This is the story of Tom, a small town sheriff, and Julia, a doctor in the making. They meet later in life, fall in love, and live the rest of their lives together in perfect harmony. That is, until half way through the book, when the aliens are introduced.

And when I say half way, I really mean that my kindle app literally said 50%. Up until then, I wasn’t so sure where the story was headed. It seemed like it was a small town murder mystery kind of vibe, and it morphed into a scifi adventure right when I was wondering if it was for me or not. And I really loved that.

Written in a very straight forward was, I enjoyed how unique it was, but I also felt like it’s written in such a passive way, that I didn’t really even realize when the action was happening at some parts, and had to go back and re-read.

Definitely an interesting and enjoyable read, but it’s not my new favourite. But not every book is going to be exactly what I want, and that’s okay. I think it took too long to get into the scifi parts of the story, and I got a little bored waiting for it to show up. Overall, I think that many people would like this book, but it’s just not for me. If you like scifi and small town mysteries, than check it out for yourself!

(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

I didn’t enjoy this book. It was hard to get pulled in at the beginning. The premise was nice but didn’t live up to my expectations

I really struggled to even get this far, but at 65% complete, I'm finished!

I truly hate giving critical reviews but there are just so many problems with this story. There are formatting issues which I could disregard those. However the entire novel is written in a very monotone manner. Just one sentence after another, no real life. The romantic portions feel very shallow and aseptic. The story finally arrives to the science fiction piece at about 50%. But even aliens and galactic "wormgates" aren't enough to hold my interest any longer!

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for a copy of the book in exchange for this honest review.

I asked for this Net Galley book because the premise seemed so different. Unfortunately the book lacked extreme editing prior to release.
I'm at 20% and skimming. The writing is clunky and reads like a laundry list. Some of the verbiage is stilted, for example they went to see "the parents of Tom" and "the wives of his brothers" didn't help clean up after dinner. Twice, thus far, despite the fact that everyone knows that Tom is the sheriff he says to Julia "I'm the Sheriff of this county..." Back to skimming until I can't stand it any more. Here's a jewel "Men, and women (There was one girl in the CSI group) I've got an idea." When Tom's "CSI girl" finds the gravesite of a murder victim his new wife Julia/Julie is, conveniently, ready to be his chemist/forensic expert. The main problem isn't her, it's BORROWING a large restaurant strainer to find body fragments from a 55 gallon drum filled with sulphuric acid. Hopefully the restaurant didn't get the strainer back.
At around 50% of the book a flying saucer lands on Tom's family land in Argentina. Tom and Julie halt their honeymoon to be part of the U.S. government investigative team. Julie has evidently completed all of her doctoral work and has her dissertation in a desk drawer at home. Through the magical work of government personnel Julie is now Dr. Sutton. My disbelief is straining against willing suspension; the spaceship opens and Tom volunteers along with Beth, a microbiologist, to enter and report back to a general. Of course the door closes and the ship takes off. Remote communication with the inhabitants of the planet Zurot (on the other side of a worm gate) leads Tom and Beth to refrigerate the dead alien crew members. The control room "had several support columns in it, apparently space travel required a very strong craft." (Ya think?!) Some of the descriptions of the space travel and approach to Zurot sound like an exuberant geeky juvenile male wrote the book. Beth has twice been described as a short little gal, which, is just the right size for the inhabitants of Zurot who are smaller than Earth people.
My head almost exploded when, at the state banquet, Beth becomes Betty "a voluptuous little gal" who has almost immediately attracted King Axarr's attention. He is a widower and "fascinated with Betty's breast and observed them intently at every opportunity." At 70% I now know that Orrlogs were responsible for people on both Zurot and Earth and that they brought the Arc of the Covenant to Zurot. I am still reading/skimming, fascinated/horrified to see where this thing will go. For some reason Tom kissed Beth (no longer Betty) and then no mention again of that (hello newlywed) transgression because Beth is now involved with the King of Zurot. Meanwhile back on Earth Julie discovers she's pregnant.
At 89% Tom and Beth get on a spaceship returning to Earth. The CIA debriefing lasted 1.5 hours? No way would any CIA ever have such a short debrief, especially after unplanned space travel. Tom's plans for planetary partnership between Earth and Zurot are idealistic and over simplistic. Tom manages to address the U.S. Congress and then signs formal interplanetary agreements as the legal representative of the planet Zurot. Suddenly Zurot messages that the Sardii they had warred against were attacking and Tom gets the US Army to send soldiers and weapons through space to help. The soldiers are heroes and quickly split into USA army and USI army; "I" for interplanetary. King Axarr visits Earth and "fell in love with the night life of Washington, D.C."
97% jumps the reader five years into the future. Both Earth and Zurot are prospering and Zurot has curated immigration. A huge spaceship appears in the vicinity and turns out to hold Orloggs who need help. At the end of the book King Axarr asks Tom what they have gotten themselves into and Tom responds that he has no idea. Somehow that statement seemed oddly appropriate. I have no idea why I finished this book. Even skimming, it still wasted valuable time. I highly recommend that readers not follow my example and that the author take writing classes, find a writing group, and hire an editor. Posted on Goodreads.

James Lee took me on an enchanted tour into the town of Pikeville, South Alabama. It turns out this relic of a town actually exists. It's a ghost town in Alabama. That's rather interesting. The leading protagonist's were well-drawn. I was just beginning to settle in and get a feel for the narrative when the storyline hit me along the side of the head. It turned on a dime. From watching close relationships bud and family bonds strengthen, it emerged into interplanetary space travel. Literally overnight. Quite a leap to say the least.

Tom Sutton, age 34 is County Sheriff in the town of Pikeville. It was there he came to meet his future wife Julia. For both, it was love at first sight. Sappy but heartwarming. She was warmly welcomed into his family. Out of the clear blue, Tom had been brought into the family business by his father and given land that he would preside over. A great responsibility for which he knew nothing about. Shortly thereafter, Tom and Julia married.

Just after Christmas, they went on their honeymoon to the Yucatan peninsula. Julia's idea. While there, Tom received a call from his father that a spaceship had landed on one of the pieces of land that was under Tom's control. As president and CEO of the company, Tom found it his responsibility to end their honeymoon early. They met with a group of scientists and flew down to the spaceship. It was in Argentina.

The storyline suddenly shifted into overdrive. Everything was now happening at the speed of light. Tom and a research scientist decided to enter the spaceship after steps leading from it had descended. To their dismay, after shortly getting inside, it lifted up and departed for outer space. Held captive now headed for the Galaxy of Aximeno. Destination Planet Zurot. They did not know what to expect upon their arrival there. Thought their chances of survival were slim to none. All they could do was wait and find out. Hope for the best. If only they hadn't decided to enter the ship. Their fate was now out of their hands.

My thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.