My first experience with this author was listening to her audiobook of It’s Not Unusual To Be Loved by an Alien, performed by Greg Boudreaux. OMG was I blown away by that fantastic story. I’m sure that a lot of the reason was Greg’s excellent performance but I also thought the writing was great. I’ve been eagerly awaiting the second book, Can’t Help Falling in Love with an Alien, to come out as an audiobook. In the meantime, I was given the opportunity to read and review books two and three in this series. This post will touch on all three books. Note: this is a series best read in order.

It’s Not Unusual To Be Loved by an Alien – 5 stars – This was my first book with tentacles. I was just a little nervous about reading a tentacle book but this one was really great and tasteful, if that makes sense. The story is witty and held my attention from start to finish. Greg Boudreaux’s audio performance was fantastic!

Can’t Help Falling in Love with an Alien – 4.5 stars – The humor continues! This story was a bit harder for me to get into than the first one but I still enjoyed it a lot. I am a huge Star Trek fan and I LOLd more than once when coming across some of the witty things that Chloe Archer inserted into this book. Here are just a few of the things that made me laugh:

“It’s like plak tow during Vulcan pon farr.” (BTW-this episode of the original Star Trek series was my personal favorite.)
“Remember, Spock isn’t fully Vulcan.”
“Holy shitballs, Batman! Are you going into pon fucking farr?”
And: River’s responding smile is blindingly bright and beautiful. “Oh. My. Freaking. God! Now you’re bringing Star Trek lines into our lovemaking? How did I get so lucky? You’re gonna make me bust my nut way too fast if you keep that up.”

So, while it took me a bit to get into this one, I was totally hooked before it ended and I quickly moved on to book three.

When a Man Loves an Alien – 5 stars – This story grabbed me from page one and didn’t let go until I finished it. So many things happened in this book. There’s a mystery concerning why a former Alliance member defected and became one of the bad guys. An assassin is after River and they won’t give up which keeps River and all of his Alliance friends on their toes. We find out that River has a secret ability. And there is so much suspense surrounding the attacks on River – I was on pins and needles much of the time while reading this one. There was also a major surprise that I never saw coming and I’m afraid if I say anything more it would be too much of a spoiler.

While the first two books had cliffhanger endings book three wrapped up a lot of things that were started in the previous books. River and Kai’s story isn’t over yet however, so I’d call the ending of book three a soft cliffhanger. It definitely left me wanting to read more but not exactly dying for the next one, so I will wait patiently for the author to finish the next book.

Reviews for Chloe Archer

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“Step right up and get your Tentacular Tales merch! We’ve got T-shirts in all sizes, made to accommodate folks of various shapes and appendages.” My old neighbor—and incognito alien—Tom Jones holds up one of the aforementioned shirts. “For those die-hard fans of our favorite villain out there, we have our brand spanking—no pun intended—new Team Vardox FTW tees!”

There’s an enthusiastic murmur among the crowd. Tom drapes the shirt over his shoulder like a bar towel and plucks up another. “For the more daring among you, we have I got tentacled by Lord Vardox…and I liked it or Villain in the streets, Tentacled-Lover in the sheets.”

There’s some enthusiastic whistling at that one. He tosses it aside and grabs a different one. “And let’s not forget about our Starblade stans in the crowd.” There are answering whistles and cheers. “Of course we have Team Starblade FTW. We can’t let Team Vardox have all the fun! We also have I’m too sexy for this shirt, and so is Captain Starblade or Tentacle Lover on the DL. Get your favorites before we run out!”

Aliens of all shapes and sizes begin surging forward, cash in hands and other appendages, as they surround the folding table where Tom is selling his wares.

I shake my head in awe, turning to my super-sexy alien boo, and now fiancé, Kai. “Did you know about this?”

He shakes his head. “Nope. Looks like Tom took a cue out of your book and went the route of T-shirt design.”

I glance down at the black cotton tee I’m wearing. On the front, in multicolored sequins, it reads Team ANAL, and on the back it says in shiny metallic gold font, Kicking butt from here to Uranus. My design is a work of art and classy as fuck—it also promotes team spirit, thank you very much. I’ve had quite a few orders from folks at work already. “Just so you know, I’m going to keep wearing this until it grows on you.” I beam. “I’ve got a different colored one for each day of the week!”

Kai rolls his eyes but favors me with a teasing smile. “Save me now.”

I give his arm a light and playful smack. “You know you love it.”

His mouth twitches and he arches an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t go that far, darling. But I’ll put up with it for you.”

I clutch my hands to my heart. “OMG, honeybuns. You’re getting to be sooo romantic! You just called me darling. It’s like we’re an old married couple already.”

Kai flushes adorably pink and sputters. I love getting a rise out of him at moments like this. He can be a bit too tightly wound, so I have to help him let go of his iron grip on duty, responsibility, and propriety.

I’m like Yoda, teaching him the ways of the Fun-Loving Force.

A microphone crackles to life and my new friend Nirblob addresses the crowd from atop the small impromptu stage against the wall at the far end of the bar. “Good evening, friends, and welcome to Vardox’s Cantina. Tonight, it is my supreme pleasure to usher in our very first Open Mic night!”

There’s an enthusiastic round of applause and some loud whistles.

Nirblob grins, which admittedly is a little freaky since he has no lips. I still haven’t quite gotten used to that. “This evening, we are most fortunate to have a very special guest. Here to kick things off with a sneak peek from the next chapter in the Tentacular Tales of Captain Starblade, please join me in welcoming the one, the only, River Sullivan, a.k.a. KirklovesSpock4eva!”

The crowd goes wild, which in a super-secret alien bar can be a bit surreal. After all, this bar is mainly for extraterrestrials who don’t pass easily in human society, or ones who do but want the opportunity to be their true selves in a safe space. Some folks here make even Nirblob look somewhat ordinary. It’s a bit like being a real-life version of the Mos Eisley Cantina in Star Wars—only less violent!

“Looks like you’re up,” Kai murmurs, giving my arm a squeeze.

I grin. “Give me a kiss for luck, boo.”

He sighs at the endearment, but his eyes darken as he leans down and takes my lips in a way that makes me want to ditch this event and go get our freak on.

When Kai pulls back, I’m tingly all over and more than a little hot and bothered. But I’m pleased to notice, as he adjusts himself discreetly, he isn’t exactly unaffected either.

“Knock ‘em dead.”

I give him a jaunty little salute. “Aye, aye, captain!”

He can’t keep the fondness from his eyes when he tries to glare at me, which turns my grin into that of a lovesick fool. And I basically am. I have no qualms about owning it.

I make my way over to the stage, offering variants of high fives along the way—to a tail here, a hand with eight fingers there, a furry paw every now and then. Two months ago, I never could have imagined this would be my life. A longtime Roswell alien conspiracy believer and total X-phile, I—by some remarkable twist of fate—actually found aliens here on Earth, living incognito among humanity.

What are the odds?

Tentacular Tales Series

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