Benzen (Warriors Of Orba #1)

This book\’s cover is the worst case of bait and switch ever! The aliens are described as terrified and scrawny through most of the book. The supposed hero is a scared little wimp who needs the heroine to hold his hand throughout. At some point toward the end of the book, the author decides to add a sex in the back of the car scene as if she is following some formula for the book. Sex scene… check! Toward the end of the book, the evil dude shows up and somehow the hero finally grows a back bone. This was the least satisfying book I have read in quite a while. The description and the cover lied!!! I feel cheated.

The plot idea was a pretty good one and it could have been so much more. But it wasn\’t. It didn\’t really draw me in all that much. Maybe its because although I get the idea of these aliens crash landed on earth, you expect them to have a learning curve. But I guess I don\’t like my alien stories to be quite this clueless. There were even times that Allison.the human in the story, seemed like a little kid. Although, she didn\’t seem that way when the sex scenes came up, which of course there were a few. There was a small spark when Allison and Benzen get captured by the evil aliens. Allison had a pretty creative idea to help save them.. Alas, for me it wasn\’t enough to save this story. Don\’t get me wrong, I didn\’t hate it. But I was disappointed, so I had to give it 2 STARS. By the way, I don\’t think the eBook cover picture, matches very well with the description inside the book, of Benzen. At least that is my impression.

This is this authors first book in the sci-fi romance category,she writes under a different pen name for her contemporary romances.I have to admit that at the begining of the story its a little slow because from the cover I expected a really buff guy and its says warriors of orba so with the word warrior Im thinking this guy is an alpha.This is also different in that the crew of the ship that crashes on earth cannot repair the damage to their ship so the are stranded on earth and have to learn how to survive.Their are a lot of funny moments while they try to fit in and learn to survive on earth which most of the scifi romances usually have an earthling taken away to an alien planet and have to learn their culture.I noticed in other reviews that quite a few people gave up on the book when it was 30% into the book,but if they would have read just a little further the book does pick up pace though to be honest Im glad that I only paid 99 cents because if I would have paid $2.99 I might have been a little disappointed.But what kept me reading was how the Orban\’s had to learn to fit into our world.They had much more advanced technology on their planet so earth was very confusing to them as they didn\’t have clothes or even money.Allison is a checker at a grocery store and she feel\’s sorry for them as she thinks they are homeless and from a foreign country and she is drawn into helping them.Her father is the manger of an apartment complex and has a vacant apartment that the previous tenants had left a total mess and he can\’t rent it out till it has been cleaned up and lets them stay there free till he has time to clean it up.Allison slowly becomes fasinated by Benzen and answers all his questions and helps him to learn how to fit in though she is mystified at how little knowledge he has by the simplest things she takes for granted.When our little troop of Orbans realized that they have been tracked down by soldiers from their home world and are considered traitors and are to be killed,they split up going in different areas but Benzen stays.He is attracted to Allison so he reads a book about dating and there are some funny moments like when he wears a tuxedo to take her out to dinner at a fish place in the mall.Allison had gotten him a job at the grocery store so he now has money.While they are eating dinner the soldiers from Orba finds him and they destroy part of the mall and Allison and Benzen flee to her car.Allison and Benzen watch the destruction from her car,she thinks its terrorist but Benzen knows better,as happens when somebody barely escape death they have sex and Allison was impressed and enjoyed it very much after its done,but she is curious and confused because she knows that while it was very good that there was something different.The next day somehow the aliens find her and take her captive but I was a little confused as to how they found her.Benzen panics when he realizes that Allison is missing and he goes to find her and he gets captured.There are some very amusing moments when Allison is able to escape and she goes searching for Benzen on the ship because she knows that they have taken Benzen prisoner and have tortured him and she realized that she loves him and she has to save him.They escape and this is when we find out about a power he has that he had never revealed to Allison before.When they are safe Benzen comes clean and explains he is an alien and though she has a little problem believing him,with all that has happened she knows he has to be telling the truth.He confesses his love for her but she tells him that she is the only earth woman he has been with and he can\’t possibly know if he loves her ,but as this book is a HEA he manages to convince her.So in conclusion I did give the book 4 stars because though I was a little disappointed that the sexy moments that I had expected in the book from the book cover and the blurb and the use of the word warriors,when I put that aside and graded the book on what was there and not what I expected to be there,the book was original in that the aliens are stuck on earth not vice versa and the book had quite a few humor filled moments that made me laugh out loud and made me think about how confusing our customs would be to an alien and that this was the first scifi romance she had written,and though I thought some of the reviews were a little harsh Im sure the author read them and if she chooses to continue writing in this catagory succesfully she can either include more of the sexy moments that the cover and blurb imply are in the story or she can change the blurb to reflect more of the humor that is in the book and change the cover to reflect more of what our hero looks like because in the first chapter she states that the Orbans are small and very slender and blue but no one comments on it when they stroll through the mall and grocery store lol I will purchase next book that Zara writes because this one showed great potential and I truly believe she will get better,(though I hope its only 99 cents lol)

A bit of a let down. They all came across like teenagers. Which I know they are new to earth but even Allison seemed younger then 23 I think. My biggest peeve was other then the alien female the males are 6ft and up but still called little by Allison. Probably meant on the skinny skinny side but the descriptions were disappointing. I also felt I didn’t get to learn much about the Orba race. Other then colorful skin, each one having different types of tails with different psychic type abilities and a brief say about a talent with his male part. There was no steamy romance to me. Which usually doesn’t bother me I look for a good storyline but I felt the alien side of the story got rushed a bit. It was so busy just focusing on fitting in to be human and learning human ways. It had a lot of boring parts. It’s not horrible I know most first books can leave you hanging and it’s not til the rest in the series start coming out you see an Author become more comfortable and you really start enjoying the world they created. So that said I will read another to see if I will continue this author

I was pleased to give this alien romance 5 stars. Zara Zenia is an accomplished author, especially in this genre. She quickly sets the stage for us, first with the Orba ship hurtling out of control toward Earth, and then with Allison. Although her family appears to be at least middle class, if not upper-middle class, they expect her to earn her own way now that she is past high school. We know that six people are on the doomed space craft, that is camouflaged. I really like Zara\’s approach to interpersonal relationships. It certainly was not insta-love between Benzen and Allison, but rather built little by little each day. I love when alien\’s occasionally have some unique physical attributes and talents. The major conflicts in this Sci-Fi romance were between Allison and her boss, and the other alien ships sent to retrieve or kill Benzen and his fellow escapees from Orba. Benzen also has a lot to learn about how to be more like Allison and her fellow Richmond, Va. inhabitants. I read a lot of alien romances as they are as far from ordinary life here as is possible. A easy light read that will leave a smile on your face while you look for book 2 in the Warriors of Orba series. It was a pleasure to let you know about Zara\’s latest series. A solid 5 stars and a lasting smile.

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