Alien in the Family by Gini Koch

Rating: 3.0
Genre: Science Fiction/Romance

Alien in the Family, by Gini Koch, is the third release in the Katherine "Kitty" Katt science fiction romance series. If you thought things were wacky the last time out, prepare for a rollercoaster ride that ends with some surprises including one I did not see coming and now wonder in what direction the series will go from here.

Kitty is a former marketing guru who is now Commander for the Centaurion Divisions Airborne Division. She was given the position after she killed a superbug with a pen, and then came up with various ways to kill the superbugs including the use of hairspray. Airborne is made up of mostly humans, US Navy Pilots as well as James Reader who is a former runway model and everything Jeff Martini is not. Funny, handsome, charming, and NOT jealous of Kitty's relationship with other men.

She even has a few A-Cs mixed in like Lorraine and Claudia who are her best A-C friends and Dazzlers, or beautiful A-C women who are also extremely intelligent. How Kitty is the commander of anything is beyond me and others ask the same question throughout the series. She is clueless to the rules and regulations of the CD, since she prefers to spend all her days and nights having monster sex with Jeff. But, she seems to always be the first one to figure out what is happening before anyone else can, and jumps in without hesitation when those she loves are in anyway put in harms way.

Kitty and her Alpha Centaurian betrothed, Jeff Martini, are six weeks away from being married but, Kitty hasn’t even firmed up her wedding party participants or plans yet or bought her wedding gown. Both families are questioning if this romance is really happening, or if Kitty is going to play runaway bride by running off to be with her best friend since the age 13 Chuckie. It doesn’t hurt that he is as rich as Bill Gates, the head of the CIA’s ET Division which oversees the Centaurion Division, and Australia's most eligible bachelor.

Kitty finds that she is totally stressing out about her wedding. The reason for the stress she is experiencing? Jeff’s mother Lucinda, she believes, hates her and still wants him to marry someone else who is A-C. Kitty’s family has already expressed their opinion on the fact that Chuckie or Christopher would have been better mates for her than Jeff, but have come to understand that Kitty isn't the brightest lightbulb in the box when it comes to matters of the heart. She is the poster girl for interspecies marriage that is considered a test case for other couples that has been for far too long, prohibited by the Pontifex. She was responsible for a staged intervention by the US government to allow sanctuary to anyone under the age of 30 who wants to have a relationship beyond what the A-C’s considered to be right. Now, distant relatives are coming to give her a worthiness test, and nobody knows what exactly that entails; only Kitty realizes that it is meant for her to fail. Oh and the Unity necklace that Jeff gave her was the trigger in letting them know that Jeff has chosen a mate.

Surprise! Jeff and Christopher are actually descended from royalty. Jeff doesn’t want a thing to do with his family’s former planet since they basically kicked his entire family off planet for their religious views. I will probably get my head handed to me for saying this but, it really feels as though the writer has made a correlation between the aliens of Alpha Centauri and the Jewish people of Europe during the early 20th century for which six million died unnessarily.

On top of everything else, assassins nearly succeed in taking out one of the main characters who I have come to love James Reader. Sorry, but if James wasn’t gay, Kitty and he would definitely make a fun couple. James is the anti-Jeff in more ways than one. He also jumps right in without any hesitation and helps Kitty and Jeff plan their wedding, and buy the ideal dress for her. I have no clue why Koch feels the need to dress Kitty as a slut however, regardless if this were Las Vegas, as it is drilled into the readers heads over and over again. I dont much care for all the hot monkey sex that just seems to happen like anywhere, but I'm sure others who love romance and lost of sex will.

My one complaint in regards to this story, it seems to drag on from time to time instead of getting to the point; the wedding of Jeff and Kitty.
I absolutely loved the introduction of the Poofs. If you have ever watched the original Star Trek series, then think of them as the tribbles. Only these poofs are known as royal pets and they immediately attach themselves to Kitty, Jeff and Christopher. They even grow and eat the bad people!

Funniest moment of the book for me: Kitty and her alpha teammates (which now include an MD candidate named Tito, who saves James life) are gathered in Las Vegas to plan out strategy for meeting the alien invasion head on. Kitty, as always, is ignored by Chuckie and Jeff since they are having a man moment in seeing who has the biggest balls. Kitty, in a moment of pure brilliance, raises her top up to show her girls and everyone stops what they are doing; including Lorraine and Claudia who are cracking themselves up with laughter. The Navy pilots, of course, demand pictures for the sake of moral. Chuckie and Jeff are left speechless and mumbling like idiots. Bloody brilliant.

Yes, there is a wedding, but naturally nothing is done normally with Kitty and Jeff on the scene. Instead of walking down the aisle, they run like it was a track meet. There are some really interesting new aliens introducted as well. Canus Majorians, Feliniads, Reptillians, and Amazon assassins who want Kitty as one of their own. One of the aliens even becomes Kitty's soul sister and matron of honor.

Overall, the story was good, but it could have been alot better if it didn't seem to go on, and on at times. The ending is interesting as well, and it appears Kitty's future as part of the CD is up in the air since you know Jeff will not allow her to jump into fights now.