2014 Rainbow Awards Submission: Dudek

Lesbian Contemporary Romance
Dudek by Taylor James
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (April 24, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1494847221
ISBN-13: 978-1494847227
Amazon: Dudek
Amazon Kindle: Dudek

Alana Dudek is sexy and fit and pitches for the Houston Titans Women’s Professional Softball team. However, being the best and the brightest of her WPSL draft class doesn’t guarantee a happily-ever-after. While her career is on the rise, Alana strikes out in the game of love when her girlfriend denounces her as incapable of love before leaving her. Micky Akers, a community college softball coach, is also the latest applicant for the assistant coaching job with the Houston Titans. Micky, as fate will have it, is the only woman to ever have deeply touched Alana. Their one night stand after the National Collegiate Championship left a mark on them both. Or did it? Will that one night come back to haunt them? This is a season not to be missed.

Charities Donation program progress:
328$ Albert Kennedy Trust: http://www.akt.org.uk/
965$ Ali Forney Center: www.aliforneycenter.org/
50$ Audre Lorde Project: http://alp.org/
25$ BiNet US: http://www.binetusa.org/
75$ CARE: careprogram.org/
125$ The Center Colorado: http://www.glbtcolorado.org/
25$ LGBT Center of Greater Cleveland: http://www.lgbtcleveland.org/
401$ COLORS: www.colorsyouth.org/
80$ Covenant: www.covenanthouseno.org/
75$ Diversity Role Models: http://www.diversityrolemodels.org/
25$ The Diversity Center: http://diversitycenter.org/
317$ Galop: www.galop.org.uk/
150$ GLYS: http://www.glyswny.org/
135$ Human Rights Campaign: http://www.hrc.org/
50$ Huntsville GLBT Advocacy & Youth Services: http://www.glbtays.org/
100$ It Gets Better: http://www.itgetsbetter.org/
100$ Inland Northwest LGBT Center: www.thelgbtcenter.org/
235$ Lambda Legal: www.lambdalegal.org/
50$ Lambert House: www.lamberthouse.org/
50$ Lancaster LGBT Center: http://www.centralpalgbtcenter.org/
50$ LEAP: http://www.glbtleap.org/
512$ Lost-n-Found Youth: www.lost-n-found.org/
50$ MKE LGBT Center: www.mkelgbt.org/
130$ Moveable Feast: http://www.mfeast.org/
25$ Odyssey Youth Center: www.odysseyyouth.org/
25$ Out Youth: outyouth.org/
25$ Pathfinder: pathfindersmke.org/
100$ PFLAG: community.pflag.org/
175$ Point Foundation: www.pointfoundation.org/
100$ Ruth Ellis Center: http://www.ruthelliscenter.org/
650$ SAGE: giveto.sageusa.org/
25$ Terrence Higgins Trust: www.tht.org.uk/
455$ The Trevor Project: www.thetrevorproject.org/
160$ UCAN: www.ucanchicago.org/
25$ WayGay: http://www.waygay.org/
200$ You Can Play: http://youcanplayproject.org/
50$ YouthCare: www.youthcare.org/
997$ Other Funds
TOTAL: 7115$*

* more than 150$ is a direct donation from a supporter of the Rainbow Awards who isn't submitting; while some authors were more than generous, arriving to donate 5 times the suggested amount, being the submission fee a non mandatory and voluntary direct donation, we were struggling to raise the same amount as last year and there is who decided to cover part of it. I thank you for all you are doing, and if you wish to donate to the above links, please drop me a note with your donation and I will update the total.

2014 Rainbow Awards Guidelines: reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4162490.html

2014 Rainbow Awards Submission: The Unwanted

Gay Young Adult
The Unwanted by Jeffrey Ricker
Paperback: 312 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (March 18, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1626390487
ISBN-13: 978-1626390485
Amazon: The Unwanted
Amazon Kindle: The Unwanted

Jamie Thomas has enough trouble on his hands trying to get through junior year of high school without being pulverized by Billy Stratton, his bully and tormentor. But the mother he was always told was dead is actually alive—and she’s an Amazon! Sixteen years after she left him on his father’s doorstep, she’s back… and needs Jamie’s help. A curse has caused the ancient tribe of warrior women to give birth to nothing but boys, dooming them to extinction—until prophecy reveals that salvation lies with one of the offspring they abandoned. Putting his life on the line, Jamie must find the courage to confront the wrath of an angry god to save a society that rejected him.

Charities Donation program progress:
328$ Albert Kennedy Trust: http://www.akt.org.uk/
965$ Ali Forney Center: www.aliforneycenter.org/
50$ Audre Lorde Project: http://alp.org/
25$ BiNet US: http://www.binetusa.org/
75$ CARE: careprogram.org/
125$ The Center Colorado: http://www.glbtcolorado.org/
25$ LGBT Center of Greater Cleveland: http://www.lgbtcleveland.org/
401$ COLORS: www.colorsyouth.org/
80$ Covenant: www.covenanthouseno.org/
75$ Diversity Role Models: http://www.diversityrolemodels.org/
25$ The Diversity Center: http://diversitycenter.org/
317$ Galop: www.galop.org.uk/
150$ GLYS: http://www.glyswny.org/
135$ Human Rights Campaign: http://www.hrc.org/
50$ Huntsville GLBT Advocacy & Youth Services: http://www.glbtays.org/
100$ It Gets Better: http://www.itgetsbetter.org/
100$ Inland Northwest LGBT Center: www.thelgbtcenter.org/
235$ Lambda Legal: www.lambdalegal.org/
50$ Lambert House: www.lamberthouse.org/
50$ Lancaster LGBT Center: http://www.centralpalgbtcenter.org/
50$ LEAP: http://www.glbtleap.org/
512$ Lost-n-Found Youth: www.lost-n-found.org/
50$ MKE LGBT Center: www.mkelgbt.org/
130$ Moveable Feast: http://www.mfeast.org/
25$ Odyssey Youth Center: www.odysseyyouth.org/
25$ Out Youth: outyouth.org/
25$ Pathfinder: pathfindersmke.org/
100$ PFLAG: community.pflag.org/
175$ Point Foundation: www.pointfoundation.org/
100$ Ruth Ellis Center: http://www.ruthelliscenter.org/
650$ SAGE: giveto.sageusa.org/
25$ Terrence Higgins Trust: www.tht.org.uk/
455$ The Trevor Project: www.thetrevorproject.org/
160$ UCAN: www.ucanchicago.org/
25$ WayGay: http://www.waygay.org/
200$ You Can Play: http://youcanplayproject.org/
50$ YouthCare: www.youthcare.org/
997$ Other Funds
TOTAL: 7115$*

* more than 150$ is a direct donation from a supporter of the Rainbow Awards who isn't submitting; while some authors were more than generous, arriving to donate 5 times the suggested amount, being the submission fee a non mandatory and voluntary direct donation, we were struggling to raise the same amount as last year and there is who decided to cover part of it. I thank you for all you are doing, and if you wish to donate to the above links, please drop me a note with your donation and I will update the total.

2014 Rainbow Awards Guidelines: reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4162490.html

Best Bisexual Novel: Down in Cuba by Vincent Meis

VIncent Meis is not known to write linear stories, actually at the third experience with one of his stories, my feeling is that if there is a common trend is that he tends to have quite a complex storyline paired with complex and full-dimension characters. As the story isn't simple, so are the characters, who tend to avoid being tagged as gay or straight or bisexual, they are all and nothing, living in the limbo of sexuality.

The description of the Cuban culture and setting is vivid and alive as I imagine to be the real deal: I was never in Cuba, but I have the feeling it's a mix of color, hot and shadows, a feeling that was confirmed reading this novel. The passion of the author for the setting, and I suppose the country, is clear in every page and character, so much that, even if I don't approve some of their behaviour, I nevertheless had the impression it was a more than possible development. And even if I didn't like some of their actions, they were in any case taken out of passion, love or maybe just desire, in a case or the other, something real and deep.

It wasn't an easy read, something that, again, I experimented with this author. I don't exclude that is due to my not being a native English speaker, but that doesn't mean I cannot appreciate the story, and above all, its protagonists.

Paperback: 342 pages
Publisher: Fallen Bros. Press (May 4, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0615812201
ISBN-13: 978-0615812205
Amazon: Down in Cuba
Amazon Kindle: Down in Cuba



More Reviews by Author at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Reviews