Invaded by Melissa Landers

Title: Invaded (Alienated #2)
Author: Melissa Landers
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Buy this book: Amazon / Book Depository 

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?

Sequel nerves.
THE PAIN IS REAL!!!

I doubt I'm the only person who gets really nervous before they start the sequel to a book they really enjoyed. Alienated was a read that had really surprised me, I ended up absolutely loving it and the romance in it totally won me over. I've been eagerly anticipating Invaded since I finished Alienated back in 2013, it had a lot to live up to and my expectations were ridiculously high. This book could only let me down, right? I am so happy to be able to tell you that this isn't one of those sequels that disappoints, it's one that surpassed my expectations and I ended up enjoying even more than the first book.

Invaded sees Cara and Aelyx separated, with Cara going to live on L'eihr, whilst Aelyx stays behind on Earth to try and salvage the alliance between humans and L'eihrs. I thought that I was going to be frustrated by the storyline, couples being separated during the second book in a series seems to be something that happens a lot. It actually turned out to be the smartest thing that Landers could have done, because it meant we finally got to have some secondary characters! I really did enjoy book one, but it was all about Cara and Aelyx. Their relationship felt like it dominated everything, you never really got to know any secondary characters and that had really bugged me whilst reading book one. Invaded allows us to meet a whole host of new characters, and also get to know old characters a little more. I liked the humour that some of them brought, the drama that others brought and the curve balls to the storyline that others brought.

My Weekly Book Haul: 14/02/2015

I have been failing at blogging, reading and everything internet related.... except Instagram and buying books online. I just haven't been able to concentrate on anything recently, I think I'm still freaking out about the fact I'll be starting my new job soon, and this time I'll be a manager and in charge of other human beings - that's a scary thought! I am hoping to take a week or two off between leaving my current job and starting my new one. In that time I'm hoping to catch up on some reading, actually schedule some posts (I'm laughing whilst typing that!), as well as play some games, watch a ton of TV and relax a whole lot!

I'm starting to realise that I have a very serious book buying problem. My owned TBR pile is more like two whole bookcases now, with books stacked up to the top. But I can't stop!!! I really should, but I can't. This week alone I have bought 6 books in a 3 for 2 deal at WHSmith, 6 books I really don't need and weren't really desperate for. I then had four review copies show up, as well as 8 books I've bought online and one I bought in Asda. I NEED TO STOP! The books all go to my parents house, so my dad is starting to threaten that he'll just throw them in the bin when they arrive. I think he's joking. I hope he's joking. Yeah, he's probably not joking.

I'm linking up with Tynga's Stacking the Shelves.

The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury: Blog Tour, Review and Giveaway

Title: The Sin Eater's Daughter
Author: Melinda Salisbury
Publisher: Scholastic
Buy this book: Amazon / Book Depository

Seventeen-year-old Twylla lives in the castle. But although she’s engaged to the prince, Twylla isn’t exactly a member of the court.She’s the executioner.As the Goddess embodied, Twylla instantly kills anyone she touches. Each month she’s taken to the prison and forced to lay her hands on those accused of treason. No one will ever love a girl with murder in her veins. Even the prince, whose royal blood supposedly makes him immune to Twylla’s fatal touch, avoids her company. But then a new guard arrives, a boy whose easy smile belies his deadly swordsmanship. And unlike the others, he’s able to look past Twylla’s executioner robes and see the girl, not the Goddess. Yet Twylla’s been promised to the prince, and knows what happens to people who cross the queen. However, a treasonous secret is the least of Twylla’s problems. The queen has a plan to destroy her enemies, a plan that requires a stomach-churning, unthinkable sacrifice. Will Twylla do what it takes to protect her kingdom? Or will she abandon her duty in favor of a doomed love?

Me by the end of this book.

Damn you, Salisbury, damn you! It's been days since I finished this book and I am still completely unable to make up my mind about how I feel. This book took me on a rather wild ride and I was completely unprepared for it. It's one of those books where I thought I had some idea where the story was going, which it did, but then it quickly took twists and turns I never could have predicted. This is a strong debut, that makes me certain I'll be reading whatever Salisbury does next.

I'd had this book on my wishlist for quite some time, the premise sounded intriguing and that cover was just demanding I pick the book up and read it. This is a book that grabs you from page one and it's almost impossible to put it down. The world was one that I couldn't learn enough about, I was fascinated by it. World building is something I pay attention too, but I usually concentrate more on the characters and whether they work for me. It was refreshing to find a book that had me desperate to learn more about the world.

Alienated by Melissa Landers

Title: Alienated

Author: Melissa Landers

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Buy This Book: Amazon / Book Depository 

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.

I've never really felt a need to go back and change or redo a review, but I've decided to make an exception for Alienated for one simple reason:

I reviewed it for the first time back in late 2013, and I've been rereading it so I can get to the sequel. I finished it and felt an urge to add to my review and improve it, but also to change it a little bit. After finishing the book for the second time, I still really enjoyed it but it didn't wow me as much as it did on the first read.That's probably because I've read so many incredible books since, and found some amazing romances (let's be honest, nothing can compete with the A Court of Thorns and Roses romance atm!).

Cara is a great character, and I thought she was hilarious the first time I read this book. She read like someone I would want to be friends with in real life. She has this really dry, sarcastic sense of humour which I really appreciate and it had me laughing a lot. But I am still irked by what I have come to call her Cara-isms: sucktacular, craptacular, ridic (you know, because ridiculous is obviously just too ridiculously long to use!). Those still get on my nerves and have me rolling my eyes at her. I still enjoyed the blog entries in this book (yes, this has blog entries!) because they just added that little something extra to it and made it feel all so familiar. 

Aelyx, although he doesn't make me swoon as much as he did on the first read, is still a great character. Who knew the idea of an alien race coming to Earth would suddenly seem so appealing. I can only assume that if Twilight managed to make millions of people over the world swoon at the idea of vampires, then this definitely has the potential to make us long for the discovery of an alien race. If this happens then they can sign me up for the exchange program - obviously if it's more Ryan Reynolds in the Nines than E.T!

                  This:                                                                                                        Not This:

Cara and Aelyx's relationship is one the progresses slowly throughout the book, which is the only kind of romance that really works for me. I can't be dealing with any more of these instant 'I love you, you're mine!' romances that I find so often in young adult books. But this has the slow build and the sexual tension, and the characters actually taking time to get to know one another. I approve. I was rooting for these two the entire time, even when they weren't. This is one of those books where I was itching for the two characters to get together, which doesn't happen often with me as I usually want the romance to take a back seat to the rest of the story. 

I really do enjoy Cara and Aelyx as characters, but if I were to talk about any fault with this book then it would be the fact that the secondary characters don't play much of a role in it. Cara's best friend seemed to have so much potential early on, she was funny and likeable, but she quickly disappears from this book. The same goes for Cara's boyfriend, the guy is like that token douche character, someone you can love to hate. But he disappears rather quickly too and doesn't have too big a role. This book really was Cara and Aelyx, something I'm not grumbling about because I really rather fell in love with them both. 

4/5 Butterflies

The first time I reviewed this book it got a 5/5 rating from me. I'm glad I took the time to reread it, I still love the characters and the story, but I've come to realise it feels more like a 4/5 read for me now. I feel that's probably because of how many amazing books I have read since, with romances that have won me over more. I still highly recommend this one though and can't wait to read the sequel to find out what's next for these two. 

*I received a copy of this novel from the author/publisher/publicist via Netgalley in exchange for a free and honest review and received no monetary compensation for this review.

I Can't Believe I Own These Books And Still Haven't Read Them

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at The Broke & The Bookish.

This weeks topic is:

I can't believe I own these books and still haven't read them!

This weeks topic was just about books that you can't believe you still haven't gotten to. That list could be absolutely endless and understandably so, there are so many books and so little time to read them. I think it's far worse that I own so many of these books already, so really have no excuse not to have got to them already.

And, just so you know, I am going to be using far more than 10, but still a lot less than I actually own and haven't read yet. I have a problem, but I feel you fellow bookworms will understand!

Most of these are series that are well loved and ones I have been planning to read for so long now. I definitely need to try my hardest to get through some of these before the end of the year. Diane Chamberlain is an auto buy author for me and I really enjoy her books, so I have no clue why I have bought her last 7 releases and not read them yet. I own FIVE Maggie Stiefvater books and have never read them. This is terrible! I've owned her Shiver series for years now, but have just never picked it up. All the love I hear for her books makes me really want to hurry up and get to them. Not to mention the fact that Cait over at Paper Fury raves about her books constantly.

I thought I'd also let you all know that I am hosting a giveaway over on Instagram, for any of you wonderful people who are on there. You can find it here.

  The Door That Led To Where by Sally Gardner: Review 

Reader Problems Tag

Top Ten Tuesday: Why Aren't These Books Movies Already?
There Will Be Lies by Nick Lake: Review
My Weekly Book Haul: 31/01/2015