Broken Skies (Broken Skies #1) by Theresa Kay

“In seventeen-year-old Jax Mitchell's world, humans are nearly extinct and alien settlers have arrived.
Until recently, the E’rikon have remained segregated in their city and ignored the few humans who have tried to engage them… but now they have taken Jax’s brother. To rescue him, she forms an uneasy alliance with a teenage E’rikon left stranded in the woods. She agrees to guide him to the city if he sneaks her past the human-proof barrier. Too bad it’s not that simple.
Jax, who cannot stand to be touched, finds that’s she’s drawn to the alien boy with bright green hair and jewel-like scales down his back. And he’s equally affected by her, the courageous redhead with haunted eyes. But she doesn’t know the alien’s true motives and he has no idea that she is much more than she seems.
In this world where alien and human are at odds, the connection forming between the two has consequences. What started off as a rescue mission sets a chain of events in motion which threatens not only the remaining humans and the growing alien society, but Earth itself.”

YES. Just….YES. For anyone who has been around me for any length of time, you know that I totally dig Sci-Fi. It’s my favorite genre, and sometimes, it gets scarce. ESPECIALLY, good sci-fi. A good sci-fi, is like the chances of finding a majestic unicorn in your backyard. Fortunately, I’m half crazy, and I’ve found quite a few unicorns over the years. So I went in to this tour with a high bar, and hesitant expectations (but I always hope for the best when it comes to my favorite genre.)

For the first few pages, I dilly dallied, stopping to do chores and etc. But eventually I hit the sweet spot, and sat down to read all the way through the rest of it.

AMAZING. And that was my thought before I knew it was Theresa’s first (published) novel.

I love aliens, and all that jazz. BUT, Theresa managed to bring a fresh face to her aliens, I’m used to seeing Aliens in YA fiction, as humans with above average looks, intelligence or capabilities… Lir is definitely super human, and he looks human but he’s DIFFERENT. He has something that’s organically different.

On the flipside, There’s nothing I detest more than totally overboard xenologistic authors. I’m sure you’ve attempted to read at least one. One’s where it takes half the novel for you to understand what the heck is going on, and just what and who you’re dealing with.

To give you a more specific taste, I’ll share with you the moment I was riveted to the page.

---
“I pull out a green t-shirt and drop it on
the bed, then I find a pair of faded jeans with a hole in the knee— Jace won’t miss those— and
put them on the bed with the shirt.
I manage not to jump out of my skin when Lir just walks into the room. Don’t aliens know how to knock?
“Change,” I say, sending him a dirty look, and then stride back through the doorway.
Flopping into the chair in the den, I begin making a mental list of supplies we’ll need for
the trip. As I’m tallying the supplies I have on hand and what we may need to trade for, a loud
thump draws my eye to Jace’s doorway where Lir is standing with his back to me— shirtless.
My hand shoots up to cover the sound of my gasp. I’d heard of the green blood, but I’d
never heard of anything like this. Golden scales with green tips extend from the hairline on the
back of his neck in a line along his spine and flare out over his hips, disappearing into the top of
the dark gray uniform pants. The line of scales, the trail down his back only a few inches wide,
is brilliantly colored, almost like jewels. I’ve never seen anything like it and I want to know
what they feel like. Are they soft like a snake’s sun warmed skin or hard and jagged like the
colored rocks they resemble?
I’m up and almost halfway across the room before I realize what I’m doing..
--

AHHHH *fangirl squeal* The book progresses, and changes, and mystifies. Relationships form, hearts break , ideals change, and I was happy, excited and sometimes even embarrassed for the characters.

Speaking of heart break, that end left mine in pieces. Theresa, we need to have a little talk, you can’t just do this to us. You really can’t…It’s just inhumane.

But, I was (very very very) slightly comforted by the fact that the sequel is scheduled for release in September 2014.

Theresa, you have a new devoted fan.

Not to mention, you pulled a fast one on me with Flint. I TOTALLY didn’t see that one coming.

I give it a solid four and a half stars. If you are a sci-fi freak, or you’re in the mood for a whirlwind experience, I recommend Broken Skies. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review! I would appreciate it so much if you'd follow me via RSS and checked out the other wonderful bloggers on this tour. You can access the tour schedule (and links) by clicking on the tour banner above!

*my more conservative followers may not like this novel, but I can’t tell you why…. Because it would ruin a mainstream line of the novel. Sorry folks!