Broken Skies by Theresa Kay

Broken Skies #1

Book Summary via Goodreads:

       "Thirty years ago, civilization collapsed. Few survived. 

Ten years ago, the aliens arrived…and stayed.

One year ago, I killed two men and went a little crazy.

Today, the aliens took my brother and I will do anything to get him back.

      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 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."

I received this eBook from NetGalley for review.

The summary of this book instantly drew me to this book, and I have to say that while things started out kind of 'Meh' it didn't take long before I was hooked with this world.

I was concerned when I started this book that the MC was going to be one of those typical tropes in this kind of book. 'tough as nails girl hates all things girly, doesn't swoon over boys until she meets that one mysterious one.' While some of that was true for the character, her reasons for not swooning over boys is a pretty legitimate reason, and not just a thing to set the girl apart from other females.

There aren't too many books that I've read or encountered with aliens in it that I fully enjoyed, and with all the dystopian books I've read many of them that mention some kind of war that caused the government to collapse or whatever just leave it at that. 'A war happened, then everything fell apart and that is why we have this new way of living.' This one actually went into some detail since the "modern" way of living fell apart such a short time ago.

Jasmine(Jax) is a fairly likable character, she seemed like a real person, despite what you find about her genetics later in the book. Her reactions to things are believable. Lir, while an alien, also seemed like a real person. Their uneasy trust with one another was at times kind of amusing. But the attraction and the romance seemed a little off. Maybe in the other books that whole 'bondmate' thing will be explained better.

I look forward to reading more of this series, I can tell that it will be one of the best sci-fi dystopian series.