Title: Invaded

Author: Melissa Landers

Series: Alienated #2

Genre: Teen Science Fiction

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

The Overview: The romantic sequel to Alienated takes long-distance relationships to a new level as Cara and Aelyx long for each other from opposite ends of the universe…until a threat to both their worlds reunites them. Cara always knew life on planet L’eihr would be an adjustment. With Aelyx, her L’eihr boyfriend, back on Earth, working to mend the broken alliance between their two planets, Cara is left to fend for herself at a new school, surrounded by hostile alien clones. Even the weird dorm pet hates her. Meanwhile, on Earth, Aelyx, finds himself thrown into a full-scale PR campaign to improve human-L’eihr relations. Humans don’t know that their very survival depends on this alliance: only Aelyx’s people have the technology to fix the deadly contamination in the global water supply that human governments are hiding. Yet despite their upper hand, the leaders of his world suddenly seem desperate to get humans on their side, and hardly bat an eye at extremists’ multiple attempts on Aelyx’s life. The Way clearly needs humans’ help . . . but with what? And what will they ask for in return?

The Mini Review:

After reading an advanced copy of Alienated in fall 2013, I knew it would be torture to wait for Invaded’s release in February 2015… and it was. I sent requests to the publisher, I stalked other book bloggers for potential giveaways, and tried (and failed) to make it to several book events where Melissa Landers was going to be. But it was all in vain, so I ended up waiting… and waiting… and waiting.

And after all that waiting, I am pleased to report that Invaded was well worth the wait. :-)

The first book was a lot like what I would imagine Rory Gilmore going through if she had to host a (hot) alien exchange student – loads of fun, plenty of quick wit, and a sweet love story. It was absolutely delightful – I loved it! And what I loved about the second book is that it took all of those charming elements and put them on Aelyx’s (i.e. the hot alien) home world, L’eihr. It was total cultural immersion into this different world, and I enjoyed exploring every bit of it. The only reason Invaded didn’t receive a total five-star rating is that I missed a bit of the romantic element (which is understandable considering our characters are on two different planets), but even that really wasn’t a big deal because the book was still highly entertaining without the love story being the primary focus.

Overall, Melissa Landers is my kind of author – she makes me fall in love with her characters, want to visit her world, and makes me laugh while doing it. I am definitely committed to read anything she publishes in the future (including her new book Startflight coming out this fall), but rest assured, the wait for the next Alienated book is already physically painful…

Before picking up Invaded, I happily reimbursed myself in the story by reading this Alienated novella: Until Midnight. It had everything I loved about Alienated, all packed into a Christmas-themed short story. It provided a transition between the two novels that I felt was… much-needed is not quite the phrase, perhaps much-appreciated? It brought forth a conflict between Aelyx and another character regarding Cara that definitely added to my overall positive experience the story. My only gripe is that the conflict presented did not get completely represented afterwards in Invaded, but I loved it more for the sentimentality anyway. Also, since I read this novella right before Invaded, I discovered it supplemented some of the romance I mentioned missing from the sequel. Until Midnight is definitely worth your time if you’re a fan of the series.

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