It's no surprise at all to me that I loved Key Lime Sky - I've been a huge fan of Al Hess since reading Mazarin Blues, and every one of his books has been a winner for me since.

In Key Lime Sky, we get the fantastic rep that I've come to know and love from Hess, this time with non-binary, autistic, Cherokee, plus-size, pansexual, Latino, Black, trans-femme, and more. The main characters are also stunningly illustrated by Hess, another of my favourite features of his books.

Plot-wise, this was a great ride. A twist on the classic pop-culture, remote-town USA, alien invasion story, Key Lime Sky combines weird and wonderful happenings in a mystery plot that keeps you guessing, filled with almost psychedelic imagery, and a heck of a lot of delicious pie. Like seriously, I'm craving some so much!

The writing was witty, introspective, exciting, moving, and filled with relatable emotion especially for those who see themselves in Hess's characters, like I do. Within a wild sci-fi plot sits the real focal point of the story - human relationships, overcoming past trauma, trust, and accepting & defending one's own experience.

As always, I highly recommend Al Hess's work (all of it!) and hope that you'll also give Key Lime Sky a go when it's released in August this year. I've already pre-ordered it! I received this ARC from Angryrobotbooks directly and on Netgalley but as always these opinions are my own, honest, and freely given. Thank you to Al Hess for another wonderful book, and for access to this ARC!

In typical Al Hess fashion, Key Lime Sky is an enjoyable, heart-warming delight, with an added sprinkling of SFF wonder. However, in some ways, I did find this slightly weaker than his previous novels. Although it was still an utter joy to read, and I found Denver's POV to be really engaging, I would have liked more exploration of the side characters and the world itself. Outside of Denver's interiority, and some glimpses of Ezra's background, there were a few underdeveloped aspects of the tale. That said, I had a wonderful time reading this - and it made me want to procure and eat some pie (though I'm slightly in awe of the Alphabet Pie - I can't believe that, upon Googling, it turns out to be real).
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

Utterly charming and delightful. A story of kind yet socially excluded people learning their true courage in the face of a UFO invasion.

From the blurb, the cover and the fun pun title I felt I had a good chance of really liking this book. And I really did! But it was so much more than I expected. This book delivered all the cheesy sci-fi I was hoping for alongside the small town American diner vibes, and I discovered so many flavours of pie I want to try (pistachio pie! Why have I never had this before?). It absolutely nails the nostalgic feeling from sci-fi b-movie, UFO invasion, area 51 that I wanted from this book. The atmosphere is perfect!

However, alongside this core narrative of the alien invasion of the small town of Muddy Gap, we also have so much more. We have a beautiful love story of two people who are kind, curious, passionate and socially excluded in their town. We have a found family where people support each other and see the good in each other in a time of great peril. We have heroes who challenge the stereotypes of people you’d typically see in alien invasion stories and show how valuable and strong people are.

It was fascinating seeing Denver’s perspective as the peril increases. Denver gets overwhelmed but sees patterns and details that others miss. Xe is frequently treated as odd by some of the townsfolk and when xe tries to help and warn others of the UFO invasion xe is ignored. Xe is continually called ‘Professor Pie’ by the townsfolk and is frustrated when people won’t call xem Denver (a name that is special to xem for a really personal and meaningful reason). Denver’s character growth is just phenomenal throughout this story as xe reacts to the challenge of the alien and also learns to open up and trust others.

Ezra is such a wonderful romantic interest, so kind and supportive. It was such a sweet romance where two people just find such joy and support in each other.

How has this book managed to pack so much into not a huge amount of pages? I loved this and I’m already thinking about friends I want to get this book for who I think will find it really meaningful.

I read an eARC of this book so thank you to Al Hess, Angry Robot books and Net Galley.

Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for allowing me to read an arc of this book.

Al Hess is one of my favourite authors and I was so excited to get to read an arc of Key Lime Sky. I knew the premise of the book but even knowing a few details hadn’t prepared me for how mind bending and exciting this story would be. I enjoyed it so much and it was so different to any other book I’ve read.
It was also so nice to read a book with a nonbinary character who uses any pronouns including neo pronouns which xe prefers. I really connected to Denver with how xe often felt like xe didn’t fit in with other people or was a burden, and I really liked getting both perspectives on that. I also really enjoyed the romance between Denver and Ezra and reading about Denver’s blog and love of pie. The alien storyline was woven throughout in a really thoughtful way and all of the theory behind how it occurred made a lot of sense. I don’t want to give too much away, so I think I’ll leave it there, but I highly recommend this book!