I adore Connie Willis, but I also think her books should come with a label so you know which Connie Willis you are going to get. This book was written by the funny Connie Willis of To Say Nothing of the Dog, rather than the rip-your-heart-out-and-stomp-on-it Connie Willis of The Doomsday Book or, God help me, Passage.
Great science fiction is famous for asking the proverbial big questions. Who are we? Where are we going? What does it mean to be human? The Road to Roswell, on the other hand, asks the question: What if an alien abduction was, like, super embarrassing?
Francie arrives in Roswell, New Mexico, to be the maid of honor in the wedding she is determined to prevent from happening. Her friend is planning to marry a UFO nut; despite not being one herself, she has been talked into having a wedding at Roswell’s UFO museum, during Roswell’s UFO festival. So imagine Francie’s embarrassment when she finds herself abducted by an actual alien. While she’s at the cheesy UFO festival. And wearing a hideous bridesmaid dress.
And then when the next person the alien abducts happens to be a very cute guy.
So it goes, while Francie tries to A) learn to communicate with the alien (who is a ball of tentacles and looks like a tumbleweed; B) get back in time to convince her friend not to go through with the wedding; and C) cope with everything that just keeps getting more and more ridiculous.
Connie Willis has won more Hugos and Nebulas than any other living author, and deserves them. This book might be silly and fun, but it’s also a solid first-contact story that made me laugh out loud every few pages. Highly recommended.