Review: Behind the Gem by Ken Hart (Melissa’s review)

Behind the Gem
written by Ken Hart
published by Gypsy Shadow Publishing Company

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, iBooks, Smashwords, Book Depository, Goodreads

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange  for an honest review.

Did I enjoy this book: Let me start with the good bits:  the writing wasn’t terrible. Ok. Moving on.

The story is interesting – I like aliens – but the details were just too weird for me. I suppose my first clue should have been the cover photo – a man holding hands with what I can only describe as a kangarooey, horsey type thing. Yeah. So the alien planet is populated with these horsey, kangarooish beings who just happen to recruit the main character to marry their leader and be a surrogate parent for her eggs. Ok, cool. I’m all for gender equality (I’d seriously love to watch my husband enjoy the many blessings of pregnancy), but I just couldn’t get past the conflicting visuals. Amber and Ray are supposedly a couple in love, but she continually carries him around and makes him sit on her lap. It’s not a sexytime lap sitting, either, but more of a . . . ‘come here, little pet, let me snuggle you’ deal. I couldn’t reconcile the motherly act of placing someone on your lap with the idea of an adult relationship, regardless of race. Oh, and then there was the bit where Ray did something bad and got temporarily fired from being Amber’s Surrogate and, because that apparently freed him up to, um, service any female in the colony, found himself in bed with his MOTHER-IN-LAW. Don’t worry, though. Everyone was cool with it (except me, I guess).

Would I recommend it: Not so much, no. I mean, unless you’re into weird.

About the book – from Goodreads: “Ripped from heart and home by galactic farmers, Ray and his co-workers are taken hundreds of light years across the galaxy and left to fend for themselves. When he begins hearing a voice in his head and is unjustly blamed for the deaths of his friends, he is separated from them by a mysterious silver pod and is led to a peaceful race of aliens called the Draasen. He experiences a new way of life with responsibilities and challenges that he never could have imagined. He is accepted into their society, but at a high cost to his dignity when he is led into protecting and birthing their eggs. When the galactic farmers arrive to take the Draasen population as fodder, the Draasen’s fate becomes entwined with that of the nearly extinct human race, and their struggle to survive.