Book Review: ‘Into the Blue’ by Emma Brodie

As soon as I saw the cover of ‘Into the Blue’, I knew it was a book for me. After I read the summary? I basically ran to NetGalley as I couldn’t bear to wait any longer to read this book.

And then of course something else got in the way and I only ended up reading it at the beginning of June, but I was right about it from the beginning: I absolutely loved it.

Seventeen-year-old AJ is spending the summer of 2000 working in her local video store and dreaming of escaping her small town to be a writer, but even she couldn’t have written the way her life would change when Noah gets a job alongside her.

Noah is from a family of great stage actors and they quickly become best friends and acting partners under the tutelage of Noah’s aunt, a beloved actress of a cult sci-fi show, Astronauticals. Then Noah vanishes without a trace.

Seven years later, AJ and Noah are cast in the same TV show and are forced to confront why Noah left, there feelings for each other, and the ways that lines are blurring between themselves and their characters…

‘Into the Blue’ is a masterclass in yearning.

The connection between AJ and Noah stretches over 13 years and there is not a single scene between them without yearning, angst and want; it’s electric and visceral.

They are gloriously messy and they make mistakes, they hurt each other and themselves, but they always, always find their way back to each other, and when they do? Everything slides into place. The way Brodie wrote their connection was intoxicating and I couldn’t read fast enough, yet I also didn’t want to read too fast as I didn’t want it to end. I was all in on their relationship, hoping and wishing for them just as much as AJ was from the very beginning.

Though as well as the romance, there was much more to ‘Into the Blue’ and I particularly loved the glimpse into being a TV writer, especially in terms of improv and comedy shows like SNL. Performing creatively for 14 hour days, to a deadline, on demand - it all seemed exhausting, but the atmosphere was so vibrant and fun, and very fulfilling, especially for AJ who had wanted it for so long. Seeing her thrive in those roles was so heartwarming, especially as we followed her from when she was a teenager writing fan fiction at her summer job.

As the backdrop evolved into shooting an improvised TV show, it felt like a new world to me and something that I’ve never read about that in that way before. It was fascinating seeing the machinations and the manipulations behind the scenes, and even more so as the tension between AJ and Noah mounted and the stakes got higher and higher.

Being a fan and being a part of a fandom is a central element to a lot of characters in ‘Into the Blue’ and I loved how it portrayed the warmth and inclusion of it through characters like Otto and Oona, but also the intimidating fervour and the real-life effects of conflating actors with their characters and the impacts of fame, and infamy.

I loved ‘Into the Blue’ from beginning to end. It’s the perfect romance to read this summer for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid and Emily Henry.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orion for the review copy.