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’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.
*I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review*
Some thirty years ago a virus spread, killing most of the humans, in particular women. Then ten years ago the aliens arrived, which went pretty peaceful as they keep to themselves and so do the humans. Though it seems a lot of humans are mad at the aliens for not helping them rebuild the world and sharing their resources and knowledge.
Besides that, most people started living in protected communities. Since women have become scarce, you can imagine the horrors for a woman by herself outside in the wild. I am not going to say anything more about this, but you can guess why Jax ended up killing two men and the torment after that. It happened when her brother was out hunting and after that they moved into such a community.
Life has pretty much settled down for Jax, though she's certainly not as docile as the rest of the women in town. Until one day she and her brother bump into an alien space ship. There is some fighting, running and Jace ends up taken, while Jax ends up with an alien boy by her side.
Jax strikes a deal with Lir, she will guide him to the city and he will make sure she gets into the city to save her brother. In the beginning neither are very happy with the alliance and there are plenty of trust issues. Though slowly throughout their journey they start talking and really get to know each other.
There is not a lot known about the aliens, so Jax is definitely curious about Lir. The more they talk though, the harder it gets for Jax to deny that she is drawn to him. That feeling might even be mutual.
I really loved the mystery and the intrigue in this story. It's almost like nothing is as it seems. Throughout the story so much different things are revealed, that your questions only grow. Lir is definitely hiding a lot, keeping so many secrets that I can definitely understand the mistrust coming from Jax. Even when on an emotional level she's ready to give in, there is that one feeling of protecting oneself that keeps her on edge.
Jax was a wonderful character. I'm only guessing what she has been through, but the progress she makes throughout her journey is amazing. She is so strong and determined. Her goal is to get her brother back and while Lir serves as an excellent distraction from her horrors, her focus never wavers. When all these truths come out, I admire the trust she sometimes puts in people. It might not always be right, but she dares to take chances and will go through hell for the ones she loves.
Lir is definitely an enigma. At first he seems like a lost and confused alien boy, but it quickly becomes clear he is so much more. When he is forced to reveal some of his secrets, he will have gain back Jax' trust time and time again. Which isn't easy. His character really took me by surprise and even at the end I still have this feeling of having no idea who he is and what he is capable of.
The romance between these two was expected, though the way it grew and developed not. There are definitely some unexpected surprises and I loved it. No instant love for these two, since they pretty much could not stand each other in the beginning. I really liked how we got to see this grow from disgust and mistrust to friendship and love.
Broken Skies ended with a major open ending and I so badly want to start reading Scorched Suns right now. It was such a great story, that had all the necessary parts. We have love, friendship, secrets, action, sci-fi, hot (alien) boys, a fierce heroin and so much more. I absolutely loved it!!! The way the author approaches the aliens as a species was also very original, reminding me of some kind of human dragons. All the characters are wonderful or if they're the bad guys, interesting. No flat personalities, all were very well developed. The story was written so smoothly, you keep flipping those pages and when you get to the end, you just want more.
All I want to keep talking about is how awesome Broken Skies was, how much I loved it and that you must read it, so we can gush about it together!
4.5
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Lir’s hold tightens briefly as my fingers leave his, but he doesn’t wake. His touch is a luxury I could get used to much too easily and it’s bad enough that I need Jace to get a good night’s rest. I can’t afford to become dependent on someone else, especially someone I’ll never see again once this mission is over and someone who already has some sort of unexplainable draw for me.
I don’t get up though. Instead, I roll onto my side and run my eyes over his face. He looks so peaceful that I just lie there and trace his features with my gaze. The bruise around his eye is already fading to yellow and I know enough to realize that means the E’rikon must heal faster than we do. At this rate he’ll be back to normal in only another day or two. I guess I don’t have to worry about his arm as much as I thought I did. It’ll heal up just like the rest of him.
His hair just barely brushes the tips of his ears before curling upward and this closely I can see that the hair is actually gold at the root, only turning green after about an inch of growth. It’s not a dye job. Not even the strongest dye would be able to cover that metallic gold color, so his hair must grow like that. Gold blending into green like his eyes… and the scales on his back.
I push myself up on one elbow and lean forward. Without the high collared jacket he was wearing before, the scales are clearly visible. I was too busy studying the ones on his back before to notice that the scales also flare out at the top and edge into his hairline and behind his ears. They’re fainter the farther up they go and almost entirely gold by the time they disappear under his hair. Could it be this gold…base… that gives him that subtle glow? Would all of them look a little shiny up close or just the ones with the metallic colors?
Lying back down on my side, I move closer and examine his forehead. His skin does have a very faint gold sheen to it. So it was probably this that reflected the fire light last night and made him appear to be illuminated. Good to know I’m not entirely crazy.
When I bring my eyes back down, Lir’s awake, his eyes little more than an inch away from mine. He blinks slowly once and my body startles into action, pulling my face back. I scramble out of the sleeping bag and turn away without a word, a hot flush of embarrassment building a fire behind my cheeks.
“Jax?”
The Author
Residing in central Virginia, she juggles two kids, a husband and a full-time job in addition to her writing and in her free time she reads almost anything she can get her hands on.
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