This post is not only a NetGalley review (though it's that, too), so I hope everyone will read it, whether you follow my NetGalley reviews or not.
I was lucky enough to teach Emma Brodie during her last two years at Hotchkiss. She was then and remains a total delight, both as a writer and as a human. I'm grateful and thrilled that I've gotten to keep reading her writing for the (sorry, Emma) many years since she graduated. I loved and wrote about her first novel Songs in Ursa Major, which you should buy and read. I follow her Substack, Piece by Piece, which you should follow as well. I got to read an early draft of her new book two years ago during spring break 2024. I was too impatient to wait for my pre-ordered copy to arrive on April 7, so I requested the book from NetGalley and got to read it a couple of weeks early, during Spring break 2026.
As Emma acknowledges, I couldn't be more excited that I get to hype her newest novel, Into the Blue.
I believe this book will and should become one of the most-read books of 2026. Without further ado, here's my NetGalley review:
title: Into the Blue
author: Emma Brodie (YAY!!)
publisher: Ballantine Books
publication date: April 7, 2026
pages: 448
peppers: 3 (on this scale)
warnings:
- vomit
- illness, injury, and death
summary: Through a convoluted set of circumstances and in order to do her brother a favor, AJ Graves ends up taking improvisation lessons from the legendary star of her favorite television show and with the now elderly woman's stand-offish but stunning great nephew. Though she falls for him and sees glimmers of returned feelings, he disappears without a word. Years later, though she prefers to write than to act, she ends up co-starring with him, against her will, on a largely improvised science fiction series.
tropes:
- fated mates
- famous family
- celebrity-normie
- it's not what you think
- coded language
what I liked:
- this book rips your heart out, in the best way
- their acting scenes--as kids, on tv, and in the theater
- spicy scenes
- immersion in the SNL world
- conventions and their followers
- pining
- real reasons that can't be together
- Bud, the dog
- all of the allusions and references
- the scope -- this book covers so many years
what I don't like:
- that Emaa hasn't shown me her next book yet!
overall rating: 5 (of 5 stars)
As always, you can click on the cover photo above if you want to buy the book, and to be clear, you DO WANT TO ORDER THIS BOOK, ideally today because pre-orders really help authors.
Go buy this one, people! My former bookseller spidey sense is tingling, Emma Brodie is about to be a name you RECOGNIZE! I, too, had the opportunity to read an early copy of Into the Blue, and it left me wrecked in the BEST way. Get ready for AJ and Noah to steal your hearts!
YES, Michelle is correct. You’ll be glad you got in on the ground floor. And then, you can go back and buy and read her first book, which is also great.
YOU ARE THE GREATEST. MOST DESERVED ACKNOWLEDGMENT EVER.
I can’t wait to have millions and millions of people read my name in those acknowledgements in the next couple of years, and then have even more see my name when they buy and read the book after the MOVIE comes out! (manifesting!)
I loved Songs in Ursa Major and can’t wait to read this new one! Great review, Carita.
I’m so glad and hope you’ll preorder to help her out with numbers!