Review: How to Lose an Extraterrestrial in 10 Days, by Susan Grant

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His internal computers are offline, his former employers want him dead and the Men in Black are after him. Without his cyberpowers, Reef is as weak as a lowly Earthling. He's tried to kill every human he's met--so why on Earth would they help him?
Evie Holloway needs a bodyguard! Her fledgling chocolate business is mistaken as a money-laundering scheme for the mob and the bullets have started flying. But does the suburban soccer mom really want to shelter the alien hit man who almost offed her future brother-in-law?
She is desperate, and Reef is incredibly sexy. "Ten days," she tells him--but it turns out that ten days just might be long enough to spark a love that's truly out of this world.

Genre: science fiction romance

Publishing date: November 2012

Offensive content: a few sex scenes, not too graphic

Review: 

Ok, so I can't seem to be able to stop reading Susan Grant's books, ever since I read Contact. It seems, however, that the first book was the best so far and none of the others has lived up to the same reputation. Once a Pirate and The Day Her Heart Stood Still were good enough and deserved the 4 star rating. How to Lose an Extraterrestrial in 10 days, unfortunately, doesn't fare so well. 

It's not too bad, but read right after the others, the differences are more evident. First, the synopsis (or the title, for that matter) does not exactly matches the actual story. It sounds a lot more promising than it actually is. I expected an action packed but funny book, and I got none of that.

Neither does Reef lives up to its reputation as an out-of-this world terminator nor does Evie really wants to get rid of him in 10 days. Actually, after less than half an hour, they seem to be lusting for each other. It doesn't matter that Evie told her sister that Reef was not welcome in her house and, more importantly, it doesn't matter that Reef broke into Evie's home and almost murdered her sister two months before. And that he's still half man - half machine and has killer instincts. For me, that would be the ultimate lust killer, not and immediate turn on.

I actually enjoyed the beginning of the book, but when Reef got down to Earth, I was lost. It seems that this is part of a series of books and I missed the first ones, but I think it was more than that. Although the book is over 300 pages long, there are parts that read like a short story, jumping from one scene to the other so fast and with so little detail that my mind couldn't grasp the storyline. 

Reef doesn't remember anything, and then he does. Evie wants to have her own business, and then she doesn't. Reef is almost illiterate in what concerns Earth and Earth technology but he drives like a pro and even handles the media when reporters hound Evie on account of the mob shooting. Evie's kids accept a strange man in their house without so much as a glance, even though he's posing as a secret service bodyguard. But then, if he was a bodyguard, would you invite him for a swim in the pool with the rest of the family? It was not totally realistic (or maybe the word should be convincing, since it's science fiction anyway) and it definitely didn't feel like I was watching a movie, like the other Susan Grant books I've read.

So, if you have the time, enjoy sci-fi romance and want an inconsequential reading for the summer holidays, you can try it out. Though I would probably recommend you to read the other books in the series before, just in case. As far as my research goes, they are My Favorite Earthling and Your Planet or Mine?, but I haven't read them (yet), so I can't give you an honest opinion. 

Otherwise, I would stick to Contact, which is amazing!

Happy reading,