Review: Alienated by Melissa Landers

Summary from Goodreads:
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.

Alienated was an entertaining read. I thought the the 'Alienated - May the source be with you' blog posts were clever but they barely scratched the surface about the way of L'eihrs. I think this book could have worked better in first person with switching POVs because much of it was centered around the friendship and budding romance between Human Cara and L'eihr-ian Aelyx. Third person would have allowed us to get a deeper understanding of Aelyx's behaviour and thinking. Anyway, the interactions between Cara and Aelyx were quite cheezy at times but in a particular scene I definitely had to fan myself because holy smokes it was hot.

We're only given a closer look at the L'eihr and the way things are run there at the very start and at the very end of the book. The rest of the book was focused on Aelyx assimilating into high school and the drama that arises which was quite disappointing. The alliance rested too heavily on high school students making it possible, so I couldn't take this part of the story too seriously.