Elisa - My reviews and Ramblings

2014 Rainbow Awards: 524 books, 165 judges, 11.190$ to charity

Winners:
LGBT Cover - Design: The Tin Box by Kim Fielding, cover art by Anne Cain
Amazon: The Tin Box by Kim Fielding
 
LGBT Cover - Illustration: Splinters by Thorny Sterling
Amazon: Splinters by Thorny Sterling

LGBT Anthology / Collection: Playing Ball by Shae Connor, Kate McMurray, Kerry Freeman & Marguerite Labbe
Amazon: Playing Ball by Shae Connor, Kate McMurray, Kerry Freeman & Marguerite Labbe

LGBT Erotica: Breaking Free by Cat Grant
Amazon: Breaking Free by Cat Grant

LGBT Poetry: Hibernation and Other Poems by Bear Bards, an anthology by Ron J. Suresha
Amazon: Hibernation and Other Poems by Bear Bards, an anthology by Ron J. Suresha
 
LGBT Visual Arts & Photography: Beards, an Unshaved History by Kevin Clarke
Amazon: Beards, an Unshaved History by Kevin Clarke
 
Bisexual Debut: Slide by Garrett Leigh
Amazon: Slide by Garrett Leigh
 
Bisexual General Fiction: Alpha Trine by Lexi Ander
Amazon: Alpha Trine by Lexi Ander
 
Bisexual Romance: Stuff by Josephine Myles
Amazon: Stuff by Josephine Myles
 
Bisexual Book: Hibernation and Other Poems by Bear Bards, an anthology by Ron J. Suresha
Amazon: Hibernation and Other Poems by Bear Bards, an anthology by Ron J. Suresha
 
Transgender Debut: If We Shadows by D.E. Atwood
Amazon: If We Shadows by D.E. Atwood
 
Transgender Fiction: If We Shadows by D.E. Atwood
Amazon: If We Shadows by D.E. Atwood
 
Transgender Non Fiction: Babette: The Many Lives, Two Deaths and Double Kidnapping of Dr. Ellsworth by Ross Eliot
Amazon: The Many Lives, Two Deaths and Double Kidnapping of Dr. Ellsworth by Ross Eliot
 
Transgender Book: If We Shadows by D.E. Atwood
Amazon: If We Shadows by D.E. Atwood
 
Lesbian Debut: Loved and Lost by Stephanie Kusiak
Amazon: Loved and Lost by Stephanie Kusiak
 
Lesbian Contemporary General Fiction: Rest Home Runaways by Clifford Henderson
Amazon: Rest Home Runaways by Clifford Henderson

Lesbian Contemporary & Erotic Romance: Camellia by Caitlin Ricci & Cari Z.
Amazon: Camellia by Caitlin Ricci & Cari Z.

Lesbian Sci-Fi / Futuristic & Fantasy: Dogs of War by Geonn Cannon
Amazon: Camellia by Caitlin Ricci & Cari Z.

Lesbian Fantasy Romance: A Kingdom Lost by Barbara Ann Wright
Amazon: A Kingdom Lost by Barbara Ann Wright

Lesbian Historical Fiction & Romance: Waiting for the Violins by Justine Saracen
Amazon: Waiting for the Violins by Justine Saracen

Lesbian Mystery / Thriller: Season of the Wolf by Robin Summers
Amazon: Season of the Wolf by Robin Summers

The Cate Culpepper Award for Best Lesbian Paranormal Romance: Windigo Thrall by Cate Culpepper
Amazon: Windigo Thrall by Cate Culpepper

Lesbian Romantic Comedy: Eight Dates by Lori L. Lake
Amazon: Eight Dates by Lori L. Lake

Lesbian Book: The End of Eve by Ariel Gore
Amazon: The End of Eve by Ariel Gore

Gay & Lesbian Young Adult: Silent by Sara Alva
Amazon: Silent by Sara Alva

Gay & Lesbian Non Fiction: Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East by Benjamin Law
Amazon: Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East by Benjamin Law

Gay Debut: This Is Not a Love Story by Suki Fleet
Amazon: This Is Not a Love Story by Suki Fleet

Gay Contemporary General Fiction: Sex & Sourdough by A.J. Thomas
Amazon: Sex & Sourdough by A.J. Thomas

The William Neale Award for Best Gay Contemporary Romance: The Mating of Michael by Eli Easton
Amazon: The Mating of Michael by Eli Easton

The Bobby Michaels Award for Best Gay Erotic Romance: Trusting Thomas by K.C. Wells
Amazon: Trusting Thomas by K.C. Wells
A Little Too Broken by Brad Vance
Amazon: A Little Too Broken by Brad Vance

Gay Fantasy: Rising Frenzy, Men of Myth 2 by Brandon Witt
Amazon: Rising Frenzy, Men of Myth 2 by Brandon Witt

Gay Fantasy Romance: A Case of Possession by KJ Charles
Amazon: A Case of Possession by KJ Charles
Goblins by Melanie Tushmore
Amazon: Goblins by Melanie Tushmore

Gay Historical: The Gentleman’s Madness by Bonnie Dee & Summer Devon
Amazon: The Gentleman’s Madness by Bonnie Dee & Summer Devon

Gay Historical Romance: Think of England by KJ Charles
Amazon: Think of England by KJ Charles

Gay Mystery / Thriller: Corruption by Eden Winters
Amazon: Corruption by Eden Winters

Gay Paranormal Romance: Monsters Under the Bed by Susan Laine
Amazon: Monsters Under the Bed by Susan Laine
Wide Asleep by Nick Nolan
Amazon: Wide Asleep by Nick Nolan

Gay Romantic Comedy: Merry Gentlemen by Josephine Myles
Amazon: Merry Gentlemen by Josephine Myles

Gay Sci-Fi / Futuristic: Rarely Pure and Never Simple by Angel Martinez
Amazon: Rarely Pure and Never Simple by Angel Martinez

Gay Book: Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East by Benjamin Law
Amazon: Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East by Benjamin Law

Mathew Ortiz was born in Nuremburg Germany in 197O, the son of a quiet Army man and his loud Hungarian wife. Spending only two years in Germany, his family relocated to Fort Smith, Arkansas where he spent his youth in exile. Here is where he attended primary school and college, obtaining a degree in Nursing. He moved to Phoenix and met the bane and love of his life, Tim. When not on his laptop watching Are You Being Served or Keeping Up Appearances, Matt can be found either napping or reading with gusto.

Love and Salvage: Loving Emmett won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Erotic Romance (The Bobby Michaels Award).

Further Readings:

Love and Salvage: Loving Emmett by Mathew Ortiz
Publisher: Mathew Ortiz (December 18, 2013)
Amazon Kindle: Love and Salvage: Loving Emmett

Tatesville was a quiet little town just east of Atlanta, home to the Gaither clan. Emmett Gaither loved his family and his life. It was perfect. Being the only gay son had its challenges but his family stood by him and loved him all the same. He never dreamed that his world would be turned upside side by the new banker in town. The sexy blonde man made Emmett’s blood boil. But he wouldn't be interested in a redneck man like Emmett? Would he?
Alex King had lived a gypsy life. Leaving the northwest, he thought he wanted to live in the bustling city of Atlanta. Still he wasn’t happy, so he jumped on the change to move to a quieter life in Tatesville. He was sure he’d never meet a good guy in the little southerntown. Imagine his surprise when one of his customers wanted to fix him up with her SON! Had he move to the Twilight Zone? If so, he was happy to live there when the customer’s tall, dark and handsome walked into his bank…now what?

More Rainbow Awards at my website: elisarolle.com, Rainbow Awards/2014

Amy Lane has four children, two cats, an aging dog, a crumbling mortgage and an indulgent spouse. She also has too damned much yarn, a penchant for action adventure movies, and a need to know that somewhere in all the pain is a story of Wuv, Twu Wuv, which she continues to believe in to this day! She writes fantasy, urban fantasy, and m/m romance--and if you give her enough diet coke and chocolate, she'll bore you to tears with why those three genres go together. She'll also tell you that sacrifices, large and small, are worth the urge to write.

A Solid Core of Alpha won a 2011 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Sci-fi / Futuristic. Country Mouse, co-authored with Aleksandr Voinov, won a 2012 Rainbow Award as Best Bisexual / Transgender Romance/Erotic Romance. Sidecar won a 2012 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Romance (The William Neale Award) and Best Gay Novel. Dex in Blue won a 2013 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Contemporary General Fiction. Racing for the Sun won a 2013 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Contemporary Romance (The William Neale Award) and Best Gay Novel. Mourning Heaven won a 2013 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Contemporary Romance (William Neale Award) and Best Gay Novel. Under the Rushes won a 2013 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Sci-Fi / Futuristic. Shiny! won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Romantic Comedy.

Further Readings:

Keeping Promise Rock by Amy Lane
Paperback: 344 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (January 18, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1615813462
ISBN-13: 978-1615813469
Amazon: Keeping Promise Rock
Amazon Kindle: Keeping Promise Rock

Carrick Francis has spent most of his life jumping into trouble with both feet. The only thing saving him from prison or worse is his absolute devotion to Deacon Winters. Deacon was Crick's sanity and salvation during a miserable, abusive childhood, and Crick would do anything to stay with him forever. So when Deacon's father dies, Crick puts his college plans on hold to help Deacon as Deacon has helped him.

Deacon's greatest wish is to see Crick escape his memories and the town they grew up in so Crick can enjoy a shining future. But after two years of growing feelings and temptation, the painfully shy Deacon finally succumbs to Crick's determined advances and admits he sees himself as part of Crick's life.

It nearly destroys Deacon when he discovers Crick has been waiting for him to push him away, just like Crick's family did in the past. When Crick's knack for volatile decisions lands him far away from home, Deacon is left, shell-shocked and alone, struggling to reforge his heart in a world where love with Crick is a promise, but by no means a certainty.

A Solid Core of Alpha by Amy Lane
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (August 8, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1613721420
ISBN-13: 978-1613721421
Amazon: A Solid Core of Alpha
Amazon Kindle: A Solid Core of Alpha

In an act of heroism and self-sacrifice, Anderson Rawn's sister saved him from the destruction of their tiny mining colony, but her actions condemned the thirteen-year-old to ten years of crushing loneliness on the hyperspace journey to a new home. Using electronics and desperation, Anderson creates a family to keep him company, but family isn't always a blessing.

When Anderson finally arrives, C.J. Poulson greets him with curiosity and awe, because anyone who can survive a holocaust and reinvent holo-science is going to be a legend and right up C.J.'s alley. But the more C.J. investigates how Anderson endured the last ten years, the deeper he is drawn into a truly dangerous fantasy, one that offers the key to Anderson's salvation-and his destruction.

In spite of his best intentions, C.J. can't resist the terribly seductive Anderson. Their attraction threatens to destroy them, because the heart of a man who can survive the destruction of his people and retain his sense of self holds a solid core of alpha male that will not be denied.

Country Mouse by Amy Lane and Aleksandr Voinov
Paperback: 222 pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing; first edition (August 15, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1626490449
ISBN-13: 978-1626490444
Amazon: Country Mouse
Amazon Kindle: Country Mouse

COUNTRY MOUSE

Owen may be a bit of a country mouse, but after a long day playing tourist on his London vacation, he’s on the hunt for some cheap beer and a good burger. Instead he finds a man hunting him with only one thing on the brain: the kind of meat that doesn’t come on a bun.

Owen’s all for an adventure, but he’s not the pushover Malcolm Kavanagh thinks he is, and Malcolm’s not as shallow as he tries to be. They both soon learn that nothing’s too intimate to share with a stranger, and the strangest things happen when two people share the most important pieces of their hearts.

CITY MOUSE

A magical weekend, a breathless declaration, a happy ever after . . . Right?

Wrong. Anyone who’s ever been in love knows that happy endings take a lot more work than that. But there’s one problem: Malcolm has never been in love. He doesn’t know the rules of a relationship and isn’t confident enough to trust that his is real.

Luckily, Owen knows a little more about relationships, and labors patiently to survive the first six weeks of their life together. Maybe, if Owen is patient enough and Malcolm learns to give, the two of them can make it past Relationship Armageddon to a real happy ending.

Sidecar by Amy Lane
Paperback: 270 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (June 29, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 161372568X
ISBN-13: 978-1613725689
Amazon: Sidecar
Amazon Kindle: Sidecar

The year is 1987. The boys wear pink Izod shirts, the girls wear big hair, everyone has a stash box, and AIDS is just an ugly rumor rumbling like a thunderstorm from the cities. A teenage runaway wanders the side of the road, a heartbeat away from despair, and is rescued by a long-haired angel on a Harley. But that's just the beginning of their story. Josiah Daniels wanted peace and quiet and a simple life, and he had it until he rescued Casey from hunger, cold, and exhaustion. Suddenly Joe's life is anything but simple as he and his new charge navigate a world that is changing more rapidly than the people in it. Joe wants to raise Casey to a happy and productive adulthood, and he does. But even as an adult, Casey can't conceive of a happy life without Joe. The trouble is getting Joe to accept that the boy he nurtured is suddenly the man who wants him. Their relationship can either die or change with the world around them. As they make a home, negotiate the new rules of growing up, and swerve around the pitfalls of modern life, Casey learns that adulthood is more than sex, Joe learns that there is no compromise in happy ever after, and they're both forced to realize that the one thing a man shouldn't be is alone.

Dex in Blue (Johnnies Book 2) by Amy Lane
Paperback: 350 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (October 1, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1623800102
ISBN-13: 978-1623800109
Amazon: Dex in Blue (Johnnies Book 2)
Amazon Kindle: Dex in Blue (Johnnies Book 2)

Ten years ago David Worral had plans to go to college and the potential for a beautiful future in front of him. One tragic accident later, he fled to California and reinvented himself as Dex, top porn model of Johnnies.

Dex's life is a tangled mess now, but the guys he works with only see the man who makes them believe even porn stars can lead normal lives. When Kane, one of Dex's coworkers, gets kicked out of his house, the least Dex can do is give him a place to stay. Kane may be a hyperactive muscle-bound psycho, but he's also a really nice guy. What could be the harm?

Except nothing is simple-not sex, not love, and not the goofy kid with the big dick and bigger heart who moves his life into Dex's guest room. When they start negotiating fractured pasts and broken friends, Dex wonders if Kane's honest nature can untangle the sadness that stalled his once-promising future. With Kane by his side, Dex just might be able to reclaim the boy he once was-and if he can do that, he can give Kane the home and the family he deserves.

Racing for the Sun by Amy Lane
Paperback: 260 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (April 26, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 162380647X
ISBN-13: 978-1623806477
Amazon: Racing for the Sun
Amazon Kindle: Racing for the Sun

"I'll do anything."

Staff Sergeant Jasper "Ace" Atchison takes one look at Private Sonny Daye and knows that every word on paper about him is pure, unadulterated bullshit. But Sonny is desperate, and although Ace isn't going to take him up on his offer of "anything," that doesn't mean he isn't tempted.

Instead, Ace takes Sonny under his wing, protecting him when they're in the service and making plans with him when they get out. Together, they're going to own a garage and build race cars and make their fortune hurtling faster than light across the desert. Together, they're going to rewrite the past, make Sonny Daye a whole and happy person, and put the ghosts in Ace's heart to rest.

But not even Sonny can build a car fast enough to escape the ghosts of the past. When Sonny's ghosts drive them down and run their plans off the road, Ace finds out exactly what he's made of. Maybe Sonny was the one to promise Ace anything, but there is nothing under the sun Ace won't do to keep Sonny safe from harm.

Mourning Heaven by Amy Lane
Paperback: 200 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (September 7, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1613727453
ISBN-13: 978-1613727454
Amazon: Mourning Heaven
Amazon Kindle: Mourning Heaven

Heroes fall.

Peter first came to the tiny backwater of Daisy, California, as a child, and he was sure of one thing: his cousin Michael would take care of him. When Michael started a friendship with the fragile, haunted Bodi Kovacs, Peter's consolation in losing any claim to Bodi was that Michael would care for him too. But tragedy struck, and Michael ripped himself out of their world and threw away the people who loved him most.

Six years later, Michael is coming home in a box. All it took to destroy a hero was a town full of bigotry and hatred. Reclaiming him will take strength of heart that neither Peter nor Bodi had six years ago. Since Michael left, Bodi has been lost and alone. Peter can try to make Bodi his and take the role Michael should have had, but first he and Bodi have to confront the past. They will need to face Michael, the good and the bad, the beauty and the sadness, and see his memory truly for what it was and not what it could have been. It's a simple act that may destroy them both: sifting through the flaming ruins of heaven is a sure way to annihilate a bleeding mortal heart.

Under the Rushes by Amy Lane
Paperback: 340 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (December 21, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 162380244X
ISBN-13: 978-1623802448
Amazon: Under the Rushes
Amazon Kindle: Under the Rushes

Ten years after Dorjan trusted a boy's word over his superior officer's, he and his best friend, Areau, are still living the aftermath-and trying to stop the man responsible. Locked in a careful dance to bring down a corrupt government, Dorjan struggles to balance his grief with Areau's anger. Just when Dorjan reaches the end of his rope, he sees a familiar face in the shadows, and the boy he trusted a decade before offers him unexpected kindness.

Taern remembers the soldier who found him under the rushes and listened to his pleas to save his family. When Dorjan reappears in his life, Taern is both captured by his commitment to justice and terrified by the risks he takes. All Taern wants to do is fix him, but the oncoming destruction has been ten years in the making, and Dorjan doesn't want his help. Not if it puts Taern at risk.

Powers clash and a world's fate dangles between Areau's madness and Dorjan's nobility. While Dorjan fights to save the world, Taern joins the battle simply to save Dorjan, knowing everything hinges on the heart of a man in armor and the strength of the man who loves him.

Shiny! by Amy Lane
Paperback: 200 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (February 21, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1627986545
ISBN-13: 978-1627986540
Amazon: Shiny!
Amazon Kindle: Shiny!

Will Lafferty and Kenny Scalia are both having sort of a day. Will gets fired for letting fifth graders read Harry Potter, and Kenny finds his boyfriend and his sex toys in bed with a complete stranger. When Will knocks over Kenny's trash can—and strews Kenny's personal business all over the street—it feels like the perfect craptastic climax to the sewage of suckage that has rained down on them both.

But ever-friendly, ever-kind Will asks snarky Kenny out for a beer—God knows they both need one—and two amazing things occur: Kenny discovers talking to Will might be the best form of intercourse ever, and Will discovers he's gay.

Their unlikely friendship seems like the perfect platonic match until Will reveals how very much more he’s been feeling for Kenny almost since the beginning. But Kenny’s worried. Will’s newfound sexuality is bright and glittery and shiny, but what happens when that wears off? Is Will's infatuation with Kenny strong enough to stay real?

More Spotlights at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Lists/Gay Novels

More Rainbow Awards at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, Rainbow Awards

A Milwaukee, Wisconsin native, Sheree L. Greer has been published in Hair Trigger, The Windy City Times, Reservoir, Fictionary, and the Windy City Queer Anthology: Dispatches from the Third Coast. She has performed her work across selected venues in Milwaukee, New York, Miami, Chicago, and Tampa, where she hosts Oral Fixation, the only LGBTQ Open Mic series in Tampa Bay. Ms. Greer received a Union League of Chicago Civic Arts Foundation Award, earned her MFA at Columbia College Chicago, and currently teaches writing and literature at St. Petersburg College. As an Astraea Lesbian Writers Fund grantee and VONA alum, she published a short story collection, Once and Future Lovers. A novel excerpt "Prom Story in Three Parts," received a special mention in Publishers Weekly and appears in Best Lesbian Romance 2012.

"Oooooh, how business-like, huh?

Now that we know each other, let's get loose. I'm from Milwaukee, yet feel like I really found myself in Chicago. Writing and reading and teaching make my heart smile, and I enjoy all things art, in addition to delicious food, beautiful sights, and a comfortable hammock. I also really, really love hugs."

Let the Lover Be won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Lesbian Contemporary General Fiction.

Further Readings:

Let the Lover Be by Sheree L. Greer
Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (August 19, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1626390770
ISBN-13: 978-1626390775
Amazon: Let the Lover Be
Amazon Kindle: Let the Lover Be

Functional alcoholic Kiana Lewis is looking for a way out. Running away from the memories of her mother’s horrific death and her own dead-end existence, she decides to crash her ex-lover’s New Orleans wedding and put a stop to the whole thing. She arrives in the Big Easy to reclaim her old love, and hopefully, reclaim her own life.

Her plans are disrupted when she meets Genevieve Durand, a seductive and spiritual New Orleans native who challenges Kiana’s skewed sense of resolve and control. Spending time with Genevieve, just like drinking, offers Kiana moments of escape. But unlike the numbing effect of alcohol, the intoxicating Genevieve makes Kiana feel and think about things she’d rather not, like the death of her mother and the destructive ways she uses to cope.

On the brink of losing it all, Kiana must decide if she will reach for the next drink or if she’ll reach beyond herself to finally slay the demons driving her since childhood.

More Rainbow Awards at my website: elisarolle.com, Rainbow Awards/2014

Mia Kerick is the mother of four exceptional children--all named after saints--and five nonpedigreed cats--all named after the next best thing to saints, Boston Red Sox players. Her husband of twenty years has been told by many that he has the patience of Job, but don't ask Mia about that, as it is a sensitive subject.

Mia focuses her stories on the emotional growth of troubled young men and their relationships, and she believes that sex has a place in a love story, but not until it is firmly established as a love story. As a teen, Mia filled spiral-bound notebooks with romantic tales of tortured heroes (most of whom happened to strongly resemble lead vocalists of 1980s big-hair bands) and stuffed them under her mattress for safekeeping. She is thankful to Dreamspinner Press for providing her with an alternate place to stash her stories.

Mia is proud of her involvement with the Human Rights Campaign and cheers for each and every victory made in the name of marital equality. Her only major regret: never having taken typing or computer class in school, destining her to a life consumed with two-fingered pecking and constant prayer to the Gods of Technology.

"My themes I always write about:

Sweetness. Unconventional love, tortured/damaged heroes- only love can save them."

Mia Kerick focuses her stories on the emotional growth of troubled young men within the boundaries of blossoming, supportive relationships. She believes that sex has a place in a love story, but not until it is firmly established as a love story. And Mia's stories are centered around a certain theme: even heroes can be sweet. Sweet, but not completely innocent.

Not Broken, Just Bent and The Red Sheet won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Gay & Lesbian Young Adult.

Further Readings:

Not Broken, Just Bent by Mia Kerick
Paperback: 180 pages
Publisher: Harmony Ink Press (November 14, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1627985271
ISBN-13: 978-1627985277
Amazon: Not Broken, Just Bent
Amazon Kindle: Not Broken, Just Bent

Braving the start of high school, longtime childhood friends Benjamin Wells and Timmy Norton quickly realize they are entering a whole new world colored by their family responsibilities. Ben is trying to please his strict father; Timmy is taking care of his younger sisters. While their easy camaraderie is still comfortable, Ben notices Timmy growing distant and evasive, but Ben has his own problems. It’s easier to let concerns about Timmy’s home life slide, especially when Timmy changes directions and starts to get a little too close. Ben doesn’t know how to handle the new feelings Timmy’s desire for love inspires, and his continuing denial wounds Timmy deeply.

But what Timmy perceives as Ben’s greatest betrayal is yet to come, and the fallout threatens to break them apart forever. Over the next four years, the push and pull between them and the outside world twists and tears at Ben and Timmy, and they are haunted by fear and regret. However, sometimes what seems broken is just a little bent, and if they can find forgiveness within themselves, Ben and Timmy may be able to move forward together.

The Red Sheet by Mia Kerick
Paperback: 190 pages
Publisher: Harmony Ink Press (February 20, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1627987150
ISBN-13: 978-1627987158
Amazon: The Red Sheet
Amazon Kindle: The Red Sheet

One October morning, high school junior Bryan Dennison wakes up a different person-helpful, generous, and chivalrous-a person whose new admirable qualities he doesn't recognize. Stranger still is the urge to tie a red sheet around his neck like a cape.

Bryan soon realizes this compulsion to wear a red cape is accompanied by more unusual behavior. He can't hold back from retrieving kittens from tall trees, helping little old ladies cross busy streets, and defending innocence anywhere he finds it.

Shockingly, at school, he realizes he used to be a bully. He's attracted to the former victim of his bullying, Scott Beckett, though he has no memory of Scott from before "the change." Where he'd been lazy in academics, overly aggressive in sports, and socially insecure, he's a new person. And although he can recall behaving egotistically, he cannot remember his motivations.

Everyone, from his mother to his teachers to his "superjock" former pals, is shocked by his dramatic transformation. However, Scott Beckett is not impressed by Bryan's newfound virtue. And convincing Scott he's genuinely changed and improved, hopefully gaining Scott's trust and maybe even his love, becomes Bryan's obsession.

With a foreword by C. Kennedy

More Rainbow Awards at my website: elisarolle.com, Rainbow Awards/2014

Matthew is an asexual, transgender author from the wet and windy British Isles. He is currently lurking in the Bristol area, but has lived all over, and has a special fondness for Yorkshire.

Matt writes LGBT novels, both adult and young adult, and particularly enjoys digging into the weird and wonderful diversity of people all across the sexuality and gender spectrums. When not writing, Matt is usually asleep, or crunching numbers at his day job. Free time is not really a concept here.

He is also owned by an enormous black cat. Approach with caution.

Vivaldi in the Dark won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Gay & Lesbian Young Adult.

Further Readings:

Vivaldi in the Dark by Matthew J. Metzger
Paperback: 294 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (December 5, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 149362279X
ISBN-13: 978-1493622795
Amazon: Vivaldi in the Dark
Amazon Kindle: Vivaldi in the Dark

Out-and-regretting-it comprehensive attendee Jayden Phillips turns his cast-iron plans for life upside-down by falling in love with private-school violinist Darren Peace, a sardonic boy with the craziest hair Jayden's ever seen.

But all is not what it seems, and Jayden's bullying problem becomes meaningless when he is confronted with what the music does to Darren. How do you stop a dangerous depression rooted in the same thing that makes someone what they are? Dark moods, blank apathy, and the undertow of self-loathing all simmer beneath Darren's dry and beautiful veneer, and Jayden feels powerless to stop them.

Then a mugging gone wrong takes the music forcibly away, and Jayden is finally given the chance to change Darren's life -- and, quite literally, his mind.

More Rainbow Awards at my website: elisarolle.com, Rainbow Awards/2014

Real life. Genuine men. True love.

Posy Roberts writes about the realistic struggles of men looking for love. Whether her characters are family men, drag queens, or lonely men searching for connections, they all find a home in her stories.

Posy is married to a man who makes sure she doesn't forget to eat or sleep. Her daughter, a budding author and dedicated Whovian, helps her come up with character names. When Posy's not writing, she enjoys crafting, hiking, and singing spontaneously about the mundane, just to make normal seem more interesting.

Fusion, North Star trilogy 2, won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Bisexual Romance.

Further Readings:

Fusion (North Star 2) by Posy Roberts
Series: North Star (Book 2)
Paperback: 300 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (November 18, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1627982221
ISBN-13: 978-1627982221
Amazon: Fusion (North Star 2)
Amazon Kindle: Fusion (North Star 2)

Sequel to Spark

North Star: Book Two

How do you tell your friends and family you've fallen in love with a man when they've only ever known you as straight? How do you explain to your kids that you loved their mother very much, but your new partner is your best friend from high school?

Kevin Magnus must figure it out while trying to build a relationship with Hugo Thorson, whose bigger than life, out-and-proud drag queen persona is simply too big to be contained in a closet—even for the time it takes Kevin to come up with an explanation for his kids and Erin, his soon-to-be ex-wife.

But Erin faces an even bigger obstacle—one that shakes the entire family to the core. When she unexpectedly turns to Hugo, they form a connection that forces Hugo to grow up and offers Kevin the chance to become the kind of father he wants to be. Despite the coming complications, they'll all benefit from a fortunate side effect: it becomes clear that Hugo is very much a part of this unconventional family.

More Rainbow Awards at my website: elisarolle.com, Rainbow Awards/2014

Diana Copland began writing in the seventh grade, when she shamelessly combined elements of Jane Eyre and Dark Shadows to produce an overwrought gothic tale that earned her an A- in creative writing, thanks entirely to the generosity of her teacher. She wrote for pure enjoyment for the next three decades before discovering LiveJournal and a wonderful group of supportive fanfiction writers, who after gifting her with a "Best New Author" Award encouraged her to try her hand at original gay fiction.

Born and raised in southern California, Diana moved to the Pacific Northwest after losing a beloved spouse to AIDS in 1995. She lives in eastern Washington near her two wonderful adult children and her surprisingly supportive parents.

Secrets of Neverwood, co-author with G.B. Lindsey and Libby Drew, won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best LGBT Anthology / Collection.

Further Readings:

Secrets of Neverwood by G.B. Lindsey, Diana Copland & Libby Drew
Publisher: Carina Press (June 30, 2014)
Amazon Kindle: Secrets of Neverwood

Three foster brothers are called home to Neverwood, the stately Pacific Northwest mansion of their youth. They have nothing in common but a promise to Audrey, the woman they all called mother—that upon her death, they would restore the house and preserve it as a home for troubled boys.

But going home is never easy.

Cal struggles to recover from past heartbreak, while Danny fears his mistakes are too big to overcome. Devon believes he may never break down the barriers that separate him from honest emotion.

On the path to brotherhood, they discover the old mansion holds more than dusty furniture and secret passageways. Audrey's spirit still walks its halls, intent on guiding "her boys" toward true love, and an old mystery stirs up a new danger—one that could cost the men far more than just the house.

Secrets of Neverwood includes:
One Door Closes by G.B. Lindsey
The Growing Season by Diana Copland
The Lost Year by Libby Drew

More Rainbow Awards at my website: elisarolle.com, Rainbow Awards/2014

Suki Fleet grew up on a boat and as a small child spent a lot of time travelling at sea with her family. She has always wanted to be a writer. As a kid she told ghost stories to scare people, but stories about romance were the ones that inspired her to sit down and write. She doesn't think she'll ever stop writing them.

Her novel This is Not a Love Story won Best Gay Debut in the 2014 Rainbow Awards, and was a finalist in the 2015 Lambda Awards.

This Is Not a Love Story won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Gay & Lesbian Young Adult and Best Gay Debut.

Further Readings:

This Is Not a Love Story by Suki Fleet
Paperback: 270 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (April 28, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1632160412
ISBN-13: 978-1632160416
Amazon: This Is Not a Love Story
Amazon Kindle: This Is Not a Love Story

When fifteen-year-old Romeo's mother leaves one day and doesn't return, he finds himself homeless and trying to survive on the streets. Mute and terrified, his silence makes him vulnerable, and one night he is beaten by a gang of other kids, only to be rescued by a boy who pledges to take care of him.

Julian is barely two years older than Romeo. A runaway from an abusive home, he has had to make some difficult choices and sells himself on the street to survive. Taking care of Romeo changes him, gives him a purpose in life, gives him hope, and he tries to be strong and keep his troubles with drugs behind him. But living as they do is slowly destroying him, and he begins to doubt he can be strong enough.

This is the story of their struggle to find a way off the streets and stay together at all costs. But when events threaten to tear them apart, it is Romeo who must find the strength within himself to help Julian (and not let their love story turn into a Shakespearean tragedy).

More Rainbow Awards at my website: elisarolle.com, Rainbow Awards/2014

Ariel Gore is an award-winning editor, memoirist, journalist, and fiction writer. She teaches online at http://literarykitchen.com.

The End of Eve won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Lesbian Book and Best Gay & Lesbian Non Fiction.

Further Readings:

The End of Eve by Ariel Gore
Paperback: 237 pages
Publisher: Hawthorne Books (March 11, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0986000795
ISBN-13: 978-0986000799
Amazon: The End of Eve: A Memoir
Amazon Kindle: The End of Eve: A Memoir

At age 39, Ariel Gore has everything she’s always wanted: a successful writing career, a long-term partnership, a beautiful if tiny home, a daughter in college and a son in preschool. But life’s happy endings don’t always last. If it’s not one thing, after all, it’s your mother. Her name is Eve. Her epic temper tantrums have already gotten her banned from three cab companies in Portland. And she’s here to announce that she’s dying. “Pitifully, Ariel,” she sighs. “You’re all I have.” Ariel doesn’t want to take care of her crazy dying mother, but she knows she will. It’s the right thing to do, isn’t it? And, anyway, how long could it go on? “Don’t worry,” Eve says. “If I’m ever a burden, I’ll just blow my brains out.” Amidst the chaos of clowns and hospice workers, pie and too much whiskey, Ariel’s own ten-year relationship begins to unravel. Darkly humorous and intimately human, The End of Eve redefines the meaning of family and everything we’ve ever been taught to call “love.”

More Rainbow Awards at my website: elisarolle.com, Rainbow Awards/2014

Jody is an author with Bedazzled Ink and a massive tennis fan. At the grand old age of 31, she has been everything from a serving police officer, to recording artist/composer and musician until finding her home in writing. She lives in sunny South Wales in the UK with a 'lively' golden retriever called Fergus and other furry friends. Oh, and she has a slight affection for cake...

Her books:
The Empath [Above & Beyond Series - Book 1] her debut novel with Bedazzled Ink. Runner up at the 2014 Rainbow Awards and Finalist for the 2015 GCLS Goldie Awards.
Blind Trust [Above & Beyond Series - Book 2] Out May 2015
La Vie En Bleu - A romantic comedy that takes the English and French love/hate relationship and throws a canoe at it. (Out July 2015)

The Empath won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Lesbian Sci-Fi / Futuristic & Fantasy.

Further Readings:

The Empath (The Above and Beyond Series Book 1) by Jody Klaire
Paperback: 344 pages
Publisher: Bedazzled Ink Publishing Company (August 25, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 193956266X
ISBN-13: 978-1939562661
Amazon: The Empath (The Above and Beyond Series Book 1)
Amazon Kindle: The Empath (The Above and Beyond Series Book 1)

Aeron Lorelei is a young woman with a troubled past and a troubling gift. Blessed and cursed with the ability to sense the feelings, past, and future of those around her, Aeron lived as a misfit child. When she was sixteen, she took the blame for the death of her best friend's little brother. Eleven years later she's released from the correctional facility and must go back to her hometown-the scene of the crime that no one has forgotten. But Aeron must deal with more than just animosity. Someone in town is abducting and killing young girls. Aeron becomes the number one suspect and her distant father, the specter of her grandmother, and her mysterious psychiatrist must work together to discover the real killer. To prove her innocence, Aeron is forced to use the gift she has spent her life hiding.

More Rainbow Awards at my website: elisarolle.com, Rainbow Awards/2014

JL Merrow is that rare beast, an English person who refuses to drink tea. She read Natural Sciences at Cambridge, where she learned many things, chief amongst which was that she never wanted to see the inside of a lab ever again. Her one regret is that she never mastered the ability of punting one-handed whilst holding a glass of champagne.

She writes across genres, with a preference for contemporary gay romance and the paranormal, and is frequently accused of humour. Her novella Muscling Through was a 2013 EPIC Award finalist, and her novel Slam! won the 2013 Rainbow Award for Best LGBT Romantic Comedy.

JL Merrow is a member of the UK GLBTQ Fiction Meet organising team.

Midnight in Berlin won a 2012 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Paranormal/Horror and Hard Tail won the William Neale Award for Best Gay Romance. Pressure Head won a 2013 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Mystery / Thriller and Slam won as Best LGBT Romantic Comedy. Relief Valve won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Mystery / Thriller and Caught! won as Best Gay Romantic Comedy.

Further Readings:

Midnight in Berlin by J.L. Merrow
Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (January 1, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1609288904
ISBN-13: 978-1609288907
Amazon: Midnight in Berlin
Amazon Kindle: Midnight in Berlin

The hookup from hell…or the ride of his life?

Leon’s drifter lifestyle gives him the freedom to attend as many music festivals as his heart desires. Even the ones that leave him covered in feathers. Wet feathers, thanks to the rain as he hitchhikes back to his hostel. When he’s offered a ride by a good-looking man in a Porsche, Leon thinks it’s his lucky night. Until he discovers his savior from the storm hides a dark secret: he’s a werewolf.

At first glance, Christoph thinks the shaggy stranger walking Berlin’s streets is a rogue werewolf. By the time he realizes his mistake, it’s too late for both of them. Forced to turn Leon into a monster to save his life, Christoph still has to suffer his pack leader's brutal punishment for endangering them all.

Leon awakens, horrified by what he’s become—but it’s his lover’s fate that spurs him to action. Freeing Christoph is easy, but the aftermath complicates everything as they go on the run, desperate to uncover the secrets their pack leader is hiding. Secrets the pack will kill to protect…

Hard Tail by J.L. Merrow
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (April 2, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1619210576
ISBN-13: 978-1619210578
Amazon: Hard Tail
Amazon Kindle: Hard Tail

Finding love can be a bumpy ride.
His job: downsized out of existence. His marriage: on the rocks. It doesn’t take a lot of arm twisting for Tim Knight to agree to get out of London and take over his injured brother’s mountain bike shop for a while. A few weeks in Southampton is a welcome break from the wreck his life has become, even though he feels like a fish out of water in this brave new world of outdoor sports and unfamiliar technical jargon.

The young man who falls—literally—through the door of the shop brings everything into sharp, unexpected focus. Tim barely accepts he’s even in the closet until his attraction to Matt Berridge pulls him close enough to touch the doorknob.

There’s only one problem with the loveable klutz: his bullying boyfriend. Tim is convinced Steve is the cause of the bruises that Matt blows off as part of his risky sport. But rising to the defense of the man he’s beginning to love, means coming to terms with who he is—in public—in a battle not even his black belt prepared him to fight. Until now.

Pressure Head (The Plumber's Mate Book 1) by J.L. Merrow
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (August 6, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1619213621
ISBN-13: 978-1619213623
Amazon: Pressure Head (The Plumber's Mate Book 1)
Amazon Kindle: Pressure Head (The Plumber's Mate Book 1)

Some secrets are better left hidden.

To most of the world, Tom Paretski is just a plumber with a cheeky attitude and a dodgy hip, souvenir of a schoolboy accident. The local police keep his number on file for a different reason—his sixth sense for finding hidden things.

When he’s called in to help locate the body of a missing woman up on Nomansland Common, he unexpectedly encounters someone who resurrects a host of complicated emotions. Phil Morrison, Tom’s old school crush, now a private investigator working the same case. And the former bully partly responsible for Tom’s injury.

The shocks keep coming. Phil is now openly gay, and shows unmistakable signs of interest. Tom’s attraction to the big, blond investigator hasn’t changed—in fact, he’s even more desirable all grown up. But is Phil’s interest genuine, or does he only want to use Tom’s talent?

As the pile of complicated evidence surrounding the woman’s murder grows higher, so does the heat between Tom and Phil. But opening himself to this degree exposes Tom’s heart in a way he’s not sure he’s ready for…while the murderer’s trigger finger is getting increasingly twitchy.

Slam! by J.L. Merrow
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (April 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1619217155
ISBN-13: 978-1619217157
Amazon: Slam!
Amazon Kindle: Slam!

Limericks, lies, and puppy-dog eyes…

Jude Biggerstaff is all the way out and loving it—mostly. The Anglo-Japanese university graduate is a carnivore working in a vegan café, an amateur poet with only one man in his life. His dog, Bubbles.

Then there’s “Karate Crumpet,” a man who regularly runs past the café with a martial arts class. Jude can only yearn from afar, until the object of his affection rescues him from muggers. And he learns that not only does this calm, competent hunk of muscle have a name—David—but that he’s gay.

Jude should have known the universe wouldn’t simply let love fall into place. First, David has only one foot out of the closet. Then there’s Jude’s mother, who lies about her age to the point Jude could be mistaken for jailbait.

With a maze of stories to keep straight, a potential stepfather in the picture, ex-boyfriends who keep spoiling his dates with David, and a friend with a dangerous secret, Jude is beginning to wonder if his and David’s lives will ever start to rhyme.

Relief Valve (The Plumber's Mate Book 2) by J.L. Merrow
Paperback: 306 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (March 3, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1619224127
ISBN-13: 978-1619224124
Amazon: Relief Valve (The Plumber's Mate Book 2)
Amazon Kindle: Relief Valve (The Plumber's Mate Book 2)

If you dig up the past, be prepared to get dirty. The Plumber's Mate, Book 2 It hasn't been all smooth sailing since plumber Tom Paretski and P.I. Phil Morrison became connected at the heart, if not always at Tom's dodgy hip. Neither of their families has been shy about voicing their disapproval, which hasn't helped Tom's uneasy relationship with his prickly older sister, Cherry. But when Cherry is poisoned at her own engagement party, the horror of her near death has Tom's head spinning with possible culprits. Is it her fiancé Gregory, a cathedral canon with an unfortunate manner and an alarming taste for taxidermy? Someone from her old writers' circle, which she left after a row? Or could the attack be connected to her work as a barrister? Phil is just as desperate to solve the case before someone ends up dead-and he fears it could be Tom. At least one of their suspects has a dark secret to hide, which makes Tom's sixth sense for finding things like a target painted on his back...

Caught! (The Shamwell Tales Book 1) by J.L. Merrow
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (August 19, 2014)
Amazon Kindle: Caught! (The Shamwell Tales Book 1)

You can run from the past…but the past runs faster.

Shamwell Tales, Book 1

Behind Robert’s cheerfully eccentric exterior lies a young heart battered and bruised by his past. He’s taken a job teaching in a village primary school to make a fresh start, and love isn’t part of his plans. But he’s knocked for six—literally—by a chance encounter with the uncle of two of his pupils.

Sean works in pest control, rides a motorbike, and lives on a council estate. On the face of it, he shouldn’t have anything in common with Robert’s bow-tie, classic-car style and posh family background. Yet Robert is helpless to resist Sean’s roguish grin, and a rocky, excruciatingly embarrassing start doesn’t keep the sparks between them from flaring.

Despite Robert’s increasingly ludicrous attempts to keep his past where it belongs, his past hasn’t read the memo. And soon his secrets could be the very things that drive Sean away for good...

Stephanie Kusiak grew up in an idyllic neighborhood in Orange County, California. She spent her formative years watching after her brothers, rescuing stray animals and learning all she could about the supernatural from her grandmother over Sunday brunches. As a writer, she realistically captures the humanizing elements in life and focuses on the characters that live in her worlds. She is known on the internet for her steamy erotica and her poignant emotional twists. Her interests include, playing the piano, karaoke singing, online gaming and perusing local farmers’ markets. She currently works in the financial sector and resides in Aliso Viejo, California with her wife and their tortoiseshell cat, Sydney.

Loved and Lost won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Lesbian Contemporary & Erotic Romance and Best Lesbian Debut.

Further Readings:

Loved and Lost by Stephanie Kusiak
Paperback: 566 pages
Publisher: Sapphire Books Publishing (July 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1939062586
ISBN-13: 978-1939062581
Amazon: Loved and Lost
Amazon Kindle: Loved and Lost

Blake Fortnier and Rachel Kaplan are the perfect couple. Fifteen years into a marriage that will seemingly last forever, a tragic accident tears them apart. After reaching the end of her rope, Blake is blessed with the chance to relive her life. She can right her wrongs, live life to the fullest and change the course of fate, or so she hopes.

More Rainbow Awards at my website: elisarolle.com, Rainbow Awards/2014

Brandon Witt resides in Denver, Colorado. When not snuggled on the couch with his two Corgis, Dunkyn and Dolan, he can be found tucked away in his favorite coffee shop, nose inches away from the computer screen, fingers pounding the keys. When he manages to tear himself away from the coffee shop addiction, he passionately takes on the role as a special education teacher during the daylight hours.

Rising Frenzy, Men of Myth 2, won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Fantasy.

Further Readings:

Rising Frenzy, Men of Myth 2 by Brandon Witt
Paperback: 350 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (September 23, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1623809657
ISBN-13: 978-1623809652
Amazon: Rising Frenzy, Men of Myth 2
Amazon Kindle: Rising Frenzy, Men of Myth 2

Sequel to Submerging Inferno

A Men of Myth Story

Heartbroken, angry, and hurting, warlock Finn de Morisco can feel darkness growing inside, altering every aspect of his life. There are moments when the man he used to be seems to have been devoured completely. Retreating from his family and everything he once held dear, Finn attempts to escape the despair left in the wake of Brett’s rejection—only to find dangers he never knew existed.

Still struggling with the decision to leave everything he knew behind, Brett Wright is swept into a maelstrom as he searches for his place within his newly discovered family. Life beneath the surface of the ocean should have been unlike anything he’s ever known, yet prejudice over his demon ancestry and homosexuality follows him. Even the existence he begins to build may not last as those he is learning to love face extinction.

More Rainbow Awards at my website: elisarolle.com, Rainbow Awards/2014

Barbara Ann Wright writes fantasy and science fiction novels and short stories when not adding to her enormous book collection or ranting on her blog. Her short fiction has appeared twice in Crossed Genres Magazine and once made Tangent Online's recommended reading list. Her first novel, The Pyramid Waltz won a 2013 Rainbow Award for Best Lesbian Fantasy. It was also one of Tor.com's Reviewer's Choice books of 2012 and was a 2012 Foreword Review Book of the Year Award Finalist as well as a Golden Crown Award finalist. She is a member of Broad Universe and the Outer Alliance and helped create Writer's Ink in Houston. She is also a member of the Round Rock Writers Guild and the Austin Speed-Writing Challenge.

She is married and has an army of pets. Her writing career can be boiled down to two points: when her mother bought her a typewriter in the sixth grade and when she took second place in the Isaac Asimov Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing in 2004. One gave her the means to write and the other gave her the confidence to keep going. Believing in oneself, in her opinion, is the most important thing a person can do.

The Pyramid Waltz won a 2013 Rainbow Award as Best Lesbian Fantasy and Best Lesbian Debut. A Kingdom Lost won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Lesbian Fantasy Romance.

Further Readings:

The Pyramid Waltz by Barbara Ann Wright
Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (September 18, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1602827419
ISBN-13: 978-1602827417
Amazon: The Pyramid Waltz
Amazon Kindle: The Pyramid Waltz

To most, Princess Katya Nar Umbriel is a rogue and a layabout; she parties, she hunts and she breaks women’s hearts. But when the festival lights go down and the palace slumbers, Katya chases traitors to the crown and protects the kingdom’s greatest secret: the royal Umbriels are part Fiend. When Katya thwarts an attempt to expose the king’s monstrous side, she uncovers a plot to let the Fiends out to play.

Starbride has no interest in being a courtier. Ignoring her mother’s order to snare an influential spouse, she comes to court only to study law. But a flirtatious rake of a princess proves hard to resist, and Starbride is pulled into a world of secrets that leaves little room for honesty or love, a world neither woman may survive.

A Kingdom Lost by Barbara Ann Wright
Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (April 15, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1626390533
ISBN-13: 978-1626390539
Amazon: A Kingdom Lost
Amazon Kindle: A Kingdom Lost

Princess Katya Nar Umbriel has little left to lose. Her uncle Roland took her home, scattered her family, and forced her to abandon Starbride, her dearest love. Slim hopes and righteous anger carry Katya into Starbride's homeland to raise an army and take back all that was stolen from her.

Starbride never dreamed she’d lead a pack of foreign rebels against a Fiendish usurper. She holds the capital city out of love, denying any rumor of Katya’s death. As the two strive toward each other, Roland dogs their every step, loosing Fiend-filled corpses on Katya’s army and hypnotizing the capital’s citizens into hunting Starbride down. If they ever meet again, it’ll be over his dead body.

More Rainbow Awards at my website: www.elisarolle.com/, Rainbow Awards/2013

Garrett Leigh is a British writer and book designer, currently working for Dreamspinner Press, Loose Id, Riptide Publishing, and Black Jazz Press. Her protagonists will always always be tortured, crippled, broken, and deeply flawed. Throw in a tale of enduring true love, some stubbly facial hair, and a bunch of tattoos, and you’ve got yourself a Garrett special.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible. That, and dreaming up new ways to torture her characters. Garrett believes in happy endings; she just likes to make her boys work for it.

Garrett also works as a freelance cover artist for various publishing houses and independent authors under the pseudonym G.D. Leigh.

Slide won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Bisexual Debut and Best Bisexual Romance.

Further Readings:

Slide by Garrett Leigh
Paperback: 274 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (October 14, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1627981470
ISBN-13: 978-1627981477
Amazon: Slide (Roads Book 1)
Amazon Kindle: Slide (Roads Book 1)

Roads: Book One

Don’t look back. Don’t you ever look back…

Shy tattoo artist Ash has a troubled past. Years of neglect, drug abuse, and life on the streets have taken their toll, and sometimes it seems the deep, unspoken bond with his lover is the only balm for wounds he doesn’t quite understand.

Chicago paramedic Pete is warmth, love, and strength—things Ash never knew he could have, and never even knew he wanted until Pete showed him. But fate is a cruel, cruel mistress, and when nightmares collide with the present, their tentatively built world comes crashing down.

Traumatic events in Pete’s work life distance him from home, and he doesn’t realize until it’s too late that Ash has slipped away. Betrayal, secrets, and lies unfold, and when a devastating coincidence takes hold, Pete must fight with all he has to save the love of his life.

More Rainbow Awards at my website: elisarolle.com, Rainbow Awards/2014

Leona Carver lurks in a Canadian basement with a cat and an aerospace engineer, one of whom helps with the science while the other scratches at the window to get out. She writes novels and short stories with a penchant for genre mash-ups—because fairy tales need space stations, historical romance needs steam powered cyborgs, merpeople should wear mecha, and all of the aforementioned need a little love. Or a lot of love.

When Leona isn’t banging her head against her keyboard, she prepares for the post-apocalypse by running, kickboxing, reviving ancient dances and recipes, and training her hand-eye coordination with joysticks and a D-pad.

Piper won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Sci-Fi / Futuristic.

Further Readings:

Piper by Leona Carver
Paperback: 540 pages
Publisher: Less Than Three Press (September 10, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1620042428
ISBN-13: 978-1620042427
Amazon: Piper
Amazon Kindle: Piper

To combat the voracious rats that have adapted to space age living, powerful resonance technology was developed and implemented by a League of pipers, who lure the rats out of hiding and send them into open space. Master Piper Atmosphere is the most talented piper in the League, but when he meets a young scientist in the course of his latest assignment, he finds himself caught in an entirely different kind of lure. His new relationship leads him to secrets of the resonance technology the League has carefully hidden-secrets worth killing for, and which drive him to dark, drastic measures of his own.

More Rainbow Awards at my website: elisarolle.com, Rainbow Awards/2014

"I'm Jake Jaxson - filmaker, artist, hopeless romantic & insatiable flirt, I live in New York with my two partners & our four pups - Raif, Sebastian, Bailey and Jackson - our god dog Bella and a snake named Samson."

He is the CEO & founder of CockyBoys.com

A Thing of Beauty, co-authored with RJ Sebastian, won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best LGBT Visual Arts & Photography.

Further Readings:

A Thing of Beauty by Jake Jaxson & RJ Sebastian
Hardcover: 128 pages
Publisher: Bruno Gmunder Verlag (March 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 3867876622
ISBN-13: 978-3867876629
Amazon: A Thing of Beauty

'It's not just gay porn-it's CockyBoys.' This is a fresh way of creating gay porn. There are youthful, unspoiled faces and bodies shown in an offbeat way. Photographers Jake Jaxson and RJ Sebastian effectively and emotionally draw attention to the young models who appear in various alluring poses throughout the book.

More Rainbow Awards at my website: elisarolle.com, Rainbow Awards/2014

Jae grew up amidst the vineyards of southern Germany. She spent her childhood with her nose buried in a book, earning her the nickname "professor." The writing bug bit her at the age of eleven. For the last eight years, she has been writing mostly in English.

She used to work as a psychologist but gave up her day job in December 2013 to become a full-time writer and a part-time editor. When she's not writing, she likes to spend her time reading, indulging her ice cream and office supply addictions, and watching way too many crime shows.

Departure from the Script won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Lesbian Contemporary & Erotic Romance and True Nature won The Cate Culpepper Award for Best Lesbian Paranormal Romance.

Further Readings:

Departure from the Script by Jae
Paperback: 270 pages
Publisher: Ylva Verlag e.Kfr. (June 30, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 3955331954
ISBN-13: 978-3955331955
Amazon: Departure from the Script
Amazon Kindle: Departure from the Script

Aspiring actress Amanda Clark and photographer Michelle Osinski are two women burned by love and not looking to test the fire again. And even if they were, it certainly wouldn't be with each other. Amanda has never been attracted to a butch woman before, and Michelle personifies the term butch. Having just landed a role on a hot new TV show, she's determined to focus on her career and doesn't need any complications in her life. After a turbulent breakup with her starlet ex, Michelle swore she would never get involved with an actress again. Another high-maintenance woman is the last thing she wants, and her first encounter with Amanda certainly makes her appear the type. But after a date that is not a date and some meddling from Amanda's grandmother, they both begin to wonder if it's not time for a departure from their usual dating scripts.

True Nature by Jae
Paperback: 468 pages
Publisher: Ylva Verlag e.Kfr. (October 31, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 3955330346
ISBN-13: 978-3955330347
Amazon: True Nature
Amazon Kindle: True Nature

When wolf-shifter Kelsey Yates discovers that fourteen-year-old shape-shifter Danny Harding is living with a human adoptive mother, she is sent on a secret mission to protect the pup and get him away from the human. Successful CEO Rue Harding has no idea that the private teacher she hires for her deaf son isn't really there to teach him history and algebra-or that Danny and Kelsey are not what they seem to be. But when Danny runs away from home and gets lost in New York City, Kelsey and Rue have to work together to find him before his first transformation sets in and reveals the shape-shifter's secret existence to the world.

More Rainbow Awards at my website: elisarolle.com, Rainbow Awards/2014

For as long as he can remember, Michael Rupured has loved to write. Before he learned the alphabet, he filled page after page with rows of tiny little circles he now believes were his first novels and has been writing ever since. He grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, where he came out as a gay man at the age of 21 in the late 1970s. He considers it a miracle that he survived his wild and reckless twenties.

By day, Michael is an academic. He develops and evaluates financial literacy programs for youth and adult audiences at the University of Georgia and is Assistant to the Dean for Family and Consumer Sciences Education. He's received numerous awards and honors over the years and is a Distinguished Fellow of the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education. Michael is also an avid gardener, a runner, and because he loves it and rarely misses a class, is known locally as the Zumba King.

In 2010, he joined the Athens Writers Workshop, which he credits for helping him transition from writing nonfiction to writing fiction. Michael writes gay romance thrillers that, in addition to entertaining the reader, highlight how far the gay rights movement has come in the last fifty years. A serial monogamist who is currently between relationships, Michael writes with his longhaired Chihuahua, Toodles, in his lap from his home in Athens, Georgia.

Happy Independence Day won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Historical.

Further Readings:

Happy Independence Day by Michael Rupured
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (August 20, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1632161621
ISBN-13: 978-1632161628
Amazon: Happy Independence Day
Amazon Kindle: Happy Independence Day

Prequel to Until Thanksgiving

Terrence Bottom wants to change the world. A prelaw student at Columbia University majoring in political science, his interests range from opposing the draft and the war in Vietnam, to civil rights for gays, to anything to do with Cameron McKenzie. Terrence notices the rugged blond hanging around the Stonewall Inn, but the handsome man-and rumored Mafia hustler-rebuffs his smiles and winks.

Cameron McKenzie dropped out of college and left tiny Paris, Kentucky after the death of the grandmother who raised him, dreaming of an acting career on Broadway. Although he claims to be straight, he becomes a prostitute to make ends meet. Now the Mafia is using him to entrap men for extortion schemes, he is in way over his head, and he can't see a way out-at least not a way that doesn't involve a swim to the bottom of the Hudson in a pair of cement flippers.

Cameron is left with a choice: endanger both their lives by telling Terrence everything or walk away from the only man he ever loved. The Mafia hustler and the student activist want to find a way to stay together, but first they need to find a way to stay alive.

More Rainbow Awards at my website: www.elisarolle.com/, Rainbow Awards/2014