Adopted by Aliens

Good question. Especially since The Cat believes the alien and the Human to be her pets!

(Just to warn you. This book is NOT a romance novel. At least not one you'd find interesting to read. Maybe there might be a romantic plot line in future books, but not in this one.)

Antaska the Earther thinks M. Hoyvil of the telepathic Verdante race chose her to be his assistant, her chance to go into space to explore it! Little does she know that the HUGE green-skinned extraterrestrial picked her to become his first pet. After all, he's 650 years old, just barely Verdante-legal to own a pet Human. But Antaska thinks he's pretty old at 650 to be exploring space. Yes, she knows his race prefers to communicate telepathically to each other though the Verdantes could not "read" the traditional Earther mind. She brings her pet cat Potat (NOT Potato!!) who happens to be telepathic, something not known to Humans though the onboard Verdante physician (technically veterinarian, but don't tell Antaska that!!) knows that.

Got that?

This is your typical intro book of what is so far a three-book series. We are introduced to Antaska the female Human who is ecstatic to get a chance to assist in exploring space, her only chance to do so as Humans haven't developed interstellar travel. M. Hoyvil is just a few hundred years from being a Verdante adult and is now about to have his chance in space exploration in which having a Human pet is required for his own mental health. (More is explained in the book.) He's done the reading. He's taken the classes on proper Human care, but on Day One, he realizes he has a lot more to learn about the care and feeding of a Human pet. This makes for a decent story line for this series' introductory book.

The world-crafting is quite interesting and in-depth. But just like M. Hoyvil's knowledge in Human husbandry, I know there's a ton more info I want to know about this intriguing universe. I am finding a disturbing disconnect in what is the true status of Humans. Are they therapy companion animals or are they just pets to be bred for interesting eye coloration? Up until the last fifth of the book, I felt the symbiosis between Antaska and M. Hoyvil, the development of a true interspecies' bond... THEN it's like all that hard work as been towed away with Humans being nothing but candidates for the pet show ring. So which is it? I was completely buying the therapy companion spiel, and I get hit with this alternative. A big disappointment to be left in such a lurch.

Editing was decent, but it could have used a few out-loud verbal read-throughs as I saw quite a few misspellings that would not had been caught by a spellchecker. The world-crafting was within the realm of reason. (In other words, nothing way too outlandish!) I had a decent visual description of the primary and secondary characters in my mind's eye, and I appreciate the fact that Trisha McNary didn't fall back on plot templates. (I've been reading more Human Pet stories lately and noted the various patterns out there.) My only complaint is that I keep getting this weird feeling that this first book should had been longer, a major disappointment.

I am definitely looking forward to the next two books. Even though I was provided the book via StoryOrigin for free in return for a honest, from-the-gut review, I am planning to buy this book as I deemed it definitely worth a few repeat reads. I am definitely going to explore the next two books to see where this all goes because the blurbs on Amazon are confusing to say the least. Someone needs to rework them, especially if sales seem to be faltering.

This book could use more drama and spice. The space theme is also not my favorite…

Enjoyed very much