Series: Alienated #1.5
Cara and Aelyx only have one day to spend together before he returns to earth and she travels to Aelyx’s home planet, L’eihr.
Homesick and worried about the upcoming year apart, Cara is desperate to make these final hours count. Worst of all, Cara is missing Christmas, stuck on board an alien spaceship.
When Aelyx learns that Cara is forgoing her favorite holiday, he tries to recreate Christmas in space by researching traditional earth customs…but a few things get lost in translation.
3 Drink Me Potions
As I am about to read the awaited sequel to Alienated, I found this delightful short story that ties the mini gap between the first book and its sequel Invaded.
Until Midnight was longer than I thought it would be, considering it’s just a novella and a way that publishers can exploit more investment into a series without having to publish full-length novels. BUT, I am a sucker for these mini stories and I found this one satisfactory.
Satisfactory being the key word here. It was in no way amazing. Maybe it’s because it’s been over a year since I read Alienated. I may not have forgotten everything in the book but the characters’ chemistry wasn’t fresh on my mind. Seeing Aelyx’s attempt to make their last moment on the spaceship memorable was sweet. It truly was.
I just didn’t feel bittersweet to start with. In my head, it pretty much sounded like this. Oh, Cara and Aelyx are getting separated? Cool. I do remember that was to happen. Okay. Now what?
You see? Apathy at its finest.
That’s not to say this story wasn’t a cute little tie-over until the sequel was released (for those people who actually knew about this story before the sequel was actually released). It could’ve been. If only I still recalled the chemistry, my rating may be different and greater than 3 stars. A small consolation was that it did help refresh my memory on major events that had occurred and managed to slip through my mind.
Overall Recommendation:
This little novella was sweet and provided a great way to get back into the world that Landers had crafted with her alien exchange program. It managed to both remind of what occurred in the first book while hinting at what was to come for our loveable characters in the sequel. Having forgotten a little too much about the characters’ chemistry may have skewed this rating, but all in all, it was handy to have read it, though not absolutely necessary.
Down the Rabbit Hole 