Alienated (Alienated, #1)

by Melissa Landers

High school senior Cara Sweeney gets more than she bargained for when she agrees to participate in Earth's first intergalactic high school exchange program.

High-school senior Cara Sweeney gets more than she bargained for when she agrees to participate in Earth's first intergalactic high-school exchange program. The plot contains profanity, sexual situations, and violence. Book #1

• ISBN10: 1423186990
• ISBN13: 9781423186991
• Publish Date: 4 February 2014
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Hyperion Books
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

Review originally posted at Simply Adrift.

When I first started Alienated, I thought was going to be reading another generic YA novel that I would most likely put down and stop reading. However right off from chapter one I was pleasantly surprised. The writing was good, the character set-ups were interesting, there was more going on than just a budding romance. At least that was my first impression.

Alienated

Cara has been chosen as one of earth's ambassadors to be apart of an exchange program with the aliens - L'eihrs. She's reluctant to say yes to this opportunity that will sky rocket her journalist career and give her sponsorship to any college that she wants. But after thinking about it some more, she decides to put her hesitance behind her and give it a go. She would tackle the matter like a full time job and come out the other side a success!

Aelyx is a L'eihr, his people made contact with aliens, known as humans, two years ago. In that time they have discovered that they are better than humans in everything - there is no anger or conflict on L'eihr and therefore no war, they procreate for the benefit of the future and not for love, their technology and science is years a head of anything on Earth. He is chosen as one of the L'eihr students to be apart of the exchange, he and his friends aren't happy about it, but what can you do? He would never go against what his Elders believed. However, the students in the Aegis on L'eihr decide to not back down and stand up for their beliefs; humans and L'eihrs shouldn't co-exist like the Elders believe.

The beginning

At first, I was plesantly surprised about Alienated, the beginning of the story really got me hooked. I wanted to know more about Aelyx and the L'eihrs, I wanted to know more about Cara and her life, and I wanted to see what would happen to Cara since she voluntarily allowed an alien to live with her in her house and follow her around her school.

The first thing that's stated about Aelyx through Cara's eyes, is that he is unbelievably good looking. The first thing we learn about Cara through Aelyx's eyes is that she seems tolerable. I hated how Cara described Aelyx, I just don't think it was needed, it made me start to doubt my earlier thought of this book being about the story rather than the romance. Of course later I realised my initials thoughts were correct about this just being another YA romance.

I really liked the blog segments of the story. I thought it was a really cool addition and I thought it would be a cool way to narrate the story and to add to it. However I soon realised that the blog segments weren't going to do any such thing, they were more just random facts about L'eihrs that the readers don't get to find out through reading the story. That was a bit of a bummer as I thought that devise of writing could have really added so much more to this book. However, half way through the blog segments kind of just disappeared from the story. It was annoying that they faded out and became irrelevant to the story, gone was the storyline of Cara trying to become a journalist etc.

I also really liked the character development and change that Aelyx went through through-out the book. At the beginning he was noticeable different, but as he learnt about life on earth and how humans interacted, he really changed and adapted.

The irks

In the beginning the one thing I couldn't stand was that Cara's friends didn't even try to get along with Aelyx, I hated that Cara put up with her supposedly best friend Tori when Tori kept taking digs at her about Aelyx staying. If I were Cara I would have told Tori to shut up and leave if she didn't like it, and if I were Tori I would have never treated or blamed Cara for anything, I would have made the most of a bad situation.

Then as I read on, there was a whole host of things that I couldn't stand.

Alienated started off so well. I really thought it was going to be more than a YA romance, I thought there was going to be more of a story and that the romance would be a by-product of the story. However Alienated ended up just being a story about an alien that looks nearly identical to humans, is super hot, learns that there's more to life than being an emotionless robot, falls in love with a human and tries to not jump her every time he sees her.

I was so disappointed.

Of course there was more to the story though, like how Cara and Aelyx were in danger because the majority of humans were terrified of the L'eihr and their fear kept escalating, eventually Aelyx and Cara couldn't leave Cara's house because they were in serious danger of being hurt. Aelyx and his fellow L'eihrs were keeping secrets from everyone, and there's something more going on with earth and the L'eihrs. But all of that just wasn't enough to save the story for me.

The downright frustrating

"... this isn't just some random hookup!" ... "We're in love!"

When I read that, I actually groaned out loud and banged my head on the table. Are you freaking serious?! Who says that?! Love? Ah, no. I did not believe that Cara and Aelyx were in love. At all. Attraction? Sure. Like? Yeah. Love? No way, they still barely know each other! There weren't many times in the book where I felt like Cara and Aelyx really got to know each other. There were some moments, but as the story went on I felt like those moments were forced for the story, and I wasn't really buying the 'connection' they were meant to be having.

Three pages after Cara declares her and Aelyx aren't just young teenagers getting it on for fun and that they're actually in love, Aelyx stated that he thought 'Cara was mature beyond her chronological age', that statement was very untrue and just pissed me off even more. Cara definitely never acted mature, she was a teenager and when it came to love - she was a love sick puppy that just wanted to get into someone's pants.

Rounding up

So in the end, I thought I wouldn't like Alienated, then I was pleasantly surprised at the opening and the beginning of the story. But as the story continued I realised my initial feelings were correct; Alienated is a cute love story about two people of quite different origins trying to overcome obstacles and to be together.

If that sounds like something you like to read, then I suggest you pick this up because you will like it!

I however don't like that kind of plot, so I just couldn't come to enjoy this like I wanted to. I really hope Invaded isn't going to be all about the romance, I want more story, mystery and action!

Always,
Jordon

This review was originally posted on Simply Adrift

[Sam@WLABB]

I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would. So many good things. The premise, although not entirely original, was done very well. Cara is selected for a scholarship/exchange program, where a student from an alien planet will live with her family on Earth for the school year and she will will live with him, on his home planet the following year. Once Aelyx arrives, Cara's life is turned upside down. We get a blend of teenage politics, social commentary, prejudice and media antics, which was very interesting. However, for me, the love story is most central. Watching Cara and Aelyx getting to know one another and seeing their friendship bloom kept me turning the page. I fell in love with Cara and Aelyx, as well as, CaraAndAelyx. Landers did such a wonderful job getting us into their heads and describing their worlds. I am more than eager to read the next book.

[Berls]

This review appeared first at Fantasy is More Fun.

**I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**

Alienated has been on my TBR list ever since I saw the cover, way before it even came out. So why did it take me so long to read it? I guess it's just the combination of a never ending TBR and not owning it. But then I got the list of Tantor titles up for review and saw that the sequel, Invaded was available and thought, "I should see if they'd give me both…" well, guess what? They did!

I'm much less hesitant to grab audio review books because I can get through them much faster, and I got though Alienated even faster than normal, because by time I got to the last 4 or 5 chapters I just couldn't put it down! I timed it perfectly too, because as I was finishing up Alienated, guess what arrived in my inbox? Yep, Invaded! So guess what I'm reading next?!? I'm enjoying listening to these books and I think Madeleine Lambert does a decent job. Her male voices can sometimes come out a bit more feminine than I'd prefer, but nothing distracting (in my opinion, at least). And she does really good accents. Definitely a narrator I'd listen to again without hesistation.

Anyway - I knew going into Alienated that it was about an alien coming to Earth as a REALLY REALLY foreign exchange student. I had no idea that it would be one of those books that makes my blood boil because of the stupidty of the human race. Okay, yeah, I know, I'm human (or so I say *wiggles eyebrows*) and I know that the extreme xenophobia - and really just the general fear and resulting hatred - that Alienated deals with isn't the norm. But boy, it just makes me so mad to know that there are people out there who are so narrow minded and filled with hate!

And as Alienated reveals really well, sometimes you'll be shocked to find out that it's some of the people you love that let fear get the better of them. Good people can let fear of the unknown freak them out and make them do really horrible things. And some really crappy people go even further than others with their hate.

I know, this is more like Berls's speech from her soapbox than a review - but I have a point. I loved Alienated because it's a young adult book that uses a really out there situation - an alien exchange student - to subtly comment on something we all have to deal with and our youth especially = bullying. It takes it to pretty epic proportions because of the international nature of what's going on. But the base principals (hatred, fear of what's different, scare tactics, violence) and the repercussions (bravery, fear, hiding, self-doubt, and even death) are all the same. Maybe it's because I read this right after taking my teacher certification class, but to me this theme screamed out. And I loved it, because it showed how wrong it is, how dangerous it is, how easy it is for even good people to get caught up in it, and how horrible it can become when it's ignored.

Beyond the bullying element, Alienated has a really fun YA romance to it. I loved seeing the slow building romance, built around funny moments where Aelyx is acclimating to Earth. The conclusion was a little disappointing for me, simply because it was less believable than the rest of the book had been - but I still enjoyed it and I'm super excited to continue reading.

[Heather]

It has been two years since the L’eihrs first made contact with Earth. Now there is going to be a student exchange program and Cara Sweeney has been chosen to host the United States’ alien.

In spite of the L’eihrs offering technological advances, like a cure for cancers, many people on Earth don’t trust them. Protests are springing up near the host homes of the three L’eihrs now living in the U.S, China, and France. Cara is being shunned and threatened daily for being assigned to host Aelyx. What no one realizes is that the L’eihrs aren’t happy about being here either and they’ve decided to do something about it.

I liked this book. I was a quick read. I just picked it up from the library yesterday. It doesn’t exactly fit in with my Travel the World in Books read-a-long theme for this week unless we expand that to travel way out of the world.

Cara and Aelyx need to learn to rely on each other as they are isolated and threatened. Humans find the aliens threatening because of their advanced intelligence and ability to communicate with each other telepathically, which are traits that have been selected for by generations of selective breeding. Besides, everyone knows that aliens just want to destroy the Earth with their weapons and probe humans, right?

This is the start of a series. I guess the next book looks at life on L’eihr as the alliance between humans and L’eihrs is being negotiated.

I have one problem though. Here is the description of the L’eihrs.

“All of them, men and women alike, wore their shoulder-length light brown hair tied neatly behind the neck. It blended perfectly with their russet skin, and when combined with the tan uniforms, they were a monochromatic solid wall of brown. Like walking paper bags.” -page 33

Now, look at the cover.

Who is that white boy supposed to be? They couldn’t find a model who was even a little bit brown? If that was impossible, they couldn’t photoshop? Do YA covers need to be lily white?

[whisperingchapters]

**Please keep in mind that this was my first review and was written on May 15, 2014**

Alienated is about a normal high school teenage girl, Cara Sweeney (pronunciation: Care-a). Cara’s goal is to get into a prestigious college and the only way to do that is if she lets a L’eihr (alien from planet L’eihr) stay in her home. By doing so, the government will pay for any college she applies. She accepts without really knowing that her life is about to change drastically.

When I first started reading Alienated, my first thought was that it seemed a lot like the television show Star-Crossed. As I continued reading, I noticed that the things that make them similar are aliens and the interplanetary relations, along with wanting the aliens out of planet Earth. The story line is way different and I find it so interesting.

I found the book to be a bit slow, like a drama but the plot always kept me going. I wanted to know more about how everything would turn out. There were parts in the book that got me teary-eyed and parts where I couldn’t stop laughing. This book won’t let the readers down.

When I finished reading, I wanted more. It leaves a cliffhanger as to “what happens now?” that you just need to read the second book.

[littleread1]

Erm, Liked the story but the ending just ... ended. No cliffhanger but no real closure either.

[Amber]

Alienated is slightly different to your normal alien invasion story, since the aliens arrive on Earth peacefully. Or so it would seem. It’s unclear exactly what Aelyx and co.’s motives are to begin with, but the clues and events slowly begin to build. I think Melissa Landers did a very good job of slowly revealing what was really going on. It was enough to keep me guessing and to keep me interested in the story.

Full review at Books of Amber

[kimbacaffeinate]

3.5
Lander’s presented us with an array of characters and contradictions that kept me amused. Cara was funny with a touch of snark I found amusing. Aelyx is interesting and at first appears almost cardboard but as he allows Cara in we begin to see a change in him. We are privy to conversations he has with the other exchange students, and it gave us a look into their social interaction and personalities. Cara and Aelyx’s relationship developed slowly and was turbulent at times. Eric, Cara’s boyfriend and Torie her best friend gave us a glance at some of the fears, and hostility humans felt over this alliance. I felt their story was underdeveloped regarding the conflicts and storyline itself. Thankfully there was no insta-love or triangle, but a possible one crept up closer to the end, and I so hope we don’t go there. Parents, teachers and the like were present in this tale, but I didn’t think there potential was reached.

Alienated was a light, entertaining and fast paced read, but it lacked the depth I so often crave making it enjoyable but sadly forgettable. The world-building that was present was unique, but I would have enjoyed more detail, some scientific jargon and a little more than one line regarding information revealed about the alliance. Lander’s added conflict, raised questions, and added moments of danger to keep us flipping the pages. Cara and Aelyx’s relationship had passion, humor and I loved how they explored the differences in showing affection between worlds. Most definitely swoon worthy my friends. Information regarding the L’eihr race and its evolution was fascinating from their technologies to their speech and I hope we learn more in the second book. I saw contradictions to their way of life in the exchange students and again I want more. Things really heated up both in action and the romance during the last portion of the novel and I saw the potential for this series, and it excited me.

Alienated was an enjoyable read, and I am looking forward to continuing the journey with Invaded in 2015.

Copy received from publisher in exchange for unbiased review that originally published @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

Alienated is oodles of fun! It had me from the very first chapter, and I read it in one sitting! This is definitely one of my favorite alien books so far, because it was clear that the author put a lot of thought into her alien species and into the repercussions of making contact. It all starts off with Cara winning a very exclusive scholarship. She'll get a full ride to the college of her choice, but first she must complete an exchange program with the L’eihrs (the aliens). A teenager, Aelyx, from their planet will be sent to Earth to live with Cara's family, and then when she graduates, she'll spend a year on their planet. It's suppose to help build an alliance between the L’eihrs and the humans, but as always, things don't go according to plan, since Aelyx doesn't believe in mixing with humans.

My favorite part of Alienated was, of course, the world building. There is just so much to learn about the L’eihrs! Our world is mostly the same, but there are some consequences to meeting aliens that we learn about throughout the book. I really appreciated the inclusion of these small details, since made this future seem more real. But, back to the aliens! I loved them! The L’eihrs are a species not run by their emotions. In fact, they're quite standoffish and never make unnecessary contact or jabber incessantly, even with each other. They're also super smart and straightforward. Aelyx does come across as rude in the beginning, but that's just how his species is.

There's also a whole mess of biological, technological, and environmental information about the L’eihrs themselves and their planet. The culture is completely different, as I already mentioned, but there's more than just their lack of emotions. Most of the recent generation are clones, and are raised as a group. The whole planet is essentially one big family. They also practiced selective breeding and artificial insemination which made sex and relationship pretty much obsolete. The planet isn't green and blue like Earth, but grey. Coming to Earth was like sensory overload for Aelyx! It's just very different and there's lot of details!

The plot of Alienated is the typical humans versus aliens, but they need each other to solve their problems, but something gets in the way. I still liked it! Even though it's nothing new, it felt fresh, probably because of all of the amazing world building. We also get to see a lot of the prejudice against the aliens, as well as Cara's isolation from taking one in. Of course there is a romance. It doesn't really pick up until about two-thirds in, but it's there. It's hate-to-love which I love, but it's also kind of insta-lovey. No love triangle though!

Alienated is just a fun book. I loved the culture clash and the fast paced plot. I think aliens are moving up my list of favorite paranormals. Vampires better watch out!

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[limabean74]

When I first saw this book I loved the synopsis and it was a book I couldn't wait to get my hand on then I saw it was released in Feb 2014....I wanted to SCREAM!!!! Netgalley, oh Netgalley, what a wonderful website it is, when I noticed the book listed I almost fell out of my chair. I crossed my fingers, pressed request and waited....when I was accepted I pretty much danced around the house all day but then it sat on my e-reader, I knew this was going to be my first read for the challenge. I was super excited with fingers crossed I jumped in.....I was not disappointed.
Alienated by Melissa Landers is an extraordinary tale about a human girl who falls in love with an alien exchange student in a world that wont except the unknown. Alienated was a unique story that really makes you think about what the world would be like if this situation really happened, it also has a great love story that builds over time. The story revolves around Cara an Honor student who gets picked to host an alien exchange student from L'eihrs in her house for a year. Aelyx is kind of a jerk in the beginning that doesn't want to be on earth and thinks the entire exchange program needs to end. So he and the other exchange students plan to sabotage the entire program only to realize the consequences are more extreme and Aelyx has a lot more to lose then he originally thought.

I loved Cara and felt so bad for her when everything took a turn for the worst. She is an extremely strong characters and has such a great sense of confidence and wouldn't let anything get to her, she was not a damsel in distress. She was really a great character to follow and someone I want to read more about.

Aelyx I like a lot he really had a lot to learn and I really loved how much he changed throughout the book. He went through so many changes and had a lot to deal with being so far (literally) from home and in a strange world with a bunch of crazy people out to get him. I thought he handled the situations very well and had a very big heart; he was a terrific character plus who doesn't love a handsome alien.

The entire story was amazing. I had some issues here or there with the flow and I thought the end was a little rushed but in all honesty I really thought this story was great. The details sometimes made you stop and think about how real it felt and how sometimes you got lost in what was going on. When I got to the end I was shocked, relieved and seriously wanting more. I hated to put the book down and found myself sneaking to read it every chance I got.

I gave Alienated by Melissa Landers 4/5 stars. I highly recommend, with its strong characters and original story it is a book not to be missed. When a book makes you dream about it after you put it down for the night you know it's a book that has an awesome effect on you :) A MUST read!

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