Category: 5 star Rating

Want To Make A Difference? Donate a YA LGBT Book Today!

PFLAG

 

The Prince William County PFLAG (VA) youth group is seeking contributions of either young adult (YA) paperbacks or cash donations to purchase books for the PFLAG youth library. If you have any questions or wish to donate, please contact Lynn Schmitz, PFLAG facilitator, at lschmitz1@comcast.net.

Not familiar with PFLAG? PFLAG is Parents, Families,Friends, and Allies united with LGBTQIA people to move equality forward. Their National PFLAG website can be found here. Its also the place to locate your local chapters. More and more of our publishers are turning toward the YA and New Adult market. This includes many publishers you are familiar with such as Dreamspinner Press, with its Harmony Ink YA Press, Interlude Press with its new YA imprint, Duet Books, Torquere Books with its Prizm Press: Young Adult Novels LGBT Characters, JMS Books with Queerteen Press,  Bold Strokes Books (YA division) among the ones that come immediately to mind.

Think about the books you read as a preteen or teenager. Did the great ones, the memorable ones seem to speak to you? Involve characters that you could identity with? I bet some of you are smiling now just remembering those stories that made your day, helped you through a crisis, or just let you know you weren’t alone in your thoughts and problems. These can be tough years and books that take you away or make things that are scary at that age less fearsome are important.

Now image you are a young LGBTQIA child, preteen, teenager, whatever the age. I don’t imagine the local or school libraries have many books that have characters that you can identity with.

Where do you turn for stories where you can see yourself in the characters or situations? That’s where this PFLAG youth library comes in. There are some terrific YA LGBTQIA stories out there. You need look no further than our own Aurora’s YA reviews to see that. That includes today’s 5 Star Review by Aurora of Casey Lawrence’s Out of Order. Lynn Schmitz and her fellow PFLAG associates are trying to put together such a library. And they need our help.

Write Lynn, see what books she has already been given, what books the library is looking for and how you can help this project grow! Is there a need for such a library in your county or city? Check it all out and see how we can help our LGBTQIA youth find the joys we discovered in books when we were their age.

Again Lynn Schmitz email address is lschmitz1@comcast.net

Let’s make a difference…one book at a time!

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A BJ Review: Ghost in the Mythe (Guardians of the Pattern #3) by Jaye McKenna

Rating:  5 stars out of 5 ★★★★★

Ghost in the Mythe coverAs a child, Miko Asada was the only survivor of a jump drive accident on a space transport, and the event altered him forever. Beautiful and unable to speak Miko is a bit of an enigma even to those who know him best. Cameron, the man who rescued him from a life of being shared him as a sexual slave, doesn’t even understand or quite believe him when he speaks (voice synth) of dragons and the Mythe. Alone and misunderstood, Miko is losing his desire to remain a part of the human world… until he meets someone who understands and knows all about the dragons and touches the mythe.

Tarrin Rhivana was an Ajhani Guardian, one charged to protect his clan and its artifacts, but was exiled when he used the mythe to kill a thief and save his closest friend, Vaya. Even his mother, a Dragon Speaker, cannot save him from his fate after breaking one of the clan’s strictest laws. When Tarrin attempts to leave his world aboard a ship belonging to the Sky People, he doesn’t realize that in order to get through jump space, he needs to be drugged. But a beautiful ghost comes to his rescue and Tarrin wakes to find himself on Aurora at the Institute for Psionic Research. And there he learns that the beautiful ghost who saved him is very real.

Tarrin learns that one of the Sky People has bonded to one of the ancient artifacts the Guardians are sworn to protect. Now it’s Tarrin’s duty to return to his clan and convince them of the danger the Sky People represent… even if that means he might be killed for violating his exile before he can deliver the warning.

This is book three (okay, four if you count the short Facing the Mirror) of the series and it’s my personal favorite so far. I’d give this book TEN stars if I could, but since I only have five to give, I wish I could make them all shiny and bright and drape them with tinsel.

First, I’ll touch on the characters because they are the heart of this story. You know how in a series, if you have a favorite character, then you wait with baited breath each novel to learn more about that character and then finally… finally there comes a point where it’s their time to shine and grow and find love. This was that book (well, for Miko… still waiting on my other fav, Draven). We met both of these guys in book 0.5. I was patient, and it does not disappoint. I cannot tell you how much I adored the resolution of Miko’s inner struggles (well, his main one I guess, as he does continue on to have important work in the series).

Miko is a bit of an enigma in the first stories, but that’s because they are from other’s POV and no one truly understand Miko. Which meant the we, the readers, were intrigued but didn’t totally either. In this book, we finally get to be inside Miko’s head. And omgosh was it ever worth the wait. Miko is stunning and every bit as broken as he’s been painted through the eyes of the other characters but he’s also strong and such a pivotal characters to the whole series. Love Miko.

As I was reading all the other books, I’m thinking, who in heck is ever going be able to get through to Miko? I needn’t have feared. Enter Tarrin. The man is a saint… okay, he’s not really. He has his flaws, but he’s just perfect for Miko. I loved them together, love the slow burn of their romance, and their tender, sweet sex scenes. And what brought them together initially? Finally someone could understand and relate to him rather than thinking he was a mysterious, broken, powerful psion who was also a nut job. Which he so is not. The way the author handled Miko and Tarrin’s love story was perfect, and given Miko’s background there was just no other way I could have seen it going. They were beautiful together.

Parts of this book had me in tears, because Miko’s journey toward the end, which I will not give away in spoilers on as you must read it for yourself… its that perfect. It’s about accepting all the parts of ourselves, and I absolutely freaking loved that. So yeah, it had me in tears, I admit it. And I am not a crier.

The plot of this series as a whole is fascinating and so complex. I, personally, think that this series is really best read in order as each builds on the other with a central plot woven throughout. None of them end in cliffhangers. Although we are sometimes left with a little tease after the main conflict is resolved, as in this book. And I eat that shit up.

I feel like I know all of these guys and in nearly each story I meet someone new and fascinating and find myself hoping that we will hear more about him. (In this story, that would be both Tarrin and Vaya… oh, I do love me a lost boys). But I am absolutely chomping at the bit for Draven and have to wait until book six. Huge groan.

Miko first appears in book 0.5 right at the beginning of the series and his journey so far is beautiful. I am so glad it’s not totally over; he does continue to appear in the series as he has a big role.

And the cover by Cinchbug… okay… this is me standing up and cheering because I love that image of Miko so much. Beautiful, alluring but innocent and you can even sort of see the sadness there. Love the colors and the fractals representing the mythe behind him. It’s damn close to perfect.

Sales Links:   All Romance (ARe)  |  Amazon  |  Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook, 331 pages
Published June 6th 2015 by Mythe Weaver Press (first published June 2015)
edition languageEnglish
seriesGuardians of the Pattern

Guardians of the Pattern series
4 authors, 4 primary works

Guardians of the Pattern is a science fiction series in which the line between science and magic blurs. In the galaxy-spanning Federation, psions are still fighting for basic human rights. Some worlds adopt a live-and-let-live policy, but on others, psions are hunted down and murdered because the public fears their psychic talents. When ancient weapons of mass destruction are unearthed on a planet populated by primitive nomads who still believe in magic, psions may be the Federation’s only hope for survival.

Can the people of these two very different cultures come together to prevent disaster? Or will the Federation’s hunger for power trigger a psionic chain-reaction that has the potential to threaten all of humanity?

Guardians of the Pattern Series:

Facing the Mirror (Guardians of the Pattern 0.5)
Psi Hunter (Guardians of the Pattern, #1)
Gremlin’s Last Run (Guardians of the Pattern #2.0)
Ghost in the Mythe (Guardians of the Pattern, #3.0)

Guardians of the Pattern Series in the order they were written and should be read.

 

 

A Stella Review: For Real by Alexis Hall

Rating:  5 stars out of 5

For Real coverLaurence Dalziel is worn down and washed up, and for him, the BDSM scene is all played out. Six years on from his last relationship, he’s pushing forty and tired of going through the motions of submission.

Then he meets Toby Finch. Nineteen years old. Fearless, fierce, and vulnerable. Everything Laurie can’t remember being.

Toby doesn’t know who he wants to be or what he wants to do. But he knows, with all the certainty of youth, that he wants Laurie. He wants him on his knees. He wants to make him hurt, he wants to make him beg, he wants to make him fall in love.

The problem is, while Laurie will surrender his body, he won’t surrender his heart. Because Toby is too young, too intense, too easy to hurt. And what they have—no matter how right it feels—can’t last. It can’t mean anything.

It can’t be real.

Usually I don’t read books this long (this one is 437 beautiful pages), cause they always dragged at some point during the story. Not For Real by Alexis Hall. I was caught in the MCs’ lives till the end, there wasn’t one little moment of boredom. I didn’t want to put it down and I could have going on for another 400 pages. I felt everything Laurie and Toby felt, almost if I was there in their amazing world.

Of course I didn’t expect anything other than perfection from Alexis Hall. Recently I realized that he could simply write my favorite pie recipe and turn it in a masterpiece. He not “just can write”, there a lot of authors that can really write, he writes magically, everything is so poetic, even the smallest and stupid description of something you could have thought useless for the purpose of the story. The use of words in the descriptions and the reality of this story were two elements that made this book a winner to me. Even if the story flows easy, still I found it complex and that was what I appreciated more.

For Real is definitely not the usual BDSM story, the way in which the roles were defined plus everything was one continuous discovery. And not just for the young Toby, too young to know how to express himself in his desire of dominate Laurie. This was a dynamic I hadn’t read yet, at first it almost sounded strange to me but then I got it. I understood that the author gave me Toby and Laurie, two real characters, both full of flaws but true in their feelings. Their story was complicated, sweet and hot. Moreover I so appreciated to be able to know every little detail that went on in their minds.

As I said a complex book with a beautiful happy ending. I already know I’m going to reread it very soon because the positive, happy vibes it gave me are addictive. For Real deserves absolutely a spot on my fave shelf. Not a crumble less than 5 stars!

Cover art by Simoné. I love this artist style, it’s magical and dreamy. This cover is perfect and fitting in every detail. I especially love the colors and all that light coming from the windows. Just like the book, it’s real.

Sales Links:   Riptide Publishing  |  All Romance (ARe)  |  Amazon  |  Buy It Here

Book Details:
Published June 1st 2015 by Riptide Publishing
ebook, 437 pages
ISBN13 9781626492790
Edition Language English

Spires Universe:
Glitterland
Waiting For The Flood
For Real

What’s this “Spires” thing?

Author Alexis Hall: My feeling is that even contemporary-set romance stories to an extent take place in imagined worlds. So even though they’re not direct sequels to each other, my contemporary romances often have overlapping characters, ideas and settings. Spires is how I refer to this collection of thematically linked but otherwise standalone stories.

A Paul B Review: Fae For All (Cloverleah Pack #6) by Lisa Oliver

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Fae for All coverJax, Fafnir, and Aelfric are destined to form a triad. Two of the three try to deny their bond. But this is not the only problem. They must deal with outside forces who are trying to destroy not only their mating but also the entire Cloverleah pack.

Jax is a half fae, half wolf shifter. Shortly after his first shift almost 300 years ago, he was banished by his grandfather. Only one member of his Cloverleah pack knows of the entirety of his heritage. He has not heard news of his family for almost a century.

Aelfric and Fafnir are fae princes. They met while roaming the European countryside over 300 years ago. Because of their identical birthmarks, they know that the third person in their triad is a wolf shifter. They have been searching since they met for their missing mate. They have asked for the help of the omega of the Cloverleah pack to aid them in their search.

After members of another pack claim that they are the third for the fae, Jax insists that they are all fakes. Jax reveals that his is the true mate for Aelfric and Fafnir. The fae pair are upset that Jax has known for weeks that they are his mates. When challenged by the other pack for the right to the fae since the bond has not been completed, Jax defeats the other wolves. However, the fae pair becomes frightened when they see Jax’s true wolf form, a dire wolf. Jax is heartbroken as his mates seem to be just like his family and most other fae who look down on shifters.

As the three try to repair the damage done during their initial meeting, they must also fend off not only some leaders of the wolf council but also must deal with the elders of the fae world. After Aelfric registers their mating, the elders plan a huge celebration in finding the last surviving member of the leaders of the western regions of the fae world. Jax returns to his family estate where he receives a warning from his late grandfather. Will this new triad survive the upcoming celebration?

This is the sixth installment of Ms. Oliver’s Cloverleah Pack series. Reading the previous books will help understand some of the underlying plot lines and motivations of the characters.

It is rare that I give sequels a five star rating but feel that this book deserves one. I really loved the interactions between our three protagonists. Having been hurt by his fae family, you can understand Jax’s feelings when his mates are initially frightened of his wolf. I felt the enduring love that Fafnir and Aelfric have had after 300 years of being together, yet missing their third. The Cloverleah pack and the triad in particular must endure challenges not only from the wolf shifters but also from the fae rulers. Having to deal with the elders and the other rulers, Jax’s distaste for his fae connections is highly understandable.

I eagerly wait on the next in this entertaining series and highly recommend this book and series.

The cover art was designed by the author using Shutterstock and Dreamstime photos. It shows Jax and his wolf in front of what appears to be blue landscape.

Sales Links: All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details
Ebook,
Published: May 2015 by Lisa Oliver
ISBN:
Edition: English
Series: Cloverleah Pack
The Reluctant Wolf (Cloverleah Pack #1)
The Runaway Cat (Cloverleah Pack #2)
(Cloverleah Pack #3)
(Cloverleah Pack #4)
(Cloverleah Pack #5)
Fae for All (Cloverleah Pack #6)