Cara Bristol presents us this tale of alien romance involving a shape-shifting alien named Chameleon (Cham) who belongs to a race of beings called Xenos which are ruled by a governing body called the Consortium. The Xenos have created a race of genetically engineered beings called the Topians, but have since soured on them. The high Council of the Consortium, to which Cham belongs, decides to destroy the Topians against Cham’s wishes. He tries to save as many Topians as possible and escapes from the Topian home world before it is destroyed with five Topian crewmates who are distrustful of him because he is a Xeno. Cham and his crewmates crash-land on Earth where he meets Kevanne, a woman who is rebooting her life after recovering from a marriage to a particularly nasty abusive husband, and managing a farm by herself while trying to find a handyman to help her.

In Cham and Kevanne, Cara has created a set of complex characters. Cham is riddled with guilt over not being able to stop the destruction of Topia and facing the uncertainty of what the future holds for him, while Kevanne is trying to find her way in life and perhaps a second chance at happiness. This intricate set of emotions plus the awkwardness of Cham’s adaptation to life of Earth makes for an interesting and amusing read. I laughed at several events in Cham’s learning curve ranging from drinking coffee for the first time to trying to fix things and flooding Kevanne’s kitchen. But even as their romance blossoms, Cham is all too aware that staying on Earth may also bring about its destruction if they are found by the Consortium, so he realizes that at some point he has to leave.

Because I am a sci-fi nerd, I would have liked to see a more thorough exploration and description of the technology and social norms of the Topian and Xeno worlds, but this is a romance, and that’s the main focus of the narrative. Nevertheless, Cara engages in enough world building and description of technological capabilities to set up the storyline, which in turn also provides a rationale for the ending. I was also hoping that sex with an alien would have proven more challenging and complex than what it turned out to be, but to be fair, blue was a fun touch!

This book serves as an excellent introduction for the Alien Castaway Alien Romance series, which feature the adventures in life and romance of Cham’s fellow crewmates. If romance between aliens and Earthlings is your thing, then this is the book and series for you! ( )

I read the second book in this first and then backtracked to this one after enjoying Wingman. I really enjoyed getting to know all the characters in this book and look forward to reading more of this series. ( )