My thoughts on Alienated by MELISSA LANDERS

Cara

Aelyx

Two years ago, an alien race from the planet L’eihr made contact with humans for the first time. They have superior intelligence, technology, and medicine, and as an initial peace offering gifted humans with the cure for cancer. Since then, both governments have agreed to a temporary alliance to see if their nations can co-exist peacefully and learn from one another. L’eihr will be sending three of their most gifted teenagers to live with three human families. Cara Sweeney, future valedictorian of her high school, is chosen to host Aelyx, including bringing him to her school. 
The L’eihr have nearly identical DNA to humans, except their brains are bigger and they can read minds.  Mainly there’s a dichotomy between the intellect and the emotional. For years now, rather than natural reproduction, the L’eihrs have been cloning the DNA of their best and brightest from generations past. As children they aren’t raised in a family but in a type of commune, meaning very little physical affection. As a result, their emotional growth has been stunted.  When Aelyx first arrives on Earth, he is astonished by its bright greens and sky blues, by Cara’s fiery red hair. I like this contrast a lot, showing that humans have something to offer the L’eihrs, and not just vice-versa.

※valedictorian:  the student usually having the highest rank in a graduating class who delivers the valedictory address at the commencement exercises
※valediction: an act of bidding farewell
Valedictorian is an academic title of success used in the United States, Canada, Central America, and the Philippines for the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony (called a valedictory). The chosen valedictorian is often the student with the highest ranking among their graduating class.
The term is an Anglicised derivation of the Latin vale dicere ("to say farewell"), historically rooted in the valedictorian's traditional role as the final speaker at the graduation ceremony before the students receive their diplomas. So the valedictory address generally is considered a final farewell to classmates, before they disperse to pursue their individual paths after graduating.
And it is often used in high school students' graduation

Valedictory

Their differences are also highlighted by the use of dual perspective. Whereas Cara’s narration and personality are bubbly, comic, and light, Aelyx is more reserved and detached. I immediately connected to Cara, who is smart and driven but compassionate as well. No matter how much social standing she loses with her classmates or how many cold shoulders are given to her and her family, she stands by Aelyx’s side. She even tries desperately to find him the perfect food that will remind him of home. Another fun tidbit is that she runs a witty commentary blog, keeping the world (and us) up to date on human-L’eihr interactions and L’eihr trivia. As a blogger, I really appreciated that extra touch to her character. Aelyx, on the other hand, was not likable at first. He comes off as snobbish and judgmental, and he even has a plan in place to sabotage the peace treaty. Over time, mostly due to Cara and her family’s kindness and his budding romance with Cara, his emotionless exterior begins to crack. It's a well done character arc, and I was swooning for him way before the end. It turns out that he can be just as funny as Cara but in a dry, sarcastic way. It’s also extremely cute that he has to recite the periodic table in his head whenever things with Cara heat up. 

※character arc: (from Wiki)
is the transformation or inner journey of a character over the course of the story If a story has a character arc,the character begins as one sort of person and gradually transforms into a different sort of person in response to changing developments in the story.In most stories, lead characters and protagonists are the characters most likely to experience character arcs.A driving element of the plots of many stories is that the main character seems initially unable to overcome opposing forces, possibly because he or she lacks skills or knowledge or resources or friends. To overcome such obstacles, the protagonist must change, possibly by learning new skills, to arrive at a higher sense of self-awareness or capability. Protagonists can achieve such self-awareness by interacting with their environment, by enlisting the help of mentors, by changing their viewpoint, or by some other method.

Aelyx and Cara’s romance is of the slow-burn variety, with a solid foundation of friendship built first. No love triangles, and their relationship is thankfully steady and mostly drama free. As for chemistry, there is ONE scene that many reviewers have already mentioned that had me fanning myself. L’eihrs don’t exactly kiss but instead demonstrate intimacy and attraction through something called sh’ellam. You’ll have to find out for yourself what it entails. When Aelyx proposes that he and Cara exchange a bit of action, my heart was doing little happy dances. This is what I love about Melissa Landers’ romances, and I wish we had gotten a few more scenes like it.

The ending of Alienated has me anxious and excited for the second book,Invaded. I hope Aelyx and Cara aren’t separated for too much of the time, but I am looking forward to learning more about L’eihr and experiencing the planet for the first time right alongside Cara. 

※heat up:to make someone angry

Actually ,Aelex's color of skin is supposed to be like this -russet or brown
All the aliens are described in this way.