Beyond the Next Star
Books | Fiction / Romance / General
3.7
Melody Johnson
"She wasn't dreaming, in a coma, having a mental breakdown, or in hell.She was abducted by aliens."An intolerable order.Before Commander Torek Renaar can return to active duty, he's ordered to purchase an animal companion to help relieve his PTSD symptoms. But having been a caretaker for and lost a loved one, keeping even one little human alive is a challenge he feels doomed to fail. It doesn't help that his animal companion is the newest, most exotic breed on the market, demanding constant attention, daily grooming, and delicate handling. If she doesn't die first in his incompetent care, she'll be the death of him.A desperate charade.After witnessing the murder of her domestication specialist, Delaney McCormick allows her new owner to treat her like the pet he believes her to be. If anyone suspects she's more intelligent than a golden retriever, her murder would be next. She endures the humiliation of being washed, the tediousness of being trained to "sit" and "come," and the intrigue of hearing private conversations. But in Torek's care, she finds something unexpected on this antarctic planet, something she never had in all her years on Earth while house-hopping between foster families: a home.A deadly secret.As companionship grows to love, must Delaney continue the charade, acting like an animal and hiding from the murderer waiting on her misstep? Or can she trust Torek with her secrets, even if the truth threatens everything he holds dear-and both their lives?
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Author
Melody Johnson
Pages
348
Publisher
Incendi Press, LLC
Published Date
2020-06-23
ISBN
1735149918 9781735149912
Community ReviewsSee all
"Lets just start of with a complaint about the cover art. I almost didn't read this because it's an alien romance with a normal human male on the cover. Apparently, this is very common. I just thought the writers had lost all of their creative juices and can only imagine human men who are 90% of the time blue with horns and oh don't let us forget the fangs. Anyway, Torek was more like a Sasquatch with horns. So color me confused.
The plot concept was very fun and alluring. Delaney came with an owner's manual ha. And the fact that Torek was reading all the ways Delaney could die while contemplating what he got himself into was just downright the best. I mean she pretended to be a dumb animal all while trying not to pull her hair out because she is obviously too smart for that.
Still the fact that this alien race has invented faster-than-light travel and still somehow mislable a sentient being is hard to believe. Let's say I could look past that fact. Delaney is a humanoid just like him. It is even said they are mate-compatible. Okay, so it didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book too much it was just a little awkward.
To my relief, it was a slow burn but I will say as soon as they got together I was over it. And the ending was not very satisfying. All in all, I absolutely loved the concept. I would love to see it in the future done a bit different."
Ashley