Customer Reviews

She Blinded Me with Science Fiction

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I love Kally Jo Surbeck's writing. Intelligent, insightful and loaded with sexual tension, "She Blinded Me" had me alternately laughing out loud and sighing with pleasure. Bianca and Colby made a great couple and this book had me rooting for them from start to finish. With her wonderful understanding of human nature and keen ear for realistic dialog, Kally Jo Surbeck is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors.

Gertie and her best friend, Bianca, are at a Star Trek Convention among Klingons, Andorians, Star Fleet officers and Vulcans at a Las Vegas hotel. Gertie extracts a promise from Bianca, a gorgeous blond beauty, that she will not sleep with any of the con's characters. Then Bianca gets the notion she can snare a guy without saying one word and Gertie takes her up on this bet. Looking around the restaurant, Bianca decides to pursue Mega Man sitting at the bar dressed in black.

Sparks fly with just a smile. She not only gets Mega Man's attention, he decides to pursue her. The man in black tells Bianca his name is James and leaves it at that. Colby James, on the other hand, can't believe his eyes. A girl he knew from his youth has just come on to him, and she's clueless as to his real identity. He has a moment's pause for his evasion, but James is his surname. So he hasn't really lied to her.

The couple go to his room. While they are in an impassioned clinch, Bianca's pager goes off. Gertie winds-up with food poisoning, so Bianca must take over Gertie's obligations at the convention. Dutifully, Bianca dons the Klingon costume, replete with forehead ridges and the dark skin tone added to her body. Bianca is thrown into the whirlwind of a Star Trek Convention and must finally admit that maybe she's a Trekkie after-all. And Mega Man James, who is he really? And when she finds out, will she make peace with him? Is Gertie really sick?

Kally Jo Surbeck's She Blinded Me With Science Fiction has many amusing twists and turns. Bianca is an extraordinary beauty with feelings of self-doubt. She blossoms as she comes to terms with herself. Colby James wants to correct the mistakes of his youth and has remade himself as an adult. The chemistry between Bianca and James sizzles as they come together and fall in love. As a veteran of many local and national Science Fiction and Star Trek conventions, this is a delightful tale. I chuckled from beginning to end at the hilarious antics of these characters. I eagerly await more "Intelligent life forms" to spring to life in Ms. Surbeck's next book!


Gene
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

This is a great book. Funny and so much more. I laughed out loud at the antics of Bianca and Gertie. We all know people just like the two of them or perhaps, we are just like them ourselves.

Colby James is a hero to die for. Sexy, charming.

I recommend this book highly. You won't be able to put it down.

NOTE:
Both of these books in the edtion were released as ebooks, but it is the first time they have been paired together and their first time in print.
Kally Jo Surbeck hits the mark with her first print release.
Bianca Kirkland and her friend Gertie go to Vegas for a free vacation. While there, she runs into Colby James, not recognizing him as the nerd she had dissed(well before he became the hunk he is now). Colby decides to pay her back, not telling her who he is. But plans go out the window when Gertie gets sick, then Bianca has to become a Klingon and officiate NAKED at a wedding. And worst of all, she finds herself falling in love.
Included in the edition is a short story sequel called Friendly Fire. Kenny, a real life soap opera star, likes hiding behind the mask at Star Trek conventions, and thinks he has lost his chance at hooking up, but then he doesn't know Ivy.
Both these stories are hilarious. Chick lit in tone, but definitely all romance, they will have you laughing and crying and thinking seriously about what really goes one at the conventions.
Warm, witty, and hot in all the right spots, She Blinded Me with Science Fiction is definitely a keeper!

Fast and free-wheeling the characters in this uniquely designed Chick Lit totally cracked me up. After having read Ms. Surbeck's FOR THE LOVE OF... I was expecting another romantic suspense, though to be fair both books involve a bit of intrigue and each book has humor, it's handled in vastly different amounts. There were several moments in this novel where I actually laughed aloud. The friendship between Gertie and Bianca had me shaking my head and nodding at the same time. The girls are life-long buddies...for any woman who has been best friends with another woman for that long knows that says it all right there. A truly endearing story with great chemistry between all the characters!

[Note: This review is of the title story only, which was originally published separately in an electronic edition. - JLC]

Bianca and Gertie have been best friends, almost sisters, since childhood. In fact, since Gertie's mother took Bianca in as a child, they literally grew up together. For the past couple of years, the two young women have made a living by taking temporary jobs. Right now, the two are in Las Vegas, ready to work as extras at a Star Trek Convention - not only work, but fun too, since both girls are Star Trek fans.

On the night before the convention is to start, they are sitting in the hotel bar, scoping out the hot guys. Gertie is the shy, retiring type, and Bianca is the in-your-face gorgeous blonde. On the rebound from a broken relationship, Bianca asserts that she can pick up a guy without even saying a word and she happens to choose Colby James. Unfortunately, Bianca does not recognize Colby, who knows her from high school where he was the classic pencil-necked geek. He has some serious issues with Bianca - principally an unrequited case of lust left over from their school days. As if romantic difficulties weren't enough, Bianca is to find herself much more deeply involved in the Star Trek Convention than she cares to contemplate.

What is not to like about a book in which each chapter begins with a quotation from Star Trek? I thought the descriptions of the convention were very accurate, judging from the SF conventions I've attended. I had a really good laugh from the mental images of the con-goers that Ms. Surbeck evokes. It took me a couple of chapters to really get into the story, since a lot of the back story is revealed by the characters in those chapters, and was a bit confusing due to the order in which the information was given. Once I got on track, however, I kept reading because I wanted to find out what happened to the characters. There are four main characters, Bianca and Gertie, and Colby and his friend Miguel. The characters came across very superficially at the beginning of the novella, but they continue to develop and grow throughout the story. At the end, each one was an engaging and recognizable character in his or her own right. The several love scenes in the story are more sensual than erotic, and quite emotionally rewarding. You can't go wrong with this funny, complex story. I enjoyed it, and I think you will too! -- Jean, Fallen Angel Reviews (courtesy of Fallen Angel Reviews)

If people ask you why you have a funny grin on your face just hand them this book.

A very good read from a very promising young writer.