REVIEW: Alienated (Alienated #1) by Melissa Landers

Alienated by Melissa Landers

My rating: 

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. 

"The simple truth is most people can't manage total freedom. They make poor use of it.

I buddy read this book with a couple of my girl friends I met here on gaoodreads and two who have finished earlier don't really like this book. One hated it more than the other. Hehe. (Hi Cam and Mel!) I was so expecting to actually hate this really. The first line of this book was enough to make me cringe and tell myself "oh no! what the hell did I just start reading??!. Surprisingly, I didn't hate this book. I ended up finishing it earlier than normal.

HOW IT BEGINS

Winning. Cara Sweeney had made it her business, and business was good. Honor Society president? Check. Young Leader Award? Check. State debate champion two years running? Double check. And when the title of valedictorian had eluded her, she'd found a way to snag that, too.

THE GIST

"No application. Every high school submitted its top candidate, and the L'eihrs took it from there. You'll never guess why they picked you.".

Cara Sweeney was handpicked by the L'eihrs to be a foreign exchange student. She gets to visit the planet of the L'eihrs, but for her to be able to do that, her family must host a L'eihr exchange student first.

"The ambassador who'll stay with your family sounds just like you - a top student even by L'eihr standards, which is saying a lot.."

There were three L'eihr students that were sent on a sort of ambassador role to learn more about Earth. One was sent to the US which was Aelyx (weird name by the way), the other was a girl (who I keep on forgetting the name) was sent to France, and the other guy, Eron, was sent to China. Can I just immediately that I fell hate at first sight with Aelyx. He was a freakin' alien douche! DAEMON ALL THE WAY! (If you've read Jennifer Armentrout's Lux series... You'd know who I'm talking about)

The government agreed to this intergalactic student exchange, but of course a lot of people were against this. And these people terrorise Cara by dropping scary notes in her locker and well threatening her and her family in general.

And I found this really stupid.

I mean why would they pick on her and her family? They weren't the one who made the exchange possible anyways, it was the government. Why not persecute the government? She agreed because basically she was volunteered without her knowing. They should have bullied the principal instead. Cara and her family didn't contact these aliens and say "HEY WHY DON'T YOU COME OVER AND STAY IN OUR HOUSE FOR A WHILE". Nooo. None of that happened.

I am so sorry. I got way over my head with that. Okay, back to the gist.

So now, Cara doesn't have friends. She and her boyfriend split up (very convenient) because of the alien thing and her best friend, didn't want to be with her for the same reason. I know that even if I don't give out spoilers you guys would probably be able to guess what happens from here...

Yes. Cara found an unlikely ally with Aelyx. She was starting to understand how the L'eihr society works and was starting to.. well like Aelyx.. and we totally didn't see that coming... *smirks*

Anyways... But is Aelyx really an ally, or does he have an ulterior motive.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The cover was pretty interesting in my opinion. But I probably, wouldn't have picked this book up on my own. This was the book of the month for the reading group I am in. One of my friends read this first and she didn't have a good reaction towards the book so I had pretty low expectations. And I think that's a good way to go into this book.

Lower your expectations. You won't hate it too much.

MEET THE CHARACTERS

Cara: Like I said, that first line she said on the first chapter, threw me off. She was confident, I'll give her that. But.. But... She was a cliche. Smart. Pretty. Perfect. Has a good boyfriend (that turns into a douche... typical) and a good friend??? (at first...). She was also the type of smart girl that does and say stupid things. Eeeh?? Meeeh.

Aelyx: He was so effective in making me hate him the first time I read of him. I was expecting a swoonworthy one *cough*DAEMON BLACK*cough*, but he wasn't. Like Cara, he was a cliche. He was cold at first. Handsome. Smart. Athletic. Mehh. But there was something about him that I didn't warm to at all. I didn't find anything redeemable about him at all. I have only read 2 YA alien book and both of them I liked the male lead character (Daemon from The Lux Series. If you haven't read this.. what the hell have you been doing with your life??! Just kidding!! And the other is John from I am Number Four) so I was expecting to sort of like this one, but sadly... Aelyx was just meeeh.

THINGS I LIKED

- It was a page turner. I finished this book very quick. I'm slow reader nowadays so when I say that I read a book in two days... That is saying something. It was easy to read.

- The cover I guess. The cover was pretty decent.

- I liked how the parents weren't missing in action in this book. Cara's parents were present in the story. I liked how they were involved with their kid. Not like most of the fictional parents on YA books who are almost always absent throughout the book.

- Surprisingly, I liked the concept of the L'eihrs. I think that it could have been explored more.

WHAT I DISLIKED

- The story development was pretty predictable. But like I said on my what I liked part, it still kept me reading even if it was predictable.

- I thoroughly dislike female characters you go out of their way to describe how unbelievably goodlooking the male character is. And this happened in this book. I think it has happened quite a few times and it had my eyes rolling.

- The motivations of the people in this book are stupid. Like for example, Cara agreed because of her blog. She think she'll get more hits now that she could do a first hand report on what L'eihrs are like. I would have thought she agreed because of the help they extended to curing her mum. This is not a spoiler, but the L'eihrs provided Earth the cure for cancer. Cara's mum has it so I initially thought she was going to do it because of that. But no, it wasn't that. Then there were the stupid school kids who antagonizes Cara. I don't get why they bully her! I don't get that at all. It's not like she had a choice in the first place. She was chosen. Why didn't anyone bother to explain that to people? Why?

- Cara was a smart, stupid person. I really disliked her character in so many fucking ways. I already mentioned she was as cliched as you could get. But then all those decisions she made... *shakes head* I cannot even. Especially towards the end when she made the choice. I cannot fucking even. *shakes head* I cannot even believe she would do that to be honest.

- None of the characters were likeable. I feel that the only people I liked in this book were Cara's parents. The rest were meeeh or annoying as fuck. And I would also like to mention that I really really hate the boyfriend and best friend. Seriously???? Seriously??? I think what happened to them were really unnecessary. It sort of added an irrelevant addition to the story. And it made me really angry. Arrrg! I think I may have hated them more than I hated Aelyx and the anti-L'eihr activists.

- Romance. Eeeh.. I didn't buy it. It's one of those let's-prentend-it's-not-instalove-but-it-is kind of romance. I knew right off the bat that Cara was smittened by Aelyx and so was Aelyx. There was a cheesy line from him I think when he first saw her and I was like... Okay... Creepy alien.

- Pacing is a bit wonky. Sometimes fast and sometimes slow.

- The ending.. Oh my god! It wasn't exactly a cliffie, but just when you thought the climax has ended... it hasn't... Or rather I assumed that the climax that ended was the climax, but it wasn't. It was a hoax. The real climax I think for this book is when the truth comes out. No spoilers. It wasn't even about the invasion or the future of humanity... Eeeh.. No.

FINAL WORDS

If you want to read this book, you have to go into this book without any expectations. Or rather a lower one. You'd probably enjoy this more that way. This isn't exactly a Scifi book. So don't expect too much on the scientific side of these extraterrestrial beings. I don't believe that it was even explained when or how the L'eihrs contacted the people of Earth. If they did, I probably missed it.

Surprisingly, it was okay. I was torn of rating it a 2 or a 3. But I would have to really give points to how easy to read it was. You go through it really fast. There would be annoying scenes, but you keep the page turning you know. This is that type of book. It was okay. Nothing spectacular. Just okay.

Would I recommend it? No. I'd probably recommend The Lux series by Jennifer Armentrout if you're looking for a really entertaining book about aliens. It has action, drama, and well romance. For those of you who are looking for that type of alien book that is.

Have you guys read this? If you have did you like it? If not, are you planning of reading it soon?

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