i read this for comedy. it was there, but not quite. overall, a fine experience, nothing more, nothing less

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

A dark comedy where you can request an alien abduction to get away from it all? What a brilliant idea. The characters were wonderful and the story was brilliant.

A funny account of alien abduction (by request) which I found strange but entertaining. The main character was unique and I found the writing style agreeable

This is a highly entertaining fast-paced story that never stops! Every chapter was a new exploration into new ideas and so much laughter. The struggle Shmish goes through is so interesting to see and his existential struggles can be relatable to many. The dark comedy within this book is also perfectly done. This is a new type of novel that I have never experienced but hope to experience more of. E.M Skyler knows what they're doing.

In "Come Take Me" we follow Marshall Shmishkiss (best name ever by the way) on an intergalactic journey that takes him from his centipede infested basement to far-flung worlds across the galaxy.

This story is so jam-packed full of action and hilarious misadventures that at times I had to reread a paragraph or two to fully digest what was going on after getting a bit confused. But despite this I found the whole strange tale incredibly funny and endearing, Marshall is the perfect lovable underdog you can't help but want to suceed and achieve his dreams...even if those dreams are to be abducted by aliens and voluntarily probed. Each to their own!

Thank you NetGalley and CorpInk for providing me with a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

DNF @ 30%

I tried with this one, I really did. It had all the makings of something I'd enjoy - or so I'd thought. I don't have a lot of complaints writing wise. There was some really good humor in there and it was thoughtful.. but the story just could not hold my attention. There wasn't enough going on and I knew Marshall's character was supposed to be ridiculous, I anticipated as much, but I don't know... I just could not get myself to feel anything for any of these characters.

I normally try to push through, but life's too short. On to the next read.

I had rather mixed feelings when I began this book. I am not always a fan of comedic writing, and often find things too cheesy or cliche. But I am a huge fan of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, which I have seen this novel compared to. Of course, it's not quite the same, but I could definitely see where people draw that association from. At first, it was a little too cheesy for me, but I actually grew to love it.
The book begins with Melody at her new job screening videos for a website called ComeTakeMe.com. This leads her to meet Marshall Shmishkiss, who turns out to be our protagonist. I cannot even begin to explain the events that follow, but I can say this: there is a Douglas Adams-esque galactic adventure, a giant centipede, and a desperate quest to save the planet.
This was a fun, pretty lighthearted read, that I enjoyed far more than I initially anticipated. If you like Hitchhiker's Guide, you may well appreciate this book, too. 4.5 stars!

Fantastic! I really need to add this one to my personal library. Very funny!! I’ve been recommending it to everyone

This book was very different from my usual reads. The cover really drew me in, and the premise of humans advertising themselves for alien abduction seemed fun. The book follows Marshall Shmisskiss, whose dream is to be taken by aliens and see a glimpse of the outside universe. In the end, he gets more than he bargained for. Overall, it was a funny book and it hit on a lot of topics--environmentalism, diet fads, mental health, the list goes on. I spent the book vacillating between liking and disliking Marshall, and I'm still not sure where I came out. I tend to err on the side of liking protagonists, and I really sympathized with him as a victim of bullying, but there were some moments where the cringe level was too high or Marshall's more insidious character flaws came through more. I read this book quickly and would recommend it to anyone looking for a fast, fun change of pace.

I ended up making it about 75% through the book before DNFing but I already wanted to stop at around the 25% mark.
My biggest issue with this book is that its just not for me. I try not to hold that against a book when reviewing and rating, however, in this case, I do think it is important to note that I think I got the wrong impression from the cover and description. I also tried to figure out who I would recommend this book to and I was having trouble figuring that out too.
I couldn't connect with any of the characters and found Marshall's perspective particularly uncomfortable to read from. A character doesn't need to be likeable or relatable for me to enjoy reading from their perspective but in this case I felt a weird mix of on edge (and not in a thrilling way) and uninterested. Because of this I really could not bring myself to care about his story and anything that happened to him. I found the pacing of the book, specifically in the first quarter or so, a bit strange. For the most part if was fine but every so often it felt almost like whiplash and left me disoriented. Most notably, it took me way too long to figure out what was happening after Marshall makes his video renouncing the human race. I just kept turning the pages thinking to myself, is this a dream? Is he tripping? Hallucinating? But instead of being intrigued by the lack of solid answers I just felt even more disinterested.
For about 2 minutes it looks like the book might properly address issues surrounding the mistreatment of people with mental health problems but instead of using that moment the issue gets swept under the rug and instead becomes some sort of strange transition to the main plot of the book. I don't think a book has to address every hot topic issue it comes into contact with but it definitely felt strange for the issue to be brought up and then dropped like a hot potato. Like I said, I didn't finish the book so I don't know if it gets addressed again later on towards the end but even if it is, the transition out of that initial moment felt so strange to me.

The cover absolutely convinced me to read this book, but sadly it wasn't quite for me.
There are some hilarious moments (the scene with the Russian trainer was a highlight for me), and there are also some very beautiful writing, like: "I think the bad stuff exists for a reason. To push us. To make us more than we start out as. Because we don't start out as much, do we? And we'd stay that way forever if we could."

The whole plot around aliens and why humans smoke is also extremely well thought out (won't say more), and although Marshall's separate adventures were interesting and thought-provoking, the overall book didn't really do it for me (but then again, I'm not really a sci-fi fan).

Perfect for fans of the Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy!

I think the cover of Come Take Me is spectacular, and a perfect fit for this story.

The humour throughout this book was very entertaining, and my favourite part about the whole read. I rather liked that the author kept it up, even though the more serious scenes.
The authors writing style itself is simplistic and straight to the point, which I also liked.

Marshall M. Shmishkiss is an unemployed man in his thirties who volunteers to be taken by aliens. Shmishkiss is a likeable character and I really connected with him as a reader. I enjoyed learning his backstory and following him on his journey.
The sub characters were all quirky and diverse which is a bonus. It keeps things interesting.
The story was whacky, chaotic and absurd, but I had a lot of fun reading it.

I want to start off by saying I loved the cover of this book, it is really great. The first half of the book was pretty good but the second half fell off for me. Come Take Me is a story about a guy named Marshall who wants to be taken by aliens so he keeps writing to a site called Come Take Me. I think that people who are into Star Trek and stuff like that will really enjoy this one. Personally, it did not really grab me and I found the characters unlikable. The premise is great though and of course the cover.

Quite entertaining. Fun characters, a mostly engaging plot, and certainly a bit wacky. There's some good humor along the way, which can be very difficult to pull off effectively. The author has a great imagination and used it well here.

I really appreciate the review copy!!

The cover of this book blew me away. It made me ponder the meaning of his life, as well as where the main character wanted to go. I was really hoping that he would be telling of his adventures to Canada or a realistic destination. However, he volunteered to be taken by aliens. It made me curious about how he got to this point in his life. Throughout the story, it was humorous and the main character became a likable character. I think what threw me off from this book was the main character's name. If you're able to look past the name of "Marshall M. Shmishkiss", then you might enjoy his adventure of being abducted by aliens and his journey to space/another galaxy. Before reading the description, I was anticipating this book to be a middle grade novel with fantasy. Instead there were outlandish ideas and comical references. I enjoyed reading a book that was out of my comfort zone. This book definitely affirmed that a website or app could have an idea like this in the future. This was worth a read and I appreciate receiving an ARC digital copy from NetGalley. My honest opinion is that if you enjoy Star Trek and science-fiction novels, then you will enjoy reading this book.

This one is a little bit of a mixed bag for me.

<b>Come Take Me</b> is a novella about a man who wishes to be taken by aliens. Marshall, an unemployed man in his thirties finds himself hoping for the presence of aliens and wishes to offer himself as a tribute on behalf of the human race.

The first few chapters were my favorite parts of the book, the humor was amazing, the author really sank into the wild and ridiculous premise and gave some quality, campy scenes. The comedic timing was still present for the rest of the book but as it delves into more serious themes it doesn't really hit the same. My issue with the book was the pacing. Personally I thought the book started to seriously drag towards the middle, even at the climax of the book (which I won't spoil), I was struggling to pick it up and continue which sucked cause I was really enjoying myself in the beginning.

The writing style is pretty simplistic, not that it is bad, it is pretty solid. Though there moments when it felt really jumpy and I struggled to keep up, I'm just going to chalk that up as intentional but it was just not for me, in fact it made it even harder for me to continue reading.

I might suggest this for people who might wish to pick up a short and light hearted story, better if you're interested in science fiction or fantasy, if you don't mind a vague sense of world building. I'm not going to read too deep into it since there's literally the word 'satire' in the title but the attempts to delve into deeper themes just did not really resonate with me. Overall it was okay and I still really enjoyed the first few chapters with the training and the websites crew.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This book is available now.

Marshall M. Shmishkiss is a man determined to leave it all behind. He doesn’t want to move to a new place or quit his job–he really wants to leave it all behind. He trains in an attempt to be taken by aliens. He submits videos of his training to a website called ComeTakeMe, where they are viewed by the company that oversees the website.

The employees of this company call him the “Shmish” and they get great pleasure out of laughing and mocking the videos. Honestly, it was really cruel, despite the oddness of Marshall’s videos. You would think that would immediately endear me to Marshall, but I did not like him much. I don’t necessarily think it’s the character that I didn’t like, just that I was unable to click with the writing.

When I read a book that is so other, I need to have some sort of thread that connects me to the story, or at least brings me along for the ride. In Come Take Me, I was often confused. Things felt a little…blurry, for lack of a better word. I feel like the book was a little disorganized, especially at the beginning.

While the story idea was a clever one, I ultimately felt a little “meh” about this book. I think that says more about me than the book itself. I just didn’t click. It happens sometimes. I wish the author the best with Come Take Me , but I can’t say I would recommend it.

While Earth population is really like apes, bullying, destroying the environment... here comes a nerd Marshal Shmishkiss that dedicated all his life efforts in being abducted by aliens. Wouldn't it be great that you could simply apply on internet to be taken, aliens just need to deposit platinum and they can come get you?
It's interesting what skills Marshall considers essential for survival in space and how he learns them and later faces the aliens and new space environments.

If you are into sci-fi mixed with a good dose of humor with standard cliches like probing, take me to your leader... you will have fun reading this book. Joining the adventure of an original character trying to make his big dream come true and save the universe.

Come Take Me: A Celestial Satire by E. M. Skyler is a highly recommended comical science fiction parody that includes a few lessons for all of us.

Behind the scenes the crew that monitors several websites, including ComeTakeMe.com, Marshall M. Shmishkiss is a legend. They have nicknamed him the Shmish and eagerly watch every new video he posts to the site as he records his training in both mind and body for his quest to become the most appealing and prepared human available for an alien abduction. Shmishkiss is sure he is ready to face whatever he faces as a galactic explorer. He faithfully watches Star Trek. He even has the perfect site where he goes on designated nights to await his possible choice as an abductee. So when he discovers the humans behind the website, Shmishkiss reaches his breaking point and makes one final video, which results in what he wanted - or did it?

Shmishkiss is an incredible character and he will immediately capture your devotion. You will wish him well throughout the entire novel, especially after you learn his backstory. The supporting cast of characters are all either wonderfully quirky and out of the ordinary, or distinctively ill-boding and self serving - this includes aliens and humans.

This is a hilarious novel that is firmly entrenched in the absurd. Certainly it has the same humorous look at residents of the galaxy as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series and Dr. Who and since Shmishkiss clearly reveres Star Trek, there are elements of that too. It doesn't mimic any of them, but you'll notice their influence in Come Take Me. This isn't a novel that is written to be taken too seriously, but there are some poignant, touching moments and several thoughtful observations that are in the narrative. At the end it is suggested that sometime in the future there may be another Shmishkiss novel. This was a fun bit of escapism wrapped up in a funny, enjoyable novel.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of the publisher/author via Netgalley.
The review will be posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.