Alba loves her life just as it is.
She loves living behind the bakery, and waking up in a cloud of sugar and cinnamon. She loves drawing comics and watching bad TV with her friends.
The only problem is she’s overlooked a few teeny details:
Like, the guy she thought long gone has unexpectedly reappeared.
And the boy who has been her best friend since forever has suddenly gone off the rails.
And even her latest comic-book creation is misbehaving.
Also, the world might be ending – which is proving to be awkward.
As Doomsday enthusiasts flock to idyllic Eden Valley, Alba’s life is thrown into chaos. Whatever happens next, it’s the end of the world as she knows it. But when it comes to figuring out her heart, Armageddon might turn out to be the least of her problems.
Find The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl on Goodreads
WAYRBA shortlist, Older Readers (2015), Gold Inky Award nominee (2015),
CBCA Book of the Year (Older Readers) Shortlist (2015)
Buy The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl at Fishpond, Booktopia, Dymocks,
Bookworld, Angus and Robertson, Amazon, and at all good bookstores.
“The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl is every bit as nerdy, goofy and dramatic as Melissa Keil’s Ampersand Project-winning book Life in Outer Space. It is also every bit as loveable, touching and addictive…delightfully quirky and oh-so-much fun, a tangible sense of place paired with Alba’s strong voice make Keil’s new book a total hit.” – Junior Books & Publishing
“A classic coming of age story, told in wry and amusing language by Alba, a girl on the cusp of adulthood…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.” – Read Plus
“This is a story about embracing change and understanding where fear of change comes from. None of the characters want to be vulnerable, so there’s a lot of hiding behind big personalities. It’s fun, in a goofy, nerdy kind of way.” – Readings
“A sweet, light-hearted entertaining story that had me laughing out loud at times as well as remembering that stage between high school and adulthood when life seemed so full of possibilities. Alba, Grady and their friends are funny and endearing and the chaos in Eden Valley as the end of the world approaches (maybe) is a great backdrop to the friends’ questions about what their future might hold.” – Kids’ Book Review
“The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl has cemented Melissa Keil onto my favourite author list….the characters are wonderful and I wish I lived in Eden Valley so I could know them, spend time with them, be friends with them.” – Lily Reads Books
“I could not put this book down – it hooked me from the get go. I loved Alba and her circle of friends and the richly authentic narrative voice that allowed me to connect with an engaging and worthy protagonist.” – Rachael Craw, author of Spark
“A feel-good story with apple strudel, comic books, great friends, and one very adorable, swoon-worthy boy.” – The Tales Compendium
Melissa Keil 
Hey Melissa, I absolutely love everything about your books and you just might be my favourite author at the moment. I’m just wondering whether you have another book coming out soon because I can’t wait to read more of your work!! Thanks, Brydie xx
Hi Brydie! Thanks so much for the lovely message – my new book, The Secret Science of Magic, will be out in early 2017.
Hi Melissa! I just finished reading the Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl for the second time and It’s definitely one of my favourite books of all time 🙂 I wanted to laugh and go and cry all at the same time. You did such an amazing on everything it’s so awesome and I’m pretty sure it was this book that got me into comics ^-^
Thankyou so much!!!!
Hi Annalise! Thank you so much, I love hearing that Cinnamon Girl sparked an interest in comics! I hope you’re finding some awesome stuff to read 🙂
This book was so much fun. I would really love to get a print for my wall of the cover that is similar to Wonder Woman! It’s a U.S. Edition. Is there a place to but one??
Hey there, thanks very much! The amazing U.S. cover art was created by Mike Lawrence – I believe you can buy a print via his website: http://mlawrenceillustration.com/
Hi Melissa,
I just finished reading your book (cinnamon girl) and it was so amazing! I couldn’t put it down from the moment I started reading. I’m Australian and I love baking and vintage dresses, so Alba was such a great heroine to read about. I’m going to buy my own copy as soon as I can and I so hope there is a sequel or a spin off. Just wanted to say Thank You.
Thank you so much Evie, it’s wonderful to get such lovely feedback! I’m so pleased you enjoyed Cinnamon Girl 🙂
Oh my gosh!!!!!!!! The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl has got to be in my top 5 favourite books. (Some of them are TFIOS, If I stay and stuff like that so you can see how much I LOVE this book!) I am Australian and I love vintage kind of dresses that Alba wears, I also love drawing wonder woman and Marvel superheroes. (Preferably the girls though because they are the best!) I am also into baking and my uncle and auntie run a bakery. As soon as I started reading I was like….. OMG I found my twin!!!!!
I MUST ask you this:
Have you written a sequel to this book?
IF NOT MELISSA YOU NEEEEEEED TOO BECAUSE I LOVE THIS BOOK TOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!
That will be my dying wish. (Well maybe I am kind of exaggerating a bit on that being my dying wish. When I think about it, my dying wish would probably be to travel all around Europe…. but that’s a whole other story.
Thank you,
lily xxxxx
(Alba’s twin sister)
Hi Lily – thanks very much, that’s so great to hear! To answer your question as vaguely as I can – I’m not working on a sequel, but I don’t think I’m quite done with any of my characters as yet. Stay tuned 🙂
Hey Melissa!
I just read Cinnamon Girl today and I just wanted to say that I absolutely LOVED it! I read so many books and it’s not very often that I come across one written by an Australian author in an Australian setting with Australian characters that say Australian things (I don’t think I’ve ever said the word ‘Australian’ so many times in one sentence haha). I just love that you’ve written a YA book that isn’t afraid to be from Australia and that’s one of the things that really stood out to me.
Of course, I loved the amazing cover, your gorgeous writing style, and the hilarious and lovable characters as well. Once I picked Cinnamon Girl up, I couldn’t put it down (honestly, the only time I put down the book while reading it was to gaze adoringly at the cover) and I’m really excited to get my hands on a copy of Life in Outer Space so I can read that as well!
I really hope you continue to do well. I’ll be telling all my friends about Cinnamon Girl (they’re big readers) and hopefully they’ll all love the story as much as I do (I’m sure they will 🙂 ).
Anyway, thanks for sharing your books with us! You’re a mega inspiration 🙂
Thanks so much for the lovely feedback! Hope you enjoy Life in Outer Space too 🙂
OMG! The cover is awesome!
After reading “Life in outer place” last year, I couldn’t wait to read “The adventures of cinnamon girl”.
I loved reading every page of this book!
It was adorable, perfect and just full of awesomeness!
Cheers for Melissa for getting another successful novel in the shelves of every library and book shop.
I love your writing style and stylish scenes.
Wish you the best for further writing.
Can’t wait for you to write another book!
Thank you very much, glad you enjoyed them!
I have a question for you. This a long shot….you probably forgot, anyways, when our school book club from Ballarat High School met you at the writer’s festival last year, you met a blonde curly haired guy named Kyle. You said that you’ll add him in one of the books you’re writing, not a leading character but a side character. I couldn’t really spot him in the book but, if you did put him somewhere in there could you please tell me?
Thank you sooo much.
Kyle would be happy to know
Cheers!
Hey there, of course I remember Kyle (I think I might even have a photo of your school group on my author Facebook page!) I have to admit I TOTALLY forgot that I said that back at Melbourne Writer’s Festival, but now of course I remember and am feeling very sad that I forgot Kyle’s mention. But – I’m working on my third book now, and PROMISE I’ll include him somewhere – he just might have to wait a little while, cos it’s going to take me a little while to write :)) Say hi from me, and thanks again for reading Cinnamon Girl!!
sounds awesome excited
I finished Cinnamon Girl and absolutely LOVED it! I am planning on reading Life in Outer Space soon as well. It was a great book one of my favourites!
Thank you very much, so pleased you liked it! Really hope you enjoy Life in Outer Space too 🙂
Hi Melissa! I just wanted to say that I loved Life in Outer Space and Cinnamon Girl. I actually interned at Peachtree Publishers, so I got to read Cinnamon Girl before it came out. I read it start to finish in 5 and a half hours. I looked on Amazon, but it was only out for the Kindle. Hard copies coming out soon?
By the way, Camilla (LiOS) is one of the best characters I’ve read in a LONG time (and I read a lot). She reminded me so much of one of my best friends, that I got her the book for her birthday.
Thanks!
Thanks so much for the message, lovely to hear from a Peachtree ‘insider’! And I’m so pleased you liked both the books! The paperback of Cinnamon Girl is out here in Australia now – not sure when the US edition is scheduled, but fingers crossed it’ll be soon. Stay tuned 🙂
Hi Melisa,
I just finished reading Life in Outer Space and loved how it was written. You completely nailed writing from a teenage point of view. I loved it so much that I’m going to go and buy it, but I cant find anywhere that sells it in a hardback format. Is there a hardback version of Life in Outer space or is it just paper back? if not will there be a hardback format in the future for Life in Outer Space and The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl?
Thankyou so much!
Hi Grace – thanks for the message, so pleased to hear you loved Life in Outer Space! The hardback edition for LiOS is available in the US and Canada, but you can order it online via the usual sources (Amazon etc – check out the Life in Outer Space page on my website!) The paperback Australian edition is available in all good bookstores in Australia. Thanks for reading – hope you enjoy Cinnamon Girl when she arrives in September 🙂