'Alien Proliferation' Katherine "Kitty" Katt #4 by Gini Koch

Received from the Author

From the BLURB:

After the wildest wedding ever, Katherine “Kitty” Katt-Martini and her Alpha Centaurion husband Jeff are hoping life will settle down. But alien attacks are on the increase, and someone is testing a dangerous new drug on unwilling subjects within their group. As if that’s not enough, Kitty and a number of the A-C women are expecting their first babies.

No one is certain what this baby boom will lead to, but after almost losing Kitty in childbirth, they discover that their newborn’s talents are off the charts – and potentially dangerous. And just to add to their worries – the bad guys want their baby.

The last thing anyone in Centaurion Division needs after that is a conspiracy to kill the heads of the C.I.A.’s Extra-Terrestrial Division and the Presidential Terrorism Control Unit, otherwise known as Charles Reynolds and Kitty’s mother, Angela Katt.

Then, suddenly, key members of Alpha and Airborne start vanishing.

Can Kitty, her remaining team members, friends old and new, and a totally unexpected new partner rescue everyone and figure out how and why Kitty’s become a superhuman? Most importantly, can they pull it all off before the event Kitty dreads most – her Alpha Centaurion baby shower?

Following the events of ‘Alien in the Family’, Katherine “Kitty” Katt is now officially Mrs Jeff Katt-Martini, and enjoying wedded bliss to her Alpha alien honey. But hot on the heels of Jeff and Kitty’s nuptials was more joyful news of a baby on the way.

With baby and baby shower looming, Kitty is holed up on bed rest and hating every minute of it. Carrying an alien baby means Kitty’s breasts are turning to torpedoes and baby’s kicks are rocket-powered.

Kitty also hates having to take to bed while Jeff and his cousin, Christopher, go off on all the dangerous missions and shoot-up’s. It’s little consolation that in her bed-ridden state, Kitty has been meeting with her best friend, Chuckie, and discussing ways to improve the C.I.A.’s Extra-Terrestrial Division (headed by Chuckie himself).

But then a phone call in the middle of the night throws Kitty’s maternity leave into a tail-spin. . .

Her best friend from high school, Amy, is running around the Paris Métro, being chased by twenty thugs. Jeff and Christopher swoop in to rescue Kitty’s bestie – but Amy brings more trouble upon her safe return. Like hints of a mole in the A-C division, and rumours of an assassination-in-the-making for Chuckie and the head of the Presidential Terrorism Control Unit (a.k.a: Kitty’s mum!).

Contractions are three minutes apart, there’s a spy in the team and alien agents are disappearing. As Kitty would say, Welcome to DEFCON Worse.

‘Alien Proliferation’ is the fourth book in Gini Koch’s astronomically cool ‘Katherine “Kitty”(-Martini) Katt’ series.

The new ‘Katherine “Kitty” Katt’ book is always a treat. My ARC (advanced reader copy) arrives in the mail and I turn into a jittering junkie until I can become safely ensconced in bed and get stuck into the latest blasting adventure of Kitty and Martini. ‘Alien Proliferation’ was a particularly hard book to wait for . . . ever since Daniel Dos Santos’s (drool-worthy) cover-art was revealed with a swaddled baby cradled in Jeff’s arms. The wait has been hard, but the pay-off is totally worth it.

I’ll start by answering the question burning in most fan’s minds . . . yes, baby is born. Daniel Dos Santos wasn’t just playing a mean trick on us, and Koch isn’t doing a three-seasons-long soap-opera maternity trick. Kitty is at the end of her pregnancy when the book opens, we read a labour to rival Bella’s in ‘Breaking Dawn’ and the rest of the book is all the bad guys and gun-toting drama we’ve come to love . . . plus baby!

Never fear though, motherhood hasn’t softened Kitty (much). She’s still as kick-ass as ever, but now she’s just kicking butt and taking names with a Snugli baby strapped to her! Jeff in daddy-mode is gorgeous and doubly Alpha; his goal in life now is to take care of his family, and beat the living daylights out of anything that tries to hurt his wife or baby. It’s super swoon-inducing to read Jeff be all sexy baby-daddy. And I love that Koch is doing what so many paranormal/fantasy writers are reluctant to do . . . build a family for her protagonist. Koch’s series was unique enough for having Jeff and Kitty get together early on in book one (pretty much from page three onwards, lol). Now we’re reading Kitty and Jeff’s evolving happily-ever-after, complete with bundle of joy. If ‘Proliferation’ is any indication, it will be really fascinating to read all the usual drama, explosions and conspiracies that Jeff and Kitty deal with, but now with baby in tow. Not to mention the implications of what has happened to Kitty's post-baby body (dun, dunnn, DUN!) Bring it on!

Christopher is a big focus in this book (I can hear his fan-girls squealing in the background. . . ) Poor Christopher is the ultimate lovelorn underdog. His first love, Lissa, died before she could properly choose him over Jeff. Then Christopher went and fell for Kitty, when she was firmly Jeff’s girl. In ‘Proliferation’ both Christopher and Kitty address the previous awkwardness of his romantic feelings for her – and it’s a cathartic discussion, for both of them. We needed this, especially after Chuckie came on the scene and sent Jeff’s jealous-streak into overdrive. Jeff’s he-man antics over Chuckie are still very much lingering, so it’s nice that at least one of Kity’s previous admirers can be put to bed (so to speak). It also helps that motherhood has given Kitty a new, somewhat clucky, perspective. She loves Christopher, and she wants him to be looked after and loved. Their scenes together are heart-meltingly sweet and long overdue;

I managed not to shriek. Good, good. I was calm, cool, and collected.
“Yeah.” He swallowed. “Is this the part where I make that horrible laugh and turn evil and then try to kill everyone I love, right before you and Jeff kill me to save the world?” He was serious, and trying not to cry.
“Oh, honey, no.” I hugged him as best I could, stroked his hair, and kissed his forehead. “Having power is one thing. Using it unwisely is another. Honey, you’ve always been powerful. And all you and Jeff have done with that power is protect people and worlds, and you both could have taken over without even trying hard. Chuckie thinks you and Jeff were already genetic evolutionary steps.”

But the real big draw-card of ‘Proliferation’ for Christopher fans is the introduction of his very own honey . . . that’s right, Christopher gets his very own happily-ever-after and it’s sexy, sweet and smouldering! I refuse to give anything away about the who, what and where. But I will say that I look forward to reading Christopher and ____ being loved-up and cute in upcoming books!

Just when you think Gini Koch’s ‘Kitty Katt’ series can’t get any better – the explosions can’t be bigger, the stakes higher or the alien men hotter – she wallops readers with ‘Alien Proliferation’ . . . and you realize that Gini Koch has a lot more blockbuster fun up her sleeve. Bring on ‘Alien Diplomacy’, pronto!

5/5

'Alien Proliferation' will be released December 6th 2011