Sunday, May 22, 2011

Review: Touched by an Alien

Touched by an Alien
Gini Koch
Science Fiction Romance
Kitty Katt/Book 1
DAW/April 6, 2010


From Goodreads ~

How can a sexy marketing manager join forces with an Alpha Centauri male in Armani to save the planet-using hairspray, a Mont Blanc pen, and rock n' roll?

Easy...

She's Touched by an Alien

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.


It took me a few stops and starts before I could get into this book. But I keep going back to it because Nath liked it so much and while we don't agree on every book, I trust her judgement. :) And she was right! Once I got past the initial world building, with the info coming a little too fast, then the story became more character and action driven and worked for me.

Kitty is an average woman. She's doesn't come across as anyone out of the ordinary, until she defeats a monster and is whisked away into a secret world of sexy aliens, monster aliens and some really cool toys! Kitty took the news of aliens on planet Earth pretty well. Sometimes almost too well. No major meltdowns or freak outs. Maybe because all of the alien dudes are GQ super sexy. Which is one of the clues that makes Kitty think these guys are not your regular government agents. While I didn't always feel Kitty's reactions were realistic, I did like how she didn't let anyone push her around.

Jeff Martini and his alien buddies are not only cover model good looking, but they have some wicked cool abilities. Jeff's most obvious is his smooth talking way with women and he goes full throttle with the charm when Kitty shows up. It was over the top at times but that's just Martini. He can be annoyingly cute. He also has his serious side and I liked how Koch balanced that with his playful, flirty side.

There is a lot to take in with all the data on the aliens and their background. It does lay a solid foundation for the rest of the series but got to be a little overwhelming. The monsters or super-beings as they are called are ingenious in their creation. They're like something from the mind of mad scientist on drugs. It's these beings that Kitty is recruited to fight along with Martini and company. Those were the scenes I enjoyed the most. The fight scenes are fast and brutal, with Kitty and her alien pals using anything at their disposal to fight the big bad nasties that keep coming at them.

The romance is there but sometimes Martini and his confidence in his ability to win Kitty over bordered on stalker. He came on way too strong and left me annoyed more often than not. I did like when we saw his vulnerabilities. It was at those times when he seemed almost human.

Overall, a decent start to a new, unique series. I've got Alien Tango on the TBR pile waiting for me. I have a feel it won't take more than one try for me to get into it.

Rating: B

Books in this series ~

Touched by an Alien
Alien Tango
Alien in the Family

4 comments:

  1. Ouf, glad you enjoyed the book, Leslie!

    In hindsight, I do agree the book is extremely busy, both in the information, world building and action... However, the book itself is just so fun and slightly absurd that it makes you overlook a lot :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nath ~ There is a lot of tongue in cheek with all the craziness. Can't take it too seriously.

    ReplyDelete
  3. And here I thought I was the only person left in our circle who hasn't read this series! lol I'm glad you enjoyed it once you got into the story. That happens to me sometimes, too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Christine ~ Your turn. :) It's a fun book and like Nath said, slightly absurd.

    ReplyDelete