Of Jenny and the Aliens

by Ryan Gebhart

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Candlewick Press and LibraryThing for this opportunity.

When I started reading this book, I immediately hated it. The characters are all jerks. I think if I met a single one of them in real life, the kindest reaction I would have would be a serious eye roll and getting as far away as possible.

Yeah, I know, I'm pretty judgmental.

But I kept reading the story. Just because I don't like the characters as people, doesn't mean they weren't really well written. They read off the page like a typical group of high schoolers. There is definitely some sexuality and some swearing, but it feels real and like it belongs.

Of Jenny and the Aliens is a story about a boy who is so in love with a girl that he would risk intergalactic war just to make her love him loyally. Reading that description, it might sound like there are a lot of epic battles or sci-fi scenes in this book, but there aren't. At the end of the day, this is a teen romance. These are average people, living an average life, with the small exception that there's about to be a war, and aliens have contacted earth. It's the story of a guy who falls in love with a girl who is "too good" for him, who doesn't understand him fully, and doesn't want to hurt him either.

This is a book about love, desperation, and growing up.

At the end of the day, it wasn't bad.

Do I think I would read this book again? No. Again, this is related to the fact that the characters were just horrible people. But Derek definitely changed and grew in himself throughout the book. It was well written, and I would read more from this author.

A more detailed review appears on my blog.