When Julia’s dad was abducted by aliens, everything changed. He became obsessed with needing to know why they chose him and what their message means. Julia wasn’t always a believer, but why would her dad lie? The alien abduction may have been the final straw for her parent’s marriage, but it only made her relationship with her dad stronger. It’s why she’s excited to attend a UFO festival in Roswell, New Mexico. Julia’s mom isn’t happy about it, and neither is her best friend, but Julia is all for it. She’ll finally get to learn more about aliens, but the longer she’s in Roswell, the more things aren’t adding up. What if her dad wasn’t really abducted by aliens? What does this mean for them?
This was an absolutely wonderful read. We follow Julia as she discovers that her dad isn’t perfect. In fact, he’s only human! We spend a lot of time with Julia and her father, David. What’s important here is that David believes that he was abducted by aliens, and it’s changed his life. It was the final straw in his relationship with Julia’s mom, and he went from a reliable job to struggling to make ends meet. While so much in his life has changed, he and Julia have continued to have a solid relationship. They truly care about each other, but Julia is also at that age where she starts to learn that her parents aren’t perfect. They’re just like us!
We watch Julia struggle with balancing the belief in UFOs with her friends. She turned down a vacation to Hawaii and sees her friend poke fun at her dad and how he believes he was abducted by aliens. She also makes a new friend whose parents are also believers, but he is not! I actually really liked her new friend, Josh. I understand why he’s irritated that his parents are such believers, but he slowly comes around as he and Julia slowly become friends. I like that they become each other’s support system as the kids of people that others find strange thanks to their alien abduction stories.
One of the things I loved about this book is that we get to see Julia come around when she starts to realize that things aren’t adding up. The details of her dad’s abduction don’t fully make sense, and he seems to be adding new details as time goes on. However, she also sees that he truly believes he was abducted by aliens. While the UFO festival isn’t what she thought it was going to be, it does turn out to be an excellent bonding experience for her and her dad, and I love that.
No comments:
Post a Comment