Love and Other Alien Experiences by Kerry Winfrey | ARC Review

Title: Love and Other Alien Experiences

Author: Kerry Winfrey

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Published: July 11th, 2017

Format: e-ARC via Netgalley

Rating: 5 stars

 

I’m never going outside again.

Mallory hasn’t left the house in sixty-seven days–since the day her dad left. She attends her classes via webcam, rarely leaves her room (much to her brother’s chagrin), and spends most of her time watching The X-Files or chatting with the always obnoxious BeamMeUp on New Mexico’s premier alien message board.

But when she’s shockingly nominated for homecoming queen, her life takes a surprising turn. She slowly begins to open up to the world outside. And maybe if she can get her popular jock neighbor Brad Kirkpatrick to be her homecoming date, her classmates will stop calling her a freak.

In this heartwarming and humorous debut, Mallory discovers first love and the true meaning of home–just by taking one small step outside her house.

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I was lucky enough to get an e-ARC of this on Netgalley, and let me tell you: I loved it. I also had the honor of interviewing the author herself, which will be right here.

Note: This review is spoiler-free!

We get to be inside the head of the awesome protagonist, Mallory. She has anxiety disorder with agoraphobic tendencies and because of this, she hasn’t left the house in months. She’s self-conscious, sarcastic, and my new favorite.

There’s nothing better than being in the head of the right protagonist, and her voice was so amusing to read from. Her sarcastic but good-natured comments had me laughing again and again. What I especially love about her is that her disorders aren’t fixed overnight. They’re things that Mallory experiences throughout the entirety of the novel and will in the future.

“You try to leave your house when leaving your house feels like having eight heart attacks while your insides turn inside out.”

In terms of the other characters, I loved them all, too. My absolute favorite being her brother, Lincoln. Talk about #siblinggoals. He was such a sweet little puppy and he absolutely needs his own book. Speaking of little puppies, Brad Kirkpatrick is the sweetest jock ever. He’s such a nice, kind, and wholesome person and, oh look, I’m swooning.

Speaking of swooning? The romance! *fans self*. Those Kirkpatrick boys have set a new standard for book boyfriends, ladies and gentlemen, and let me tell you, it is high.

Notice I said boys. You guys know my stance on love triangles – not my favorite. But you can hardly call this romance a love triangle. I won’t say much, but it’s really clear who the true love interest is and I absolutely love him. And on a side note: the banter in this book had me grinning the entire way through.

While I loved the romance, it wasn’t the main plot, which I really appreciated. At the heart of this story, Mallory is just trying to figure herself out. Trying to open herself up to the world. It’s beautiful. And hilarious.

“‘So you want to launch this rocket?’ It takes me a second to realize that this isn’t some weird sexual euphemism.”

The writing pulled me into the story immediately. Winfrey’s words are addictive and I was so upset when I got to the end because I needed more of it. I am crossing my fingers that she writes ten more books in the future.

While the ending was a little predictable, I didn’t mind in the slightest, and I enjoyed it all the same!

I read the whole thing in just a few hours because I just couldn’t get enough! So yes. I highly recommend Love and Other Alien Experiences. Especially if you’re a fan of Under Rose-Tainted Skies!

Are you guys planning on picking up Love and Other Alien Experiences? Have I convinced you? Do you need more Kirkpatrick brothers like me?? Tell me in the comments! 🙂

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P.S. I interviewed the author of this lovely book, which you can check out here!