The Star King [Mass Market Paperback]

It's not just buzz. Grant is the real deal, and performs aerobatics of the heart like no other author.

The pacy, passionate Star King concerns Jas, a no-nonsense USAF fighter pilot struck by a missile and forced to leave her jet the hard way by ejecting to earth. Hurt on an arrid desert, she prepares for anything but what occurs--a transcendent encounter with another wounded warrior. His name is Rom, a starfighter pilot from a distant universe. Now this golden demigod lies dying with the awful knowledge that he has just killed his brother in the skeleton of their burning ship, beaten by an enemy warlord. Painfully, Jas and Rom save each other, with a shared passion that will leave you limp. Is it real, or just the theater of Jas' delerious mind?

You won't know where you are at every minute in this book, but that's a very good thing because you're in skilled hands.

Abruptly, twenty years later, Jas' youthful fire has been extinguished. Now she's a dutiful mother stung by divorce who long ago gave up victory rolls in an F16 for a minivan, a surprisingly-talented artist who paints promising but only half-finished paintings. Then earth receives visitors from an advanced civilization. Among them, Rom re-appears, and Jas' real life could begin--if her golden, aristocratic ET weren't as hardened as Rick Blaine in Casablanca, by cruel fortune and a fruitless search over time and space for the mythic desert angel who once saved him.

How Grant brings Jas and Rom together, and the glory is definitely in her details, can involve sly humor (e.g. in Rom's world, all the men stand when a woman enters the room and, as a lover, he admires the artistry of her stretch marks.) But she's also capable of snap-turning you from light-as-a-feather giddy to a sudden plunge into emotional despair. You will not guess the twists and turns before they unfold, but you will root mightily for this couple to survive and fulfill the promise of their long-ago stolen moment in time.

This is just a wonderful novel that combines passion and writerly control in a fresh new way. I hope Rom has more family, because you can feel a series here.

The Star King starts with a bang, literally, as Jasmine Hamilton fights to keep her F-16 fighter plane in the air. Shot down by friendly fire over the hot Iraqi desert, she has an out of body experience that leaves her awash with unexplainable emotion.

Rom B'kah's otherworldly perspective of the unusual woman with dark hair is one of meeting his destiny. He is in the midst of a battle of galactic proportions with life-threatening injuries and has just witnessed his brother's death. Her presence both encourages and dooms him, he survives because of her but the physical ramifications of lingering too long in a hostile environment make him an outcast from his family.

Susan's interpretation of an alien arrival into earth's politics is refreshing--for example no one automatically speaks our languages. And this story is above all a ROMANCE. She doesn't bog us down with boring technical data about how things work or lengthly descriptions of weird life forms with antenna eyes and suction cup fingers. Readers will find The Star King a very satisfying read with plenty of adventure, excitement and soul-searing love. I highly recommend The Star King and believe readers of any genre of romantic fiction will be enchanted.

Don't let your reluctance to read a science fiction book keep you from experiencing this beautifully written and emotionally heartwarming love story. This is a must read for all lovers of romance and science fiction alike!