Book review: The Harvest by M.A. Church

The Harvest:  Taken by M.A. Church, published by Storm Moon Press © 2013.Blurb: 

Blurb:

In the year 2050, humanity finds out they are indeed not alone.

Massive space ships appear without warning above the capital cities of all major nations. The planet Tah'Nar is dying. Chemical warfare has reduced the once-intersexed warrior race to sterility. They need fresh DNA in order to reproduce and have an idea for a harvesting program... and so they turn to Earth.

Earth governments negotiate a lottery, and Dale Michaels assumes he's safe since he's under the Harvest age limit. How wrong he is. He's illegally harvested and claimed by Tah'Narian starship captain Keyno Shou. From the moment Keyno sees Dale, he knows he must claim the spirited human male for his own. What he doesn’t expect is a spitfire with a mind of his own—and a deadly disease that will require a risky procedure to cure.”

Excerpt:

The year was 2020 when humanity found out that it was, indeed, not alone in the universe.

They appeared without warning over the capitals of all major countries. These huge, menacing, and completely unresponsive space ships dominated the skies, and sent the media into a tailspin. The governments of our worldargued and debated back and forth on what to do, but did nothing. First contact came within hours of the sightings.Whatever these aliens wanted prompted emergency meetings that were held at NATO.

The media speculated endlessly while the closed-door meetings continued. These talks lasted for two days whilethe world watched. Early in the morning of the third day, a news conference was held and details were released to thepublic.

 

Author bio:
M.A. Church is a true Southern belle who spent many years in the elementary education sector. Now she spends her days lost in fantasy worlds, arguing with hardheaded aliens on far-off planets, herding her numerous shifters, or trying to tempt her country boys away from their fishing poles. It’s a full time job, but hey, someone’s gotta do it!

When not writing, she’s exploring the latest M/M novel to hit the market, watching her beloved Steelers, or sitting glued to HGTV. That’s if she’s not on the back porch tending to the demanding wildlife around the pond in the backyard. The ducks are very outspoken. She’s married to her high school sweetheart, and they have two children.

She was a finalist in the Rainbow awards for 2013.

I have long been a fan of Science Fiction literature, holding fast to the belief that today’s science fiction could very well end up being tomorrow’s science fact. I’ve also long believed that since there are other suns out there in the universe just like ours, the possibility of life out there exists. Their technology may be light years ahead of ours, or light years behind. Who’s to say?

Before The Harvest:  Taken was published, I had the privilege of reading it on Literotica. At first I thought it was going to be a typical hostile aliens abduct human women to bear their offspring. Boy was I wrong! Try this on for size:  typical hostile aliens abduct human MALES to bear their offspring. My first reaction to this was “give me a (expletive deleted) break”. I never expected to be drawn so fully into the story that I could actually empathize and identify with the main characters, Dale, and his alien counterpart Keyno. Masterfully written, it is one of those books that are truly difficult to put down once you begin to read it. It deviously draws you in. You don’t even realize it at first.

I felt horrible for Dale, torn from the only life he knew and put down in a completely alien one. I felt Keyno’s frustration as he deals with Dale’s anguish, fear, stubbornness and down-right bratiness (is that even a word?). In fact, a lot of Keyno’s sentences start with “Damn it, Dale”.

The original Literotica version has actually been split into two books, The Harvest:  Taken (available through stormmoonpress.com, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and other outlets, in print and ebook versions) and The Harvest:  Journey’s End (completion of The Harvest story, publication date unknown). There’s even a sequel that I have read, A Tah’Narian Christmas (publication date unknown).

In The Harvest:  Taken we find out why the Tah’Narians require fresh DNA, how the mating and young-bearing process works, and follow the relationship between Dale and Keyno from distrust and fear from Dale and frustration from Keyno to a very loving, equal relationship.

When Dale comes to Tah’Nar as Keyno’s mate, his life is altered in many ways, sometimes profound ways. What no one, even the King of Tah’Nar realizes what impact Dale’s presence has on the very cultural essence of Tah’Nar itself. Is it for the good of the Tah’Narian race? Read the best-selling The Harvest:  Taken for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.

On a scale of one to ten, I give this book a solid 10 and put it on the 'you have to read this book!" list.

Cover art, blurb, excerpt and author bio (c) M. A. Church, all rights reserved.