Review: Life in Outer Space by Melissa Keil

 

Sam is a geek movie-buff with a ragtag group of loser friends who have been taking abuse from the popular kids for years. But when the super-cool Camilla moves to town, she surprises everyone by choosing to spend time with Sam s group. Suddenly they go from geek to chic, and find that not everything boils down to us and them.
With their social lives in flux, Sam and Camilla spend more and more time together. They become the best of friends, and Sam finds that he s happier and more comfortable in his own skin than ever before. But eventually Sam must admit to himself that he s fallen in love. If he confesses his true feelings to Camilla, will everything change again?

Summary and image from Amazon

I have to be honest, Monday afternoon when I sat down to write this review, I had not yet finished the book.  I have probably 25 pages left, but wanted to make sure I got the review written for it's 8am publication time!  It's ok though, I can still tell you what I liked and didn't :)

First and foremost, I loved the fact that the characters acted and sounded like normal teenagers.  There is nothing I hate more in a YA book than teenagers who act and speak like pretentious mini-adults.  While there may be teenagers out there who speak like that, that just isn't my reality or been my experience.  These kids were real to me.

Each character was written in a way that I can't pick my favorite.  I like all of them.  I can relate to aspects of each of their personalities, which is rare, usually it's one character. 

I also like that Sam's mentality changed from "us" vs "them" (the cool kids), and realized that maybe he was the one putting up the defenses and putting people in categories (with the exception of Justin.  I don't see him as being anything but the typical jock who only liked people with a  long history of being "cool").

While I can't use this book in my classroom (as it's too old for my kiddos), I don't see why a teacher wouldn't have it in his/hers.  These are situations that kids have and are dealing with.   

A big "thank you" to Peachtree Publishers for sending me a copy to read and review.

Make sure you check out the others stops on the Life in Outer Space blog tour:
Monday
Blue Owl Reviews (blueowlreviews.blogspot.com)

Tuesday
Maestra Amanda's Bookshelf (http://maestra-amanda.blogspot.com)
Boys to Books (boystobooks.blogspot.com)

Wednesday
Gidget's Bookworms (http://gidgetsbookworms.wordpress.com)

Thursday
A Word's Worth (http://awordsworth.blogspot.com)

Friday
Contest on Peachtree's blog (peachtreepub.blogspot.com)

Monday (Oct. 21)
Random Chalk Talk (randomchalktalk.blogspot.com)

Tuesday (Oct. 22)
Dear Teen Me (www.dearteenme.com)