Friday, August 27, 2010

Review of Touched by an Alien by Gini Koch - Love in a Elevator baby!

Title: Touched by an Alien (Katherine "Kitty" Katt, #1)
Author: Gini Koch
Pages: 389 pages, paperback
Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Standalone/Series: Series (#1)
Release: April 2010
Publisher: DAW
Purchased by me
Author info:  http://www.ginikoch.com/
Spoiler Alert: Minor plot spoilers
GoodReads Blurb: Marketing manager Katherine "Kitty" Katt steps into the middle of what appears to be a domestic dispute turned ugly. And it only gets uglier when the man turns into a winged monster, straight out of a grade-Z horror movie, and goes on a killing spree. Though Kitty should probably run away, she springs into action to take the monster down.

In the middle of the chaos a handsome hunk named Jeff Martini appears, sent by the "agency" to perform crowd control. He's Kitty's kind of guy, no matter what planet he's from. And from now on, for Kitty, things are going to be sexy, dangerous, wild, and out of this world.


Surprisingly I've never read a book before that has aliens taking the center stage much less being romantic leads. I've read about vampires -sparkly and otherwise, werewolves, weresnakes, witches, demons, zombies, and the list could go on but no aliens from another planet. Perhaps I was a little worried to try out a new genre - aliens can be scary you know with the alien abductions, aliens bursting from chests a la the Alien movie and Spaceballs, and we know they might already be here with Area 51. So I wasn't sure what to expect with Touched by an Alien. Thankfully there was no need for alarm since the alien good guys looked like super models and the story that Ms. Koch wrote was humorous, entertaining, and had some excellent rock song references in it.

Kitty gets thrown into the saving the world business which she stops what looks like an angry husband turned monster from destroying the Pueblo Caliente courthouse. Soon she gets approached by sexy men in Armani suits that want to recruit her to their organization, she starts receiving marriage proposals, and learns that her Mom could definitely kick her ass. Kitty takes all these revelations in stride and doles out her own brand of sarcasm and wit that keeps the book entertaining throughout.

I loved the tongue-in-check approach to aliens in this books - all the good aliens were super model sexy and the women aliens were all scientists that were attracted more to mental attributes (think Stephen Hawking) than the package it came in, even if the women were surrounded by Brad Pitt look a-likes. Although the aliens are easy on the eyes, it turns out that they have a convoluted back story as to why they ended up on Earth and what their connection is to the bad aliens that seem to be able to turn regular humans into monsters. As Kitty tries to get to the bottom of what is going on she has an excellent distraction from the new dangers in her life in the form of Jeff Martini - who proclaims his intentions to marry Kitty and have lots of babies within minutes of meeting her. The action in this book is fast-paced - the entire book only covers a few days in Kitty's life but it is filled with excellent interactions between Kitty and Jeff and some great patented glares from Jeff's main romantic rival Christopher. Add in some Aerosmith, a few hot and heavy elevator scenes, and some alien ass kicking and overall you have a great book.

5 out of 5 stars for me, a unique sci-fi romance that will have you head banging to the soundtrack.

14 comments:

Angiegirl said...

5 stars! Awesome. I've been itching to read this one for awhile. It just sounds funny and full of life.

Unknown said...

Fantastic review Heather, and I'm so glad enjoyed it! :-D

TBBA is fantabulous, we have to spread the love ;-p

Smokinhotbooks said...

I loved this one! I think the second one is supposed to come out pretty soon.

Vegetarian Cannibal said...

Cool beans and rice! :D

Sullivan McPig said...

Great review! This book is among the best 4 books I read this year!

Heather (DarklyReading) said...

@Angie - it's a fun read I'm sure you would like it!

@Stella, KC, and Sullivan - It looks like we have some great taste in books *pats self on shoulder* ;) I'm looking forward to some Alien Tango when it comes out!

@VC - hehe - I love the user name!

Katie Dalton said...

If I wake up one day and MY Mom can kick my butt, I am gonna really be freaked out! Loved the book, great review. :)

http://ismellsheep.blogspot.com

Melissa (Books and Things) said...

Oooo... I've heard good things about this book, but not the elevator. Might have to check it out. :)

Anonymous said...

I couldn't agree more. LOVE this book.

Dani said...

Hi Heather,
Great review, for more alien hunks/heroines try Gena Showalter's Alien Huntress series, the first one is good, but the others are fab...

Christine said...

Thanks for the review! I´ve heard only the best about it!. If only my tbr pile were not that huge...

Tara SG (25 Hour Books) said...

How have I not read this yet?!

A Buckeye Girl Reads said...

I just adored this book! I'm so glad that you liked it. :) It's one of my favorites of 2010.

Tara SG (25 Hour Books) said...

OK So I finally read this last night... and it is one of the few (maybe the only one, I'll have to check) adult books that I've given 5 stars too!

Can't wait for the next one :)

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