Reader’s Choice: Which book should Melissa read next? #LGBT #Spotlight #Poll

Melissa’s list of possible reads – Lots of variety! Looking forward to what readers will pick for me!

Here are 5 potential choices for me. You can find the book covers, blurbs, etc below and vote for the one you want me to review next. It will be my pleasure to read the winner’s choice from our poll and let you guys know my honest opinion about the book. In turn, I would find it very interesting if you told me which of these books seemed interesting to you and why in the comments section.

The Art of Three by Erin McRae & Racheline Maltese

(M/M/F, Polyamory, Artist, Film, Contemporary)

Publisher: Avian30 (March 28, 2017) | Length: 264 Pages

Blurb: Jamie Conway has a charmed life. At 24, he’s relocated from Dublin to London to star in his first feature film. Unfortunately, he also has one very big problem: He has a huge crush on his happily married costar.

British heartthrob to middle-aged women everywhere, Callum Griffith-Davies should have better sense than to flirt with his new-to-the-business colleague, but good judgement isn’t one of the qualities for which he’s known.

Nerea Espinosa de Los Monteros Nessim has better things to do than fret about her husband’s newest conquest. She’s busy planning her daughter’s wedding at the family’s farmhouse in rural Spain. Besides, she and Callum have been married and polyamorous for almost 30 years; she’s content to let him make his own bad choices.

But when Nerea flies to London after her artwork is selected for a high-profile museum show, she falls for Jamie too. Soon Callum, Jamie, and Nerea have bigger problems, and surprises, than international logistics. From ex-lovers and nosy neighbors to adult children with dramas of their own, The Art of Three is a contemporary romance that celebrates families, and farce, in all shapes and sizes.

Drawn In by Barbara Elsborg

(M/M, Contemporary, Suspense, Mystery)

Publisher: Barbara Elsborg (October 15, 2016))

Length: 262 pages

Amazon | Amazon UK | Add to Goodreads

Blurb: Undercover police officer Kell has crossed the line. He’s become trapped in an abusive relationship with his violent thug of a boss and sees no way back without wrecking months of work. The hope of ever being involved with someone who respects him seems a distant dream.
Private investigator Gethin is depressed that the bulk of his work involves following unfaithful partners. He knows just what it’s like to be cheated on. Even worse, his relationship with his ex is complicated and Gethin can see no way of breaking free of a guy who so desperately needs him.
A chance encounter brings Kell and Gethin together, entwining their lives with secrets and danger. They both have reasons to keep things casual. But there are consequences to zipless fucks. Not only do they have to survive people trying to kill them, they need to trust each other and keep their wits about them, while ensuring their hearts stay intact.

Pendulum (Kingdom of Knight #1) by L.C. Davis

(M/M not MMM, Paranormal, Shifters, light BDSM)

Publisher: LC Davis, Indie/Self-pub (April 10, 2016)

Length: 471 pages

Amazon | Amazon UK | Add to Goodreads

Blurb: Remus Black is still reeling from an abusive relationship that stripped him of everything — including his desire for love. Now all he wants is a fresh start halfway across the country, but his new roommate is determined to draw him into his strange world of chains, half-naked men and the infamous Lodge, a BDSM club as lavish as it is secretive.

When Remus is entered into the Lodge’s annual Alpha’s Pet contest against his will, he finds himself thrown to the Wolf Pack, the very type of men he needs to avoid. What’s worse is that the wolves immediately label him a submissive, something he swore he would never be again. Things get even stranger when “wolf” turns out to be far more literal than Remus ever imagined. When both the next-in-line for Alpha and his outcast brother claim Remus as their own, the entire pack is thrown into chaos.

Can Remus learn to embrace the power of submission and choose between the brothers before their rivalry tears the pack apart, or will the tension between them unravel his own sordid past?

Two Natures by Jendi Reiter

(Gay Historical, AIDS-Era)

Publisher: Saddle Road Press (September 15, 2016)

Length: 376 pages

Amazon | Saddle Road Press | Add to Goodreads

Blurb: Reiter’s debut novel offers a backstage look at the glamour and tragedy of 1990s New York City through the eyes of Julian Selkirk, an aspiring fashion photographer. Coming of age during the height of the AIDS epidemic, Julian worships beauty and romance, however fleeting, as substitutes for the religion that rejected him. His spiritual crisis is one that too many gay youth still face today.

This genre-bending novel couples the ambitious political analysis of literary fiction with the pleasures of an unconventional love story. Vivid social realism, enriched by unforgettable characters, eroticism, and wit, make Two Natures a satisfying read of the highest sort.

Just a Question of Love by J. Walther

(M/M, May-December)

Publisher: Babelcube Inc. (January 26, 2017)

Length: 209 pages

Amazon | Amazon UK | Add to Goodreads

Blurb: When Phillip, the young student of photography, meets the gallery owner, Christopher, 26 years his senior, a friendship quickly grows out of a fondness for each other. In truth there is spark between them, an attraction that in the long run neither of them can deny. Especially Phillip has doubts – will he give their unusual love a chance?

Erin McRae |-> Website

Erin McRae is a queer writer and blogger based in Washington, D.C. She owns several pieces of paper from distinguished universities, including a Master’s degree in International Affairs from American University, which qualify her to have lengthy and passionate discussions about the microeconomics of Tunisia. She also engages in lengthy and passionate discussions about military history. She likes trenches.

Erin is a cofounder of Avian 30, a literary collective dedicated to narratives with magical and sexual realism. She delights in applying her knowledge of international relations theory to her fiction and screen-based projects, because conflict drives narrative.

She lives in Washington, D.C. with her partner and their two cats.

Racheline Maltese |-> Website

Racheline Maltese can fly a plane, sail a boat, and ride a horse, but has no idea how to drive a car. With Erin McRae she writes romance about fame and public life. She is also a producer and writer on Tremontaine, Serial Box Publishing’s adventure of manners, swordplay, and chocolate that’s a prequel to Ellen Kushner’s gay lit classic, Swordspoint.

Racheline’s training includes a journalism degree from The George Washington University, as well as acting and directing coursework at the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School (New York City) and the National Institute of Dramatic Art (Sydney, Australia).

Her fiction, non-fiction and poetry has appeared in numerous outlets, and she is a regular speaker on pop-culture topics at fan and academic conferences. Racheline also voiced Desire and Delirium in a benefit performance of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman for the CBLDF.

Barbara Elsborg |-> Website

Barbara Elsborg lives in Kent in the South of England. She always wanted to be a spy, but having confessed to everyone without them even resorting to torture, she decided it was not for her. Vulcanology scorched her feet. A morbid fear of sharks put paid to marine biology. So instead, she spent several years successfully selling cyanide.
After dragging up two rotten, ungrateful children and frustrating her sexy, devoted, wonderful husband (who can now stop twisting her arm) she finally has time to conduct an affair with an electrifying plugged-in male, her laptop.

Her books feature quirky heroines and bad boys, and she hopes they are as much fun to read as they were to write.

L.C. Davis |-> Website

Genderqueer author of the Kingdom of Night and Mountain Shifters series, as well as the upcoming Queer Magick. I write magical gay smut with heart–and fangs.

Jendi Reiter |-> Website

Jendi Reiter is the author of the poetry collections “Bullies in Love” (Little Red Tree Publishing, 2015), “Barbie at 50” (Cervena Barva Press, 2010), “Swallow” (Amsterdam Press, 2009), and “A Talent for Sadness” (Turning Point Books, 2003). Her debut novel, “Two Natures”, forthcoming from Saddle Road Press in September 2016, is the coming-of-age story of a New York City fashion photographer who struggles to reconcile his Southern Baptist upbringing with his love for other men.

In 2010 she received a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artists’ Grant for Poetry. Her poetry and short fiction have received awards from The Iowa Review, Bayou Magazine, Alligator Juniper, the Poetry Society of America, and many others. She is the editor of WinningWriters.com, an online resource site for creative writers. Visit her blog at http://www.jendireiter.com and follow her on Twitter @JendiReiter .

J. Walther |-> Website

J. Walther is a German author within the LGBT-literature community. She was born in 1977 in a rural region of Germany, where she still lives and works as a social worker.
Since 2008 her stories have appeared in over 20 anthologies, among them various publications in “Mein heimliches/lesbisches/schwules Auge” (Konkursverlag), as well as anthologies for the “mdr-literature prize” in 2011.
The first novel “Benjamins Gärten” was published in “Debütverlag”, followed by “As Silence Fills the Room” (B. Gmünder Verlag) in 2011 and “Phillips Bilder” in 2013 by “Dead soft Verlag”. The latest book “Nur eine Frage der Liebe” in 2014 was self-published.