Heart of a Warrior

April 23, 2001
Lindsey revisits alien worlds in her latest (after Warrior's Woman; You Belong to Me; etc.), and the result seems cobbled from Star Trek and bad sitcoms. Six-foot-tall construction worker Brittany Callaghan has had trouble finding a man who doesn't mind her height; nearly 30 and still a virgin, she's used to taking care of herself in the small town of Seaview, Calif. At the local mall, she meets Dalden Ly-San-Ter, a seven-foot barbarian alien stud who tells her he's pursuing a troublemaker from his "country" and asks for her help. Of course, the two are wildly attracted to each other, and Dalden's hokey, wisecracking supercomputer, Martha, has to remind him the mission comes first: his quarry is an alien king who's looking for subjects and planning to use a stolen device called an Altering Rod to take over Earth. The two giants quickly fall in love and succeed in capturing the errant king. Dalden declares his intention to make Brittany his "lifemate," and he and Martha reveal the truth about his origins when they take Brittany aboard their ship. Her stubborn disbelief—which she clings to even as they arrive on Dalden's planet, Sha-Ka'an—tests the patience of her warrior beau and any readers who should get that far. It takes a near-fatal incident to finally make her accept the truth, and she inadvertently introduces a peculiar version of feminism to her new, barbarian-run home. Despite the derivative plot and excruciating dialogue—the aliens say things like "I love you to pieces" and "hold on to your socks"—it's doubtful that Lindsey's legions of fans will mind the book's shortcomings in the least. Everyone else will be more entertained by Earth Girls Are Easy.