2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: Jay Bell - Something Like Winter

Something Like Winter by Jay Bell
Paperback: 374 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (October 23, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1479261726
ISBN-13: 978-1479261727
Amazon: Something Like Winter
Amazon Kindle: Something Like Winter

There are two sides to every story. When you're Tim Wyman, sometimes there are three.

Tim hoped moving to Texas would mean a new beginning, a chance to spread his wings, but he soon finds himself falling into the same tired patterns. Until he meets recklessly brave Benjamin Bentley. Suddenly a whole new world opens up to Tim--love, sex, warmth... home. Certain that society won't understand what he and Ben have together, Tim struggles to protect their relationship, even if it means twisting the truth. As his lies slowly push Ben away, Tim learns that the greatest enemy can come from within. Buried beneath a decade of deceptions, Tim must claw his way to the surface in the hopes of learning to fly.

Something Like Winter, the companion novel to Something Like Summer, tells the story from Tim Wyman's perspective, revealing new private moments and personal journeys.

2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: Michael P. Thomas - Kiss Me, Straight

Kiss Me, Straight by Michael P. Thomas
Paperback: 290 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (October 24, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1480042978
ISBN-13: 978-1480042971
Amazon: Kiss Me, Straight
Amazon Kindle: Kiss Me, Straight

Beijing, Tokyo, Sydney -- these exciting cities are standard fare in the life of flight attendant Todd Eisenbraun, and he chases a romance with sexy-but-straight Josh through them all.

Closer to home, a new neighbor in his San Francisco apartment building has a huge crush on Todd. His friends -- Katie, a flight attendant-turned-small appliance repairwoman, and Marzipan Q. Thespian, a man-dangling local philanthropist -- think Todd should at least give Chris a shot. Sure, he’s overweight, but he’s also handsome, a hilarious playwright, and a great cook ... what’s not to love?

Todd and Chris become quick friends, but Todd’s idea of the perfect man is skinny and straight, and Chris is decidedly neither. Josh may have a fiancée and a teenaged son, but Todd just knows he’s “the One.”

But if Josh is straight, the road to love is not. Todd is bombarded by his own internalized homophobia, body image issues, exotic locales, the glamorous world of sewing machine repair, and a community theater musical salute to the life of Judy Garland. When will he realize he’s looking way too hard for something he may have already found?