2017 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: Life Pushes You Along Emma Sterner-Radley

1) An utterly delightful read with fully-formed characters and lovely writing.
2) Absolutely stunning and charming novella about two women who couldn’t be more dissimilar who meet, discover an attraction, and proceed to make every possible awkward faux pas known to womanhood…until they figure out how not to. The writing style is deliciously devious in its sophisticated way of recreating new love angst between a young woman stuck in a work/social/life rut and a middle-aged woman whose cool demeanor and confident air belie the butterflies in her stomach. A winning page turner and lovely writing.

Life Pushes You Along Emma Sterner-Radley
Lesbian - Contemporary Romance
Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: Heartsome Publishing (May 9, 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1546404732
ISBN-13: 978-1546404736
Amazon: Life Pushes You Along Emma Sterner-Radley

The unchallenging and dull life of an assistant in a small London bookshop is where Zoe Achidi feels safe. Bored, but safe. Frequent customer, Rebecca Clare, makes Zoe's days a little brighter. But the beautiful, and impressive businesswoman in her forties seems unobtainable. Zoe's brother and her best friend are convinced that she is stuck in a rut. When they decide to meddle in Zoe's life, they manage to bring Zoe and Rebecca together. It soon becomes obvious that Rebecca is bored with her own uneventful life as well. Unfortunately, their meetings seem to remain all business. As they find the bravery and resolve to allow life to push them along, the question soon becomes - will it push them together or apart?

2017 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: Passing Shadows Anna Butler

1) I've been a science fiction fan since I read The War of the Worlds at the age of 12, and this is sci fi done extremely well. Li Liang is a compelling character, and the three interconnected stories here are fast-paced and packed with emotion.
2) Wonderfully evocative world building in this apocalypse-in-deep-space sci-fi short reads offering. Plenty of emotion carried forward by a superior writing style. When the author finishes building this world into novel-length books, it will be stunning.

Passing Shadows Anna Butler
Lesbian - Sci-Fi / Futuristic
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Glass Hat Press; 1 edition (January 15, 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1540576531
ISBN-13: 978-1540576538
Amazon: Passing Shadows Anna Butler

Li Liang has found a berth to suit her: chief pilot and first officer of the all-female crew of an old space freighter, the Sappho. Then one ordinary, unremarkable morning, Liang retunes the Sappho’s communications systems just in time to catch the breathless, terrible accounts from Mars of the total destruction of Earth. Earth’s a cinder. The unknown alien race that destroyed it has left Mars, too, in flames and is ravening outward from the solar system, devouring every human colony on the way. Liang’s one of the few survivors, racing ahead of the Devourers, rescuing as many frightened, shocked people as she can. Will Liang and the pitiful remnants of humanity find a new haven, somewhere to start again? Or will she, too, echo the dreadful last message coming out of their dead home? They’re coming. Oh God, they’re coming.

2017 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: Try Pink & Indigo Max Ellendale

1) This author has plenty of talent and shows great promise. The characterizations were great but in service of an unexciting plot, they don’t shine as they could. Still, the writing is excellent, the characters compelling and the atmospheric moodiness and uncertainty added good tension.

Try Pink & Indigo Max Ellendale
Lesbian - Contemporary Romance
Paperback: 114 pages
Publisher: Independently published (December 31, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1520192940
ISBN-13: 978-1520192949
Amazon: Try Pink & Indigo Max Ellendale

In the beginning, reclusive Jeslyn finds herself colliding with an unusual stranger on an otherwise ordinary morning. Jillian, a worldly, yet broken, creature accepts Jeslyn’s offer of assistance and, together, the two embark on a paint-spattered journey of self-exploration. Can this redheaded stranger help Jeslyn break free from the grief that has kept her hidden? Or will she crumble under the pressure of a new kind of intimacy? Two years later, Jeslyn wakes up to a simple note, and the world falls to pieces at her feet. With everything slathered in violent torrents of gray, she drifts listlessly from one empty moment to another. A dangerous encounter reintroduces red, but is her heart broken beyond recovery?