The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl by Melissa Keil

Hardie Grant Egmont, 2014. ISBN 9781742978307
(Age 13+) Highly recommended. Alba lives in Eden Valley. She and her friends have finished high school and the future stretches in front of them. Alba loves working in the bakery but she also loves drawing comics. She doesn't know what she wants to do - stay and work in the bakery or go to Uni. Grady, her best friend forever, is urging her to make up her mind, but things are not so simple. Then Doomsday people start to arrive in Eden Valley believing that it is the place where the only survivors will be and her life is even more chaotic. Worse still, she can't get her comic book character right.
The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl is a classic coming of age story, told in wry and amusing language by Alba, a girl on the cusp of adulthood. Now that school is over, Alba is faced with change, change that she is not sure about. Her best friend Grady knows where he is headed, training to be a lawyer, and believes that Alba should go to Design School. However working in the bakery does seem like a safe and comfortable alternative to Alba who is not sure that her portfolio was good enough to get in. The group of friends that she has had throughout her schooling all know what they want, and their stories fill out the background of the small town, beset by strangers believing that the end of the world is near. When Daniel, a friend from the past, who is now in a TV show, comes to the Valley, Alba is not sure about her love life either and has to work that out too.
A fabulous cover is sure to entice the reader in. It shows the quirky comic book character of Cinnamon Girl and unlike many covers is true to the personality of the character. Each chapter is headed with a running figure of Cinnamon Girl and this adds to the fun of the story.
This is an exceptionally engrossing, well told story of a clever teen girl and her group of friends working out what they want from life, friendship and love.
Pat Pledger