Review: The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl (Melissa Keil)

Title: The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl
Series: standalone
Author: Melissa Keil (site)
Publisher: Peachtree Publishing / Hardie Grant Egmont
Release Date: April 1, 2016 / September 4, 2014
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Told: First Person (Alba), Present Tense
Content Rating: Older Teen (language, crude references, sensuality, underage drinking)
Format Read: Pbk & Hbk (purchased & publisher)
Find On: Goodreads
Purchase On: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
Summary:

Alba loves her life just as it is. She loves living behind the bakery and waking up in a cloud of sugar and cinnamon. She loves drawing comics and watching bad TV with her friends. The only problem is shes overlooked a few teeny details. Like, the guy she thought long gone has unexpectedly reappeared. And the boy who has been her best friend since forever has suddenly gone off the rails. Even her latest comic book creation is misbehaving. Also, the world might be ending-- which is proving to be awkward. As doomsday enthusiasts flock to idyllic Eden Valley, Albas life is thrown into chaos. Whatever happens next, its the end of the world as she knows it. But when it comes to figuring out her heart, Armageddon might turn out to be the least of her problems.

*          *          *

Review copy provided by publisher for an honest review. Thank you, Peachtree!

In a Sentence: A crudeish but sweet teen contemporary about best friends, the end of the world, and life after graduation.

Newly graduated from high school, Alba is excited to begin the next chapter of her life... Or is she? With her close group of friends making plans for their separate futures, Alba realizes that the life she lives and loves is about to drastically change. As she struggles to wrap her mind around this, a little-known cable TV "prognosticator" predicts The End of Days - and declares Alba's small town humanity's only point of salvation. Now with her quiet albeit currently in turmoil life flooded with hippies and crazies, she must work through her own personal end of the world and face her fears by confronting her past and finding the strength in herself to pursue her future.

This is a great story about graduation and what comes next. It can be scary, uncharted territory for many teens, and as one of those teens Alba was highly relatable as she struggled between wanting everything to stay the same and expanding her world to see what it had to offer. Luckily Alba had an amazing group of friends to encourage her, and although they were rather crude at times (in Eddie's case, all the time) they were supportive and understanding even as they began to pull away, moving on to new futures of their own. Add to the great cast of characters an easy writing style, charming small town setting, wacky end-of-the-world situation that included way too many naked people, and a sweet romance that had me grinning through the last few chapters, and this was a fun slice-of-life story about letting go of your fears and embracing the known and unknown to enjoy both while you can.

Illustrations: The US hardcover has chapterly illustrations by Mike Lawrence, which added even more playfulness to the story as they foreshadowed the chapter's mood - and most were pulled directly from the text itself, which was really fun. If you enjoy novels with a bit of art, definitely grab the American edition.

Conclusion: While there was a little too much language and innuendos for my personal taste, this was a fun and reflective story with a really sweet romance. Especially recommend for comic-loving graduates.

Scribble Rating: 

3 of 5 Scribbles