Alienated

Alienated

by Melissa Landers

When aliens from L'eihr showed up two years ago, Cara Sweeney had no idea that she'd be hosting one of them at her house for a year as part of a student exchange program.

While her brother goes to the L'eihr home planet, Aelyx comes to stay with Cara and her family. There are two other L'eihr students on Earth, as well, and all three have a mission from their home to be ambassadors for peace.

Of course, all three have a mission of their own, which is not in the plans for everyone else.

So, while Cara works to make Aelyx comfortable and help him adjust to life on Earth, Aelyx works to destroy the alliance that his Elders have worked so hard to create. He believes that the plan to eventually bring humans and L'eihrs together is one that is doomed to fail; he's just going to make sure it fails faster.

What Aelyx and Cara could never have imagined was finding true friendship in each other, even when all the other people around them begin to betray them. And love? That was never supposed to happen.

Final thoughts: Nice start to a trilogy with some solid relationship building between the characters. This is very good at show instead of tell and definitely has some real moments. There were a few points that seemed a little forced, but the overall message is clear and even a little relevant when it comes to discussing tolerance and extremism. I'm not sure that I'll go looking for the next book, but I don't think I'll ignore it if I see it.

Rating: 4/5