Author: Melissa Landers
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Release Date: February 4, 2014
Pages: 352
Format: eBook
Source: NetGalley
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction; Fantasy
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.
Well blow me down and call me a L'annabe because I'm the newest L'eihr lover in town! I'm not much for reading fantasy or alien love stories, but this book completely converted me and I now all I want is a hot, aloof alien I can teach human nature to. Alienated is your typical love story where boy meets girl, boy thinks girl has cooties, girl shows signs of being different from every other girl the boy has ever met, then undoubtedly, boy falls for girl. All of this is true in all its stereotypical fashion, except for the fact that I felt those butterflies in my stomach whenever I read about a gesture or a quote that would inch the story closee to the inevitable outcome that the two main characters were falling for each other.
Oh and Aelyx, I just loved him with all his alien-clone flaws. How could you not love a guy whose species is too repressed and cold to show any emotion, yet within a few short months from being on earth, discovers a passion in him he didn't know he possessed? How could you not love a guy that although Earth food repulsed him, still made the effort to taste test everything his host family on Earth prepared for him, even though it made him gag? And how about a guy that could not even tolerate human touch, because he was raised without any touch at all, but somehow manages to engage in a very hot and heavy making out session?
For all the above reasons and more, I absolutely loved this book. Besides my obvious obsession with Aelyx, and on a more serious note, I also enjoyed this book because it explores the human condition and how we can be so overly passionate about things, good or bad. How our emotions drive our needs and decisions more often than we'd like to admit. . How our prejudices against the unknown can drive us to do the most unthinkable things. It even sheds light on how our planet is immensely beautiful and how we must try to keep it from dying.
Melissa Landers did a superb job of capturing all this and translating it onto the pages of this book, all the while weaving it with an intense love story that I just cannot wait to follow when the sequel comes out. Alienated is definitely worth the read and promises lots of swoons and feels, the good kind.
This sounds like such a fun book! I am glad to hear that you enjoyed it so much. :)
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