Kaden's Colors

by Ryan Loveless

The first alien immigrants arrived on Earth long before Henry Mekes was born. Now they’re policed by the government, forbidden from attending school, and assigned menial jobs to prevent them from becoming drains on human society. Twenty-two-year-old Kaden, for example, was assigned the job of sex worker. When eighteen-year-old Henry and his friend Ellil meet Kaden in a grotty backroom to avail themselves of his services, alien rights are the furthest thing from their minds. It’s not until afterward, when Henry is trying to remind himself aliens can’t get enough of sex, that he questions his actions and the rules of the world he lives in. Something about Kaden compels Henry to return again and again—but only as a friend. Soon he and his classmates hatch a plan to free Kaden, but even if they succeed, the world is still full of prejudice against aliens—and those who love them.

Genres: M M Romance, Science Fiction, M M Science Fiction, Gay, Aliens, LGBT, Erotica

168 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 5, 2012

Reviews

[Abby · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 snazzy stars

Henry is human, but he lives in a world where not everyone is equal. Aliens are beneath him, lifeforms that barely function enough to have sex all the time. When Henry and Ellil go to play Skee-Ball, what they find will change them forever.

Kaden has always thought himself an alien, he enjoys things of a sexual nature, after all. But when he is assigned to be a sex slave, constantly raped by shady men, he knows he's had enough. Then he meets Henry...

Madsen gave Henry one treasure, though: the alien’s name.
Kaden.

This is my first book based on aliens in a while, and it was fairly enjoyable. There were some aspects I enjoyed more than others. But I'll get to that!

Before reading this, I thought I would enjoy a book about Aliens. Except when I read it, it wasn't really about aliens. It was about Henry falling in love with an alien, and then him hatching a plan to break him free, and his friends parents are conveniently a Mayor and a Lawyer.. Yup! We learn absolutely nothing about aliens except that they like sex, and they wear bright colours, and for some reason everyone human wears boring brown/white/black clothes. How bizarre!

I felt like I was missing certain parts of the book, as it just skipped from one scene to the next, and felt rushed. I also got lost somewhere along the way while trying to work out WTF was going on.

Also, there's a lot of rape. And I mean A LOT! But Henry doesn't seem fazed by it, which is weird.

I enjoyed that it kept me reading even though I was WTF'n on every chapter. However, could have done to be more descriptive and be longer.

The M/M romance is really sweet where Henry risks everything to save Kaden/be with him.

Even though there wasn't much about aliens, it was still really enjoyable as a M/M romance type thing. I guess it's supposed to be covering an alien as being gay, and a human as being straight? Like there's loads of prejudice for being an alien lover, but it's fine being a human lover. So I guess that's it... I have to admit that's pretty cool idea!

“I’m not an alien-lover anyway.” At least, he didn’t think he was. Maybe.

In case you didn’t know, that’s Loki (aka Tom Hiddleston)... Y’know from Thor? The alien? Tehehe

Thanks Tom! I knew I was funny!

I received a copy of Kaden's Colors in exchange for an honest review

[Kiki · Rating 2 out of 5]

disappointing as a romance, and I wanted to know about the actual aliens (who you never really learn anything about)

[Straysod · Rating 1 out of 5]

Holy crap. Did not finish this one--quit only about 20% through. Warning: I am writing this review right after essentially rage-quitting this book, so this is going to be pretty harsh, even for me. I write reviews with myself in mind, trying to let potential readers of a book know the kinds of things I would have wanted to know before purchasing the book.

This book was totally shocking to me. Reading the reviews, I'm honestly wondering if I read the same book as everyone else. Or maybe the first 20% of the book is totally uncharacteristic of the rest of it? If that's the case, then that sucks, because I read for fun and pleasure, and firmly believe if the book hasn't hooked you at least a little by the first chapter, then it's really not worth wasting the effort on.

Even after reading the blurb and some of the reviews that point out the prejudice and non-con sex, I was not prepared for how...slimy this book feels. I just finished reading Ethan, Who Loved Carter and loved it so much I looked up the author to see if there was anything else that sounded interesting. So perhaps that's part of why this was so awful: Ethan and Carter were so well-rounded, endearing, and charming that I'm having a hard time believing the same author wrote this book.

Even 20% in, the only things I felt for Ellil were contempt, disgust and a very strong urge to punch him in his self-assured, entitled, rich-boy's face. I don't know if Henry was better or worse. Yeah, the author did a great job creating a high-schooler's voice, but it was the type of teenager that I'd want to slap even if I was still in high-school! No self-awareness, no real questioning of what society had told him up to this point, he even lets his ass of a best friend constantly get him into trouble, even knowing that he'd be the only one punished for it! He so totally believed the propaganda of his world that I could not muster up an iota of sympathy for him. Even for a young, conservative, naive kid he was painfully oblivious, and perfectly happy letting incredibly obvious and blunt propaganda color his every thought.

Maybe the book takes an amazing turn and shows some sort of spectacular recovery later on, but if a book is going to have non-con sex, slavery, prejudice and corruption shoved in your face right from page one, if the main character starts off the book essentially RAPING the other MC it better have some spectacular characters or world building to make me want to stick with it. This absolutely did not have either one. The world was vague (essentially ours, but a little bit in the future and with aliens?) and the characters infuriating. Maybe I'll try to finish it after I've read a string of disappointing romance books to lower my standards, but at the moment, all I can say is that I am super disappointed. I could not bring myself to keep reading it and have rarely hated a set of characters so thoroughly, so quickly.

[L-D · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is difficult for me to rate because while it had 5 star moments, it wasn't consistently 5 stars for me and fluctuated wildly. There were some aspects of the book that I didn't really enjoy at all.

Warning: This book does contain somewhat non-consensual situations. I use the word somewhat because aliens in this book are supposed to love sex so much it can never be non-consensual, yet Kaden is still chained to a table.

The relationship between Henry and Kaden is still a mystery to me. I'm not sure exactly what the draw of a drugged out, tied down alien was to Henry Mekes, an 18 year old boy or how Kaden can develop feelings foe Henry in his drugged out state. I didn't really enjoy the romance aspect of this book.

I did enjoy the politics of the aliens vs. Humans and the bigotry of the world that Ryan Loveless created. I would have loved for the book to contain more development of the aliens themselves or that part of the world building. As it stands, we really don't get to know any other "alien" besides Kaden in this book.

I did like Henry as a character, but didn't really like Ellil and his sense of entitlement throughout the book to include his lack of remorse about the way he treated Kaden. I didn't really understand Kaden - especially at the end when a lot of things come to light about his character, and I didn't think that the non-consensual aspect of the book was addressed in enough depth. It seems to have been glossed over a bit.

Overall, the book had a lot of interesting ideas and the concept was very creative, but I think a little more development could have made this book a 4 or 5 star read for me.

[Syfy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The intensity from the beginning of this story really didn't carry through to the end, but it made sense. There were complicated situations glossed over, not a great amount of detail.
That being said, I was ALL IN and enjoyed the tale very much including the way it ended. I found that particularly appropriate. Thank you again Ryan!
;P

[Raevyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a hard read for me because it starts off with Kaden being drugged and raped over and over by humans. The lesson in the story was about prejudice and I think it was told well enough, but there were aspects that had me struggling through it. I really liked Kaden and Henry, but Elil was an ass quite often. The end was a overdone, but I can't say I totally disliked it.

[Rae · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was not enough world building to make this story work. I wish I could rate it higher, maybe if it had been longer?

[Sammy Goode · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I have never so desperately wanted to give a story 5 stars as I have this one. It pains me--literally pains me to give it only 3.5 stars...but there were some flaws within this story that could not be overlooked--despite how wonderful its theme and intent proved to be. I also need to mention that this story was birthed out of Fanfic origins. As I am unfamiliar with Fanfic--(I know--GASP!) I will leave it at that. But let's begin with the best this story has to offer--because indeed, it gave so very much.

"Henry shut out Ellil's rush of dirty language. The alien was so beautiful that he didn't want to hear it demeaned. Anything that could make him feel this good deserved to be praised, not called names."

The place? Probably Earth. The time? Definitely well into the future. The reality that bigotry and bullying have somehow been eradicated in our future as a human race? Unfortunately, no--in fact, it has grown exponentially.

Henry is a high school senior and best friends with the governor's son, Ellil. Because of the power Ellil's dad wields, the boy never bears the consequences for his actions--and, because of this frustrating dichotomy, his teacher's often give Ellil's punishment to whomever he is hanging with at the time, poor Henry!

However despite this, Henry and Ellil share genuine affection for one another and fall into one scrape after another. Thus at the beginning of the story, we find them sneaking away from their boarding school to take in the sights and sounds of McDougall's Fun House & Arcade--a place where aliens are free to show off their talents and move about independent of the government mandated drug Patacil--a sedative that made the aliens more manageable in their every day jobs.

It seems that in Henry's society, at grade seven there is a DNA swab done on all students--those found to have alien DNA were whisked away, never to be seen again. In reality they were the workforce that ran the city--and the black market sex trade. Brutal, mindless and degrading--that is what pops to mind in this next chapter of the story.

Ellil and Henry decide to use the tickets they have won from skeeball to visit the back room of the arcade and have sex with an alien. What they find is, for Henry, an eye opening revelation. So many lies that they had been told about the aliens--how they enjoy repeated rape--of course men, paying and lining up to take advantage of an alien who is strapped to a table and forced to endure anal intercourse or give blow jobs is not called rape---no--because the alien likes it--really.

This was the first time I felt the bile rise in my throat.

Henry becomes besotted with the alien. He returns night after night--pays his tickets and sits, watching. As time goes on, he begins to wonder if the alien, who is drugged out of his mind, really does like his life. Then one night it happens, the alien speaks--two simple words that will turn Henry's life upside down: "Help me."

Henry watches then as Mr. Madsen--the alien's keeper, cleans him up, rubs ointment into his bruised body and finally, after hours of enduring mindless rape, gets the alien off and then puts him to bed--in a room, with a single lamp, a mattress on the floor and a blanket. Mr Madsen reads the alien to sleep after drugging him once more.

Now I was pretty sure I was going to be physically ill.

I wanted to throw the kindle--I wanted to stop reading this haunting, visceral tale that had my gut churning and my mind spinning. I wanted to shout, "STOP, he maybe be an alien but you can't treat him that way--oh please--someone, save him!" Clever—clever, author--to write with such vivid imagery--to place me there in that room and hold me there, my eyes wide open, but wanting to look away--just like Henry--oh my--this was an author who could write--yes, indeed!

The story continued and much to my relief, Henry began to turn away from the propaganda that aliens were less than human, unfeeling, mindless, not to be trusted, never, ever to be loved and he began to think for himself--see--really see what was in front of him! He began to see the bigotry, the hate toward this race of people. Interestingly enough it is Mr. Madsen who begins to make Henry see the truth.

"You called it 'he,'" Henry said, realizing.

...Well, Kaden is an alien, not an animal. He's as bright as you and me when he isn't drugged. So, if you can't give him the same pronoun you give a pet...."

A pet...they treated aliens lower than pets. As Henry began to realize that Kaden, the alien, was so much more that a "pet" the story takes off--and the adventure begins. Ellil, Henry and another friend, Avani, kidnap Kaden and take his to "the farm" where aliens are helped--counseled, weaned off the addictive drugs and kept safe. It is here that the shocking truth of Kaden's real origins are discovered and all hell breaks loose for Henry and Kaden. The revelation of Kaden's true self would result in the downfall of the corporation that produces the drug used to keep aliens under control and would change Henry's life in ways he never imagined!

"As he walked away, he dwelled on the statement. Why not use his final semester for something good? He proposed the idea for student-run safety patrols to Ellil and Avani, in a week had Dowe's approval and led off the first crew himself two weeks after that."

And here is where the story began to fall apart for me. The rapid turn around in Henry's demeanor—his mindset, simply staggered me. Add to that Henry's parents, Ellil, Avani, their parents--everyone who had lived using and abusing aliens for decades suddenly doing a 360 degree turn and making nice--changing the status quo. It was simply too convenient--too easy.

Along with this was Kaden's remarkable transformation into a "rock star." What?? We had a paragraph where the boy liked to sing in the shower and 20 pages later he was in a band and a rock star?? He had been abused for YEARS and now he was happy--content--well adjusted?? No...it just did not ring true.

These two glitches in the story were huge. Ryan Loveless is a good writer--an excellent writer, but she needed a lot more story on the page to convince me that these dramatic changes were real and lasting. I really loved three-fourths of this novel. However, when it came to cleaning up the story, morphing these characters into whole human beings who could cope in every day life and live with their former abusive tendencies and notions--well, that is where this novella fell well short of its intended goal.

So, I regretfully gave Kaden's Colors, only 3.5 stars. But...but...I will say this: This author really bears watching--she is good--a deft story teller. Plus she has lots to say--important things to say--that each of us need to hear. I will most certainly read this author again. I hope you do as well.

[Cerulean · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Luggage · Rating 3 out of 5]

Held my interest for the entire story. Not sure how I feel about where the plot went in terms of the love interest's background.

[Adara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like this story was trying too hard with its moral, but when it came down to the ending, it became more of a fluffy fantasy instead of working with the realistic details that would support the story. In essence, it was too "ding-dong the witch is dead" happy.

The story is an allegory of the treatment of slaves and realizing that they are human and should be treated with dignity and respect instead of as objects with no feelings to be owned. In this case the slaves are aliens who look exactly like and can pass for humans except by DNA test. As soon as the children are tested, those who are alien are suddenly removed from their lives and put into alien training centers and become property with no rights.

Henry feels for the plight of Kaden, a particular alien he meets and spends time with. Henry and his friends finally get Kaden out from under his owner to an alien underground railroad camp. Once there, they find out Kaden isn't what they thought. He's actually completely human.

The crux of the story is that businesses and others are caught falsifying documentation and testing to make more money or hold leverage over people. Kaden's plight becomes widely spread news, and it triggers outrage and eventual change with regard to alien rights.

The problem I had with it is that the 'changes' that come at the end were practically overnight. I suppose that's a nice pipe dream for a romance, but so far from reality that I just couldn't suspend my disbelief that far. For example, Henry's mother is ready to send him to a 'rehabilitation camp' (for alien lovers) one minute and happy for him the next. And Henry recognizes it, but never calls her on it that we know of. Why NOT? Later in the story she's changed all her thoughts on the subject. But in truth, that sort of prejudice rarely disappears that quickly. Instead of everything ending practically perfect in every way, there probably should have been some hard issues raised.

I felt like I was being beaten over the head with the moral most of the time, and then when it came time to pay the dues, it shied away from the hard truth to be the happy romance instead. So, it was a nice story for what it was, but I didn't connect with it the way I should have because it was too happy fantasy fiction in the end. YMMV.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this sci-fi story with a message. Aliens had come to earth but the xenophobic powers that be had passed laws to "protect" the human species from them by virtually enslaving them into demeaning work and separating them from the rest of society (for ulterior motives as you find out), DNA profiles were taken from children at school as aliens were not allowed an education - sometimes pupils disappearing from class with no explanation. Kaden was one such "alien" who had been assigned the job of sex worker and when Henry and Ellil visit him to have sex, find him strapped down to a table where he can not object or refuse anything. Henry develops an attraction to Kaden and finds himself visiting him as often as possible just to be with him and this is where the story really begins as to why Kaden is where he is and what in reality has happened. The morality of the story questions what the reader thinks of those who are different and how you would have reacted in such a situation. Excellent read but would have liked more about the general alien population and what happened to them at the end of this story - perhaps a sequel ?

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice enough story but I'd have really liked more world and characters building.

[Page Crusherz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is hard for me to review. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it at parts, but some parts of it really bothered me. I can't buy Kaden's reactions to all that happened to him. I was left feeling like I wanted to know a lot more about alien/human relationships. I enjoyed it, so I wanted to give it more, but I really was bothered by Kaden's quick recovery to having been raided for years. It was a mix of "I liked it sex, so it wasn't too bad" and "I was taken care of and liked being 'different'" and other things that just didn't sit well with me. I also wanted to see more remorse from the MC's who raped him, and more understanding of the bigotry towards the aliens. That being said, I really, really liked the MC's and the secondaries. I thought the world was really interesting and I would really love to see more. At times this book was a 5, at times it was lower, so I'll compromise at a 3.5

[Jackie Mckenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well Ms. Loveless I promised you that since I won this during your chat here on goodreads I would review it once I finished it. I have to say that I liked the premise of your alien world. The story was fast paced and the character development was wonderful. I liked the three musketeers feel with Henry, Ellil and Avani. I also like a story where someone or a bunch of someones realize that all their long held prejudices just might be wrong. I guess my biggest gripe was the ending. I mean this in the nicest way, but sheesh I feel like it was a cliff-hanger. Will there be a sequel? I would surely recommend this as a to be read story for anyone who likes a little sci/fi. Thank you very much for the story and I would not hate it if there was a sequel (hint,hint).

[Marbea Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is wonderful! I was so enraptured in Kaden and his mental state of mind. He felt odd as a child, so he equated him being tested as an alien as acceptance of his uniqueness. I was intrigued by the fact that this story was like a ode to homosexuality. Alien rights and how they were classed, was a euphemism for LGBQT rights, and being classified instead of accepted. Homosexuality wasn't even an issue in this story, alien rights and way of life were the main subject. Gay>Alien... Didn't matter if you loved the same sex, you just couldn't love an alien. Well, I am so happy Kaden found his place, and Henry had time to mature and find his calling in life. I'm glad you provided all the sources for bullying prevention at the end.

[Mouse · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was such a weird book. The issues were DEEP. My dislike of it came from the fact that the subject was treated VERY LIGHTLY compared to the deep issues. For instance, there's RAPE. and it's kind of glossed over like: it happened, we're over it. IDK.

I disliked the end as well. I think putting in the time to get to the end, the story felt ultimately incomplete.

[Gina U · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited to read the book based on the blurb but not so much when I was actually reading it. One of the premises stated in the blurb turns out to be false which was disappointing. I know the author had the best of intentions to write a book about equal rights for all but the parallels she was trying to draw didn't really pan out. Nor did the dystopian setting.

[Marsha Spence · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was adorable. So sweet. I loved how innocent Kaden's voice was and how high school Henry's voice was. I liked the 3 working together. it was just really sweet and had a great message. I know sweet seems odd considering Kaden's job but it was! I really hope there is a sequel.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting concept but not enough world building, nice enough characters but I wanted to know much more about the "real" aliens and while the romance was weak and the ending disappointing overall it was a nice story.

[Violet Joicey-Cowen · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice enough storey, some very good moments, but like others i wanted to know more about the real aliens. maybe a sequel?? i loved how drawn to kaden henry was and want to know what happens next for them.

[Lasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this when it was fanfiction. It was okay then. Hopefully it was revised for DSP. I will have to check out new version.

[Sandra]

$4.99 on Nook

October 2012 group read for M/M Romance Group

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I liked this book but some of the issues left me feeling conflicted.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story, clever plot but i could have used an epilogue to the epilogue