Review: Earth Fathers Are Weird by Lyn Gala

Captain Maxwell Davis and his entire unit scrambled to engage alien ships over Iowa. The aliens snatched him out of his destroyed jet before they continued on their interplanetary hot pursuit. Then they informed Max that Earth was too far outside regular shipping lanes to return him to his planet.

So Max ends up in an alien spaceport looking for work. To afford a ticket home he can either spend three hundred years working with linguists to improve the computer's questionable ability to translate English or he can take a job as a nanny for an unpopular alien. That way he can afford the ticket in four years. The problem is that the computer may have mistranslated the word "nanny" and there might be a reason an alien is willing to pay such a high fee.

Admittedly, Gala’s Claimings series is a top favorite. It’s smart, unique, definitely unlike anything I had read before, and the romance to it - while unconventional - was really really swoony. I cannot not compare this to it, and Claimings still takes top billing.


Full disclosure. This has many things that might not catch your fancy or maybe it will.


First and foremost are the tentacles - sooooo many tentacles.

There’s also mpreg - graphic details about implantation and delivery.

Throw in quasi dubious consent in regards to the aforementioned impregnating.

Don’t forget an alien MC that is not even humanoid - that book cover pretty much says it all.


This story is about Max and Rick and how they deal with a massive inability to mutually understand one another and the obvious snafu that results because of it. Slowly though, they learn more and more, they develop some pretty tight bonds, and ultimately, they make a family - and what an adorable family it is!! It was also about the evolution of Max’s situation and thus, his own personal expectations in finding love and acceptance and camaraderie and intimacy in the unlikeliest places, in the unlikeliest “person”.


Though this started out a bit rough, though this made me squirm due to all the tentacles and the stark physical differences between the two MC’s, it was still a rewarding story. For tentacle enthusiasts, this still had the smexy. This surprisingly had a great deal of suspense and action and thrill to it as well. At its center though, is all heart.


Overall, this delivered a story that was also smart, thought provoking, and introspective - mainly about us humans and our complex nature and where we fit in the universe. That’s where this shines and impresses, just like it did with Claimings and thus, I wouldn’t say no should Gala choose to give us more.

A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.