Colliding Skies by Debbie Zaken

*I received an eARC of Colliding Skies from the publisher, OfTomes Publishing, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.*

Publication:March 6th 2018 by Oftomes Publishing

Goodreads Description:
Since Skye Reilly can remember, she has been looking up to the stars. With high school graduation upon her, her telescope in one hand and her college acceptance letter in the other, she has life as meticulously mapped out as her star chart. That is, until the Celeians arrive and she meets Ethan, an alluring alien. Ethan collides into her like an asteroid, causing a gravitational shift in Skye’s trajectory and hurling her life into a cataclysmic collision course of interplanetary proportions.

The Celeians promise many things. An end to disease, global warming, and famine. The knowledge to help humankind. Despite the suspicions surrounding the intriguing aliens and rising anti-alien protests, Skye gives Ethan her trust, and eventually her heart. The very heart he could stop with a lethal electrifying touch of his hand.
When the Magistrate, a council of alien leaders, threatens to put an end to their interspecies relationship, following her heart could cost Skye her life and the lives of everyone she loves.
Not even light can escape the pull of a black hole. 

My thoughts:
Colliding Skies was a fast read but nothing spectacular. I was disappointed in it because of my expectations.I wanted more sci-fi elements and a big focus on the aliens and what we get is a romance(is it actually romance?more on that later) story with hints of sci-fi here an there that is very surface level.

The plot was a bit all over the place. The opening few chapters were fantastic and I was drawn straight in but then the pacing slowed right down and the story started to get dull and boring (for me anyway). There was a bit of action at the end that engaged me but I think it could have been better placed to keep readers interested.

I liked Skye at times but other times I wanted to shake some sense into her. She made some stupid decisions, which most YA main characters do but she had the chance to fix her mistakes and never did. I did like how she had an interest in space (diverse hobbies!) and how curious and inquisitive she was; she asks Ethan lots of question about his species which made reading interesting at times.

The romance is a huge part of the story and I wasn't a fan which I think is why I didn't enjoy the book. Firstly it is insta love galore; straight off the bat Ethan loves Skye and she loves him. They had like 3 conversations none of which were deep or meaningful or anything and she agrees to be in a relationship with him! Another major thing that turned me off the story was that Ethan seems to be obsessed with Skye. He crosses the line of stalker and it is just creepy. Multiple times he did things that were not healthy in a relationship- Skye even says she feels paranoid and uncomfortable because of his actions; he also hypnotises her even when she tells him not to and alters her mood. The toxic elements of their relationship are never addressed and I wanted Skye get as far away from Ethan as possible.

I am a big fan of sci-fi and find it so interesting comparing how authors approach the plot of aliens coming to earth; I was a bit underwhelmed with how it was handled- I was expecting so much more about the Celeians and would have liked to see how the government were interacting with them behind closed doors.

Colliding Skies does ends on a cliffhanger but I found myself not that interested in finding out what was going to happen next; I don't think I will pick up the next book in the series.

Overall in was an alright story and as fast read but it wasn't for me.

Thanks for reading,
A :)

Spoiler Free Review of Alienated Trilogy by Melissa Landers

Series: Alienated

Book 1: Alienated

Book 2: Invaded

Book 3:United

Goodreads Description:

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.

My thoughts:

I have divided my thoughts into three parts for the books. There are no spoilers for the book I am writing about under each heading(i.e. If you have only read book 1 you can read my review for book 1 and 2 without being spoiled)

Book 1: Alienated

I had fun reading Alienated but had a few problems with it.

I wasn't a big fan of the writing; it came across very babyish at times. I rolled my eyes reading so much times it was a bit ridiculous. There were some lines that felt like the author was trying too hard to sound like a teenager, for example 'full on banana sandwich' , like really? I felf like it was a very unrealistic way for teenagers to be talking.

A minor thing that annoyed me was the main characters name Cara, it's a lovely name but there it was pronounced wrong. They say it's the Irish word for friend which it is (I am irish and have studies the language my whole life) and Aelyx pronounces it 'cah-ra' which is right but there's a scene where they make fun of him and say it's pronounced 'Care-a' which is wrong.

I really liked Aelyx and he was definitely one of the reasons that I kept reading but Cara was so annoying and stupid and smart for a supposedly smart girl it annoyed me.

Alientated was a fun read but nothing ground breaking; I was expecting it to be like Jennifer L Armentrout's Lux series and be obsessed with it and find it so addictive but I didn't.

My rating: 3.5 stars

Book 2: Invaded

In my opinion Invaded was not as much fun as Alienated. Aelyx and Cara separated so their is hardly any interactions between the two which is what made book 1 so enjoyable.

The writing is still annoying in Invaded but not as much as it was in Alienated. There isn't as much dialogue that had me rolling my eyes and as much unrealistic stuff.

The plot was so predictable in this one, I predicted how it would end so early on that it made the 'twists'/'reveals' very underwhelming.

I really liked on aspect of this book in particular though; there was a big focus on Cara and her big brothers relationship which I loved reading about. I felt like they were written as a very realistic sibling relationship.

My rating: 3 stars

Book 3: United

I found United to be a lot better than Invaded. I was a bit hesitant to pick up this final book because I wasn't the biggest fan of the second book but United was actually quite good. I had fun reading it but I'm not sure if I liked it as much as Alienated.

While I had fun reading it I do think everything wrapped up super quickly and conveniently and it was all very predictable but I didn't mind it too much because it was fun having Aleyx and Cara together.

I had fun with the series but not as much as I'd hoped. I was expecting to be obsessed with it like JLAs Lux series but wasn't. 

My rating: 3.5 stars

Thanks for reading,
A :)