Monday, January 20, 2014

Review: Alienated by Melissa Landers

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13574417-alienated
Alienated
(Alienated #1)
by Melissa Landers
Website | Twitter | Facebook

Publication Date: February 4th 2014
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pages: 352
ISBN: 9781423170280
Genre: Young Adult | Sci-Fi | Aliens
Source: Netgalley

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them.

Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.

But when Cara's classmates get swept up by anti-L'eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn't safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara's locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class.

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she's fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet. (Goodreads)
I was super excited to read Alienated, as I had heard SO many great things about the book. I haven’t only read a few books about Aliens at this point, so I was looking forward to seeing what the author had in store for me. This book definitely did not disappoint.

Cara Sweeney and her family are one of the first on Earth to host an L’eihr exchange student, Aelyx. In exchange, Cara is pretty much guaranteed a scholarship to the college of her choice, along with firsthand ‘alien’ information for her blog to help with her upcoming career as a journalist. Hosting Aelyx for a few months should be easy, right? Unfortunately things don’t go exactly as planned for Cara when people in her community form a group, HALO, to protest against the exchange students and the alliance that they propose.

The two main characters in the story are absolutely wonderful.  Cara was such an intelligent, sarcastic young lady. She took her role as host to Aelyx very seriously, even when it meant losing her friends and being shunned by everyone in her school and town.  Aelyx was extremely fascinating and mysterious. I love all of the information we discover about him throughout the book, and even in the end, I wanted to know so much more about him and where he is from. I love that Cara grows on Aelyx and he basically becomes a completely different person than we meet in the beginning of the book. These characters are also so great together. The story is told from both Cara and Aelyx’s points of view.  I loved this because it allows us to see inside of both characters minds.

The storyline for the book is super creative. Just imagine if there were other planets in the universe that wanted to exist with ours? How would our people react? I’m sure there would be a lot that would react the same way that the characters in the novel did. I found the book to be very well paced, it definitely hooked my attention and I was able to fly through the pages very quickly. There was a bit of suspense in the book as well, especially near the end which had me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what was going to happen next. Now that I’ve read this book, I would really love to explore more books with aliens as the main characters. I’m definitely hooked.

Overall; this book was an excellent read! I definitely recommend you checking it out as soon as you possibly can. I will be anxiously waiting to get my hands on the next book, Invaded, in February 2015!

4 comments:

  1. I've been reading a lot of fantastic reviews for this one lately and am thinking I might have to check it out! I especially love that the two MCs are wonderful -- sounds like a good use of dual POV.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ahh, you just messed with my willpower so much I think I might have to just go hide in a corner all night to get it back :) I really didn't plan on reading this. Absolutely not, because the synopsis sounds just SO not up my alley! But then again...out of the comfort zone is always a good thing, right? And you loved it, right? And oh my god, I can't buy any more books /start new series!!! Haha, okay I'll sort my willpower problems out now, but just know that your review was awesome!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fantastic review! I have to get my hands on this asap!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I want to read this so badly. And as you said the MCs are wonderful Oh yeah totally digging this! Great review!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by! :)