August Book of the Month - The Cranberry Hush: A Novel Wins!

[Lori]

Did you know that in the Southern Hemisphere, August is the seasonal equivalent of February in the Northern Hemisphere? So while we're running our air conditioners to their full capacity, our friends in the North have their heaters working overtime. So the theme for August is to nominate a book that is set in either a very hot climate or a very cold climate.

Schedule:

7/27 - Nominations accepted

7/31 - Nominations closed, poll posted

8/05 - Poll closes and BOM is announced.

Guidelines:

1. One nomination per member.

2. New or upcoming releases are acceptable as long as they will be available early enough in the month to allow time to finish them in the month they were selected.

3. Please do NOT nominate a book that is part of a series unless it is the first book (at the moderator's discretion a new release in a popular series may be selected as an additional choice)

4. Nominations should include:

Name and URL of the Blog
Title of the book
Author
Blurb
Available format
Where to read or download

[Lori]

I'm going to nominate A Strong and Sudden Thaw by by R.W. Day. Warning: There is some sex in this book so it's probably more suited to the 16 and older age group.

The Ice fell upon the world nearly a hundred years ago, and if civilization didn't rightly collapse, it surely staggered and fell ill a while. In the small town of Moline, Virginia, folks struggle to survive, relying on hybrid seed sent by the faraway Departmet of Reintroduction and Agriculture and their own faith in God and hard work. But when a mated pair of dragons starts hunting the countryside, stealing sheep, and attacking children, the townsfolk quickly learn that they don't have the weapons or the skills to fight off such predators.

David Anderson is a farmer's son who has explored the world through books. When he meets the new healer in town, Callan Landers, he doesn't quite know what to make of the strange warmth stealing over him. It's not until he surprises Callan with another man-and both men are promptly arrested for sodomy-that David finally realizes the truth about his own feelings.

When David and Callan stumble over a secret in a nearby abandoned town, their personal problems fade before government politics and corruption that threaten lives. It seems the dragons aren't the worst dangers facing Moline

Available Formats: Paperback, Ebook, Kindle
Purchase: All Romance

[Ben]

Is it tacky to nominate my own book? Haha, I'll do it anyway. The Cranberry Hush: A Novel takes place on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, during a huge blizzard, so it definitely qualifies as cold-climate! Here's the blurb:

Vince Dandro might be going through the quietest quarter-life crisis of all time. He lives alone, works at a comic book shop, and has a crush on his coworker he can't seem to act on. His life is just fine, but only just fine. Everything changes when Vince's long-lost friend Griff shows up at his house in the middle of a blizzard. They were roommates in college, so close back then that Griff's girlfriend called them "lifebuddies" -- but Vince's love for Griff ended the friendship, he thought, forever. Why has Griff shown up again? And, more importantly, can Vince handle his return?

Vince and Griff are two twentysomethings struggling to find their places in the world and in each other's lives. This is a story of friendship and love, both unrequited and requited, and learning how to fly through the post-college void, where sometimes the only sound you can hear is The Cranberry Hush.

Available formats: Kindle, Nook (ePub)

Download from Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/The-Cranberry-H...
or Barnes & Noble at http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Cran...

Thanks guys!
Ben

[Jessie]

I'd like to nominate Timing by Mary Calmes

This is probably for the older high schoolers as well as college age since there's a bit of steamy scenes, but Mary Calmes is one of my favorite authors!

Timing takes place in the hot ranches of Texas and is about Stefan, his best friend Charlotte (who is getting married) and Rand... the enigma who seems to love yet hate Stefan.

There's violence, intrigue, hot men, cowboys, and a wedding. I've noticed that sometimes Mary Calmes' heroes seem a little too perfect, but I love that about them, all her books get a great happy ending and are adorably sweet!Timing

[Debbie]

Ben wrote: "Is it tacky to nominate my own book? Haha, I'll do it anyway. The Cranberry Hush: A Novel takes place on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, during a huge blizzard, so it definitely qualifies ..."

I was just going to nominate this one! Have been wanting to read it for a while. So, I second this :)

[Ben]

Debbie wrote: "Ben wrote: "Is it tacky to nominate my own book? Haha, I'll do it anyway. The Cranberry Hush: A Novel takes place on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, during a huge blizzard, so it definitel..."

Thanks for your second, Debbie! :-)

[Yvonne]

I will nominate Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman. It takes place in the summer on the Italian Riviera so fits the hot places theme. I haven't read it yet but I'll assume some sensual/sexual content. This book would probably be classified as more gay lit than m/m if you can figure out those distinctions.

Call Me by Your Name is the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents' cliff-side mansion on the Italian Riviera. Unprepared for the consequences of their attraction, at first each feigns indifference. But during the restless summer weeks that follow, unrelenting buried currents of obsession and fear, fascination and desire, intensify their passion as they test the charged ground between them. What grows from the depths of their spirits is a romance of scarcely six weeks' duration and an experience that marks them for a lifetime. For what the two discover on the Riviera and during a sultry evening in Rome is the one thing both already fear they may never truly find again: total intimacy.

The psychological maneuvers that accompany attraction have seldom been more shrewdly captured than in André Aciman's frank, unsentimental, heartrending elegy to human passion. Call Me by Your Name is clear-eyed, bare-knuckled, and ultimately unforgettable.

Available in most formats: hardcover, paperback, ebooks, kindle/nook

[Ben]

Yvonne wrote: "I will nominate Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman. It takes place in the summer on the Italian Riviera so fits the hot places theme. I haven't read it yet but I'll assume some sensu..."

I stand by my nomination of my own book, haha, but Call Me By Your Name is an amazingly great book!

[Lori]

I'm going to nominate Heart In Hand by Mary Calmes because it takes place in hell. :D

[Lori]

Lori wrote: "I'm going to nominate Heart In Hand by Mary Calmes because it takes place in hell. :D"

LOL...that's funny Lori but that is the third in a series and it's not YA anyway.

I don't think Timing qualifies either. It doesn't appear to even feature young adult characters.

Let's try and remember that the books nominated should be geared towards Young Adults. I've noticed several books shelved as Young Adult simply because the characters are young but that doesn't mean the book belongs in the YA genre.

[Lori]

The poll has been posted so go vote

[Lori]

The Cranberry Hush: A Novel by Ben Monopoli won the poll and will be the group read this month.