Customer Reviews

How to Lose an Extraterrestrial in 10 Days (Otherworldly Men, Book 3)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the forward to this book, the author says that she loves to take the bad guy and turn him into a hero. In this book she's certainly succeeded. Reef, the terminator-like souless killing machine out to "off" the hero in "My Favorite Earthling", turns into a great leading man as he ends up falling for the Evie-- the final Jasper sibling to find love that's out of this world. The thing that makes Reef (actually Eriff) such an appeailing hero, is that all of a sudden he has his emotions back for the first time since childhood. The power of these long lost emotions, and the emerging new ones that Evie inspires, ends up giving this sexy tough guy an appealing vulnerablity. Evie also gets her own redemption. Reef brings out the best in Evie and allows her to finally break free of her family's expectations.

"How to Lose and Extraterrestrial in 10 Days" stands pretty well on its own, but it will be more fun to read if you've read the others, or at least the first one so that you can appreciate Reef's turnaround.

Once upon a time, a small boy's skill at tracking and a foolish bit of bravado resulted in him being given the "opportunity" for a new life, as a REEF assassin. He became one of the best at what he did, until he tracked Cavin Far Star to Earth, and failed to kill him. In fact, REEF was essentially killed, in one sense, yet he managed to survive. His mechanical parts were "dead" and had to go, but that restored his humanity and for the second time in his existence, he was given the shot at a new life. Cavin's lover, Jana Jasper, got her sister, Evie Holloway, to agree to take care of Reef for the ten days he needed to recover. Despite her initial doubts, Evie agreed and found herself fascinated by this new man, one who was far from being a heartless killer, but who needed her. Yet, Reef found his old instincts trying to control him once again. This places him in the fight of his life, for his own soul and for the right to love Evie and her family. However, not all Earthlings are as forgiving as Evie and her sister, and the man who created Reef isn't quite ready to let him go. Reef's strength will be tested in ways he never expected, but now, he has a new strength, love.

**** Of the three books in this series, Reef's story is the most satisfying, though they have all been wonderful reads. Redemption is a powerfully attractive theme, and Reef certainly needed it. This story will make you cheer. Replete with love, action, and heart-warming moments, it's a futuristic story that has heart and depth rather than flash and steel. ****

Amanda Killgore

How does one go from being innocent at heart, to a killing machine and finally to a near helpless prisoner? Author Susan Grant takes on a tale of this magnitude with skill and grace as she brings her all to this inspiring story of a backwater planet alien turned assassin and the human woman striving to be the perfect image her family demands she be. They come from two different worlds--or do they? Earth may now be aware that aliens exist, but they're about to find out just how much they have in common too.

Reef is a mechanically enhanced assassin in need of a hideout. Even though he failed to destroy his mark, once in the hands of these pesky humans, he's hard pressed to escape their good intentions. He's being reassigned, but for the first time, it's not with orders to kill, it's with ones to protect. Evie Jasper Holloway wants nothing to do with the killer that came after her family and ransacked her home. That it's a surprise when she finds out he's to live with her is an understatement. It could jeopardize not only lives, but the state of her family as well. But as the black sheep of her family, she tries her best to fit in where she can and soon she comes to realize there's more to this sexy alien than the next kill. He has a past, one he can't readily remember, but with Evie's help, he's soon on his way to a full memory recovery. Only problem is, Earth sees him as the bad guy and the one that made him into a killer wants him back. Can they manage to deflect the ill will of Earth and an intergalactic plot and still come out ahead?

"How to Lose an Extraterrestrial in Ten Days" revolves around the power of love and family and how each can shape a life in different ways. Good or bad, either way can have a devastatingly altering effect. No one experiences this more so than Reef and Evie in this third installment of Grants Otherworldly Men series (see "Your Planet or Mine?" and then "My Favorite Earthling"). When Evie takes on a cause, it's with a whole heart and boundless passion. And when she sets her sights on Reef, it's with no less enthusiasm. Their romance is a fast consuming fire that stakes a firm claim early on in the book and builds with good pacing till the very sweet end. I grew to dearly love Evie thanks to Grant's fine characterization skills. I found Evie to be a woman I could myself very much identify with. She has an inner strength that isn't fully realized till Reef steps in. And in turn, Reef has remained incomplete his entire life till Evie unlocks the door holding him back. Though we get snippets of what happens in the first and second books, this one reads very well on its own and focuses wonderfully on Evie and Reef's love. Once again, author Grant has won my respect and admiration for another beautifully written romance. Can we say, auto buy?

Susan Grant never fails to deliver when she combines the unique cultures of distant worlds with the promise of hot romance, earthling style.

Her latest title "How to Lose An Extraterrestrial in 10 Days" is outstanding. The hero REEF, is a wounded soul fighting the inhunmanity done to him and succeeding with the help of Evie, a woman reaches within herself for the strength to heal him.

Filled with intrigue, this book is poignant and hot with a captial H. A must read for anyone looking for the ultimate HEA!

This is much less Sci-Fi-Political-Intrigue-Thriller than the first two books in the series...and I loved it. The REEF, a human fitted with microscopic comupters, is a programmed assassin, but earthlings have removed the main computer and hidden him in suburbia with a single mom from a political dynasty. There's your sci-fi and thriller set up, but this book shines as a complex and complete heroine helps the former REEF adjust to his new life while they try not to fall in love with each other.

The sci-fi touches are just right: Reef still has some of his enhanced senses, so he can see things like a logo on the side of a van that has been hidden from normal human eyes by a new coat of paint. Without his super computers, however, he has been learning to read Earth's English the old-fashioned way, so the van drives by too quickly for him to sound the words out. I love the way books by this author always balance details like that so perfectly.

Susan Grant is an author I automatically buy, and this book is one of her many greats.

Reef, an out-of-work alien assassin, now finds himself at the mercy of Earthling strangers. His body has rejected its cybernetic implants, and for the first time since he was a boy, Reef finds himself as helpless as a normal human. To add to his frustrations, he must hide. The government's Men in Black want him and the general public knows about his past as a killer.

When Jana Jasper gets the bright idea to hide Reef at her sister's house, Evie immediately refuses. She doesn't want to endanger her children. As Jana insists that Reef is now harmless, Evie issues a joking challenge that he wouldn't last 10 days in her chaotic house. Reef decides to take on that challenge. But as Reef comes to terms with his humanity, he discovers that he's falling for this single mom and all of her chaotic life.

With her unique blend of science fiction and romance, Susan Grant has created another exciting and touching story. I've loved the character of Reef since her first in the series, Your Planet or Mine and was very excited to know that she was writing his story. Reef has an interesting, tortured past and his chemistry with Evie is nothing short of steamy.

Grant never fails to deliver. I've enjoyed each of her books even more than the previous. And this one is no exception. Each of her characters is unique an endearing. And the story includes plenty of romance, action, suspense, and alien technology. I'd like a REEF of my own, please.

Imagine the Terminator with his cybernetic super-powers disabled. How can this character possibly become a romantic hero? Grant begins by showing us the boy Reef was before he was captured and made into a super-assassin. So when we see him as a man, stranded on Earth, we already sympathize with him. The "fish out of water" theme combines beautifully with Reef's gradual re-awakening to the emotions that have been completely suppressed within him for so many years. The heroine is a great character, too, struggling for her own identity as the "ordinary" sister in the midst of her politically powerful family. This funny, tender, sensual story should appeal to any fan of SF romance.

Eriff was kidnapped from his home world at a young age. His mind was wiped and his body implanted with bio-engineered enhancements. He was the first child to become a REEF - Robotically Engineered Enemy Fighter - an assassin.

His last mission failed. He is stranded on Earth. His computer system was trying to terminate him. Whether he had succeeded or failed the last mission did not matter. Clearly, his employers wanted him dead. He is rescued and, ironically, offered a chance at a new life by his former archenemy, Cavin of Far Star. REEF is renamed Eric Sanders and he is sent to the suburbs of California. His cover is to be a Secret Service Agent protecting Evie Holloway and her children in light of her family's elevated role dealing with the Coalition. His internal computers may be offline, but Eric still has his training and instincts.

Evie Jasper Holloway told her senator sister that she did NOT want the Terminator as her bodyguard. How could she trust an unstable REEF with her own life, much less her two kids'? Eric shows up anyhow. When the bullets start flying, Evie becomes grateful for the protection, REEF or not. It is not long before Evie comes to realize that Eric, without the computer system controlling him, is very human indeed ... and very attractive.

***** This is the REEF from book two (My Favorite Earthling). During the second book I cheered the Jasper family to victory and hoped the REEF would die. When I learned that this assassin was to be the hero of book three, I laughed. I was positive that there was no way the author could make me feel anything but disgust for this futuristic terminator. But oh how I ate those words (thoughts?) within only a few pages of the story. Author Susan Grant proves her writing talent as never before! Her poisoned pen did more than make these characters seem real to me; Susan Grant brought these characters to vivid life. Now if only the daughter, Ellen, could get a story. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Reef was the best assassin the Coalition Government had ever produced, being half computer helps make him perfect and having an excellent success rate proved that. After a lifetime of being trained to be the consummate hitman, his body is hard and toned to perfection and the secrets in his eyes chill people to the bone. Now Reef has to deal with failure and finding himself without his powers. His bosses want him dead, and the lowly humans just keep helping him. Don't they know they should fear him? Don't they realize he doesn't belong in `suburbia'?

Every day, Evie Jasper Holloway puts everyone else before herself, and she needs to learn to set limits. Becoming a chocolate entrepreneur should make her fantasy of no longer being the `black sheep' of the successful Jasper family, a reality. Now she just needs to deal with the mob, her interfering ex-husband and the alien assassin her sister dropped on her plate, for the next 10 days, What's a soccer Mom to do?

How to Lose an Extraterrestrial in 10 days is a cute, sexy, well-written romance. Susan Grant weaves a tale with a superb mix of background characters and descriptions that is a joy to read. Evie's personal growth is very appealing to watch develop. Her passionate outrage and attempts to bring attention and help to slavery (most especially children's slavery) from across the world is wonderful to read. Reef's acceptance of his own actions and his dealing with the consequences of those actions improves him as a person and a hero. Both Evie's and Reef's character development helps the reader find themselves rooting for Evie and Reef's relationship to develop. I found myself believing in love at first sight when reading How to Lose an Extraterrestrial in 10 days,.and I Joyfully Recommend this book for any time a person wants to sit back and relax with an excellent book.

Barb
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

I'm not gonna go into the plot, just the basics. Eriff of Sandreem (lean, black hair, intense blue eyes) was once 1/2 man, 1/2 machine. Emotionless and relentless, he was once the galaxy's #1 assassin. Now he's stumbling around thanks to this newly awakened humanity inside him. That's not all that gets shaken up. The man inside roars to life when he literally collides with Evie Holloway (very curvy, green-eyed)for the first time. She is the 'yes-woman' of her family. Evie's a 35-year-old mother of two great kids, is warm, generous, and quite empathetic as she is also on the move to saving as much enslaved people as possible. When Eriff comes to live in her home, he not only becomes part of the family, but a part of her heart as well. He intensifies the playful spark about her.

What I love the most about this story, at least ONE of the things I loved, is how they are so well-paired. To both of them, freedom and family tie them together. Both have had their freedom tampered with in the hands of others, and both gain it back as a consequence of their growing feelings for one another. And family means the world to both of them :D Their flaws interweave wonderfully, as well. Reef was once told by his father, "Often, taking a risk brings the sweetest reward of all" since he is so accustomed to reigning himself back. For Evie, it's always been this pull to see to others first and her own self dead last. Beautifully, they triumph these setbacks together and I TRULY hope you take the risk to witness it for yourself :)

The romance: The very air between them was charged with intense desire and awareness. Sexual tension is always a pleasure to read if it is written well (Thank you, Grant), especially since it's something so very foreign to Eriff. This hot hero adorably blushed, sweated and looked away. Evie was exciting in that she wasn't sexually shy and hesitant. She was confident and aggressive and Eriff was just as eager to experience for the first time with her. The sex scenes could have been MORE in my opinion. They could have been 'out of this world' and more memorable.

Grant wrote a story in modern prose, while she relentlessly beats over the head certain significant aspects of the story. She was quite aggressive :) There are repeated passages so that the significance of them is fully appreciated and understood. Eriff and Evie go through a transformation in this story. They get back what they lost. Reef's is the most noted because he goes from this bitter, grim man to one who has hope and love. It makes the paring all the more just BECAUSE when they have the other, then they are their true selves. This was an enjoyable tale of HUMANITY; very human people and their interactions and taking risks, and falling in love. "Wishful thinking? Perhaps. After a lifetime without wishes, he deserved a few, he decided." It was a touching, very human story :)

Happy Reading.