Not particularly good. It is well-written - that is, the descriptions are solid and the characters reasonably so. There wasn't anything in the words that threw me out of the story. But the plot is mostly a series of coincidences (why did the jet swerve? And so convenient she was aboard...) and events that trigger major changes and are thereafter ignored (so who _was_ it who attacked the base, and why is David not in any way involved in figuring that out? Given that his team has previously played security? Come on). Not to mention one of my pet peeves, aliens with special powers which are basically to make them more sexy (ok, mental powers have other uses...but not in this story. And the exposed nerve lines, and the fact that she (and her entire species) "needs sex to relieve her stress"? Oh, come _on_). Overwhelming lust to a ridiculous point - he's willing to throw away his career to be with her? And just why is that? And...and...yeah. The sex scenes are frequent, and quite clinical in language (a turn-off for me). The reasons given for the setup don't make sense, coincidence drives the next bit, her choices make very little sense, and then neither of them are thinking at all, as far as I can tell. I'm mildly interested in reading the next book, but if the plot isn't a lot more solid I'll be done with this series and this author. Oh - I got this, long ago, from Netgalley in return for a review. So...here's a review, finally! ( )

A nice little sci-fi romp, with characters that are likeable and situations that are realistic (as far as scifi goes!).

I look forward to reading the rest of the series. ( )

Ok, full disclosure: I don’t read a lot of science fiction and I don’t read any erotica. This is the first book I’ve read that can be considered erotica or erotic romance. And I enjoyed it. Cain does a good job of creating a steamy, science fiction romance with an interesting world and a great sense of tension.

What I really enjoyed about Alien Revealed was the world Cain creates. We are thrown into an Earth of the future, where space exploration is common, but alien life forms have yet to be discovered. Humans perceive other humans as their biggest threat to creating colonies on other planets. Meanwhile, the Inarrii are an alien race who have been observing humans, undetected, and gathering information about the planet and its inhabitants in order to determine whether or not to make contact and offer membership into an intergalactic confederacy. The Inarrii are similar to humans but have distinctive henna-like designs on their bodies which are actually nerve endings that react to emotions – anger, fear, sexual attraction – by raising up in ridge-like swirls all over their skin. For the Inarrii, m’ittar, or mind contact, is an essential part of communication and healing for their people, and the Inarrii agent Alinna is excited to discover humans also have the ability to achieve m’ittar. I thought this was a fun setup. Even beyond the romantic plot of the book, my interest was held by the idea of the Confederation and the politics that will come into play once first contact is made and humans are forced to understand the bigger world out there. And the idea of the Confederation itself was interesting and makes me curious as to what other new alien races will be introduced in future installments of the series.

The tense, quickly paced plot was also fun. Once Alinna crash lands, it is only a matter of time before Major David Brown realizes things are not what they seem with her. Inarrii do not lie and so Alinna finds it increasingly difficult to maintain the façade of a Starforce psychologist. Without giving too much away, tension quickly builds as Alinna’s cover starts slipping and both she and David are forced to make major, life altering decisions.

The main characters were good. I especially liked Alinna as a lonely woman, far from home, isolated in an alien land, pretending to be someone she is not. Her stress and personal conflicts were believable and you had compassion for her as a character. However, I was not able to connect with David as much. He always seemed angry and I did not fully understand why. This distanced him from me and I had a hard time caring about his own conflicts.

Now, the sex is not…demure, flowery, or genteel. David has a domination fantasy and Alinna lets him play out these fantasies in both their physical and mental sexual encounters. She uses m’ittar to connect with him pretty early on in the story and what he thinks is a sex dream, is actually a psychic connection between the two. This mental contact continues until their desires are made physical. The language is graphic. So, if that’s not your thing, this is probably not a good book for you. It is definitely steamy but, in my opinion, not very romantic. I had a difficult time connecting what David and Alinna were feeling for each as more than sexual attraction. The sex was raw and exciting but I just didn’t feel any deep emotion there, contrary to what I think the characters are meant to feel. There is also a final mating ritual that is sacred to the Inarrii. When I learned what that was I had to giggle. Let’s just say I thought it was going to be some big, romantic act, and, in my opinion…it’s not.

All in all, I enjoyed this book. It was a good intro to science fiction-erotic romance, and it was entertaining with an interesting world to explore. Though there were a few things I thought fell short, there was enough that I did appreciate to make me recommend Alien Revealed and The Confederacy Treaty Series to anyone interested in sci-fi erotica. In fact, I’ve already read the second in the series and will post a review soon! ( )

Alinna is an alien (very human like) that has been sent to scout the earth and decide if they would be good allies for her people. She is instructed to stay out of sight and out of the way. Fate has other plans when her small craft crashed near an Earth space base. She is retrieved by Major David Brown who assumes she is a doctor he has been waiting to show up, but he soon realizes she may not be who he thinks she is.

Whoa Nelly! Talk about a short but very hot romance. The short little book had me blushing like you wouldn't believe. Alinna and David manage to somehow overcome their initial distrust and sparks go flying - perhaps fireworks would be more appropriate. All that aside, the story was cute and entertaining. It ended quite abruptly and seemed almost unfinished though.

2.5/5 ( )