Mala lives a life of perfection on her planet of Nerak. Everyone is healthy, wealthy, and perfectly balanced. Technology provides quick fixes for everything – hormonal imbalances, illness, hunger, even sexual desire. Nerak is perfectly peaceful, having phased men out completely and thus the main instigators of war. Perfection, however, gets boring, and Mala has a secret ambition – space travel. Sure it’s been banned for years, but Mala figures she knows all she needs to keep safe and secret on Earth. After all, she has all of her grandmother’s old diaries and holograms from her space travel days. These artifacts have only fuelled Mala’s desire to experience life as it used to be. So she packs up her ancient vehicle and takes off for Earth.

Here lies my only major problem with the novel. The only thing Mala thinks about is Earth. All her grandmother’s diaries and holograms are from Earth. Mala doesn’t need to learn English because the Nerakian language is close enough for understanding. But this close relationship is never explained. Why are Nerak and Earth so closely tied? What is it about Earth that attracts Mala so much? When it comes to pseudo-science fiction novels like this, there needs to be justification for the Earth-bound. After all, the Galaxy is immense beyond human comprehension. Why is one little planet going to attract so much attention? Kelley doesn’t even gloss over these details – she ignores them and expects the reader to follow. But for me, this is an oversight that left a gaping hole in the story.

Speaking of story…Mala’s documentaries are in actuality old porn movies, the hero of which is the local sheriff. Wanting ardently to feel what the women in the movies feel, Mala escapes Nerak. Luckily for her, she crash lands in Washboard, Texas, and is found by none other than Mason, the sheriff.

The rest of the story is made up of Mala’s exploration of Earth and her comical misunderstandings, Mason’s subsequent conversion from skeptic to believer, and a cute little subplot taking a dig at tabloid reporting.

I must admit to having a hit and miss relationship with Brava that’s been more miss than hit. I still think this story relied too much on cheap laughs than real emotion to carry the story, but it was light and easy to read with no real miss-steps. Readers looking for a little intellectual confectionary may like this, but I needed a bit more of a full meal.