Eriff was just a boy on the planet Sandreem.  His was a simple life filled with a loving family, good food, hunting, fishing, and play in the forest.  They lived on the Rim far from the fight against the enemy Drakken Horde. 

A curiosity of the new and the scent of something delicious from a Coalition visitor to his world was his downfall.  The tracking and hunting skills that he used to play a prank and steal a meal showed him to be an ideally suited candidate for a new program to create the ultimate assassin.  He was kidnapped and eventually became a Robotically Engineered Enemy Fighter, or REEF.  In fact, he became the best of all who went through this program.  But the choice of whether he wanted to be an assassin was never his to make. 

Evie Holloway is a nurturer to the bottom of her soul.  Having been born into California’s politically illustrious Jasper family has meant being the odd one out since she has never embraced politics or being in the spotlight.  Home, family and the feeding thereof have been her focus even after her husband’s unfaithfulness and then divorce. 

The last thing she needs is to take in and hide the alien who had been sent to kill  Cavin of Far Star, her sister’s extraterrestrial boyfriend.  Not that the REEF who had also happened to have broken into her home, and terrified her beloved pooch Sadie would be able to handle living in suburbia with all of the chaos of her life, her teens, and her dogs.  Why, he wouldn’t last 10 days. 

Generally referred to in this story as Reef, he was the villain from Your Planet or Mine? the first book in the Otherworldly Men series.  Even in that story there were glimmers of the man beneath the intended killer and all of his computer integrated enhancements. 

If ever there was an extreme example of the saying, “there is no such thing as a free lunch”, this would be it…although in our character’s case it had been dinner.  That he had learned this at such great cost from a tender age is how we are able to truly believe this man could be a hero.  The computer has been removed to save his life.  He fights to reclaim his humanity and memories; it is a hard battle with unexpected complications.  This man seems to be a bit of a lost soul now that he is no longer subject to a computer regulating his body.  How can readers resist such a very bad boy attempting to turn good? 

As much of a pleasure as it was to watch the transformation of Reef, it is every bit, a pleasure to watch Evie grow.  Throughout this story we see her slowly gathering confidence and strength, even as she makes the move of going from homemaker to entrepreneur with social conscience.  Not an easy feat when one has been subjected to the small put downs and manipulations of a spouse who had not seen her worth.  Evie’s sympathetic and protective nature makes her the ideal woman to help our hero heal emotionally and her skill in the kitchen doesn’t hurt, either.  Of course, Reef helps our heroine to heal, too. 

The secondary characters and a Chihuahua help to add depth to the overall storyline.  In fact, the only complaint has to do with certain aspects of the conclusion to the book which seemed somewhat rushed and a bit too pat rendering it less believable than one would have hoped. 

Nevertheless, Ms Grant writes with all of the skill that one has come to expect from her.  The characters will make you laugh, tug at your heartstrings as each makes their way through the unfamiliar, and leave you heartily thrilled that in all of the great big galaxy, these two managed to end up together.

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