Elisa Rolle's Blog, page 395

Luisa Isabel Álvarez de Toledo, 21st Duchess of Medina Sidonia & Liliana Maria Dahlmann

Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo y Maura, 21st Duchess of Medina Sidonia, Grandee of Spain (Luisa Isabel María del Carmen Cristina Rosalía Joaquina; 21 August 1936 – 7 March 2008) was the holder of the ducal title Medina-Sidonia in Spain. She was nicknamed La Duquesa Roja or The Red Duchess.

Hours before her death, 7 March 2008, Luisa Isabel married Liliana Maria Dahlmann in a civil ceremony on her deathbed. Today, the Dowager Duchess Liliana Maria, her legal widow, serves as life-president of the Fundación Casa Medina Sidonia.

Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo died on 7 March 2008, at the age of 72, in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain.

She was the 21st Duchess of the ducal family of Medina-Sidonia, one of the most prestigious noble families and Grandees of Spain. She was also the 15th Duchess of Fernandina and Princess of Montalbán, 17th Marchioness of Villafranca del Bierzo, 18th Marchioness of los Vélez, 25th Countess of Niebla, and three times a Grandee of Spain.

Luisa Isabel was born in Estoril, Portugal, the only child of Joaquín Alvarez de Toledo y Caro, the 20th Duke of Medina Sidonia, and of María del Carmen Maura y Herrera, daughter of Gabriel Maura y Gamazo, the 1st Duke of Maura, and wife Cuban Julia de Herrera y Herrera, 5th Countess of la Mortera. Her grandfather was Antonio Maura, who had been Prime Minister of Spain. Her third cousin is actress Carmen Maura.

On 16 July 1955, in Mortera, Cantabria, she married José Leoncio González de Gregorio y Martí, son of Leoncio González de Gregorio y Arribas, Martínez de Azagra y Turull, and wife Leticia Martí y Rodríguez de Castro, with whom she had three children.


In 1983, Liliana Maria Dahlmann attended the wedding of Leoncio Alonso González de Gregorio and Alvarez de Toledo as a friend of the bride. There she met his mother, Luisa Isabel Álvarez de Toledo, 21st Duchess of Medina Sidonia, who shortly after became her girlfriend. After more than 20 years of relationship, on March 7, 2008, she married in articulo mortis with Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo and Maura, who died eleven hours after as a result of lung cancer. Today, the Dowager Duchess Liliana Maria serves as life-president of the Fundación Casa Medina Sidonia.


Palace of the Dukes in Sanlúcar de Barrameda .

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Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luisa_Isabel_%C3lvarez_de_Toledo,_21st_Duchess_of_Medina_Sidonia

Liliane Marie Dahlmann, Dowager Duchess of Medina Sidonia (born January 31, 1956, in Kaiserslautern) is an historian and lifelong president of the Foundation House of Medina Sidonia. She was the wife of Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo and Maura, called Red Duchess, whom she married in articulo mortis on March 7, 2008.

Born in Germany, she moved to Spain in 1963 and spent her youth in Barcelona, ​​where she majored in History, specializing in Modern and Contemporary History. In 1983, Liliane attended the wedding of Leoncio Alonso González de Gregorio and Alvarez de Toledo as a friend of the bride. There she met his mother, Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo and Maura, XXI Duchess of Medina Sidonia, XVII Marchioness of Villafranca del Bierzo, XVIII Marquise de los Vélez and XXV Countess Fog, three times Grandee of Spain, who shortly after became her girlfriend although the Duchess did not divorce her husband Jose Leoncio González de Gregorio and Marti until 2005, at his request.

After more than 20 years of relationship, on March 7, 2008, she married in articulo mortis with Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo and Maura, who died eleven hours after as a result of lung cancer.

Since the creation of the foundation, in 1990, Liliane served as lifetime secretary. However, as the Duchess of Medina Sidonia stipulated in the statutes of the foundation, at her death, Liliane took the role of president for life, and so she did in 2008. But the children of the Duchess claim that the foundation is reformulated, because the estate donated by their mother when she was alive, most of all their assets, must be reduced to meet the legal rights of the heirs (in the proportions established by the Civil Code in Spain), without prejudice to the interests of the State and the declaration of Cultural Interest (with consequent indivisibility), which affects the heritage of the XXI duquesa.

Source: es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liliane_Dahlmann

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2015 Rainbow Awards Submission: Up the Ante by PJ Trebelhorn

Up the Ante by PJ Trebelhorn
Lesbian Contemporary Romance
Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (January 20, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1626392374
ISBN-13: 978-1626392373
Amazon: Up the Ante
Amazon Kindle: Up the Ante

Jordan Stryker’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis changed her life. She left the FBI and decided to try her hand at professional poker. She’s played poker for years, but no amount of practice could have prepared her for what she’d face in Las Vegas away from the tables.
Ashley Noble works security at a casino in Vegas. After a failed marriage and a disgraced exit from her position with the LAPD, she’s just grateful to have a job. When Stryker shows up in her casino, Ash is forced to face the woman she had an affair with fifteen years ago and thought she’d never see again.
The attraction between the two is undeniable, but Jordan keeps her distance because of her MS. When Ash decides she’s ready to up the ante, she knows getting Jordan to call the bet will be damn near impossible.

2015 Rainbow Awards Guidelines: http://www.elisarolle.com/rainbowawards/rainbow_awards_2015.html

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New Release: Paper Doll (Jana Lane Mystery Book 1) by Joe Cosentino

Welcome to my blog, Joe Cosentino. You are both an actor and author. How do the two sides merge in your writing?

Thank you, Elisa. It’s my pleasure to be on your blog today.
As a kid I played make believe constantly. “Let’s put on a show!” was my motto. Thankfully my parents and teachers indulged me (rather than committed me-hah). Eventually I became an actor in film, television, and theatre, working opposite stars like Bruce Willis, Nathan Lane, Rosie O’Donnell, Holland Taylor, and Jason Robards. It occurred to me that acting is storytelling in the same way that writing is storytelling, so I decided to give writing a try. I knew my first novel would be a show business story, since show business has always been such a huge part of my life. As an avid mystery reader, it was clear to me that my novel would be a page-turning murder mystery with clever plot twists, engaging characters, romance, humor, and lots of clues leading to a surprising conclusion.
When writing or acting, I ask myself the same questions about my characters. What are their histories, motivations, actions, objectives, emotions, tactics? What do they want and why? How do they go about getting what they want? What are their secrets? Who do they love or hate? What makes them happy or fearful? I also try to find their passions and methods of self-expression. Finally, I search for their humor, since in every situation, no matter how upsetting or harrowing, there is always humor.

You are a college professor. How does that influence your acting and writing careers?

The old adage that you learn by teaching others is so true. Every time I give a lecture, engage in a class discussion, speak to a student one-on-one, and/or critique my students’ work in class, I learn something. I like playing and writing engaging characters who I want to spend time with. If acting or directing, I do improvisations with other actors to flesh out the backgrounds or back-stories of the characters. When writing I let my characters talk to one another and see what happens! I’ve learned an outline is simply an outline, and not to be afraid to deviate from it.
Also, by having read hundreds of them, I’ve learned a great deal about mystery writing. I write mystery novels that drop lots of clues leading to the murderer. I also incorporate many other characters with secrets into the story. I create an entire world of suspense above and beyond “who done it.” When a reader finishes my books, he/she should be satisfied that the various parts equaled the whole, rather than the author pulling an ending out of the hat. When I read a great novel, I feel as if I am the leading character, going through the story and experiencing all of the emotions right along with him/her. A terrific mystery lays out all the clues and culminates with only one possible ending, unveiling various secrets along the way. I don’t appreciate mystery novels, where authors lay out clues then arbitrarily pick a murderer. All of those things have influenced my writing.
In PAPER DOLL I share my love of movies and moviemakers with my readers. I have always been fascinated with ex-child stars like Hayley Mills, Shirley Temple, Patty Duke, and Brooke Shields. My heroine, Jana Lane, is an ex-child star who has lost her self esteem as an adult. Through the course of the book, Jana not only solves the mystery of her past, but also reclaims the courage and fortitude she had as a child. This is an important message for all of us.
I am currently writing a comedy mystery series set in the world of academia. Since I am a college professor, I know that world quite well. I have completed the first two novels, DRAMA QUEEN and DRAMA MUSCLE. I am currently writing the third, DRAMA CRUISE. The first novel will be published by Lethe Press this summer.

Thank you, Elisa, for hosting me today. I love to hear from readers. After they have read PAPER DOLL, I hope they will contact me with their reactions via my web site at http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com. Happy reading!

Paper Doll (Jana Lane Mystery Book 1) by Joe Cosentino
Publisher: Whiskey Creek Press LLC (March 5, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: Paper Doll (Jana Lane Mystery Book 1)

Jana Lane was America’s most famous child star until she was attacked on the studio lot at eighteen years old. Now she’s a thirty-eight-year-old beauty and mother of two living in a mansion in picturesque Hudson Valley, New York. Jana’s flashbacks from her past turn into murder attempts in her present. Forced to summon up the lost courage she had as a child, Jana visits the California movie studio she once called home. This sends her on a whirlwind of visits with former and current movie studio personnel. It also leads to a romance with the son of her old producer – Rocco Cavoto – the devilishly handsome filmmaker who is planning Jana’s comeback both professionally and personally. Can Jana uncover a web of secrets about everyone she loves, including the person who destroyed her past and threatens to snuff out her future?

( Excerpt )

About the author: Joe Cosentino is the author of An Infatuation (Dreamspinner Press). He has appeared in principal acting roles in film, television, and theatre, opposite stars such as Bruce Willis, Rosie O’Donnell, Nathan Lane, Holland Taylor, and Jason Robards. His one-act plays, Infatuation and Neighbor, were performed in New York City. He wrote a musical theatre adaptation of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (Eldridge Plays and Musicals), and The Perils of Pauline educational film (Prentice Hall Publishers). Joe is currently Head of the Department/Professor at a college in upstate New York, and is happily married. His upcoming novels are Porcelain Doll (the second Jana Lane mystery) and Drama Queen (Lethe Press). http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com. 


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Patricia Rodríguez & Vanesa Cortes

Patricia Yurena Rodríguez Alonso (born March 6, 1990 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife) is a Spanish beauty queen and actress who captured the crown of Miss Spain 2013 and was a top 15 semifinalist in Miss World 2008. In 2013 she won the title Miss Spain 2013 and represented Spain at Miss Universe 2013 in Moscow, Russia. Miss Spain Patricia Yurena came out of the closet via an intimate photo of her and her girlfriend Vanesa Cortes which she posted to Instagram. Said Yurena in a follow-up message: "I published the picture completely spontaneously and in an impulsive manner. Thank you for all your support." Yurena is the first openly gay national pageant queen.

At 17, Rodríguez was selected Miss Spain 2008, the official representative to Miss Universe, in Oropesa del Mar, Castellón.

Due to Miss Universe eligibility regulations that state every contestant must be 18 before February 1, Rodríguez was ineligible to attend Miss Universe 2008 in Nha Trang, Vietnam and first runner-up Claudia Moro of Madrid went instead.

Rodríguez was sent to compete in Miss World 2008 in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she placed as one of the Top 15 semifinalists.

Rodríguez won the title of Miss Spain 2013, gaining the right to represent Spain at Miss Universe 2013 in Moscow, Russia.

Rodríguez represented Spain at Miss Universe 2013 on November 9, 2013 where she competed to succeed Miss Universe 2012, Olivia Culpo of the U.S., eventually finishing as 1st Runner-Up to María Gabriela Isler of Venezuela (her roommate). She is only the second Spanish woman to place 1st Runner-Up (the first one was Teresa Sánchez López in 1985). She is also only one of three former Miss World semifinalists to place in the Miss Universe semifinals, the others being Ada de la Cruz of the Dominican Republic in 2009 and Yendi Phillips of Jamaica in 2010 (coincidentally all three ladies finished as 1st Runner-Up).


Patricia Rodríguez is a Spanish beauty queen and actress. In 2013 she won the title Miss Spain 2013 and represented Spain at Miss Universe 2013 in Moscow, Russia. She came out of the closet via an intimate photo of her and her girlfriend Vanesa Cortes which she posted to Instagram. Said Yurena in a follow-up message: "I published the picture completely spontaneously and in an impulsive manner. Thank you for all your support." Yurena is the first openly gay national pageant queen.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Rodr%C3%ADguez

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Francis Beaumont & John Fletcher

Francis Beaumont (1584 – 6 March 1616) was a dramatist in the English Renaissance theatre, most famous for his collaborations with John Fletcher (1579–1625). According to a mid-century anecdote related by John Aubrey, they lived in the same house on the Bankside in Southwark, "sharing everything in the closest intimacy." About 1613 Beaumont married Ursula Isley, daughter and co-heiress of Henry Isley of Sundridge in Kent, by whom he had two daughters, one posthumous. He had a stroke between February and October 1613, after which he wrote no more plays, but was able to write an elegy for Lady Penelope Clifton, who died 26 October 1613. Beaumont died in 1616 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, near the tomb of Dryden. Although today Beaumont is remembered as a dramatist, during his lifetime he was also celebrated as a poet.

Beaumont was the son of Sir Francis Beaumont of Grace Dieu, near Thringstone in Leicestershire, a justice of the common pleas. He was born at the family seat and was educated at Broadgates Hall (now Pembroke College, Oxford) at age thirteen. Following the death of his father in 1598, he left university without a degree and followed in his father's footsteps by entering the Inner Temple in London in 1600.

Accounts suggest that Beaumont did not work long as a lawyer. He became a student of poet and playwright Ben Jonson; he was also acquainted with Michael Drayton and other poets and dramatists, and decided that was where his passion lay. His first work, Salmacis and Hermaphroditus, appeared in 1602. The 1911 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica describes the work as "not on the whole discreditable to a lad of eighteen, fresh from the popular love-poems of Marlowe and Shakespeare, which it naturally exceeds in long-winded and fantastic diffusion of episodes and conceits." In 1605, Beaumont wrote commendatory verses to Jonson's Volpone.

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Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Beaumont

John Fletcher (1579–1625) was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; both during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivaled Shakespeare's. Though his reputation has been far eclipsed since, Fletcher remains an important transitional figure between the Elizabethan popular tradition and the popular drama of the Restoration. (P: Portrait of John Fletcher, circa 1620)

Fletcher was born in December 1579 (baptised 20 December) in Rye, Sussex, and died of the plague in August 1625 (buried 29 August in St. Saviour's, Southwark). His father Richard Fletcher was an ambitious and successful cleric who was in turn Dean of Peterborough, Bishop of Bristol, Bishop of Worcester, and Bishop of London (shortly before his death) as well as chaplain to Queen Elizabeth. As dean of Peterborough, Richard Fletcher, at the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Fotheringay "knelt down on the scaffold steps and started to pray out loud and at length, in a prolonged and rhetorical style as though determined to force his way into the pages of history". He cried out at her death, "So perish all the Queen's enemies!"

Richard Fletcher died shortly after falling out of favour with the queen, over a marriage the queen had advised against. He appears to have been partly rehabilitated before his death in 1596; however, he died substantially in debt. The upbringing of John Fletcher and his seven siblings was entrusted to his paternal uncle Giles Fletcher, a poet and minor official. His uncle's connections ceased to be a benefit, and may even have become a liability, after the rebellion of the Earl of Essex, who had been his patron.

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Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fletcher_(playwright)

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Mary Vincent Hammon & Sarah White Norman

Trial documents naming these women are the only known record of sexual relations between 17th century female English colonists in North America.

Sarah White, of whom little is known, married Hugh Norman in 1639.

Born in 1642, their daughter Elizabeth drowned in a well in 1648.

That year, Mary Vincent, then about 15, married Benjamin Hammon, who had arrived from London in 1634.

Also on March 6, 1648, Mary and Sarah (presumably about a decade older than Mary due to Sarah’s much earlier marriage) were prosecuted at Plymouth for “lewd behavior each with other upon a bed.” Laws against perceived sexual immorality were much more comprehensive in the Puritan colonies than in England, which had long lacked any standard secular means of prosecuting fornication or “pollutions,” as opposed to anally penetrative sodomy between males, and bestiality.

Whereas Mary was only admonished, perhaps because she was younger than 16, the local age of discretion, Sarah stood trial.

During the time of Sarah’s prosecution (1648-1650), her husband deserted his wife and children and returned to England, where he reportedly wasted an inheritance, then lived in debauched poverty.

Mary and her husband later had a number of children and she was widowed in 1703.

Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time by Elisa Rolle
Paperback: 760 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (July 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1500563323
ISBN-13: 978-1500563325
CreateSpace Store: https://www.createspace.com/4910282
Amazon (Paperback): http://www.amazon.com/dp/1500563323/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon (Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MZG0VHY/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

Days of Love chronicles more than 700 LGBT couples throughout history, spanning 2000 years from Alexander the Great to the most recent winner of a Lambda Literary Award. Many of the contemporary couples share their stories on how they met and fell in love, as well as photos from when they married or of their families. Included are professional portraits by Robert Giard and Stathis Orphanos, paintings by John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Boldini, and photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnson, Arnold Genthe, and Carl Van Vechten among others. “It's wonderful. Laying it out chronologically is inspired, offering a solid GLBT history. I kept learning things. I love the decision to include couples broken by death. It makes clear how important love is, as well as showing what people have been through. The layout and photos look terrific.” Christopher Bram “I couldn’t resist clicking through every page. I never realized the scope of the book would cover centuries! I know that it will be hugely validating to young, newly-emerging LGBT kids and be reassured that they really can have a secure, respected place in the world as their futures unfold.” Howard Cruse “This international history-and-photo book, featuring 100s of detailed bios of some of the most forward-moving gay persons in history, is sure to be one of those bestsellers that gay folk will enjoy for years to come as reference and research that is filled with facts and fun.” Jack Fritscher

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Iolanthe Woulff (born March 6)

Iolanthe "Lannie" Woulff came into the world as a male during the fifth year of the Truman presidency, which means that she is rapidly acquiring the status of an antique. In 1958 her family moved from Manhattan to the island of St. Thomas, which in those days was a sparsely-populated tropical dot in the Caribbean. There "Nate", as Lannie was known in those days, spent several idyllic years gleefully swinging from jungle vines and swimming on the world's most beautiful unspoiled beaches. She treasures many poignant memories of that lost paradise, which, alas, is no longer.

Moving back to the mainland in 1964, Lannie attended The Maret School in Washington, D.C. As the Vietnam War raged and protest movements convulsed the nation, she gained admission to Princeton, and after escaping the inaugural Selective Service lottery by a scant fourteen points, graduated in 1973 with a degree in English. For several ensuing years she lived in New York City and worked for her uncle, who was then developing an early prototype hybrid vehicle. That was during the Studio 54 era, the so-called "Me Decade", which Lannie experienced at full throttle while writing a coming-of-age novel which fortunately remained unpublished.

In 1980, at the urging of her younger brother, she moved to Israel, where together they opened a diving business on the Red Sea. When the Lebanon War wiped out the tourist trade and with it their business, she returned stateside to raise pedigreed Black Angus cows on a family farm in northern Virginia's famous Hunt Country. The rolling hills and pastoral beauty of that area provide the setting for SHE'S MY DAD.

Succumbing to the lure of the West in 1987, she finally settled for good in the California resort town of Palm Springs. Ten years later, fulfilling a lifelong imperative, Lannie commenced the complex and emotionally turbulent process of gender transition. During the process she authored a column called "The T Dance" in one of the local LGBT magazines, before turning her attention full-time to fiction writing.

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She's My Dad by Iolanthe Woulff
Paperback: 469 pages
Publisher: Outskirts Press; First Edition edition (November 13, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1432743775
ISBN-13: 978-1432743772
Amazon: She's My Dad
Amazon Kindle: She's My Dad

"Don't hate, Nicholas. Hate destroys everything. Don't let it destroy you..."

For decades, ultra-liberal Windfield College has been a thorn in the side of Northern Virginia's hidebound elite. When a teaching position unexpectedly becomes available, the school hires a former male graduate - now a transsexual woman named Nickie Farrell - as an assistant professor of English. Hoping to find peace, Nickie keeps her secret under wraps until ambitious lesbian student reporter Cinda Vanderhart outs her. And Cinda has noticed something else: both Nickie and a young townie waiter named Collie Skinner have a genetic quirk which causes their eyes to be different colors. Convinced that the similarity is no coincidence, Cinda begins an investigation to discover the connection between them.

Meanwhile, in a death-bed confession as she succumbs to years of brutality at the hands of her disgraced cop husband, Collie's mother Luanne reveals that his birth resulted from an illicit affair she had with a long-vanished Windfield college senior named Nick Farrington. Shattered by his mother's death, Collie turns for comfort to Robin Thompson, a gentle-hearted Christian co-worker at the upper-crust Foxton Arms restaurant. As Nickie is stalked by a pair of homicidal sociopaths, Robin finds herself entangled not only in Cinda's investigative machinations but also a murderous plot by former U.S Ambassador and tycoon Eamon Douglass to eradicate the hated college with a suicide detonation of a Cesium 137 dirty bomb. Lives and secrets hang in the balance until everything comes to a head on the morning of Windfield's annual spring picnic: April Fools Day.

Filled with richly-drawn characters and building to a stunning climax, SHE'S MY DAD is a story about the destructiveness of hate, the power of love, and the redemptive triumph of good over evil.

Like her title character Nickie Farrell, Iolanthe Woulff is a transsexual woman. A sixty-year-old Princeton-educated English major, she lives in Palm Springs, CA, where for several years she wrote a column in a local magazine about the challenges of gender transition. As the eldest child of author Herman Wouk, storytelling has always been dear to Ms. Woulff's heart. Her hope is that besides providing a suspenseful read, SHE'S MY DAD will help to dispel some of the widespread misconceptions about transsexual people.

More Rainbow Awards at my website:  www.elisarolle.com/ , Rainbow Awards/2010

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2015 Rainbow Awards Submission: The Walls of Troy by L.A. Witt

The Walls of Troy by L.A. Witt
Gay Mystery / Thriller
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (October 7, 2014)
Amazon Kindle: The Walls of Troy

Just when the pieces begin to add up, danger blows them all apart…

MA1 Iskander Ayhan’s orders are simple: stay with Admiral Dalton’s son as a plainclothes bodyguard while the kid attends university classes. So typical—a high-ranking officer abusing Navy resources for unnecessary security.

It isn’t long before Iskander realizes there’s more to his assignment than protecting the kid from benign harassment by homophobic classmates. Behind those piercings, eyeliner, and bad attitude, Troy Dalton is scared. Truly, deeply, scared.

Troy is indeed hiding something. Iskander is the only one who’s ever taken his fears seriously, which gives him hope. Yet Troy isn’t sure one lone, armed-to-the-teeth bodyguard is enough to keep him safe, especially since he can’t risk telling Iskander the truth.

As Iskander slowly gains Troy’s trust, the walls start coming down. And before they know it, the warmth between them explodes into real heat. Until suddenly Iskander realizes he’s a magnet for danger, not a shield.

Now he doesn’t know how to keep Troy safe—stay close, or get as far away from him as possible.

2015 Rainbow Awards Guidelines: http://www.elisarolle.com/rainbowawards/rainbow_awards_2015.html

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Book Blast: Oliver by Catherine Lievens

Oliver (Whitedell Pride 6) by Catherine Lievens
Link: www.extasybooks.com/Oliver/

What matters is not what you are, but who you are.

Oliver is human, or at least he was until the Glass Research Company kidnapped him and experimented on him. Now he has a bear sharing his mind, but he’s not able to shift, and he’s confused. Is he a shifter, or a human? What’s worse, he’s getting sicker every day, and no one seems to know how to help him. He can’t even bond with his mate because he doesn’t want Sebastian to hurt if something happens to him.
Sebastian wants his mate to be cured, and the only way to do that is to go to New York and kidnap one of the company’s scientist. With the help of his pride brothers, he manages to do just that, but having Oliver cured doesn’t mean all their problems are over.
Oliver will have to deal with learning how to shift and trying to convince Sebastian that he’s fine and that he can be claimed, but once he manages to do that, other problems arise. Will the two lovers finally have the time to just be together, or will the pressure push them apart?

( Excerpt )



Author Bio: Catherine lives in Italy, country of good food and hot men. She used to write fantasy as a child, but it was reading her first gay erotic romance novel that made her realize that that was what she really wanted to write.
After graduating from college in English language and translation, she divides her day between writing, reading, taking care of her son and reading some more.

Ability you wished you possessed?
To stay concentrated on what I’m doing. I’m very easily distracted.

Skill you wish you had?
I’d love to be able to dance, but I’m too clumsy for that.

Where to find the author:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/catherine.li...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorCLievens
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/catherine20...
Other: https://authorcatherinelievens.wordpr...



Tour Dates: March 2, 2015
Tour Stops: Parker Williams, Rainbow Gold Reviews, Molly Lolly, Inked Rainbow Reads, Wicked Wolves and Dreaming Dragons, Bayou Book Junkie, For the Love of Bookends, Bike Book Reviews, MM Good Book Reviews, Elisa - My Reviews and Ramblings, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Kimi-Chan, Fallen Angel Reviews, Cate Ashwood, My Fiction Nook, BFD Book Blog, My Fiction Nook, Velvet Panic

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Alma Lutz & Marguerite Smith

Alma Lutz (March 2, 1890 – August 1973) and Marguerite Smith (died in 1959), a librarian at the Protestant Zion Research Library in Brookline, Massachussetts, shared their lives from 1918 until the latter's death in 1959. Their lifelong relationship began when they roomed together at Vassar. They shared a Boston apartment and a summer home in the Berkshires, Highmeadow, Berlin, N.Y., not far from Susan B. Anthony's birthplace in Adams. Lutz and Smith worked in the National Woman’s Party. They travelled together, visiting Europe several times in the 1950s. When Smith died in 1959, Lutz struggled with her grief: “It’s a hard adjustment to make, but one we all have to face in one way or another and I am remembering that I have much to be grateful for.”

Alma Lutz was born in Jamestown, ND, and came to Vassar from the Emma Willard School. A leader in the fight for woman suffrage and equal rights, she was also author of several biographies of leading feminists. During her college years she was an active feminist; and after graduating from Vassar in 1912, she returned to North Dakota to work for women's suffrage. Six years later Alma Lutz moved to Boston, where she wrote for the National Woman's Party and did research on the role of women in American history. From that time her life was devoted to both activism and historical studies. In 1938 she served as editor of the official organ of the National Woman's Party, and was for many years a member of the party's national council.

Writer, as well as political activist, she wrote biographies of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Emma Willard; and collaborated with Harriot Stanton Blatch on Mrs. Blatch's memoirs, Challenging Years. She also wrote Crusade for Freedom, a history of women in the antislavery movement. Alma Lutz served on the advisory committee of the Schlesinger Library, was a consultant to Notable American Women, and secretary of the Massachusetts Committee for the Equal Rights Amendment.


Susan B. Anthony's birthplace in Adams
Alma Lutz and Marguerite Smith shared their lives from 1918 until the latter's death in 1959. They shared a Boston apartment and a summer home in the Berkshires, Highmeadow, Berlin, N.Y., not far from Susan B. Anthony's birthplace in Adams. Lutz and Smith worked in the National Woman’s Party. When Smith died in 1959, Lutz struggled with her grief: “It’s a hard adjustment to make, but one we all have to face in one way or another and I am remembering that I have much to be grateful for.”

Source: specialcollections.vassar.edu/collections/findingaids/l/lutz_alma.html#d0e51

Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time by Elisa Rolle
Paperback: 760 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (July 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1500563323
ISBN-13: 978-1500563325
CreateSpace Store: https://www.createspace.com/4910282
Amazon (Paperback): http://www.amazon.com/dp/1500563323/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon (Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MZG0VHY/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

Days of Love chronicles more than 700 LGBT couples throughout history, spanning 2000 years from Alexander the Great to the most recent winner of a Lambda Literary Award. Many of the contemporary couples share their stories on how they met and fell in love, as well as photos from when they married or of their families. Included are professional portraits by Robert Giard and Stathis Orphanos, paintings by John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Boldini, and photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnson, Arnold Genthe, and Carl Van Vechten among others. “It's wonderful. Laying it out chronologically is inspired, offering a solid GLBT history. I kept learning things. I love the decision to include couples broken by death. It makes clear how important love is, as well as showing what people have been through. The layout and photos look terrific.” Christopher Bram “I couldn’t resist clicking through every page. I never realized the scope of the book would cover centuries! I know that it will be hugely validating to young, newly-emerging LGBT kids and be reassured that they really can have a secure, respected place in the world as their futures unfold.” Howard Cruse “This international history-and-photo book, featuring 100s of detailed bios of some of the most forward-moving gay persons in history, is sure to be one of those bestsellers that gay folk will enjoy for years to come as reference and research that is filled with facts and fun.” Jack Fritscher

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