Elisa Rolle's Blog, page 326

2015 Rainbow Awards Winners: Best Bisexual Book

And the Rainbow Award goes to:

1. Summer Symphony by Brandon Shire
Paperback: 202 pages
Publisher: TPG Books (October 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1506014437
ISBN-13: 978-1506014432
Amazon: Summer Symphony
Amazon Kindle: Summer Symphony

Martin Zoric had vivid dreams of fatherhood, of a small hand pressed to his, of pink dresses and girlish laughter. Then his wife had a stillbirth and his world fell apart. He listened to the unwanted apologies, stood by his wife as was expected of him, and kept his façade strong and firm for the entire world to see. But does he have the strength let go and really grieve? When Ren Wakahisa landed in Croatia he was hoping to escape the cultural pressures put on him to conform. His family wanted him to forsake love for duty. They viewed his happiness as secondary to familial prosperity. Does he have the courage to be who he wants to be? Or, will he yield to their wishes? Summer Symphony is the story of how two men find their answers and what they learn about strength, and grace, and the endurance of love.

A well-written story that packs quite an emotional punch. I was especially engrossed by the depiction of a man's grief at the loss of his child and the tremendous impact that had on his marriage and his life. Overall, a great read.

A book you have to say a lot about it or nothing. It deals with grief in a real, heartbreaking way. I never thought I was reading fiction and I had to remind myself it was a book, because the pain was so real. It's a story about expectations and having to conform to them and having to perform to them. It's a story about cultural differences, blown away by music. Even if this is not a romance and it deals with strong feelings, it's not hopeless, because there's a way you can find to cope, even if you won't ever heal.

Reminiscent of his earlier works. Superb writing that wrings the emotions out of readers!

Thoroughly enthralling story of a summer symphony that is beautiful to behold. Written with a deft hand.

Gut wrenching and raw, this book made me cry several times.

What a beautiful delicate story of the aftermath of bereavement on one man and how he is helped back to his world again.

Runners Up:
2.    Kneel, Mr. President by Lauren Gallagher
3.    The Harem Master by Megan Derr   
4.    I’ll Always Miss You by Raine O’Tierney   
5.    Fox-Hat and Neko by August Li
6.    The Inheritor (The Marketplace #6) by Laura Antoniou
7.    The Tide of War by Lori A. Witt
8.    A Hard Ride Home by Emory Vargas   
9.    A Year in the Life by Cat Grant   
10.    Smoky Mountain Dreams by Leta Blake



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2015 Rainbow Awards Winners: Best Transgender Book

And the Rainbow Award goes to:

1. The Burnt Toast B&B (A Bluewater Bay Story) by Heidi Belleau and Rachel Haimowitz
Paperback: 214 pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing (January 3, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1626492174
ISBN-13: 978-1626492172
Amazon: The Burnt Toast B&B (A Bluewater Bay Story)
Amazon Kindle: The Burnt Toast B&B (A Bluewater Bay Story)

After breaking his arm on set, Wolf’s Landing stuntman Ginsberg Sloan finds himself temporarily out of work. Luckily, Bluewater Bay’s worst B&B has cheap long-term rates, and Ginsberg’s not too proud to take advantage of them.
Derrick Richards, a grizzled laid-off logger, inherited the B&B after his parents’ untimely deaths. Making beds and cooking sunny-side-up eggs is hardly Derrick’s idea of a man’s way to make a living, but just as he’s decided to shut the place down, Ginsberg shows up on his doorstep, pitiful and soaking wet, and Derrick can hardly send him packing.
Not outright, at least.
The plan? Carry on the B&B’s tradition of terrible customer service and even worse food until the pampered city boy leaves voluntarily. What Derrick doesn’t count on, though, is that the lousier he gets at hosting, the more he convinces bored, busybody Ginsberg to try to get the B&B back on track. And he definitely doesn’t count on the growing attraction between them, or how much more he learns from Ginsberg than how to put out kitchen fires.

Honestly, this book blew me away and that's not easy to do. It was hilarious at times and poignant at others and just such a joy to read. It kept me up into the early morning hours until I couldn't keep my eyes open to read "just one more scene." I nearly ran into a bridge support on my daily walk because I couldn't put my phone away to stop reading the book. I loved how Ginsberg's gender, while being an issue...wasn't THE issue. The story was more about Derrick coming to terms with his own sexuality and what that meant in his world. And everything was just so well done. The sex was perfect. The reactions were perfect.. Derrick coming to terms with his parent's death and how well loved he actually is...perfect. And Ginsberg was perfect. I couldn't think of *anything* I would change, hence my score.

Ah, this book had two great characters that I was rooting for the whole way through. Wonderful little book.

Really well written - beautiful characterization.

This was a sweet story exploring a relationship which was very different for one of the MCs, Derrick, who proved to be a kindly man who gained insight into his own past and character as the book went on. His boyfriend Ginsberg, was also patient and kind in how he made allowances for the new situation his partner found himself in. The B&B itself was another character in the story. I don't know how realistic the sex scenes were, but they were nicely unsensational, and gave me food for thought.

Ginsberg, badass stunt double for the star of the show-within-the-book, caught my attention in the first of the Bluewater Bay stories. Ginsberg is a force of nature, and the contrast between his personality and verve, and Derrick's curmudgeonly (yet oddly innocent) viewpoint is highly entertaining.

Runners Up:
2.    Chasing Death Metal Dreams by Kaje Harper   
3.    To Summon Nightmares by J.K. Pendragon
The Errant Prince by Sasha L. Miller
4.    Everybody Knows by Giselle Renarde
A Boy Called Cin by Cecil Wilde   
5.    Groom Of Convenience (Scandalous Whispers Of The Remmington Realm) by Vicktor Alexander



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2015 Rainbow Awards Winners: Best LGBT Book

And the Rainbow Award goes to:

1 Hammer and Bone by Kirby Crow
Paperback: 198 pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing (July 30, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1626492050
ISBN-13: 978-1626492059
Amazon: Hammer and Bone
Amazon Kindle: Hammer and Bone

Carnival mystics. Zombie tribes. Bad magic in the Bayou. Mage-princes, alien cities, and soul-stealing priests. The grim monsters in the worlds of these dark, speculative tales are true horrors, but it’s the people you should fear the most.
People like Michel, a boy pining for his best friend, Ray. But a presence in the swamp calls Michel to avenge another lost love, and he must decide which summons to answer. Or Angelo, a prescient cop who denies his visions until they endanger the man he loves. Or Bellew, an overseer in a shantytown of criminals sheltering a revenant and feeding it from their ranks.
From ruined lands of steam and iron, to haunted Southern forests, to brutal city streets where hope and damnation flow from the same spring, only a few stubborn souls possess the heart to challenge evil on its own terms. Some wield magic, some turn to rage or even love, but the ones left standing will survive only if they find the courage to carve their own paths to freedom.
Even if it means carving through flesh.

So many worlds, each intricately crafted and fully formed--so different from one another, yet fully, gloriously brought to life in the space of a short story. Breathtaking characters, and stories that impact like a punch to the gut. This is how speculative fiction should be done.

Sooo creepy. The setting for the book, for the different stories contained within were so wonderfully described that as each story revealed its creepy, horror, paranormal aspect it only served to increase the tension, the creepy factor. Each character within the story were interesting, and they maintained their intrigue throughout. There was very little character development with each story being so short, and the intent of the author for the overall vein of the book/collection, but I still would have liked to see the characters stretch and grow more. The plot of most of the stories was interesting, though some of them were just too confusing or disjointed. An overall great read.

Wow. Just wow. What a freaking journey this was! When it comes to world-building, Crow is a master of her craft. An imaginative collection of weird tales that suck you into their dark fantasy world and won't let you leave without a couple of dents in your heart and a fond memory of every character in each different world. Taking these stories beyond expectations, the author delivers us stories with happy endings and far-less-than happy endings, and both gay and lesbian pairings. Sad and bleak and depressing took on new meanings in this anthology of splice-of-life tales. More than once I was left heartbroken, most of all by Hangfire, a beautiful story of love and loss that left me in tears. The author's creativity deserves a definite thumbs-up!

Runners Up:
2.    Speaking OUT: Queer Youth in Focus by Rachelle Lee Smith   
3.    Hope and Love Anthology by Áine P Massie





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2015 Rainbow Awards Winners: Best Gay Debut

And the Rainbow Award goes to:

1.    Most Beautiful Words by Raine O’Tierney
Paperback: 200 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (October 10, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1632162105
ISBN-13: 978-1632162106
Amazon: Most Beautiful Words
Amazon Kindle: Most Beautiful Words

Twelve-year-old Autumn's world is shattered when her beloved Great-Pop, Tommy Johnson, suffers a stroke that leaves him comatose. With everyone around her resigning themselves to the inevitable, Autumn is the only one not willing to give up. She and Great-Pop have more secret stories to share with each other, after all. More stories about Roy McMillan—the great love of Tommy's life whom he lost fifty years ago.
Autumn struggles to keep Great-Pop on this side of death's door. But how can she compete with the beautiful and mysterious Valley—a place of surreal magic where the sun never fully sets? Especially when there's someone familiar in the Valley who will do everything he can to keep Great-Pop from returning to her.

It was a really difficult book to read, dealing with an hard issue such as death. But the way it was  faced is really sweet and strong. I think it's really difficult to let go people you love, and this book teach us to let go. Well written even if confusing in some passage, nontheless a very agreable book. Touching.

Here's the inspirational comment = A heartbreaking, beautiful story that left me shattered to pieces and crying my eyes out. This is about true love, a close-knit family, stories that can fill entire lifetimes, and a journey through dreams, life and death to learn what truly matters. I will remember this amazing, haunting love story for a long time to come. Loved everything about it!

I'm speechless... It was a very unusual book for me, it left me crying but mostly with happy tears...

Runners Up:
2.    Trust the Focus by Megan Erickson
3.    Everything Changes by Melanie Hansen
4.    In the Middle of Somewhere by Roan Parrish   
5.    Call Me Home by Megan Kruse   
6.    The HomePort Journals by A.C. Burch
7.    Wolves of Black Pine by S.J. Himes   
8.    Palace Dog by R.E. Nelson
9.    Stealing Arthur by Joel Perry   
10.    Behind Locked Doors by Nicholas Kinsley
Threefold Love by Ki Brightly



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2015 Rainbow Awards Winners: Best Lesbian Debut

And the Rainbow Award goes to:

1. Barring Complications by Blythe Rippon
Paperback: 396 pages
Publisher: Ylva Verlag e.Kfr. (October 3, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 3955331911
ISBN-13: 978-3955331917
Amazon: Barring Complications
Amazon Kindle: Barring Complications

It's an open secret that the newest justice on the Supreme Court is a lesbian. So when the Court decides to hear a case about gay marriage, Justice Victoria Willoughby must navigate the press, sway at least one of her conservative colleagues, and confront her own fraught feelings about coming out. ­­ Just when she decides she's up to the challenge,­­ she learns that the very brilliant, very out Genevieve Fornier will be lead counsel on the case. Genevieve isn't sure which is causing her more sleepless nights: the prospect of losing the case, or the thought of who will be sitting on the bench when she argues it.

I was pleasantly amazed at this debut work. Blythe Rippon did an excellent job establishing time and place for her story, and she populated it with very real, very human characters. Multiple viewpoints in a novel can get tricky, but Ms. Rippon switches deftly between Victoria's and Genevieve's perspectives. The dialogue was realistic, there was an unexpected but welcome touch of humor, and the novel moved at a pace that kept me turning pages.

This was such a unique and interesting story. The characters were very well-developed and felt so realistic. The writing style was excellent, there wasn't one boring or slow part. I enjoyed it very much.

So amazingly good. One of my favorite book of the year for sure. As a non american reader I have loved how well the author explain the Supreme Court procedures and the double point of view is so well balanced that seems like the only way this story could have been told. Everything in this book is done so well that it was actually difficult for me to take brakes to do important and so much needed things like sleep! This is a book that I will re-read for sure. A wonderful and actually perfect debut that will make me wait impatiently for her next book.

The idea that this is Mrs Blythe Rippon's debut lesbian, contemporary, romance novel is astonishing as there was such depth, breadth, life, such a realness, vitality, and a thrumming of awareness and anticipation that seemed to thrum throughout every word, every sentence, every paragraph, and every page. Much like the mellifluous and (let's admit it, AMAZING) music she referenced in the book, this story vibrated and flowed like a beautiful melody. Lulling the reader into a vivaciously, entertaining book, about a notably historic moment, and while there might have been some readers who may have found their eyes glazing over at the lengthy and verbose use of legal jargon that seemed to infuse the pages of this novel, Mrs. Rippon's ability to weave their meaning without making the reader feel interminably foolish, or her cheeky way of subtly encouraging the reader to research the numerous legal cases referenced within, only serve to enhance the plot and make it more engaging and enthralling. As for the setting, between the vivid description of the biting cold that made me want to reach for a coat, the rainstorms that made me feel as if my own dress loafers were soaked through, the swimming in the pool that always made me feel exhausted (and strangely smelling of chlorine), even to the mojitos that always left a delightful taste on my tongue, Mrs. Rippon's skill at plunking the reader down in the middle of a scene and not just guiding them through it, but making them experience it, is above par. The characters, from the two main characters: Victoria and Genevieve, to the secondary characters: William, Diane, Sonya, Tara, Bethany, Pollard, Alistair, Rosie, Jamie (of HRC), Nicollete "Nic" (of NCLR), Wallace, even Roxie, etc. are all so completely well executed and well-rounded that there wasn't one character I could imagine lifting out of the novel and tossing away due to frivolity as I can so often do to many other novels. And while of these things point to the brilliance, the beauty, the sheer elegance that is Mrs. Rippon's writing style, and why she is so deserving of a score of 40/40, none do that more than the different quotes from the book to show the interaction between the characters and those directly from the case which was at the center of this novel, which I have included below. As we read and judge these books, sometimes focusing on different aspects of the books, the chemistry between the couples: physical and emotional, the plot of the story, it was lovely to read a story that had at its core a couple not only fighting for their own love, but for the rights of all same-sex couples to be able to marry in the U.S. Something of which we all celebrate, now that the battle has been won. Well done, Mrs. Rippon. Very, very, well done.

Runners Up:
2.    All the little Moments by G Benson   
3.    To Love Again by B.L. Clark   
4.    Wishbone by Elaine Burnes   
5.    The Caphenon by Fletcher DeLancey   
6.    Never Too Late by Julie Blair   
7.    When It Raynes by C.D. Cain
The Surrender by Terias McKlay   
8.    The Paths of Marriage by Mala Kumar
9.    A Story of Now by Emily O'Beirne
10.    No Thru Road by Linda M. Vogt



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2015 Rainbow Awards Winners: Best Bisexual, Transgender & LGBT Debut

And the Rainbow Award goes to:

1.    Speaking OUT: Queer Youth in Focus by Rachelle Lee Smith
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: PM Press (November 15, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1629630411
ISBN-13: 978-1629630410
Amazon: Speaking OUT: Queer Youth in Focus
Amazon Kindle: Speaking OUT: Queer Youth in Focus

A photographic essay that explores a wide spectrum of experiences told from the perspective of a diverse group of young people, ages 14–24, identifying as queer (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning), Speaking OUT: Queer Youth in Focus presents portraits without judgment or stereotype by eliminating environmental influence with a stark white backdrop. This backdrop acts as a blank canvas, where each subject’s personal thoughts are handwritten onto the final photographic print. With more than 65 portraits photographed over a period of 10 years, the book provides rare insight into the passions, confusions, prejudices, joys, and sorrows felt by queer youth and gives a voice to an underserved group of people that are seldom heard and often silenced. The collaboration of image and first-person narrative serves to provide an outlet, show support, create dialogue, and help those who struggle.

I really liked how even though there was an official author the story was written by the individuals. Compelling, real, and positive outlook toward the future.

All I can tell you is that it moved me.  Each page made me think, smile, feel.

Visually stunning and poignant, this book puts together the youth of the LGBTQ community and their thoughts at the time of their portraits for an exhibit. The book is the result of the exhibit.  There are many THEN and NOW sections--of how the person felt at the time, and the reflection of what was going then and now. Some moved me to tears, while others made me think, and few made me laugh.  The most basic and universal of messages--let me be free to be me--get to know me--I too am human were wonderfully documented in this book..

Runners Up:
2.    Modern Brides & Modern Grooms: A Guide to Planning Straight, Gay, and Other NonTraditional, Twenty-First Century Weddings by Mark O'Connell   
3.    Job Hunt by Jackie Keswick



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2015 Rainbow Awards Winners: Gay Contemporary Romance

And The William Neale Award goes to:

1. Beneath the Stain by Amy Lane
Paperback: 350 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (October 17, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1632162326
ISBN-13: 978-1632162328
Amazon: Beneath the Stain
Amazon Kindle: Beneath the Stain

In a town as small as Tyson, CA, everybody knew the four brothers with the four different fathers—and their penchant for making good music when they weren't getting into trouble. For Mackey Sanders, playing in Outbreak Monkey with his brothers and their friends—especially Grant Adams—made Tyson bearable. But Grant has plans for getting Mackey and the Sanders boys out of Tyson, even if that means staying behind.
Between the heartbreak of leaving Grant and the terrifying, glamorous life of rock stardom, Mackey is adrift and sinking fast. When he's hit rock bottom, Trav Ford shows up, courtesy of their record company and a producer who wants to see what Mackey can do if he doesn't flame out first. But cleaning up his act means coming clean about Grant, and that's not easy to do or say. Mackey might make it with Trav's help—but Trav's not sure he's going to survive falling in love with Mackey.
Mackey James Sanders comes with a whole lot of messy, painful baggage, and law-and-order Trav doesn't do messy or painful. And just when Trav thinks they may have mastered every demon in Mackey's past, the biggest, baddest demon of all comes knocking.

No one does angst like Amy Lane. At times this book was almost too much--even for someone like me who adores angst--but it's impossible to put down. The characters are perfectly flawed, so loveable you feel every shred of their pain and hope and loss. A story that will stay with me forever, for sure.

This book pulled me in from the very beginning, and I almost felt like I was there.

Intense long gripping story with a plot that continued to evolve throughout the story. Interesting characters. Looked at sad side of life as well as the good side.

Amy Lane's dark contemporary stories always gut me -- this one was no different, and it wasn't even one of the darker ones. Incredible characters, roiling emotions, and rock and roll! When you finish an Amy Lane book, you feel like you really know all her characters personally (and for some of the less pleasant ones, that's not entirely comfortable!).

Absolutely loved every word, Amy Lane at her finest!

Coming of age story. As expected from this author, very well written and interactive. A song of life, love and friendship.

Runners Up:
2.    Knight of Ocean Avenue by Tara Lain   
3.    The Butterfly King by Edmond Manning
We Found Love by Allison Cassatta & Kade Boheme
4.    A New Man by P.D. Singer
5.    The Deep of the Sound by Amy Lane
Trust the Focus by Megan Erickson   
6.    Arctic Absolution by Lynn Kelling
7.    Everything Changes by Melanie Hansen
8.    Bowl Full of Cherries by Raine O’Tierney
In the Middle of Somewhere by Roan Parrish
9.    Innocence by Suki Fleet
10.    A Restored Man by Jaime Reese



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2015 Rainbow Awards Winners: Transgender Fiction

And the Rainbow Award goes to:

1. To Summon Nightmares by J.K. Pendragon
Paperback: 202 pages
Publisher: Less Than Three Press (November 4, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1620044528
ISBN-13: 978-1620044520
Amazon: To Summon Nightmares
Amazon Kindle: To Summon Nightmares

Three years ago, Cohen Brandwein was "Ireland's Favorite Daughter", a popular teenage author and internet celebrity. But ever since he came out publicly as trans, the media's treatment of him has been less than golden, and these days, Cohen is desperate for escape. When he inherits an old house in the country, Cohen sees it as a perfect opportunity to escape the press and work on his new book. What he doesn't count on is becoming embroiled in a small town murder mystery and falling for the primary suspect, a man whose reality makes Cohen's fantasy books seem like child's play...

I loved this story. I tore through it in one day, hardly able to put it down. Pendragon's fluid style and interesting characters kept me flipping pages. The plot itself is fun, spooky, and the final words of the story brought it all together in a perfect package.

Runners Up:
2.    Everybody Knows by Giselle Renarde   
3.    Groom Of Convenience (Scandalous Whispers Of The Remmington Realm) by Vicktor Alexander



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2015 Rainbow Awards Winners: Gay Fantasy

And the Rainbow Award goes to:

1.    The Devil Lancer by Astrid Amara
Series: Crimean War Novels
Paperback: 475 pages
Publisher: Blind Eye Books (October 7, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1935560301
ISBN-13: 978-1935560302
Amazon: The Devil Lancer: A Novel of the Crimean War
Amazon Kindle: The Devil Lancer: A Novel of the Crimean War

Captain Elliott Parrish of Her Majesty’s 17th Lancers cavalry division finds most details about his assignment in the Crimean peninsula insufferable. Rampant cholera, missing supplies, and inept planning start the British war effort against the Russian Czar’s expansion into Turkish territory on poor footing. What should have been a swift and decisive summer victory soon drags into a harrowing winter campaign, and Elliott must rally disheartened men through sickness, battle, and starvation. But when he is assigned the additional task of spying on a fellow officer, the inscrutable Cornet Ilyas Kovakin, he finds himself disconcerted and fascinated by both the work and the man. Rumors surround Ilyas Kovakin, the half-Russian officer who reports to none in his division. People say they’ve seen snakes slithering into his tent at night, that he has another face visible only in certain light, and a penchant for violent acts carried out in darkness, alone. But the truth that Elliot soon discovers is much more dangerous then mere superstition. For Ilyas, his return to Crimea is colored with the horrors of his past. Once a mercenary, he has made a terrible mistake and inherited horrifying powers that he can barely control. He feels his hold over his humanity slipping away daily, and fears that salvation may already lay beyond him when the cheerful Captain Parrish catches his attention. Among men who hate him and superiors who covet his brutal power, Ilyas finds the young captain’s charming company almost irresistible. But Ilyas knows that the closer he is drawn to Elliot the more he will endanger them both.

The amount of research and detail that went into The Devil Lancer is breathtaking. I've never been interested in historical romance, but Amara completely drew me in. I enjoyed the harsh reality of the setting. This is the first romance I've read where the main character has lice, and yet this doesn't dampen the truly hot love scenes. The characters were engaging and developed throughout the novel. I cared about them and was saddened when they suffered. The plot skillfully wove magic with reality into a believable story. There was very little drag and a lot of energy as we followed the war and Elliot and Ilyas' parallel quest. The climax was a satisfying culmination of what Amara set up. The writing style had a few bumps here and there, but was overall easy to devour.

Oh my goodness, Ms. Amara. Your story is utterly fascinating. If someone had told me I’d be reading a historical fantasy set during the Crimean War and loving it this hard a week ago, I’d have laughed. But your book is just that good. It’s long, satisfying, pulls you in and drives you forward, as inexorable as the battles it follows. This book is clearly well researched and well plotted, and has been very, very well written.

So well researched, with a fascinating base and a wonderful setting. The plot unfolded effortlessly. Characters were a bit stock, but I really felt for Ilyas. Lovely book, definitely a fan of all the hard work and real effort in this.

Runners Up:
2.    Blue on Black by Carole Cummings
3.    Obsidian Sun by Jon Keys   



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2015 Rainbow Awards Winners: Lesbian Fantasy & Fantasy Romance

And the Rainbow Award goes to:

1. Medusa: A Dark Victorian Penny Dread by Elizabeth Watasin
Series: The Dark Victorian Penny Dreads
Paperback: 216 pages
Publisher: A-Girl Studio (February 14, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1936622246
ISBN-13: 978-1936622245
Amazon: Medusa: A Dark Victorian Penny Dread
Amazon Kindle: Medusa: A Dark Victorian Penny Dread

Blind Elvie Chaisty discovers a breathing British Museum marble and soon more “living” statues appear in London. Meanwhile, a masked, monocled sculptress invites guests to her provocative marble garden, to be experienced by touch alone. The rich and the specially invited Elvie are enchanted by the sculpted bodies that can be discerned beneath their hands until one visitor dares to make a deadly discovery. Journalist Helia Skycourt and her stick for hire, Ellie Hench, must find out: is the monocled woman the centre of a death cult, one helping young women to an eternal state? Helia and Ellie race to solve the mystery before the sculptress’s fascination for Elvie seduces Elvie into her marble garden, permanently. With a special appearance by Artifice, artificial ghost and heroine of the steampunk Dark Victorian series, MEDUSA is a gothic, romantic horror set in an 1880, mechanical and supernatural London. An F/F lesbian historical dark romance and gaslamp fantasy. "Masterful. A vivid world of myth, mystery and Victorian magic." ~Felicity Kates, author of the Steam Bunny, The Little Miss Kick-Ass series "A delightful girly-Gothic romance, inventive, sensuous and thrilling; Dracula's Daughter by way of Hellboy. An absolute joy." ~Amelia Mangan, writer of the macabre: Drag Noir, Phobophobias, and the upcoming Release.

I adore this book. Elvie is entirely too perfect and meandering sensuality of the story had me devouring pages. I loved every second of it.

Probably my favorite read from the first batch of Rainbow Awards stories. This combines some of my favorite things: romance, adventure, reimagined mythology (yes, that is genuinely one of my favorite things), steampunk and a certain Gothic air, all written together with wit and imagination. Elvie is a fascinating character, and the subtle callbacks to the first book in this series don’t detract, they just make me want to go read more by this author. Fantastic world, great storytelling, and characters that stick with you.

Impressive Victorian era Gothic, Steampunk, and not watching the series Penny Dreadful I can't say how much that comes into play but I was able to read the story even though it is book 4 in a series it stands on it's own.

Runners Up:
2. The Duchess of Manusk by Jordan Falconer
3. The Fiend Queen by Barbara Ann Wright



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