Life In Outer Space is written by Melissa Keil who is an Australian writer and Life In Outer Space is her very first YA book. It's really rare (for me at least) to read a Young Adult novel by an Australian writer and I was pleasantly surprised when I picked it up and found it was written by an Australian author. 

After reading so many books written by British and American authors, I was finally able to fully relate to places and circumstances the characters encountered (such as Brighton Beach and trams),

Cover

So, starting with the very first thing you notice when you read the book. The cover is what drew me to the book initially. It was bright, colourful and eye catching. I loved how the 'life in outer space' title was accentuated by the fact the characters were sitting well away from each other, connected by a wire coming from their computers. It was beautifully designed and I loved it. 

Idea 

The idea behind the story isn't extremely new. Geeky guy meets fun girl and falls in love with her. Pretty basic. However, the way Melissa put her own twist on it made it stand out from all the other cliche books because it was cute, entertaining and extremely sweet. 

The book also includes a lot of gaming and horror movie references which I did not understand at all. In fact, it nearly made me put the book down after I had started because I found myself lost. I do not know anything about Word Of Warcraft, horror movies or anything Star Wars related. Don't get me wrong, I think all those things are cool but I've never been particularly interested.

Anyway, the gamers and the horror and star wars movie fans are going to love this one because it is PACKED with references. As for the others who aren't so much into those things, you'll be a little confused but it's worth reading. 

Despite not liking and getting confused at all those references, I found it made the book more authentic and believable as it was clearly stated Sam is an absolute geek (an adorable, absolute geek.) 

Plot 

The plot was pretty simple. Geeky guy cruising through life with his best friends at his side. He's mostly happy with his life until....wait for it...a new, pretty girl comes and flips things upside down. 

We've all read these types of stories before. 

But, like I said in the idea portion above, the twist Melissa put on it made it stand out from the other boy meets girl stories I've read. Camilla and Sam's relationship was sweet and not overly cliche, especially because of the geeky references throughout the book. Even though Melissa's plot wasn't unique, she made it unique, which is the reason I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. 

Characters

Sam is the main character in the book. He is geeky, kind, caring and oblivious. And cute. 

I loved how Sam's character changed. First, when we meet him, he's pretty closed off to new people. The people he interacts the most with are his friends and his mother. However, when Camilla barges into his life, we see him opening up, although he wasn't too friendly when they met. We see him widening his friend circles, spending more time being social, sharing, supporting his friends more and it's quite nice to see how he grows as a person. 

Camilla is the other main character in the book. She's friendly, cool and a secret geek too. 

I love how she and Sam bond over their mutual interests, how she forces herself into his life in the most endearing way possible, how she cares about him and I love how their relationship grows. I love their friendship and the way they look out for each other, help each other through the difficult times and come out on top...together. It's quite heart-warming. 

Life In Outer Space is sweet, heart-warming, adorable story of how two people go from strangers, to friends to finally...more. It's definitely worth a read if you're a romantic at heart. And if not...read it anyway. It'll convert you.