2020-2021 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: TAD

TAD by M.D. Neu

This was a wonderful story! I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the angel of death and the drag queen/hairstylist's lives, especially when it covers an entire life span (get tissues, you'll need them). Although it covers some very tragic events in real life, they were portrayed with care. We have TAD, the angel of death, wanting to diminish the amount of death in catastrophic events which cost him his wings and to be sent to live life on Earth as punishment. Then we have Doug, who cares so much about humanity that when he meets TAD he can't pass by without giving the smelly, dishevelled man a hand, thinking him a homeless man, which he was at the time. Bringing TAD to the salon to give him a makeover, Doug then brings him home where TAD spends years watching Doug ruin his life with alcohol and drugs. This friendship continues throughout the decades until Doug's final days. What a beautiful tale this was. I thoroughly enjoyed this well written story. This is also my first MD Neu book and I'm looking forward to reading others from this author.

https://amzn.to/3GWQuY7

2020-2021 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: Take Me With You When You Go

Take Me With You When You Go by David Levithan and Jennifer Niven

This modern-day epistolary novel captures the terror, rage, and despair of children who face emotional and physical abuse at home. It's a compelling read, with unexpected plot twists that are organic to the action as it develops and not just sleight-of-hand. We care about Bea and her brother Ezra, and we participate in their emotions. It's a page-turner that I read at one sitting. I struggled when deciding how to score this book. It lacks verisimilitude. Ezra and Bea speak in nearly the same voices, and they are not the voices of fourteen- and eighteen-year-old people. The length of the letters and the language they use are not true-to-life. But if a book keeps you on the edge of your seat, surprises you, and delights with its language, then I cannot deny it top marks.

https://amzn.to/3EPiAmf

2020-2021 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: The Lucky Cat (Treasure Trove Antiques #1)

The Lucky Cat (Treasure Trove Antiques #1) by L.M. Somerton

Somerton has given us a light-hearted romp through a jewelry theft set in an antiques store. The MacGuffin, as Alfred Hitchcock would call it, is an out-of-place Japanese piece in a crate of Chinese bibelots. In this case, the fun is that the reader has enough clues to sniff out the MacGuffin early on, while the characters remain clueless. A bloodless mystery, a la Agatha Christie, with just a whisper of BDSM in which the whip leaves only a blush of pink. A fun read for lovers of traditional mysteries.

https://amzn.to/3BKqdsk

2020-2021 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: Chef's Kiss

Chef's Kiss by Stephanie Shea

A lovely, way excellent romance. Three dimensional characters and a wonderful setting which is heaven for a foodie. Some minor glitches in the writing sometimes detract but overall a great, warm, wonderful romance.

https://amzn.to/3BUFNl8