Gini Koch – Alien in the family

The third book in the Katherine "Kitty" Katt series, published April 5, 2011.



Planning any wedding is hard enough, but Katherine “Kitty” Katt and Jeff Martini have a lot more to worry about than seating arrangements, because multiple interstellar invasions, Alpha Team in mortal peril, and inter-alien conspiracies are all on the guest-list – and the gifts they’ve brought contain some explosive surprises.
Kitty and Martini should be happily finalizing their wedding plans. Kitty’s biggest worries should be about winning over Martini’s mother, finding the right dress, and lining up her bridesmaids. But protecting the Earth from assorted alien threats seems to keep getting in the way.
The discovery that Martini is actually a member of the Alpha Centauri Royal Family brings additional bad news – emissaries are on their way to see if Kitty’s royal bride material. And they’re not the only things coming from the Alpha Centauri system. Amazonian assassins, spies, alien beasties, shape-shifters, and representatives from the Planetary Council, combined with a tabloid reporter who’s a little too on the mark, create a deadly situation for Kitty and the rest of Alpha Team. When the assassins strike far too close to home for anyone’s comfort, Kitty realizes it’s going come down to more than throwing the bouquet, she’s going to have to face an entire planetary consciousness and dethrone a monarch in order to make it to the church on time…


The book sure starts great, which Chuckie showing them all “strange lights in the sky”, but it is Kitty who finally understands what it all means …Jeff’s family is coming for a visit, and they might not be friendlies … Apparently, Jeff Martini is in line for the thrown of Alpha Centauri, and the fact that he found the woman he loves and wants to marry, is a big deal for some.
They have gathering in Las Vegas, at the request of Chuckie, head of the FBI ET-division. But someone has been aware of their moves already; the room has been bugged with something alien. Who planted it, and why? Jeff really hates Las Vegas, as Kitty and Chuckie had a great weak there, and some really great memories were made for them. If only Kitty had known that Chuckie was not kidding when he proposed …

Kitty is really insecure about her feelings at the moment, and the whole wedding planning has her almost desperate. She would love to invite her best friends to be her bridesmaids, but they don’t know anything about her current job, or that her lover is an alien. What should she tell them? But luckily James Reader is here, her new best gay friend, and he helps her see more clearly, and more importantly, he will help her shop for the best dress ever! After all, he has impeccable taste. But before the shopping spree can start for real, Kitty is accosted in her dressing stall by a strange woman, and James has disappeared. Kitty quickly overpowers the alien kissing her, and runs after James. But where did he go? Luckily, a young cute Hispanic maintenance guy can help her out, they are just in time before the dumpster where Reader was dumped in, gets emptied in the trash car. But James is very badly hurt, and it will take ACE to help him survive. But ACE knows it will kill both Kitty and his host if something happens to James. The maintenance guy is studying to be a doctor, and he can provide some very necessary first aid. Kitty hires him on the spot, as he has a lot of other very handy skills she can use in her team.

When the spaceship lands in the desert near Las Vegas, the inhabitants are quickly arrested by the AC’s and taken into custody. Kitty soon discovers that not all of them are humanoid aliens though; it is a right mixture of people from all the inhabited worlds in the sphere of Alpha Centauri. Some are hostile towards her, some are not. And the two real AC’s are distant cousins of Jeff and Christopher.

As usual, things happen very fast from there on. Plots are unravelled, battles are fought, and Kitty is the one to discover the truth behind things. And all that happens while Reader is very busy planning her wedding for this same weekend. All of her family is in Las Vegas already, and even Jeff’s mother seems to have mellowed.


Another great instalment in the Kitty Katt series by Gini Koch. I really never see the next turn coming. It is never boring, dull or predictable. I really like how Jeff is trying to fight his jealousy, but I know he and Chuckie will never be friends. Which is a shame, as I really like Chuckie. But for me, in this novel, Reader steals the show. How he plans the whole wedding, gets her to pick the perfect dress, and even gives her a bachelorette party! I wish I could have been there! In between the fighting and the mayhem and emergencies, all the traditions are observed, but that last scene in the church was really hilarious. But then, alien wedding traditions are at some points really different from human traditions, and some things humans should take over  And we finally get to meet the POOFS! Of whom I have heard so much already on Twitter and from reviews. I want one! They are so great and fun.

What more can I say? I really like all the characters in this series, and there are many of them. I like the plot, I like the intrigue, and I even like the steamy love scenes between Kitty and Jeff. Although why she is not hoarse every day is a riddle to me.
The book is fun, mainly because of the snark that is Kitty, the ribbing between the men in her life, but it is also really well written. The plots are not something I never could have figured out myself.

9 stars.