Gini Koch
ISBN #: 978-0-756-40668-4
Publisher Name: Penguin Publishing Group/DAW
Date Released: April 2011
Genre: Sci-Fi Romance
Pages: 457
Book Format: Print.


BACK COVER BLURB:

Super-Being Exterminator Kitty Katt and the Alpha Centaurian she loves, Jeff Martini, should be finalizing their wedding plans. But that was before she discovers Jeff is in line to become Emperor back on his home world. Kitty knows she is everything a royal family wouldn't approve of, and is bracing herself for the worst. As it turns out, the royal family is just the beginning. Especially when extraterrestrial Amazonian terrorists are determined to start and end Kitty and Jeff's nuptial festivities with a bang.


COVER SNARK:
I like the cartoony vibe which fits the lightheartedness of the series. But wish it was amped up a bit.

FIRST LINES:

In Springtime a young alien’s thoughts turn to love. And marriage. And, as fast as possible, the baby carriage.

Dating anyone from a different culture can be hard. Try dating one from a different planet. Oh, and working with him, too. Every day. Every single day.

LYNETTE'S TWO CENTS:

Before I commence with this review, let me say that I am a fan of this series and will probably buy the next book. As you know, I try not to buy anything and for me to say that I’m buying something really is important. Now that I have stated this, it’s time for Lynette to be a complete and total hypocrite by listing why ALIEN IN THE FAMILY drove me crazy. I apologize in advance and I know I’m going to piss off a lot of you, because my filter is off. I’m going to try to go through this review and clean it up later and make it less ranting, but I don’t know if I can. At least you can’t say that I am not emotionally invested into this series.

The first several chapters of ALIEN IN THE FAMILY where hard for me to read. I actually put the book down and didn’t pick it back up again for several days. The narrative of the story dragged as the author felt the need to do very long and drawn out summary of what had happened in the previous two books in the series that unfortunately fell short for me as I wanted the narrative to focus on what was occurring at that moment. Kitty is an interesting character, but she often feels too slap stick for me, where none of the actions are grounding in reason and common sense and since she is just Kitty and supposedly so amazing we are just supposed to go with it. This time, I had a harder time going with it.

I am also getting annoyed with Kitty and her (excuse me, but I can’t think of another word to describe this) golden p-ssy. Every and I mean EVERY man she meets wants to screw her, falls in love with her, etc. I seriously don’t get it. Why? This needs to be explained to me a little bit more. Why does every man she meets want her, even when she makes it clear that she doesn’t want them, she has several men pining for her. WHY, WHY, WHY? I get that you want to make her appealing, but REALLY? REALLY?

Another one of my pet peeves that occurred in ALIEN IN THE FAMILY and in fact the entire series is that there is really not a lot of conflict. The premise of this series is that through some amazing circumstances, Kitty learns that there are aliens on the planet and takes a top secret job to protect the planet ala Men In Black. However, everyone is in on her secret life. Everyone who is close to her is in on it. As each book progresses, I’ve never quite grasped why her parents, best friend, former boyfriends are in on this top-level secret except that is convenient for the author to do so so that Kitty doesn’t feel as isolated in her new life. And with each book, I get more annoyed that Kitty doesn’t have to work for anything in her life, that the series doesn’t really have any internal conflict.

I also don’t understand the chemistry between Kitty and Jeff besides that he’s a hot looking alien and they have awesome sex together. Despite Kitty’s golden p-ssy, I get more why Kitty would appeal to Jeff, but what is it about him (besides beinghot) that does it for her. There are tons of other hot men who want her. To put it plainly, I am a die-hard romance reader at heart and for me it’s all about the emotional connection between the hero and heroine. I don’t get a deep emotional connection on her end. Her behavior doesn’t support it. I was hoping for more when as her wedding draws near and she’s trying to puzzle out what it is about Jeff that makes her want to spend the rest of her life with him. The explanations she gives herself and Jeff on why him fell flat to me. Of course I don’t believe ALIEN IN THE FAMILY is really marketed as a romance, so I can kinda cut the author some slack.

However, this is my blog and my rant about the series. I still enjoy the series despite myself, but these issues that I have with ALIEN IN THE FAMILY keep me up at night. Seriously. They bug the heck out of me and I had to get them off my chest or I was going to burst. Thanks for listening.

While the beginning of ALIEN IN THE FAMILY dragged and drove me crazy on so many levels (really, you see no problem with your best friend who is in love with you calling a meeting not only in the same city but the same hotel, the same freaking suite where you guys had wild monkey sex. You don’t put your foot down out of respect for your fiancé? You don’t tell your friend point blank to stop disrespecting your man and this was some immature crap? Not once? – Sorry, couldn’t help myself again), the middle picked and became quite interesting. However, the ending was blah. It was a little disjointed and I wished that all the plot threads were tied up a little neater.

Yet, there is something about Kitty and Ms. Koch’s writing that despite all my ranting and raving, makes me eager to read her work and to see what’s coming next.

Hello, my name is Lynette and I am a hypocrite.

WHERE PURCHASED:
Purchased with my own money.

RATING: