Don't ever peak. In 2140, aliens, called Ancients, have come to earth. Well actually they travel through portals. Each night, Ari, as well as everyone else, must put on their patch blindfold that paralyzes them, and allow the Ancient assigned to them to enter their bedroom for The Taking. One night Ari loses her patch and opens her eyes to see her classmate Jackson hoovering above her. Ancients are not supposed to be living undercover and she knows she should report him to her father, The Commander, but first she wants to get answers from him. Jackson he explains that he needs her help because his people are ready to acclimate and live among the humans, and if earth does not agree, war will ensue. 
 The world building was very intriguing but still sometimes I was lost with some unanswered questions. I was a little confused why the Ancients needed to take the nutrients from humans every night? Did they not eat? The Ancients did say they needed to come to earth because they were out of water but I wasn't sure why they have to take nutrients every night. The humans began studying the Ancients and performing horrible experiments on them. The Ancients don't need water since their bodies are made of xylem so the humans believe they were lying and are trying to take over earth. I wondered why Ari never once really sat down and discussed these things with her father, The Commander. She is supposed to be learning to take over his job and one day but I felt like she was in the dark with everything happening. I never fully got an idea of why the aliens wanted to live on earth or why the humans didn't trust them. I do hope to learn more in the next book. 
 As the daughter of The Commander, Ari was raised with a lot of pressure to follow in his footsteps. She has had the best of training so she is very kick ass. Ari is supposed to marry the President's son, Lawrence, to enable a very strong leadership/partnership. They have a very important future planed protecting earth from the Ancients but Ari can't stop thinking of Jackson. Her dad's entire life is based on protecting the earth from his kind. Jackson was witty, kind of cocky, and sweet, but I felt things moved a bit fast. I guess part of that was that Ari always fantasized about the Ancient assigned to her for the Taking which was kind of surprising to me because I think I would be scared about anal probing and other weird alien mojo! Since the alien comes into my room at night while I'm out of it. lol That part was a bit freaky! The alien just hoovers above the person but does have the potential to take until death. It didn't feel too love triangley but I felt like Lawrence really cared about Ari and that they had potential but Ari sees him as a friend only. Ari spends most of her time with Jackson trying to help him stop a war. 
 Jackson held back some important information and I thought Ari trusted him way too much. I just don't think I personally would have helped him get so much insider information. Once again I would have at least questioned my dad about his plans. The romance wasn't perfect but it did have it's swoony moments. I am a romance junkie but it was the plot that was really keeping my attention. All the things the aliens were willing to do to get to earth versus everything the humans were trying to do to stop them. There were some unexpected twists and very exciting action scenes. I did not want to put the book down. The ending has a little cliffhanger, just enough to leave you pondering and wanting to know what will happen next. 
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 "No one talks about it. No one talks about them at all. "The Ancients prefer discretion," Mom once told me. But some say it's because they're so freakish we'd drop dead of fright. Others say they're too attractive, too tempting. 
 I prefer this theory." 
 "Well go ahead, try it on," Jackson says as he leans against the wall beside my window, his arms crossed. "I won't watch. Much." 
 "You shouldn't love me, but assuming you ignore me, like always, know this: I am absolutely, mind-bendingly in love with you. In every way. Every ounce of my body. My entire being...it belongs to you." 
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 *I received an eARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*