Should the Alien Be the Love Interest or the Enemy?

I like to push the envelope when it comes to my sci-fi romances. Although I've had human-looking aliens as love interests, I've also had alien aliens as the hero or heroine. In the case of my Neverwylde series, that includes fur, fangs, and claws. In Captive Surrender and His By Right, we looking at horns and some rather "interesting" physical properties. (There's also the odd shapeshifter, like in my Runner's Moon series, who can seesaw back and forth from human to their real selves.)

So here's the question: does a non-human creature work for you, the reader, as the main love interest? Or should they all be relegated to being the enemy?

Is there an "ick" factor involved if one of the pair doing the horizontal tango doesn't resemble us? Or does it not matter, as long as you can relate to him?

We've grown up in the age of Star Trek, Superman, and Star Wars. With little exception, the good-looking alien hero or heroine from other worlds could pass for one of us. (The only exception to that is Chewbacca, who I always thought of as one hawt furball.)  Our movies and TV shows are filled with aliens, but in every single case where the alien does not look human, that alien is the enemy.

Are you like me, and believe it's time we gave the creatures equal opportunity for some lovin'?

*****

New!

NEVERWYLDE
The Rim of the World, Book 3
A Sensuous Sci-Fi Romance
Word Count: 43.2K

Just when they thought surviving on a strange half world couldn't get more difficult...Kyber, Kelen and the crew are proven wrong once again.

Aliens and humans living together and surviving, it is possible. But with the food and water going bad, new deadly creatures attacking, and old enemies coming back into play, the odds just keep getting worse. The group knows their days are numbered if they don’t figure something out fast.

It's no longer a battle for survival; it has become an all-out war. And there's nowhere left to go where they can be safe...

Or so they thought.

Excerpt and buy link.