a YA contemporary that follows Blue,whose brother killed the father of one of her classmates.In this book we follow Blue's relationships with other people as well as her personal growth as she slowly realizes that the world doesn't revolve around her.

It's fair to say that at first Blue was insuferrable which can be justified by the fact that she's a teenager aka she's exaggerating everything and making everything about herself.

However, her character development throughout this story is great and you can see it clearly just by reading the last lines of the book:

***SPOILER***

<<My name is Blue,like the sky.The endless,open sky.I love it.>>

I mostly enjoyed her and Maya's chapters. Their interactions and their relationship getting better and better and them slowly turning into friends(well not exactly friends but at least people who don't hate each other) was definetely a highlight of this book.

On the same note, I would like to see more scenes with Blue and her brother and her friend,Jules. Especially with the latter one because even if Jules is called Blue's friend,it doesn't feel like it.

The writing felt really 2010s YA which I wasn't a fan of but we can get past that.

Overall,it was a nice book but it didn't give what I thought it would aka a sad story,a story that would make me consider,that would keep me up at night thinking

This book has a lot of emotions and personal growth in one book that was incorporated together beautifully. L.E DeLano did a fantastic job of establishing Blue's multiple storylines with Maya, Devon, and her family life and then bringing them all together by the end of the book with their subtle interconnections that brought us to the end. This is a perfect Y.A novel for those who are struggling dealing with a difficult home life and school life and teaches the importance of communication and seeing past the surface of an individual.

This book follows Blue, a teenager who is going through a difficult time after her brother was involved in a car accident that left Maya's, a fellow classmate, father dead. While Blue struggles with a new home dynamic without her brother and pushy parents, she is now faced with a harrowing time at school as Maya returns to school. Maya takes her anger and grief out on Blue passive-aggressively, acting a bully, and Blue struggles with her feeling of being responsible through association. After one last passive-aggressive act from Maya in front of the whole class Blue lets her feelings out and the story of Maya and Blue evolves from here. There is a new kid in town, Devon, who Blue meets at the neighbourhood playground while she was trying to be alone with her thoughts. Devon has his own mystery but is positively influencing Blue to take the higher road and validating her feelings. Blue realizes that Devon knows so much about her but she knows little to nothing about him in return. At her attempts to get to know her new friend she soon realizes how private Devon is and the mystery of why sparks in her mind. While she wants to know him deeper, she also wants to respect him and not push too far but the lines get crossed when her friend puts odd thoughts and explanations in her head that causes strain on their relationship.

While not the happiest of stories, it is a story to be remembered. The mystery of Devon I did not see coming! Blue's, Maya's and Devon's stories all broke my heart. Being a teenager is hard and these three characters had to endure and overcome so much it is impossible not to love them.

I enjoyed reading Blue. It is everything a teen surviving through the 21st century needs.
This is the story of some high-school-going teens whose life goes upside down as things none of them has any control over happen and how they react to it.

Some things I absolutely enjoyed;
1. Discussions about mental health and familial relationships
2. Healthy romantic relationship where the characters value themselves and each other
3. Pop culture references that weren't overdone
4. Character development - all the characters in the book evolve as the story unfolds and the reader gets to know them on a very deep level, even though the book itself is very short
5. The reader gets to see everyone's perspective even though the story is conveyed through a single Point of View
6. How the story is centred on getting to know others' perspectives and checking your privilege
7. The dynamic between the characters (especially between Blue and Maya, and between Blue and Jack(Blue's brother))
8. The energy and bonding between Blue (the main character) and Devon (the love interest) and how real and non-toxic it is (I mean, that's hardly something we see nowadays) and how sweet and goofy they are too.

This novel reflects on the healing process after a loss. It was an impactful read because it brought forth how people may react to the loss of a family member through one action and how these choices can impact other family members. I feel as if Devon having a secret and an unknown past is a storyline that is overdone. I’ve read other books with the boyfriend being distant storyline too many times. I think just focusing on Maya and Blue’s relationship and dealing with grief should’ve been the only storyline and the entire focus of this novel, Devon was just tacked on, and not in a good way.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of Blue in exchange for an honest review!

Blue is a pretty well done YA contemporary. I'm a big fan of characters not starting off perfect in YA so I loved following Blue as she becomes more complex and finally starts to realize that the world does not revolve around her, her emotions, and her struggles and think that's a very relatable aspect of being a teenager that's seldom explored.

I do think a few plot threads could have been cut (particularly the English class one. English projects that become big and meaningful are really overdone in YA contemporary so they often feel redundant and cheesy anyways, but since the long speech payoff for that comes right before what I think should be the long speech payoff for the main plotline described in the description and it ends up diluting the impact of both.

Wow. A beautiful story about love and friendship and loss. I really liked Blue and their voice. However, I think I wanted to see some more of Blue and Maya’s interactions. Their dynamic was the most interesting to me, and I hardly cared about Devon at all. I felt like he love bombed Blue.

However, this book was a great read overall. Thanks to NetGalley for giving me an ARC.