Interesting take on an alien invasion. This was pretty well-written. Good cast with well-developed characters and pretty unpredictable. Since it's light on "sci-fi" it will appeal to a fairly broad audience, although I suspect younger adults will like it most.

I really appreciate the free copy for review!!

Its a typical day on a typical neighborhood street.
It's summer so the entire neighborhood is outside - suddenly the sky opens up and the world is under attack.
Families are separated and scattered around the neighborhood, you're safe as long as you stay inside.

While this book was a fast and fun read, it was not simply aliens shooting people, this book highlighted the way people react to trauma.
And not just the trauma of an 'alien attack' the trauma that people face everyday, abuse, loss, betrayal, and how people react when they are forced to face these issues head on when their ability to leave is gone.
Fight or flight is no longer an option when you can't go outside.

Received a digital ARC of this book via NetGalley.

Alien-robot invasion occurs during a neighborhood block party. Invasion happens across the globe; aliens exterminating anyone outside. How long would you be able to survive inside, if you found safety?

Narrative told by multiple perspectives, with a mix of teens & adults, all in third person. Some graphicness due to robot killings and other violence. Some mentions of physical and verbal abuse to teens occur. Adultery is also a backstory of two characters.

Definitely get a War of the Worlds vibe.

LOVED THIS!!! Aliens and Ice Cream is 100% NOT my usual cup of tea. However I am so happy I stepped out of my comfort zone and gave it it chance. Delightfully different and unique. Highly entertaining!

Oh, nice, a proper indie find. Sure, the title sounded on yet another summer scorcher and the cover looked professionally done, but one never knows what to expect with these things. Nevertheless, the few reviews that there were seemed encouraging, so I checked it out and it turned out quite good. A tale of alien invasion placed in a microworld of sleepy suburbia. In fact, it starts off with a cook out rudely interrupted by homicidal space invaders and proceeds to tell a story of survival. Those remained after an initial purge are trapped, the aliens destroy anyone who goes outside, but leave those inside alone. Sounds reasonably doable for a while if one’s prepared for it, but if one isn’t…it can be a real challenge or even a nightmare. So essentially, despite all the extraterrestrial excitement, this is very much a character driven story and that’s precisely what makes it work, you get invested with the people and subsequently properly drawn into the story. The characters, much to author’s credit, work both young and older. There are basically only two generations at play here, the kids (all late teens with one exception) and the adults (their parents, aged appropriately and one unrelated old timer) and both are rendered compellingly and believably, from brainy shy nerd to tedious alpha male to an abusive alcoholic. The narrative is very dynamic, plenty of dialogue and action, paced well, this book speeds by. And the ending…well, it’s sequel ready. Frankly, I was hoping for more of a standalone, which is my preferred format, but then again I’d probably read book two if only to find out how the characters fare. I mean, to be fair, the author did give the novel a more or less proper and even epistemically unsupported optimistic ending, but it’s entirely too primed for the next installment, seems no one can resist the financial appeal of having a series. But at any rate, as a first or first and only, this was a very entertaining enjoyable read. Recommended for science fiction, alien and survival stories fans. Thanks Netgalley.

A look at invasion sci fi from the small end of the lens.
This is a rare find in sci-fi, a book that doesn't pretend to have a grand narrative or space opera heroics as the aliens begin their assault on Earth.
Instead, the heroism is of the everyday kind, and watches what a small group of suburban American families gathered for a bbq would do when seemingly invulnerable killing machines descend on the world.
It doesn't go beyond the boundaries of two or so houses. It focuses on three or four teenagers, their siblings and parents, and I enjoyed every second of it. This is 'reality' sci-fi at its best. Because sometimes seeing the small scale makes the stories much more poignant.
Recommended to fans of Sheri S. Tepper, or Becky Chambers, or even fans of massive sci-fi for a quiet break inbetween the drama of space fights.
Even reminiscent of Koontz.

My curiosity was aroused, while browsing on NetGalley, by this title, which suggested a comedy, in contrast with the cover image, which has a bleak 1950s sci-fi look. In fact it’s a genius mash-up of post-apocalyptic alien invasion thriller, domestic drama, YA coming-of-age teen romance with some pretty gruesome horror scenes. I read the summary and had to find out how it all worked out, and ended up gripped and loving it.

A summer Sunday afternoon in an unspecified North American town, and the families on a quiet suburban street are preparing for a street barbecue. Suddenly the sky cracks open and millions of black eggs come pouring through, and proceed to annihilate anyone caught outside with laser beams, sucking up the remains. The survivors who managed to get inside discover that as long as they stay indoors, they are safe, but that the invasion is global and no one is coming to help.

Geeky 18 year old Matty Cutler, whose biggest problem that day was how to ask out the cute girl from down the road, finds himself trapped in a tree house with his younger sister and over-achieving schoolmate Heather, with no food or water, and facing the alien death rays if they step outside. As the days roll on, with tensions rising and hope fading, three families will have to work together if any of them are to survive.

This was surprisingly well written, perfectly paced, and had some of the best characters you love to hate that I’ve come across in years. In fact most of the adults are such a**eh**es that you can’t wait to see them become alien-lunch.
There is some rather disturbing domestic abuse, and not between characters you’d expect, a marriage in trouble, and some sweet and not at all annoying teenagers with way more sense and courage than their parents. It’s definitely not a comedy.

I quite like EOTWAWKI fiction, but the endings are rarely done well, as there’s no way of delivering a truly happy ending, so things are either left open for a sequel or are all depressing with everyone dead. Fortunately this cleverly found a way of ending on a hopeful note, with the author’s note hinting there is more to come. I liked the way the humans manage to fight back, and yes, there is ice-cream. This is very soft sci-fi which suited me just fine, best not to think too much about the technicalities. I will definitely be keen to read a sequel.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc which allowed me to give an honest review. Aliens and Ice-Cream is available now.

War of the Worlds, but instead of focusing on just one surviving family, Aliens and Ice Cream shares the viewpoints of multiple families in a small neighborhood. Having this many POV characters in such a small story is a challenge, but Mike Rogers pulls it off well for most of the story. 4/5 stars, and may also appear to fans of Stranger Things due to the style of having the adult and children/teenagers tackling the same problem in their own ways (no paranormal elements, though).

I couldn't put this book down, I had to know what was going to happen. The characters were well written and relatable.