Life in Outer Space by Melissa Keil

Pages: 305
Publish date: February 1st 2013
Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont
ISBN: 9781742973951
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK– Amazon US – Amazon AU – Dymocks

Life in Outer Space:

This is possibly one of the most adorable books that I have ever read. When I closed the book I couldn’t keep the smile off my face, I am pretty sure I looked pretty stupid.

Life in Outer Space follows protagonist Sam Kinnison and his geeky ways. He loves horror movies, writes movie scripts and doesn’t care much for girls, but then Camilla comes into his life – and well, things start to change.

Sam was an interesting protagonist – he is geeky and doesn’t stand up for himself, and although I hate horror movies and don’t play video games, it was easy to see why he loved these things. Sam also has some self-doubt and it was difficult to read without trying to tell him that everything is going to be okay. But it was beautiful to see him grow throughout the novel and his character arc was spot on.

Camilla was a refreshing character to read about. She had this strong presence about her and she knew what she wanted in life. Even though she has this fame surrounding her, she doesn’t let it take over and she also doesn’t let people walk all over her.

The relationship between Camilla and Sam was completely adorable in Life in Outer Space. I was smiling ear to ear, I loved that it was slow burning and it started off as a friendship – which is fantastic because of the age of the protagonist. The way that both Sam and Camilla were there for each other was refreshing and even without knowing they helped each other out.

I adored that they were awkward with each other, the little smiles, that they both had feelings, yet kept it all hidden – it was a great representation of a first love between two young teens.

I loved seeing Sam’s relationship with his friends and how they are different from each other, but together they all work. I liked that they don’t take over from Sam character wise, but they are all fleshed out on their own.

There isn’t a good family vibe as such in, Life in Outer Space and I do wish there was more. Sam’s relationship with his mother was nice to see as his relationship with his father is strained. I liked seeing a mother and son relationship that was decent as I don’t see it in YA that often.

However, Sam’s family relationship isn’t that crash hot and I would have been okay with that if Camilla’s relationship with her parents was good. Camilla and her family are all over the place, they have no real bond and they all live apart. I just want to see something nice in the family section in Life in Outer Space.

Although I truly enjoyed Life in Outer Space, I found it hard to get into. I took me about 50 pages or so to be stuck in the story. It had a lot to do with the writing style and the voice of the protagonist. Sam is a 15 year old male – I am a 19 year old female; there is quite a lot of difference there. However, after the 50 pages the voice didn’t feel as foreign and I wanted to know what was going to happen.

Life in Outer Space by Melissa Keil ventures friendship, first love, family and what it is like to keep everything bottled in. It shows that sometimes love needs to start off as a friendship and that the bonds of friends are not always broken – even if there is some turbulence on the way.

Have you read any Melissa Keil? If you have did you like it as much as I did. I am going to pick up her other book quite soon. If you haven’t read her books are you going to? Let’s Chat!