Review: The Day Her Heart Stood Still, by Susan Grant

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Astronaut Andie Del Sarto has everything a woman could want...except someone to share it all with her. Logical and driven, and determined to be the polar opposite of her exasperating UFO museum-owning mother, Andie makes sure no one is listening when she makes a wish on a falling star, confessing her secret longing to fall in love. Except that shooting star isn't a meteorite at all; it's a spaceship carrying an alien hunk of a galactic explorer named Zefer —and she's just brought him down to Earth!

Genre: science fiction romance

Publishing date: May 2013

Offensive content: nothing to report

Review: 

With the number of books I read and the long backlog of reviews I want to share, posting this review was totally not in my plans. But ever since I read Contact it seems I have become addicted to Susan Grant's books. So, instead of writing about other authors or genres today (since I already posted the review of Susan Grant's Once a Pirate earlier this week), I told myself that just one more would be OK and I couldn't resist sharing my opinion on The Day Her Heart Stood Still. 

Let me start by saying that this is a short story, not a full length novel and, at least through Amazon, you can only get it in Kindle format. But for 0.99 cents? It's a great way to spend a lazy summer afternoon. 

Andie is the calm and focused pilot and astronaut, on the brink of being nominated for the first human mission to Mars. On a whim, she drives from Florida to her parent's home in Roswell, New Mexico. And on an even greater whim, she wishes upon a star. Well, her wish comes true in a most unexpected way, in the person of Zefer. And while an alien in Roswell may not be that surprising, it's still not everyday that one crash-lands at your feet... 

I liked all characters, especially Andie's mother (who runs a UFO museum), and while the romance is interesting, there's a lot more to keep you hooked. Some of the initial scenes had me laughing so hard, so I may have scared one or two people on the train (I read a lot traveling to and from work).

The only negative point, in my opinion, is that the whole story is told from Andie's point of view. We get to see glimpses of who Zefer is, what his world looks like and the common origins of the human race (very similar to Contact, in that respect), and we know that he also wished for true love. But that's it. He's the alien that crashed in an unknown world, he has to adapt and survive until his ship is repaired and he can leave, but his thoughts, opinions and feelings (other than his love for Andie) are missing and I, for one, would have liked to know them. It is a short story, so everything happens fast, but still, one or two more pages would not make much difference in terms of size and could provide a bit more depth to Zefer's character. 

Still, this novella makes us all want to wish upon a star too!

Have a great weekend, and happy reading!