How to Lose an Extraterrestrial in 10 Days (Otherworldly Men, #3) By Susan Grant
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I read this a while back. I absolutely loved the characters and love forward to reading the other books in this series.
Your Planet or Mine? and My Favorite Earthling 0373772416 เราโทษว่า ต้นเหตุเป็นเพราะชื่อเรื่องอย่างเดียวเลยนะคะที่ทำให้เราดองหนังสือเล่มนี้ไว้นานขนาดนี้ ชื่อเรื่องที่เห็นได้ชัดว่า ลอกเลียนมาจากภาพยนตร์เรื่อง How to Lose a Guy in 10 days (ที่แสดงโดยเคท ฮัดสัน และแมทธิว แม็คคอนาเฮย์) ทำให้เรานึกว่า เรื่องนี้จะมีธีมคล้ายคลึงกับหนัง ซึ่งเป็นแนวโรแมนติกคอเมดี้ เราก็เลยเก็บดองเรื่องนี้ยาวนาน ตั้งแต่ปี 2007 โน่นแน่ะ
จริง ๆ มันเป็นคำแก้ตัวที่ใช้ไม่ได้ค่ะ ด้วยอะไรบางอย่างก็ไม่รู้ เราไม่หยิบเรื่องนี้มาอ่านสักที ทั้งที่เราชอบสองเล่มแรกในชุดมาก ๆ
การได้อ่านเล่มนี้ก็ยิ่งย้ำเตือนความชอบที่เรามีให้กับสองเล่มแรกในชุดค่ะ ที่มากไปกว่านั้น ที่เป็นเล่มสาม (ที่ถือว่าปิดชุดในระดับนึง) ที่ไม่ผิดหวังเลยแม้แต่น้อย เรียกว่าหนังสือชุดนี้โดนใจเราไปเต็ม ๆ (นี่กำลังคิดว่า จะย้อนไปหยิบเล่มหนึ่งและสองมาอ่านอีกรอบ)
เราคิดว่า ไม่จำเป็นต้องอ่านเรียงลำดับไล่กันมาก่อนได้นะคะ แต่ถ้าหยิบเล่มนี้มาอ่านก่อน ก็จะสปอยล์เหตุการณ์ในสองเล่มแรกหมด เพราะคนแต่งเล่าเหตุการณ์เพื่อทบทวนความทรงจำของคนอ่านในรูปของข่าวด่วน (ซึ่งเราว่า ฉลาดมาก)
รู้ตัวเลยค่ะว่า เราชอบเรื่องชุดนี้มากขนาดไหน เพราะครั้งสุดท้ายที่อ่านเรื่องในชุดนี้ก็น่าจะเกินห้าปีไปแล้ว แต่เชื่อไหมคะว่า หยิบเล่มนี้มาอ่าน เราจำเหตุการณ์ในสองเล่มแรกได้ครบถ้วน ทั้งที่หนังสือบางเรื่อง อ่านจบไปแค่สองอาทิตย์ก็ลืมเกือบหมดแล้ว แต่เรื่องชุดนี้ติดอยู่ในความทรงจำยาวนาน
อย่างที่บอกนะคะ เหตุการณ์ในเล่มนี้ถือว่า เป็นสปอยล์สองเล่มแรกพอควร ถ้าคิดจะอ่านสองเล่มนั้น ก็หยุดอ่านรีวิวค่ะ
เล่มนี้เล่าเรื่องพี่สาวคนโตที่ถูกลืมของตระกูลแจสเปอร์ ตระกูลผู้ทรงเกียรติแห่งรัฐคาลิฟอร์เนีย เมื่อเจนา เจสเปอร์ ลูกสาวคนเล็กเป็นตัวการสำคัญในการรักษาโลกเอาไว้จากการบุกรุกของต่างดาว (เล่มแรก Your Planet or Mine?) และเจเร็ด แจสเปอร์ลูกชายคนเดียวเสียสละตัวเองแต่งงานเพื่อเชื่อมสัมพันธไมตรีกับต่างดาวนั้น เพื่อทำให้มั่นใจว่า โลกมนุษย์จะไม่โดนบุก (เล่มสอง My Favorite Earthling) ก็เหลือแต่บุตรสาวคนโตอย่างเอเวนเจลีน แม่บ้านชานเมือง คนที่ไม่มีส่วนอะไรทั้งสิ้น คนที่ไม่เคยทำอะไรสำคัญยิ่งใหญ่ หรืออย่างน้อยนั่นก็เป็นภาพที่เอ���ีมองตัวเอง
จนกระทั่งน้องสาวขอร้องให้เธอให้ที่พำนักแค่มือสังหารที่กำลังหลบหนีการตามล่าของรัฐบาล มือสังหารที่เป็นฝ่ายออกตามล่าคาลวิน คนรักของน้องสาว (เหตุการณ์ในเล่มแรก) แต่เมื่อทุกอย่างจบลง คาลวินให้อภัย และพร้อมจะยื่นมือช่วย เพราะเขาเองก็รู้ว่า ผู้ออกตามล่าเขาไม่ได้มีทางเลือกมากนัก
มือสังหารที่ถูกเรียกว่ารีฟ เป็นมนุษย์จักรกล ครั้งหนึ่งเมื่อนานมาแล้วคนเคยเป็นมนุษย์ แต่ถูกโครงการทดลองเปลี่ยนแปลง ทำให้ไร้ความรู้สึก ถูกควบคุมโดยเครื่องจักร จนกระทั่งภารกิจที่พาเขามายังโลกมนุษย์ทำให้คอมพิวเตอร์เสียหาย รีฟตื่นพร้อมกับความรู้สึก และการเปลี่ยนแปลง เขากำลังจะกลับมาเป็นมนุษย์อีกครั้ง และมันไม่ใช่เรื่องง่ายได้ โดยเฉพาะเมื่อคุณใช้ชีวิตทั้งชีวิตฆ่าคน
เรื่องนี้ได้ผลสำหรับเราเพราะฉากเปิดเรื่อง ที่ทำให้คนอ่านได้รู้ตั้งแต่ต้นว่า ตัวตนที่แท้จริงของรีฟคือใคร เขาไม่ใช่ชายนิรนาม แต่เป็นเด็กชายวัยไม่ถึงสิบขวบที่ถูกลักพาตัวออกมาจากบ้าน จากพ่อแม่ในครอบครัวที่อบอุ่น คนแต่งทำให้เราเห็นชัดแต่ต้นว่า เขามีชีวิต และเขาก็สูญเสีย นั่นสามารถลบภาพมือสังหารโหดในเล่มแรกไปได้เยอะ และเป็นการเปิดอารมณ์ทำให้เราผูกพักกับเขาในเล่มนี้ และคอยลุ้นให้เขากลับมามีชีวิตที่เป็นสุขเสียที
หนังสือเรื่องนี้อ่านแล้วเลื่อนไหลมาก เราอ่านอย่างมีความสุข ทั้งที่ว่าตามจริง พล็อตเรื่องถือว่ามีขอบเขตที่แคบมาก เมื่อเที่ยบกับอีกสองเล่มแรกในชุด แต่เรื่องนี้ก็สนุกในแบบของมันเอง ซึ่งไม่ได้น้อยหน้าเล่มไหนในชุดเลย เราชอบพระเอกที่บกพร่อง และเล่มนี้รีฟก็บกพร่องอย่างที่สุด เราไม่แน่ใจกับคาแร็คเตอร์ของเอวีมากนักก่อนที่จะเปิดอ่าน แต่เธอได้ใจเราไปเต็ม ๆ
อ่านเล่มนี้จบแล้วคิดถึงงานเขียนของซูซาน แกรนต์มาก และทำให้เริ่มจำได้ว่า เธอเป็นนักเขียนที่ดีมากขนาดไหน (เราไม่ได้อ่านงานของเธอไปหลายปี เลยไม่ได้คิดถึงเธอเท่าไหร) โชคดีว่า เรายังพอมีงานของเธอเก็บไว้หลายเล่มที่ยังไม่ได้อ่าน หวังว่า เธอจะออกงานใหม่เร็ว ๆ นี้นะคะ จะเป็นพิมพ์ขายเองก็ยังดี
คะแนนที่ 80 0373772416 #3 Otherworldly Men trilogy
Read in 2007 --- just loved this fun, well written series! Such a treat! 0373772416 Book #3 of 20, from the giant, random box of backlist Paranormal Romance novels my brother got me for Christmas
DNF!
'But he's... an extraterrestrial.' The word squeezed past Pierce's straight, perfectly white clenched teeth like dough through a cookie press. Except if his voice were to be made into cookies, they'd be inedible, bitter and burned.
Wow, I can't believe that I finally ran into my first DNF! In actuality, this book was so difficult to read, that my avoidance of even working my way another chapter into the book sent me into a slump for two weeks. Even the racist vampire book didn't manage that!
What ended up being the death knell for this book for me, wasn't just the fact that the writing was pretty bizarre, but that it also handled a lot of heavy topics that I couldn't really rely on the plot to deal with appropriately. Seriously difficult subject matter that kept being thrown at the reader - torture, inoperable kill switches, government intervention, mob involvement, direct violence enacted against characters, etc. - was constantly getting entangled with somewhat breathlessly stupid characterizations and dialogue.
Most notably, our main character is one kid in a long line of a political dynasty, the only one who doesn't seem to have much of a elite streak. She's an unhappy housewife - the mother of two kids she shares with a cold and unfeeling adulturer ex-husband - who is also constantly beleaguered by requests from her oblivious, well-respected family members, who rely on her to take care of the dirty work of their lives, but also seem hell-bent on undercutting her sense of self-worth at every opportunity. Her attempt to prove them wrong? By starting a CHOCOLATE-COVERED STRAWBERRY business that caters to large events. But that's not all: she decides to really tell her family off by donating the proceeds to charity, directing what pittance she earns towards funding organizations that end child trafficking. She justifies this with the acknowledgement that had Earth been invaded (as was attempted in a previous installment), the entire human race might have been sold into slavery on other planets. And that's why chocolate-covered strawberries are so important to her!
It's as if there's absolutely no balance the serious, dark implications of subject matter, and the neon pink goofiness of the actual writing. The extremes are far to much to trade off between.
The part where I closed the book for good was actually when it became clear that the heroine's relationship with her d-bag ex-husband was going to end in trouble... like, in a he's actually building a really effective case for renegotiating child support against you and removing your legal right to see your kids kind of way. In a mild panic, I flipped to the second-to-last page to see if it managed to get resolved all right by the end, only to see it flippantly abandoned with only the sheerest veneer of quasi-resolution (aka, she is handed a court warrant, which she then tears up in front of him, and tells him 'Bite me.' Which I feel like wouldn't stand up in an actual court of law?)
In total, the book didn't seem to take itself seriously, so it became borderline painful for me to take it so seriously. I read Romance for an engaging distraction, not a parade of Sad and Bad Things that never end up being resolved before the HEA. Really just not my thing at all.
One note about the author, though: this book was originally sold as a mass-market paperback by Harlequin, back in 2007. Since then, the author appears to have since purchased her own material back, repackaging and selling it under a new name - Cyborg and the Single Mom - as an ebook, through publisher Singing Tree Media, via Amazon. Due to the importance of ebook purchasing and availability in contemporary Romance readership, and its lucrative nature for authors, I wanted to make sure that at the very least, I shouted out Grant's business acumen. Woo, you go, Susan! Get that money! It's the sort of thing I hope to see more traditionally-published Romance authors doing in the future. 0373772416 This was a fairly vacuous happily-ever-after romance novel with a space alien twist. I think it might be well along in a series, but I'm not certain and didn't like this book enough to go to the author's website to find out. The premise is an alien cyborg assassin(Reef or Eriff) gets stranded on earth. The humans remove his internal computer so that he's just a person now, and place him in the home of a single mother (Evie) during his recuperation. They fall in love, get married, have babies, yadda, yadda. The characters were flat, predictable, and melodramatic. Something that bothers me about a lot of romance novels is the self-important heroine who exhibits moxy, or as I like to think of it, thinnly veiled egotism. (My role as a housewife/librarian/shop owner makes the world go round!) This novel has a twist on that idea - the heroine starts out a brow-beaten floormat but improves herself to the moxy level. I enjoyed this book as a light, silly, happy read, but only because I've read too many dark, brooding, dangerous books recently. 0373772416
What’s better than Chocolate…a cyborg assassin of course!
First of all, this book is the conclusion to the series, “WorldlyMen,”
I found lots to like about this book. “Cyborg…” is a fun read, but also one with substance that reaches into your heart tugging unashamedly at your emotions. Susan peppers the pages with fast-paced excitement and a very “hot” unlikely love story between Reef and Evie. This easy to read, but thought-provoking story line, tracks across different levels.
We first meet Reef and Evie in WorldlyMen #1. Reef is the ultimate galactic cyborg assassin on assignment to Earth when his bioengineering malfunctions. Evie, the nurturing suburbia single mom with two children creates extraordinary chocolate-dipped strawberries which I could almost taste. I admit to a few laugh-out-loud moments during the developing love story.
I highly recommend all three “WorldlyMen” books. “Cyborg…” delivers a powerful conclusion.
0373772416 REEF first appeared in Guardian Alien. The events of this story overlaps with those of Royal Recruit. As a result, while this is a solid stand alone done in one story, having read the other two stories first gave me a richer understanding of the Universe, and a deeper understanding of REEF coming in.
REEF was born Eriff of Sandreem, though he has no memory of his idyllic childhood before being conscripted into the coalition’s REEF program, mindwiped, and enhanced into a cyborg killing machine. The charm of his story comes from his journey to rediscover his humanity, his internal monologue mantras to help him on that journey, and this story’s debate of who and what is a monster.
Evie is a natural born nurturer, and even with very real, personal reasons to want REEF nowhere near her and her family, when she spots the wounded child beneath the injured killing machine, she can’t resist her instinct to provide him with a safe place to heal.
Her kids are great, with just the right amount of “story time”, I get frustrated in stories like this when the kids feel like props, but Ellen and John received better treatment than that.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout, and switched to the Kindle Unlimited version when it came out... I am voluntarily leaving a review. 0373772416 Loved Evie and REEF\Eriff's story
The REEF has survived. The Gatekeeper and Handyman are determined to nurse him back to health. Cavin and Jana offer him a chance at a new life on Earth. While Cavin's hero status keeps him safe, REEF's villain status puts him in danger. Jana has a plan. Hiding him in plain sight. She just has to convince her older sister that her house is the perfect place to hide him.
Evil Holloway is a divorced stay at home mother of two young teens. The black sheep of the family, she is content with being a mom and helping her family with what ever they need. The REEF in her house is a hard no. Then he saves her life and a tentative friendship is born.
Being human again is a learning curve for REEF. Emotions are causing unexpected problems. His attraction to Evie the most important
The more time Evie spends with her new house guest the most comfortable she feels and the harder it is to ignore the attraction between the. Trouble is brewing. REEF's memories are starting to return. His monster within is trying to take over. REEF's creator wants him back.
A sweet and steamy sifi romance. 0373772416 Bio-engineered assassin Reef was a feared super soldier. He started out life as Eriff of Sandreem, but his memories had been wiped and he cannot remember his childhood. His hardware malfunctioned. Now that he is reverting back to “human”, he has to learn how to handle feelings and emotions again.
Evie Jasper Holloway, a divorced single mom, feels bad for the man she senses under the confusion, and she gives Eriff a place to stay while he sorts things out and deals with his returning memories. She is supposed to keep him “hidden” so he won’t get captured and dismantled.
There are some great laugh-out-loud moments and you will really enjoy this book as Eriff comes more and more into his human nature and the two of them start to really care. They bring something to the other that makes them stronger and better and brings a smile to the reader.
0373772416 HE’S AN INTERSTELLAR ROBOTIC HIT MAN, SHE'S A SINGLE MOM
(Wanna WATCH this review, instead of reading it? Yes? Clicky McClick the link. No? Keep reading, you cool human, you.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQXgc...
Suburbia soccer mom falls in love with ET and I’m here for it!
Silly me is a walking-talking turtle poop who’s never read Susan Grant...UNTIL NOW! Yall, my subterranean rock dwelling ass was missing out because Reef!
If you told me I’d fall in hearteyes with Terminator, I’d slap ya silly. But, whoops, that happened because Reef 01 is- you know -an alien robot killing computer man.
And PITY HIM ‘cause Mr. Cyborg got kid kidnapped and operated on Wolverine style.
He stayed at the porthole long after Sandreem shrank to a blue-green star and disappeared, staring outside until his tears had dried to tracks of salt on his cheeks and his heart was as hollow as the void of space outside.
CUE ALL MY SAD!
The bad guys send Reef in to go Murder Death Kill on Evie’s family. Luckily his computers go wonky so his humanity gets rebooted. Ex-bad guys always get my heart; especially when they fall in mushy gushy love with a divorced mom of two teenagers. Alas, Robot Boy needs some R&R, so he gets sent to stay with the heroine!
There was so much fun plot stuff in this lil doodad, but the book’s near perfection is what blew my booty away. Science Fiction always goes too hard or not hard enough for me, but HTLAE10D was my Baby Bear.
I jumped into book 3 of this series without once getting lost. Susan Grant takes time to set up the backstory for both Reef AND the universe.
AND THAT ROCKED LIKE IGNEOUS!
Keeping the OTP apart for 100 pages let me learn our Robot Assassin isn’t a cold blooded killer. Reef plays Evie’s bodyguard and the two stay camped out at her place.
After that, the science in this science fiction takes a bit of a chill pill.
Had the setup gone any differently, Reef would’ve been less Mr. Rocket Man and more Joe The Plumber...Except, you know, with a hella tragic internal identity and morality crisis being an ex assassin/part machine who lacks his pre-kidnapped memory.
Like DAYUM son!
Boy legit fears he’s just an outsider with nothing to offer Earth, and ouch my heartstrings! But this shindig worked for me because Evie got just as much internal conflict as our sexy space traveller.
This silver spoon political family chick is a divorced stay-at-home mom who never went to college and has no career. No shade, but damn if society and her family don’t inadvertently make her feel inadequate.
She even calls it; she runs errands, her family saves the world. Literally.
Her ex husband and failed marriage, her lack of professional or academic success...OH MY GOD SO MUCH GOOD JUICEY INTERNAL CONFLICT!
She’s sad but she’s not a whimpy flower. Evie’s got a strength in her that’s quiet and realistic. This badass strong mom copes with her internal crap while being a loving parent and a supportive daughter.
That stuff is my jelly jam, and the book had tons of it...It was just missing a little bit of peanut butter.
Now I FEDEX shipped Evie and Reef ‘cause I totally bought them as an OTP. Hero loves heroine and heroine loves hero, and I believed it ten thousand percent.
Buuuuut...
The drawback of spending 100 pages on character development is that you kinda gotta rush the hearteyes. Evie and Reef fall hard and fast for one another, and that’s kind of a pet peeve. They’re not quite insta-love but they dangerously toe the line.
But because Evie is so interestingly written and Reef is so compellingly evocative, they get a pass.
Plus they’ve got a fun, playful dynamic that was pretty darn irresistible. He calls her Earthling, she calls him EXTRA-terrestrial. AND bless Susan Grant for writing a virgin hero, BECAUSE I LOVE VIRGIN HEROS!
Snowflake heroines get hella old, so I loved how Evie was the experienced one in the sack.
Reef’s embarrassment at thinking of doing the frick frack with her was soooOOoooOOOooo damn cute! Boy was a robot half his life, so attraction is a brand new game for him, and damn that’s fun.
AND ADORABLE!
Boy balances his horny and his respect for Evie and mad yes to that.
The romance gets my thumb’s up, but so does the story’s story! The tone and pacing kept the angsty pants from making my heart bleed all over the pages. Plus, the cool world building had my brain cells dancing.
Evie’s family save Earth in the series’ overarching plot, and that really sells this universe!
I hate otherworldly men (forgive the pun) who don’t feel like Earth foreigners, but that was SOOO not a problem here! Even though the story puts a pause on the scifi, our OTP eventually do some star travelling in the story’s climax showdown.
It added just enough science fiction back into a mostly contemporary romance.
If you want a solid fun little story, you got no excuse; go put your face in this book.
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0373772416
Can a single mom who's afraid to lose her heart find love with a fugitive cyborg who's forgotten he has one?
Evie hasn't forgiven Reef for invading her home and terrorizing her chihuahua, but agrees to a temporary stay to help Earth avoid an alien invasion. But does the suburban mom really want to shelter the alien hit man who almost offed her sister and future brother-in-law?
Reef can't understand why these humans care about him, and has no memory of his life before he was conscripted and turned into a bio-engineered super solder. But as his computers fail, the man he once was emerges, and soon he’s determined to figure out how to navigate this thing called love.
Read the hot and heartwarming conclusion to the OtherWorldly Men series today!
The Borderlands Series:
Book #1 WARLEADER
Book #2 HUNTING THE WARLORD'S DAUGHTER
Book #3 RAIDER BORN
Three Borderlands prequels: (The Otherworldly Men Series)
Book #1 GUARDIAN ALIEN
Book #2 ROYAL RECRUIT
Book #3 CYBORG AND THE SINGLE MOM How to Lose an Extraterrestrial in 10 Days (Otherworldly Men, #3)