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YAlien Invasion

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Written by: Kimberly Francisco on March 20, 2013.
With the popularity of science fiction on the rise in the YA world, Kelly and I have been on the lookout for titles featuring aliens. Since today is Alien Abduction Day, we thought we’d honor our alien soon-to-be-overlords with a booklist.
(Stumper assistance: I read a particularly memorable book as a teen that involved a teenage girl getting involved romantically with an alien boy, but he was secretly only romancing her so he could take her back to his planet where she’d be repeatedly impregnated with alien babies to help save their dwindling population. At the last moment, he decides to leave without her because you know, they are in love. What is the title of this book?!)
The titles below were all published within the last five years and all feature aliens in some way, whether it’s a starring role or an ancillary one. Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments. Descriptions come from either Worldcat or Goodreads.

The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey (2013): Cassie Sullivan, the survivor of an alien invasion, must rescue her
young brother from the enemy with help from a boy who may be one of them.
Adaptation by Malinda Lo (2012): In the aftermath of a series of plane crashes caused by birds,
seventeen-year-old Reese and her debate-team partner, David, receive
medical treatment at a secret government facility and become tangled in a
conspiracy that is, according to Reese’s friend Julian, connected with
aliens and UFOs. Kelly’s review
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore (2010): In rural Ohio, friendships and a beautiful girl prove distracting to a
fifteen-year-old who has hidden on Earth for ten years waiting to
develop the Legacies, or powers, he will need to rejoin the other six
surviving Garde members and fight the Mogadorians who destroyed their
planet, Lorien. Kelly’s review

 
Stuck on Earth by David Klass (2010): On a secret mission to evaluate whether the human race should be
annihilated, a space alien inhabits the body of a bullied
fourteen-year-old boy.
First Day on Earth by Cecil Castellucci (2011): Mal lives on the fringes of high school. Angry. Misunderstood. Yet loving the world — or, at least, an idea of the world. Then he meets Hooper. Who says he’s from another planet. And may be going home very soon. Kelly’s review
Neptune’s Tears by Susan Waggoner (2013): It’s 2218 and Zee McAdams is in her second year as a healing empath
at a busy London hospital. When a mysterious young man arrives for
treatment, Zee’s hard won calm is pierced. She will need all her courage
if she’s to follow her heart, especially when David reveals a
devastating secret.
(This one is spoilery. Highlight it to read it)Ultraviolet by R. J. Anderson (2011):  Almost seventeen-year-old Alison, who has synesthesia, finds herself in a
psychiatric facility accused of killing a classmate whose body cannot
be found. Kimberly’s review

 

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout (2012): When seventeen-year-old Katy moves to West Virginia she expects to be
bored, until she meets her neighbor who just happens to be an alien.
Alien Invasion and Other Inconveniences by Brian Yansky (2010): When a race of aliens quickly takes over the earth, leaving most people
dead, high-schooler Jesse finds himself a slave to an inept alien
leader–a situation that brightens as Jesse develops telepathic powers
and attracts the attention of two beautiful girls. Kimberly’s review
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (2008): Pursued by power-hungry Prentiss and mad minister Aaron, young Todd and
Viola set out across New World searching for answers about his colony’s
true past and seeking a way to warn the ship bringing hopeful settlers
from Old World. Kimberly’s review
 
A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan (2011): Sixteen-year-old Rosalinda Fitzroy, heir to the multiplanetary
corporation UniCorp, is awakened after sixty years in stasis to find
that everyone she knew has died and as she tries to make a new life for
herself, learns she is the target of a robot assassin. Kelly’s review
How I Stole Johnny Depp’s Alien Girlfriend by Gary Ghislain (2011): Fourteen-year-old David, the son of a famous French psychologist, falls
in love with Zelda, a new patient who believes she is from outer space,
and soon they are tearing through Paris in search of her chosen one,
Johnny Depp, so that she can take him to her home planet, Vahalal.
Bonus Middle Grade Title
The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex (2007): In the chaotic turmoil that follows the Boov invasion of Earth,
eleven-year-old Gratuity Tucci finds herself driving her mother’s car to
Florida, where all of the humans are being relocated, with her cat and a
renegade extraterrestiral named J. Lo as her copilots. Kimberly’s review

Comments

  7. Awesome list. I'm so dying to read The Fifth Wave.

    I'd like to suggest The Pearl Wars (Skyship Academy Book One) by Nick James and A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix. Also maybe The Obsidian Blade by Pete Hautman (now I can't remember if it includes aliens within all the time travel, but I think so!).