Aussie and Kindle Cover. Love it!
At First Sight: Sam is a bit of a nerd and he's fine with that: he has a few really good friends, an encyclopedic knowledge of movies (particularly horror ones), and is counting the days so he'll finally be free of the teasing and bulling of the popular crowd of his school.He's prepared to keep his head down and avoid his nemesis - Justin - until graduation; even when his first day of Year 12 wasn't great.
And then a new girl arrived at his school, tilting the fabric of his universe. Camilla is cool but not conceited, she tries and joins many clubs and quickly becomes widely popular, but she's also super nice to Sam and his friends Mike, Adrian and Allison, often pulling them along when she hangs with the popular crowd.
US Hardcover
Camilla is smart and funny and a little quirky, and determined to make Sam and his group part of her life, even if he isn't sure why.
Second Glance: I'm being a little bit vague with the summary for Life in Outer Space because I really do wish people would read this book and be happily surprised by all the awesome and sweet things that this book is.
I loved Sam, he was adorable and I totally commend the author for making his a very strong and distinct boy-voice without resorting to cursing or crude behavior and even when he goes over the top, he's sweet and I love the relationship he has with his mom. He was wonderfully tridimensional.
I also loved his friends, particularly Mike and Adrian - they were a bit in the margins of the story but always in Sam's mind and I felt like I really got to know them. It also made tons of sense to me that I didn't get to know Allison as much because Sam didn't know a lot of how her mind worked either.
But, mostly, I loved Camilla. When she first showed up I kept saying "Please don't turn into a Magic Pixie Dream Girl, please don't turn into a MPDG" over and over inside of my head. And she didn't! That alone elevated this book to a whole new level for me. She was as well developed a character as Sam, even if she was more of a mystery.
There were some things that I didn't like all the way through - would have liked more depth on Camilla's relationship with her dad, and sometimes Sam drove me a little nuts - but I understand why those things happened, so they didn't bothered me as much as they would have otherwise.
And though I loved the Melbourne setting, I think it could have been fleshed out a little more.
Bottom Line: I absolutely loved Life in Outer Space, it was a great reading experience and I totally want to thank the Vegan YA Nerds for turning me to this wonderful book. There should be more Contemporary YA like this.
