Genre: YA

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

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.

Things look up when Cara is appointed as human representative to a panel preparing for a human colony on L’eihr. A society melding their two cultures is a place where Cara and Aelyx could one day make a life together. But with L’eihr leaders balking at granting even the most basic freedoms, Cara begins to wonder if she could ever be happy on this planet, even with Aelyx by her side.

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?

I loved the first book so I was really excited to read this sequel. While it didn’t wow me quite as much, I still really loved this one too. I loved the characters and how much they changed and grew. The storyline was fantastic and I really enjoyed the direction that it went. It was pretty obvious where things were going, but exciting to see how things would end up at that point and exactly how far we would get to see.

Cara is now on Aelyx’s planet, L’eihr, while he is back on Earth in order to make sure that the alliance goes through. She has gained citizenship, but things are far from easy for her. Besides missing home and missing Aelyx, the clones on L’eihr are not welcoming at all. She has to deal with not being able to have her favorite sugary treats, grueling training, and someone trying to set her up to seem like she is out to cause harm. I liked that she was smart about things and refused to let them get the best of her. It is not an easy feat, but she is determined to not only prove her innocence, but to also help prevent something far more serious from happening. She is still keeping her blog to inform her followers what is going on, though obviously since things are not all happy and great, she has to make it seem like it’s fantastic. When finally reuniting with Aelyx after months, things don’t quite go so well either. There is a bit of drama there, but they do love and care about each other very much.

Aelyx is stuck on Earth trying to avoid yet more attempts at his life in order to help the alliance. He is miserable without Cara and missing home. He does still have a human companion at least. David has been appointed his bodyguard. He is doing all sorts of PR stuff to come across as friendly and loving humans. His only contact with Cara is through their Com-spheres (I think that was what they were called) and they are both hiding secrets of what is happening on the others planet, but trying to help each other with the things they are telling each other. Aelyx has become so very humanized, but he is still awkward in some aspects and it made me really enjoy his character that much more.

This had plenty of action and adventure to keep me entertained. I loved the romance aspect of it as well. There is not only Aelyx and Cara, but another budding romance as well. The story flowed perfectly and I loved getting to know L’eihr. I felt that I could imagine the world easily, and some things would totally make me want to visit it, but others not so much. The best part of this book was the characters. There are many that are very important, and they were developed well. Even though I didn’t love this as much as the first book, I really enjoyed it and I can’t wait for the next!

4 Hot Espressos