The Sky Blues by Robbie Couch Book Review

Title: The Sky Blues
Author: Robbie Couch
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers 
Release Date: April 6, 2021
Pages: 336

Sky Baker may be openly gay, but in his small, insular town, making sure he was invisible has always been easier than being himself. Determined not to let anything ruin his senior year, Sky decides to make a splash at his high school’s annual beach bum party by asking his crush, Ali, to prom—and he has thirty days to do it.

What better way to start living loud and proud than by pulling off the gayest promposal Rock Ledge, Michigan, has ever seen?

Then, Sky’s plans are leaked by an anonymous hacker in a deeply homophobic e-blast that quickly goes viral. He’s fully prepared to drop out and skip town altogether—until his classmates give him a reason to fight back by turning his thirty-day promposal countdown into a school-wide hunt to expose the e-blast perpetrator.

But what happens at the end of the thirty days? Will Sky get to keep his hard-won visibility? Or will his small-town blues stop him from being his true self?

Pre-order it on Barnes & Noble or Amazon 

My Thoughts

**Thank you so much to Simon & Schuster for sending me an Advanced Reader's Copy in exchange for an honest review!**

Sky is a senior at his high school in Michigan state. Being gay often comes with struggles in his everyday life and at school. He has to face Cliff and his crew at school and the endless teasing they give him. Not only that, but his mother also kicked him out of the house after he came out and his older brother is no help either.

Sky currently lives in the basement of his best friends' house. The Brandstone's house is definitely much more welcoming and he gets all the love that he deserves from them. Together with Bree, Sky decides to start a countdown for 30 days until he gives his promposal to his crush. The walls of his bedrooms are now filled with ideas of ways for him to ask Ali to senior prom.

Down here, we're basically twelve-year-olds again. I don't know how the outside world so easily fades away beyond these primed white walls, but it does. I think that's the real reason we've been going over promposal ideas for weeks and still haven't decided on an idea to run with. 

Things don't go as they've anticipated. After an email gets sent to the entire student body exposing his promposal plans, Sky is mortified. He refuses to go to school but a small act of kindness gives him the will to fight back. Teaming up with his friends, new and old, they're determined to reveal who was behind the email.

Just a few days ago, I was hiding away in the Brandstones' basement, refusing to leave. I thought my life was over. Or, at the very least, I thought my senior year was over— whatever was left of it. I didn't think I'd ever be able to return to RLHS, or look Ali in the face, or be more open about gay stuff with Marshall. But I did all those things.

Star Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.5)

I loved the diversity of characters and how fun they were to read about. Ms. Winters and the Brandstones were so supportive of Sky and his friends always had his back. They all stood by him from the beginning which I think positively impacted Sky.

The titles for each chapter in the book were great. By using the countdown until promposal as the title, it gave me a better time pacing while reading the book which I loved.

The Sky Blues is an amazing debut novel. The author touches on the subject of acceptance in a lighthearted and funny way that made me laugh but also cry seeing how Sky wasn't accepted by his mother. I'm definitely looking forward to other works by the author considering this was a debut!

About the Author

Robbie Couch grew up in small-town Michigan—where the blues really are bluer—and has been published in HuffPost, Upworthy, and O, The Oprah Magazine, among other outlets. Robbie holds a degree in journalism from Michigan State University and lives in Los Angeles, where he remains in constant fear of aggressive birds and on the prowl for his next bowl of noodles. The Sky Blues is his debut novel. For more info, visit his website RobbieCouch.com. You can also follow him on Twitter, if you dare: @Robbie_Couch.