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Starlight Trilogy #1
Wanted: One Perfect Man
When You Wish Upon a Star...
Daniel Murphy has never gotten stargazing out of his system. Even as he and his young son hide out in Button Creek, Texas, the ex-astronomy professor still finds excitement in the stars. When a stunning new waitress from out of town—way out of town—starts working at the local diner, Daniel finds watching her even more exciting. Every red-blooded male around, in fact, has eyes for this bewitching stranger. Zara is a little bit more unusual than most women, and is oddly unfamiliar with cars, washing machines, and many other everyday appliances. But what the good-looking single dad doesn't realize is that passionate chemistry between them could take them both a lot farther than he ever imagined. Because Zara's come a long, long way looking for one perfect man...
Daniel Murphy has never gotten stargazing out of his system. Even as he and his young son hide out in Button Creek, Texas, the ex-astronomy professor still finds excitement in the stars. When a stunning new waitress from out of town—way out of town—starts working at the local diner, Daniel finds watching her even more exciting. Every red-blooded male around, in fact, has eyes for this bewitching stranger. Zara is a little bit more unusual than most women, and is oddly unfamiliar with cars, washing machines, and many other everyday appliances. But what the good-looking single dad doesn't realize is that passionate chemistry between them could take them both a lot farther than he ever imagined. Because Zara's come a long, long way looking for one perfect man...
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 27, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 14, 2019
Well, this was truly horrible.
Here is a very boring story of an alien woman who comes from a galaxy far, far away because all the men on her planet became so delicate, they lost interest in flirting (it's when a man randomly puts your hand on his penis bulging in his jeans so you can feel he is a manly man, or can't concentrate on a conversation with you because BOOBS), and they generally became so unmanly they can't now produce children, and if they do produce children it's 'females' only.
The most bizarre thing was that the whole thing had male gaze written all over it - we barely know anything about the hero, and the heroine on the other hand is only boobs, legs and blonde hair. The way she is described she is clearly some adolescent boy's fantasy and nothing a normal woman could possibly relate to. When the POV switches to her, it is mostly some nondescript cocktail of yearnings for a controlling manly man:
"None of the men on her planet would ever dare to be so controlling [...]" This was after the hero told her what to do for five pages and banned her from leaving the house because she was 'unwell'. And this was supposed to be lovely and romantic. Shit, lady, can I please get a ticket to your planet, because it fucking sounds wonderful.
The alien woman's mission is to get pregnant with a male baby and fuck off back to her planet to save them. It is never explained how they are absolutely sure that if she just gets pregnant, it will definitely be a boy, but I suppose it is because Texas men are so manly they can only produce more manly men.
I know Judi McCoy was supposed to be some old lady but here are some ideas of who I think really authored this novel:
a) a 14 year old boy who has never read a romance novel in his life, but how hard can it be? He fancies himself a bit of a pick-up artist as well as a libertarian, because he read some stuff on the internet and it made, like, total sense. He refers to women as 'females' and he is a fountain of wisdom. He often publishes his thoughts on 'females' on twitter. And he really, really wants to get laid finally.
b) an AI based on artificial neural network made of 50s romance novels and 4chan forum threads
c) an actual fucking alien that's convinced she is totally passing for human
Here is a very boring story of an alien woman who comes from a galaxy far, far away because all the men on her planet became so delicate, they lost interest in flirting (it's when a man randomly puts your hand on his penis bulging in his jeans so you can feel he is a manly man, or can't concentrate on a conversation with you because BOOBS), and they generally became so unmanly they can't now produce children, and if they do produce children it's 'females' only.
The most bizarre thing was that the whole thing had male gaze written all over it - we barely know anything about the hero, and the heroine on the other hand is only boobs, legs and blonde hair. The way she is described she is clearly some adolescent boy's fantasy and nothing a normal woman could possibly relate to. When the POV switches to her, it is mostly some nondescript cocktail of yearnings for a controlling manly man:
"None of the men on her planet would ever dare to be so controlling [...]" This was after the hero told her what to do for five pages and banned her from leaving the house because she was 'unwell'. And this was supposed to be lovely and romantic. Shit, lady, can I please get a ticket to your planet, because it fucking sounds wonderful.
The alien woman's mission is to get pregnant with a male baby and fuck off back to her planet to save them. It is never explained how they are absolutely sure that if she just gets pregnant, it will definitely be a boy, but I suppose it is because Texas men are so manly they can only produce more manly men.
I know Judi McCoy was supposed to be some old lady but here are some ideas of who I think really authored this novel:
a) a 14 year old boy who has never read a romance novel in his life, but how hard can it be? He fancies himself a bit of a pick-up artist as well as a libertarian, because he read some stuff on the internet and it made, like, total sense. He refers to women as 'females' and he is a fountain of wisdom. He often publishes his thoughts on 'females' on twitter. And he really, really wants to get laid finally.
b) an AI based on artificial neural network made of 50s romance novels and 4chan forum threads
c) an actual fucking alien that's convinced she is totally passing for human
September 16, 2010
The book had some good parts and bad parts, but on balance, I wouldn't recommend it. Wonderful plot and story line.
I loved the idea of a single father raising his son, on the run and in hiding from wealthy evil relatives. I liked Zara, the alien. The weakness here was in the author's writing style and dialogue. The story just plodded along. I was not surprised or delighted at anything. I would have preferred a little more wit or interest in the dialogue. It wasn't as fun or heartwarming as I had hoped. I think it may have been lacking emotional development. I didn't feel the emotions of Daniel or Zara as much as I do in other romance novels. Following are a few other specific problems I had with this book.
DATA:
Sexual language: moderate. Number of sex scenes: three. Setting: around 2004 (small town) Button Creek, Texas. Copyright: 2004. Genre: romantic science fiction.
I loved the idea of a single father raising his son, on the run and in hiding from wealthy evil relatives. I liked Zara, the alien. The weakness here was in the author's writing style and dialogue. The story just plodded along. I was not surprised or delighted at anything. I would have preferred a little more wit or interest in the dialogue. It wasn't as fun or heartwarming as I had hoped. I think it may have been lacking emotional development. I didn't feel the emotions of Daniel or Zara as much as I do in other romance novels. Following are a few other specific problems I had with this book.
DATA:
Sexual language: moderate. Number of sex scenes: three. Setting: around 2004 (small town) Button Creek, Texas. Copyright: 2004. Genre: romantic science fiction.
May 22, 2012
I felt this book had the potential to be so much better. I liked the premise very much but it just seemed to plod along without any real heart. It was written in a light way but wasn't light hearted. I feel a few more humorous lines would have helped. But it was okay to read on a sunny afternoon.
March 6, 2016
Couldn't finish it, so disgusted with endless plot loop day after day for two main characters I didn't even skip ahead and read the ending.
September 28, 2020
Really was looking forward to a fun, carefree paranormal read. Was hoping for a witch or something, but instead got an alien. Not a fan of alien entertainment so yeah, won't be continuing this series.
February 15, 2020
A pretty cute romantic alien story??? Yes, indeed.
June 18, 2020
An alien from outer space? And a woman? Come on...
Why does everyone assume it will be a male? This is such a cute, quick read, funny story. I highly recommend it! Can't wait to read the rest.
Why does everyone assume it will be a male? This is such a cute, quick read, funny story. I highly recommend it! Can't wait to read the rest.
July 18, 2020
Cute. Good enough to finish, but not interesting enough to me to seek out more by this author.
February 10, 2016
I loved Judi McCoy's Goddess trilogy, and so far, I'm not disappointed in her Starlight trilogy.
For some reason, I like the idea of Zara and her fellow travelers being matched to specific guys on Earth, though I do wish the author would've explained much sooner than she did how exactly they were matched and why specifically they needed to procreate with Earth men (it's not enough for me to know that most of her planet is sterile; I have to know why the planet is sterile, how they came to be that way). I also liked Lucy and her take-no-crap attitude, as well as the protectiveness she and the people of Button Creek felt towards Daniel, Will, and Zara. They apparently take care of their own, even if they aren't originally from Button Creek. If the rest of humanity adopted that attitude, I'd think we'd all be a lot better off. Also, I found it rather funny how .
As for the love story, it was sweet, and surprisingly didn't feel rushed even though it took place over just a couple of weeks. Plus, the love scenes were hot. Daniel had that whole sexy nerd thing going for him where he came off as one-part alpha male cowboy, one-part enlightened professor. He was a bit possessive/protective of Zara, but at the same time, he tried to be sensitive to her needs, especially once . The ending didn't turn out quite how I expected it, but everything worked out in the end, so I'm happy.
If I could say anything negative about this book, it's that I found it annoyingly convenient that Daniel was hiding his real identity, while Zara was looking for him but couldn't specifically ask for him by name. It was a bit frustrating to me, but thankfully, that was resolved fairly quickly and Zara eventually figured out he was who she was looking for. Also, the epilogue gives readers a nice little preview for the third and final book in the trilogy, and it just kinda bugs me as to why the author would choose that one and not the second book. Though, personally, I would've much preferred to learn how Daniel, Zara, Will, and the new baby were doing (not really a spoiler, since Zara's entire mission was to get pregnant).
For some reason, I like the idea of Zara and her fellow travelers being matched to specific guys on Earth, though I do wish the author would've explained much sooner than she did how exactly they were matched and why specifically they needed to procreate with Earth men (it's not enough for me to know that most of her planet is sterile; I have to know why the planet is sterile, how they came to be that way). I also liked Lucy and her take-no-crap attitude, as well as the protectiveness she and the people of Button Creek felt towards Daniel, Will, and Zara. They apparently take care of their own, even if they aren't originally from Button Creek. If the rest of humanity adopted that attitude, I'd think we'd all be a lot better off. Also, I found it rather funny how .
As for the love story, it was sweet, and surprisingly didn't feel rushed even though it took place over just a couple of weeks. Plus, the love scenes were hot. Daniel had that whole sexy nerd thing going for him where he came off as one-part alpha male cowboy, one-part enlightened professor. He was a bit possessive/protective of Zara, but at the same time, he tried to be sensitive to her needs, especially once . The ending didn't turn out quite how I expected it, but everything worked out in the end, so I'm happy.
If I could say anything negative about this book, it's that I found it annoyingly convenient that Daniel was hiding his real identity, while Zara was looking for him but couldn't specifically ask for him by name. It was a bit frustrating to me, but thankfully, that was resolved fairly quickly and Zara eventually figured out he was who she was looking for. Also, the epilogue gives readers a nice little preview for the third and final book in the trilogy, and it just kinda bugs me as to why the author would choose that one and not the second book. Though, personally, I would've much preferred to learn how Daniel, Zara, Will, and the new baby were doing (not really a spoiler, since Zara's entire mission was to get pregnant).
February 24, 2008
Silly, goofy, light. What else can I say?
January 5, 2009
I loved this book. I don't know why, but the name Daniel Murphy sounds soooo much more trustable than Robert Lotello. Probably shouldn't judge by a name.
April 9, 2012
3.334/4 stars
January 17, 2018
I liked it.
April 18, 2011
It had a plot, and sometimes it could be very funny (and of course there was lots of smut). Overall, it wasn't bad as romance novel go.
November 9, 2011
funny, entertaining, cute...
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews