Alienated

Author: Melissa Landers
Series: Alienated #1
Genre: Sci-Fi, Dystopian, Romance
Release Date: February 4, 2014

Summary: 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.

Review: Right after finishing this book, I had originally ranked it as a 3 1/2 stars, but after a few days of consideration, I bumped it up to 4.

So if you didn't feel like reading the summary above, here is an abbreviated version. Alienated is about how another planet with lifeforms similar to those of us humans has made contact and bargained with us. In exchange for the cure for cancer they want to do a foreign exchange student program . . . I guess it's more of an alien exchange program but whatever. Anyway, 3 aliens come down and in exchange, 3 humans are sent to their planet. The book focuses mainly on those of Cara (human) and Aelyx (alien).  I figured this would be an alien/human love story . . . but then my thoughts turned towards . . .

Any who!! Cara (our lovely MC) is dating Eric (who happens to be avidly against the alien exchange program . . . shocker!) and has Tori as a best friend. Let me just tell you that I loved Tori from the first moment we met her!! Her snooty/sassy attitude was such a great comedic relief when the material started getting a little heavier later on in the book! 

After Aelyx comes down to earth and exchanges with Cara's older brother (Troy) things really started to pick up for me (obviously). The casual interactions between Cara and Aelyx left me desperately wanting more and more and devouring this book in just a few short hours. Landers did an amazing job of developing their relationship throughout the book. I enjoyed just about everything that happened between Aelyx and Cara. The only thing I wasn't a big fan of was how Aelyx pronounces her name Cah-ra. For some odd reason I had the most difficult time reading that particular word and I felt that a super smart alien should have been able to pronounce her name better . . . in my humble opinion.

At the end I was left feeling . . . honestly I'm not exactly sure. I didn't not  like the ending, and I understand that this is part of a series, but I just felt that I still had some unanswered questions that should have been answered . . . if that makes any sense?!

Ugh and that ending!! After first reading/finishing this and realizing that I had approximately another year before the second book came out, I looked something like,

Overall, I did really enjoy the different concept and the plot of the book. I'm still growing into the whole sci-fi genre but Alienated  seemed to hit the spot. There was the perfect balance of alien/human interaction with some comedic relief scattered in all the right places. I'll definitely be reading this book again, and more thoroughly, to more fully appreciate it though!