Review: Key Lime Sky by Al Hess

Key Lime Sky
by Al Hess

My Rating: 5 stars

Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: nb/m

Blurb:
An alien invasion hits the town of Muddy Gap, but a disgruntled pie aficionado is the only one who seems to remember it…

Denver Bryant’s passion for pie has sent him across Wyoming in search of the best slices. Though he dutifully posts reviews on his blog, he’s never been able to recreate his brief moment of viral popularity, and its trickling income isn’t enough to pay his rent next month.

Driving home from a roadside diner, Denver witnesses a UFO explode directly over his tiny town of Muddy Gap. When he questions his neighbors, it appears that Denver is the only person to have seen anything – or to care that the residents’ strange behavior, as well as a shower of seashell hail, might be evidence of something extraterrestrial. Being both non-binary and autistic, he’s convinced his reputation as the town eccentric is impeding his quest for answers. Frustrated, he documents the bizarre incidents on his failing pie blog, and his online popularity skyrockets. His readers want the truth, spurring him to get to the bottom of things.

The only person in town who takes him seriously is handsome bartender, Ezra. As the two investigate over pie and the possibility of romance, the alien presence does more than change the weather. People start disappearing. When Denver and Ezra make a run for it, the town refuses to let them leave. Reality is folding in on itself. It’s suddenly a race against time to find the extraterrestrial source and destroy it before it consumes not only Muddy Gap but everything beyond. Denver’s always been more outsider than hero, but he’s determined to ensure that a world with Ezra – and with pie – still exists tomorrow.

My Review

I received a free copy from the publisher through Netgalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

This was the book I didn’t know I needed. I spotted it on Kit’s blog when they did a post about 10 queer SFF books they were looking forward to. Their description of this book caught my eye as it mentioned an autistic main character. After getting diagnosed as autistic last year I’ve been reading more books with autistic main characters and so I wanted to give this book a try.

Key Lime Sky follows the point of view of Denver, xe is the only one who seems to have seen the UFO who flew and exploded above the small town of Muddy Gap. Then weird things start happening and Denver is trying to figure out what’s going on. Xe teams up with Ezra and eventually some other characters as well. This book has a bit of a creepy horror vibe with aliens, alien invasion and creepy stuff happening and it also has a lovely romance. I appreciated that while it could be creepy and has a bit of a horror vibe at times, it didn’t get too gruesome (except for one scene toward the end). It reminded me a bit of the Tremors movies, but then with more romance.

I loved the blend between an engaging plot that kept my attention as well as these nicer slower and cozier scenes with Ezra and Denver getting to know each other and growing close. The plot was well done and I liked how it kept feeling like there was progression and they were working towards figuring it all out. I kept wanting to read more and find out what was happening. I also liked the mentions of pie and Denver’s blog and how those topics were worked into the plot.

I really enjoyed this book. I read it during a time were not many books were keeping my attention, I was stressed, overwhelmed and tired and this book just was the perfect read during that time. I liked reading about Denver. The autistic representation is so well done and xe felt so relatable. And I really liked the romance with how Ezra was there for xem and how accepting he was of Denver. They hit some struggles in their relationship, but it was awesome seeing them figure it out. And it all felt very real too. They don’t always know how to handle things, they make mistakes, get stuck or want to give up, Denver has meltdowns and struggles with sensory sensitivities while trying to save the town. It just felt so real and raw.

To summarize: This was the book I didn’t know I needed. I might not have picked this one up if not for Kit mentioning this one their blog. This book kept my attention during a time were hardly any other books did while I was stressed and overwhelmed. I liked the plot and seeing Denver figure out what was going on. It could get a bit creepy at times, but it also has these lovely quiet romantic moments as well. I liked that blend. It also felt very real, relatable and raw. I liked reading about Denver and the autistic representation was so well done. I had a great time reading this book and I am so glad I decided to give this one a try.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.