Alien Scrooge by Zara Zenia

What’s the best way to teach a curmudgeon alien to appreciate the joys of Christmas? Invite him to holiday dinner with your parents!

Photographer Cara is thrilled to be heading back to Big Sur to spend Christmas with her parents, despite last year’s fiasco with her now-ex-boyfriend, who tried to steal from them and can’t seem to let her go. With her camera in hand, she sets out to explore and document the wilderness surrounding her parents’ home, but what she finds is far from the usual wildlife.

Egrix is a few million light years from home and is stuck on Earth assessing humans for a potential trade agreement as punishment for an unfortunate indiscretion. Unimpressed thus far with the planet or humanity, he dreads the return of the holiday season because nothing annoys him more than Christmas cheer.

But when Cara stumbles into Egrix’s cave headquarters, his plans to grumpily avoid the joy of the season disappear into the cool winter air.
Instead of being shocked or scared of his odd appearance and the truth of what he is, Cara is fascinated and the two spend more and more time together, learning about their differing races while stoking the flames of attraction flickering between them.

The meaning of Christmas might be lost on the grumpy alien, but Cara is determined to teach him, along with the meaning of love. That means inviting a very unexpected guest to her parents’ holiday dinner table.