Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: Medusa’s Touch by Emily L. Byrne

Medusa's Touch

"I loved this one, and TOTALLY didn't expect to."

Medusa Pilot Captain TiCara X273, ex-street kid and former bondslave, thought she wanted nothing more than to be captain of her own starship. Or, at least, that was all that she thought she wanted until Sherin Khan came back into her life. A bar singer turned corporate rep, Sherin is now working for Ser Trin Vahn, one of TiCara's best clients and head of Vahn Corp.

Once they are thrown together on TiCara’s ship, TiCara and Sherin can no longer deny their simmering attraction to each other. A simple mission to transport the ailing Vahn to the legendary asteroid, Electra 12, for medical treatments turns dark and dangerous as betrayal leads to betrayal. TiCara's greatest enemy is pursuing them, there's a traitor on her crew and Sherin has a secret that can tear them apart. Can they learn to trust each other before it's too late?

“Emily L. Byrne’s Medusa’s Touch draws the reader deeply into her deftly created universe of starships and danger and conflict, with a fascinating main character who is entirely relatable even while she pilots her ship by means of hi-tech tentacle implants. Whether she feels the exultation of being at one with her ship amidst “the splendor of the starfields,” or the ecstasy of sex with the beautiful, mysterious woman she can’t entirely trust, we feel it all with her, and gladly follow her through inner turmoil and blood-stirring battle. “ – Sacchi Green, Editor of Witches, Princesses and Women at Arms

Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: Bobby Green by Amy Lane

Bobby Green (Johnnies Book 5)

"A wonderful entry in the Johnnies series. This one is best read in order, because the events from the other books weave through here, creating poignancy and depth as we see them now through new eyes. Familiar moments happen alongside the painful, lovely, complicated, growing relationship of Reg and Bobby. Reg in particular half-broke my heart as a simple man who is doing the very best he can to keep his word, to care for the mentally-ill sister who was his lifeline as a child, and to understand what falling in love looks like. Bobby has his own issues to work through, before he can be the man Reg so desperately deserves to find. The value of chosen family is a golden thread keeping Bobby and Reg going, through all the angst and difficulties on the way to love."

Johnnies: Book Five

Vern Roberts couldn’t wait to turn eighteen and get the hell out of Dogpatch, California. But city living is expensive, and he’s damned desperate when Dex from Johnnies spots him bussing tables.

As “Bobby,” he’s a natural at gay porn. Soon he’s surrounded by hot guys and sex for the taking, but it’s not just his girlfriend back in Dogpatch—or her blackmailing brother—that keeps him from taking it. It’s the sweet guy who held the lights for his first solo scene, who showed him decency, kindness, and a smile.

Reg Williams likes to think he’s too stupid to realize what a shitty hand life dealt him, but Bobby knows better. What Reg lacks in family, opportunity, education, and money, he makes up for in heart. One fumbling step at a time, they connect, not just in their hearts but in their bodies, where sex that’s not on camera, casual, or meaningless, becomes the most important thing in the world.

But Reg is hampered by an inescapable family burden, and he and Bobby will never fly unless he can find a way to manage it. Can he break the painful link to his unrealized childhood and grow into the love Bobby wants to give?