Review: No Sunshine When She's Gone (Barefoot Williams #3) by Kate Angell

The Barefoot Williams contemporary romance series by Kate Angell is made up of summer goodness -- romance, sunshine on the beach, and life on a boardwalk that feels like an eternal fair. These books, without failure, whisk me away to a better place.

Jillian and her childhood friend Carrie work for the Richmond Rogues baseball organization. They came to Barefoot Williams for a year to work with the construction company building a new spring training facility and to prepare the public relations groundwork. The construction company owned by Aidan Cates and successfully managed with the aid of friend and construction supervisor Mike Burke. Jillian moves into Shaye's docked boathouse for the duration of her stay at Barefoot Williams and Aidan provides Carrie with the penthouse at a luxury apartment complex.

Jillian and Aidan first meet on the boardwalk when she is mistaken for a fortuneteller, leading to a cute pursuit by Aidan, flirtatious meetings and fun misunderstandings, and a quick attraction between the two. Aidan is confident, down-to-earth, warm and known to family and friends for his kindness. Jillian has some of the same qualities, plus she is tough and extremely protective of family and friends. She is also accustomed to telling white lies and reticent when it comes to commitment. They become friends and lovers with Aidan falling deeply in love while childhood baggage presents a conflict for Jillian.

In the meantime, Carrie and Mike also become embroiled with each other. Their relationship begins on a hostile note when Mike crosses the line by making personal sarcastic remarks to Carrie. Carrie is a sweet giving person and sees something in the abrasive man, choosing to ignore her friend Jillie's warnings to stay away from him. Both Mike and Carrie have gone through life-changing situations, but whereas Carrie made the best of it, Mike became an angry, bitter man. The last thing Mike expects when he pushes his way into Carrie's life is to find a passionate woman capable of healing his wounded soul.

I enjoyed the central romance. Jillian has issues to work out, but she is a delightful woman whose romance with the hunky Aidan is fun and emotionally satisfying because he falls for her completely. And who can resist that? Not Jillian. And, I love the secondary romance between Carrie and Mike. It has depth of character, intimacy, and passion, and a great couple that deserves a happy ending. Ms. Angell weaves both romances tightly which made both romances stand out. For example: the Carrie/Mike relationship and their individual histories are revealed through their personal points of view as well as through Aidan and Jillie as their close friends.

I previously enjoyed Ms. Angell's Barefoot Williams series because of the fantastic summer atmosphere. However when it comes to the romance, I often complained about the lack of focus on the central couples because of Angell's tendency to include multiple secondary romances. In No Sunshine When She's Gone, her style finally worked for me. This is a recommended as a fun summer/beach read.

Category: Contemporary Romance
Series: Barefoot Williams
Publisher/Release Date: Kensington Books/April 29, 2014
Grade: B

Series:
No Tan Lines #1
No Strings Attached #2
No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service (Novella in He's the One Anthology)
No Sunshine When She's Gone #3

Summer Wish List: SFF/ UF / Contemporary Fiction

There are so many books I would love to read this summer! Some I've already pre-ordered, others are already in my possession, but I always keep a list of books in my "wish list." Of those, I usually end up reading at least half throughout any given year. From that list, I've chosen the ten SF/F, UF, and contemporary fiction books that I'm most likely to read from the July and August 2014 releases.

JULY 8, 2014

Landline by Rainbow Rowell (Fiction/SFF, St. Martin’s Press)

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her. Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. Georgie doesn’t expect him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally ruined everything. Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, exactly. She feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts. Is that what she’s supposed to do? Would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

JULY 10, 2014

Land of Love and Drowning: A Novel by Tiphanie Yanique (Fantasy, Riverhead)

In the early 1900s, the Virgin Islands are transferred from Danish to American rule, and an important ship sinks into the Caribbean Sea. Orphaned by the shipwreck are two sisters and their half brother. Each of them is unusually beautiful, and each is in possession of a particular magic that will either sink or save them.

Chronicling three generations of an island family from 1916 to the 1970s, this is a novel of love and magic set against the emergence of Saint Thomas into the modern world. The story is told in a language and rhythm that evoke an entire world and way of life and love. Following the Bradshaw family through sixty years of fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, love affairs, curses, magical gifts, loyalties, births, deaths, and triumphs.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Thomas Sweterlitsch (SF/Mystery, Putnam Adult)

A decade has passed since the city of Pittsburgh was reduced to ash. Survivor John Dominic Blaxton remains obsessed with the past. Grieving for his wife and unborn child who perished in the blast, Dominic relives his lost life by immersing in the Archive, a fully interactive digital reconstruction of Pittsburgh. Dominic investigates deaths recorded in the Archive to help close cases long since grown cold.When he discovers glitches in the code surrounding a crime scene, the body of a beautiful woman abandoned in a muddy park that he’s convinced someone tried to delete from the Archive, his cycle of grief is shattered. Dominic tracks the murder through a web of deceit that takes him from the darkest corners of the Archive to the ruins of the city itself, leading him into the heart of a nightmare more horrific than anything he could have imagined.

JULY 15, 2014

World of Trouble: The Last Policeman III by Ben H Winters (SF/Mystery, Quirk Books)

Critically acclaimed author Ben H. Winters delivers this explosive final installment in the Edgar Award winning Last Policeman series.

With the doomsday asteroid looming, Detective Hank Palace has found sanctuary in the woods of New England, secure in a well-stocked safe house with other onetime members of the Concord police force. But with time ticking away before the asteroid makes landfall, Hank’s safety is only relative, and his only relative—his sister Nico—isn’t safe.

Soon, it’s clear that there’s more than one earth-shattering revelation on the horizon, and it’s up to Hank to solve the puzzle before time runs out . . . for everyone.

JULY 22, 2014

Dissonance (Dissonance #1) by Erica O’Rourke (SF/F/Romantic Thriller, Simon & Schuster)

Delancy Sullivan has always known there’s more to reality than what people see. Every time someone makes a choice, a new, parallel world branches off from the existing one. As a Walker, someone who can navigate between these worlds, Del’s job is to keep all of the dimensions in harmony. Del can hear the dissonant frequency that each world emits as clear as a bell. When a training session in an off-key world goes horribly wrong, she is forbidden from Walking by the Council. She secretly starts to investigate these other worlds. Something strange is connecting them and it’s not just her random encounters with echo versions of the guy she likes, Simon Lane.

As she begins to fall for the Echo Simons in each world, she draws closer to a truth that the Council of Walkers is trying to hide, a secret that threatens the fate of the entire multiverse.

JULY 29, 2014

Lucky Us by Amy Bloom (Literary Fiction, Random House)

“My father’s wife died. My mother said we should drive down to his place and see what might be in it for us.”

So begins this remarkable novel by Amy Bloom, whose critically acclaimed Away was called “a literary triumph” (The New York Times). Lucky Us is a brilliantly written, deeply moving, fantastically funny novel of love, heartbreak, and luck.

Disappointed by their families, Iris, the hopeful star and Eva the sidekick, journey through 1940s America in search of fame and fortune. Iris’s ambitions take the pair across the America of Reinvention in a stolen station wagon, from small-town Ohio to an unexpected and sensuous Hollywood, and to the jazz clubs and golden mansions of Long Island.

With their friends in high and low places, Iris and Eva stumble and shine though a landscape of big dreams, scandals, betrayals, and war. Filled with gorgeous writing, memorable characters, and surprising events, Lucky Us is a thrilling and resonant novel about success and failure, good luck and bad, the creation of a family, and the pleasures and inevitable perils of family life, conventional and otherwise. From Brooklyn’s beauty parlors to London’s West End, a group of unforgettable people love, lie, cheat and survive in this story of our fragile, absurd, heroic species.

The Buried Life by Carrie Patel (SF/F/Murder Mystery, Angry Robots)

The gaslight and shadows of the underground city of Recoletta hide secrets and lies.

When Inspector Liesl Malone investigates the murder of a renowned historian, she finds herself stonewalled by the all-powerful Directorate of Preservation – Recoletta’s top-secret historical research facility.

When a second high-profile murder threatens the very fabric of city society, Malone and her rookie partner Rafe Sundar must tread carefully, lest they fall victim to not only the criminals they seek, but the government which purports to protect them. Knowledge is power, and power must be preserved at all costs…

Jack Strong: A Story of Life after Life by Walter Mosley (SF/F - Open Road Media)

In a Las Vegas hotel room, a man awakes to confront his destiny

Dreaming, Jack hears voices: a frightened child in a hospital, a woman cheating on her husband, a death-row inmate. When he wakes, the voices recede, but they do not vanish. He is in a luxurious hotel room on the Vegas strip, and his body is covered in scars. Jack Strong is a patchwork man, his flesh melded together from dozens of men and women, and his mind is the same way. Countless lifetimes are contained within him: people whose time was cut short, and who see their place in Jack as a chance to make things right.

On behalf of one of them, Jack reignites a feud with corrupt casino bosses. Drawing on the skills of another, he beats the life out of two bodyguards. Jack fights for control as he lurches from impulse to impulse, certain that somewhere within him exists a soul. The answers may lie with whomever is tailing him in a sleek black car—if Jack can somehow confront him.

AUGUST 5, 2014

Downfall: A Cal Leandros Novel by Rob Thurman (Urban Fantasy, Roc)

I let it go—all of it. Everything I’d been saving up all my life, building and growing inside me, too much to hold in one half-human body. It pushed and fought to be free with a force that turned me into a bomb with a timer vibrating on zero. I was free.

But so was everything I’d fought so hard not to be....

Brothers Cal and Niko Leandros know trouble when they see it—and then proceed to wipe the floor with it. But now it seems their whole world is falling to pieces. Cal’s nightmarish monster side is growing ever stronger, changing Cal physically as well as mentally. Which is exactly what Grimm—Cal’s savage doppelgänger—wants. And when a covert supernatural organization decides that it’s time to put Cal down before he threatens pretty much everything else in existence, the brothers find themselves in a fight they actually might lose. But the dark temptations Cal has denied all his life may prove to be exactly what can save them.

Even if he must fall forever…

AUGUST 12, 2014

The House We Grew Up In: A Novel by Lisa Jewell (Contemporary Fiction, Atria Books)

“Clever, intelligent…wonderful” (Jojo Moyes, New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You).

Meet the Bird family. They live in a honey-colored house in a picture-perfect Cotswolds village, with rambling, unkempt gardens stretching beyond. Pragmatic Meg, dreamy Beth, and tow-headed twins Rory and Rhys all attend the village school and eat home-cooked meals together every night. Their father is a sweet gangly man named Colin, who still looks like a teenager with floppy hair and owlish, round-framed glasses. Their mother is a beautiful hippy named Lorelei, who exists entirely in the moment. And she makes every moment sparkle in her children’s lives.

Then one Easter weekend, tragedy comes to call. The event is so devastating that, almost imperceptibly, it begins to tear the family apart. Years pass as the children become adults, find new relationships, and develop their own separate lives. Soon it seems as though they’ve never been a family at all. But then something happens that calls them back to the house they grew up in—and to what really happened that Easter weekend so many years ago.

Told in gorgeous, insightful prose that delves deeply into the hearts and minds of its characters, The House We Grew Up In is the captivating story of one family’s desire to restore long-forgotten peace and to unearth the many secrets hidden within the nooks and crannies of home.

The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey

"Melanie was new herself, once, but that's hard to remember because it was a long time ago. It was before there were any words; there were just things without names, and things without names don't stay in your mind. They fall out, and then they're gone.

Now she's ten years old, and she has skin like a princess in a fairy tale; skin as white as snow. So she knows that when she grows up she'll be beautiful, with princes falling over themselves to climb her tower and rescue her."

I first read the extended free version sample(10 chapters) of The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey in May and was absolutely taken in by the author's fresh approach to what are basically the makings of an old horror tale. I had such a positive response to the short version that I actually became anxious to read the entire novel. The novel lived up to my expectations. There are different reasons behind that:

1) The relationship between the two main characters.
The growing attachment between ten-year-old Melanie and her teacher Ms. Justineau is central to the story. Although Melanie is confused as to whom or what she is, her IQ is also off the charts, and she is strong-willed and tenaciously protective of Ms. Justineau, just as Ms. Justineau is protective of Melanie. Yet, I believe that what makes this very tense, fast-paced action, horror thriller a particularly effective read is the heavy contrast between the unexpected poignancy that stems from Melanie's unconditional love for her teacher, and the dangerous situations and dark revelations unfolding around her.

In the beginning, Melanie thinks she's a normal little girl. She lives in a cell, just like the other children, and is only allowed out when Sergeant and his men strap her on a wheelchair and take her to eat or to classes for the day. Her best days are Ms. Justineau days! Until one chaotic day everything changes, and every day is a Ms. Justineau day. Helen Justineau knows what Melanie is and why she's in that cell, and although she's part of a team and understands the dangers that go with her position, she disregards warnings and dangers and comes to see Melanie as 'just a child.’ Protecting Melanie, helping her navigate dangers inside and outside the compound where they both live, becomes her mission.

2) World-building:
The Girl With All the Gifts is a post apocalyptic piece set in the UK, however, it is clear that years earlier the Breakdown was a global event that devastated civilization when the majority humans were infected by the “hungry” pathogen. There are pockets of isolated humans restricted to living in small towns and a few cities such as Beacon, and “Junkers,” gangs of humans who go about freely throughout the countryside and cities looting for hardware and goods in order to survive. But communication is down to the old basics and no one really knows who or what is left out there.

The basis for the world-building may sound familiar, however, Carey’s book strikes me as distinctive in that he doesn’t take unnecessary shortcuts. Carey uses science by incorporating biological details that explain how the hungry pathogen derived from Cordyceps works and evolves, adding scientific methodology used to study mutations, as the logical steps to arrive at the beginning point of the story, and later to its logical conclusion. He does so without sacrificing high level tension by weaving those excellent details with the fast-paced action and horror aspects found in the novel.

3) Secondary Characters:
Speaking of horror, I was more horrified by a human character's actions than the natural reaction of the infected "hungries." The ‘human monster’ is a familiar character whose motivations are usually portrayed as black and white because, no matter the consequences, they are always able to rationalize their actions. Although the ‘moral’ question is sometimes introduced, as was the case here, for the ‘human monster’ the conclusion is almost always the same: the end justifies the means. However, there's also a redemptive quality to another central secondary character that turned out to be an unexpected bonus.

Melanie is a child and as such she dreams of princes rescuing her from her tower. Her little life turns out to be much different from how she imagined it would be once she gets out of her cell and discovers the reality of her world. But like Pandora's box when it is opened, once brilliant, courageous Melanie emerges, good or bad, the world will never be same.

“Growing up and growing old. Playing. Exploring. Like Pooh and Piglet. And then like the Famous Five. And then like Heidi and Anne of Green Gables. And then like Pandora, opening the great big box of the world and not being afraid, not even caring whether what’s inside is good or bad. Because it’s both. Everything is always both.

But you have to open it to find that out.”

Review: Wingmen by Ensan Case

I began reading Wingmen by Ensan Case on a Saturday afternoon and couldn't put it down until I finished it late the following day. It's that good!

The love story between Lt. Commander Jack Hardigan, USN and Ensign Frederick "Trusty" Trusteau begins in 1943 toward the end of the Pacific conflict during World War II, after Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway. The Navy is in the midst of reorganizing the fleet and reconfiguring their strategy against the Japanese. Experienced naval combat aviators are scarce with a majority falling under the young and untried-in-battle classification.

When Trusteau transfers to the VF-20, the fighting squadron of Air Group Twenty, aboard the fictitious aircraft carrier Constitution, he is an inexperienced aviator and his new skipper Jack Hardigan, a hotshot veteran of Midway with quite a few kills under his belt. Trusteau's admiration for Hardigan is immediate and on a grand scale. As events unfold and Fred becomes Jack's wingman, for Jack, the trust that develops between them in the skies translates to everyday admiration of a young man whose flying skills highlight personal qualities, such as loyalty, efficiency and an ability to think on his toes, while on the ground.

Fred is clueless about his sexuality, but knows he’s indifferent to women and doesn’t ‘fit in’ with the other men in his squadron. To fit, Fred follows their lead and has sex with prostitutes, including when he transfers to the VF-20 squadron where he gains the nickname "Trusty" after lasting 17 minutes and gaining a stud’s reputation. But Fred doesn't understand why the other men make such a big deal about women. Yet, Fred does everything in his power to get close to Jack, and although it takes him a while to figure it out, it quickly becomes clear that Fred’s crush on his skipper is enormous. Jack, on the other hand, is dating a wealthy war widow, and for him it's all about company while on leave. There's more of a friendship than a sexual vibe between them, and Jack prefers to spend time with his men than with her. Unlike Fred, Jack fits in with the men and it isn't until much later that he begins to equate his desire for Fred's company and fear of losing him in combat with a more personal attachment.

These are the 1940's, so the feelings that grow between Jack and Fred are kept closely guarded even from each other. There are two intimate scenes between Jack and Fred that take place away from the ship but, like in the old movies, everything fades to black when they hit the sheets. But feelings and emotions go deep for both of them, and before and after their intimate moments even when the two men are alone on the ship, conversations and physical contact are maintained on the buddy level. There's no outward acknowledgment of feelings, particularly under the circumstances since they were at war.

And it’s war! Ensan Case's Wingmen is a plot and character driven novel. His research of what transpired in the Pacific during World War II is fantastic and his take of life in an aircraft carrier is riveting. There is a particular vibrant atmosphere to his portrayal of the life men lead at close quarters on the ship, as well as when they are on leave -- the hard drinking and incessant smoking, the jocular ribbing and womanizing, as well as the desire to distinguish themselves during battle – that allows the reader to know these men. Additionally, Case gives them distinct personalities, making the reader care whether they live or die.

Case also hits the right note when focusing on the politics of command and strategies used by the Americans to hit the Pacific islands -- beginning with Marcus and moving on to Wake, Tarawa, Kwajalein, and Truk -- by incorporating details without, for one moment, slowing the pace or the excitement of the novel. Those details make this novel what it is, as he also incorporates what is critical to the men: the maneuverability of Hellcats, Corsairs and Avengers, dangers of landing on the aircraft carriers, the terrible accidents, lack of supplies. All of those details lead to the strategic air battles in the skies, as well as the one-on-one situations which become some of the most tension-filled and exhilarating moments of the story.

Case ends the book with a postwar section mostly written in letter format that gives the reader a broad idea of what happens to the main characters after the war and an epilogue that ends in 1969. I would have preferred if Fred and Jack’s story had ended a bit earlier, but frankly that did not influence my love of this book one way or another. Wingmen by Ensan Case is a fabulous fusion of historical fiction and romance that I recommend to everyone, but particularly to those who love exciting, well-researched tales set in the Pacific during World War II, as well as to readers who love a war time, tension-filled romance. It is already in my list of 2014 favorites!

Category: Historical Fiction/Gay Romance
Series: None
Publisher/Release Date: Lethe Press/July 2014
Source: ARC Lethe Press
Grade: A

Review: A Shiny Tin Star by Jon Wilson

Back in April, I read A Shiny Tin Star by Jon Wilson in one sitting. It made the top of my list as a favorite book of the month, and I've already re-read it once since then. A Shiny Tin Star was originally published by Cheyenne Publishing in 2012 and was well received with excellent reviews all around. I can definitely understand the reason behind those reviews. Lethe Press is re-releasing a few select books in July of 2014, this is one of them. Personally, I'm glad that Gene and Forest's romance won't be lost to future readers.

This historical western romance is set in Creek County, Colorado at the turn of the century in 1903, so it's a different sort of western. Townspeople are settled, the law is enforced, and there's not much of the "wild" left in the West. Sheriff Eugene Grey, a local, has matters under control and lives a relatively peaceful life until the young, arrogant Federal Marshal Forest O'Rourke shows up with an ancient wanted poster looking to arrest a local resident.

"I considered punching Forest O'Rourke in the face, the first time, about two minutes after making his acquaintance."

The narrative in this novel is strictly from Gene's first point of view perspective. It is quick witted, engaging, and absorbing throughout the novel, so of course I immediately fell in love with Gene Grey's voice and character. Not so much with young, arrogant Federal Marshal Forest O'Rourke or his brand new shiny tin star. That changes as the story unfolds and Gene exposes Forest's truths and vulnerabilities.

"Still, I gave him the benefit of the doubt that day for a couple of reasons, though mostly I claim I was bedazzled by the sunlight sparkling off his shiny, new badge."

Gene and Forest's story is divided into three parts. It begins with "The Law & Rawley Scoggins" and includes that first meeting, Forest's stubborn determination to arrest the old-timer, the disturbing end to those events for Forest and old Scoggins, and a few days of intimate acquaintance for Gene and Forest. Conversations lead to unexpected private revelations from both sides, particularly from Gene who finds himself attracted to young Forest and takes a leap by answering with the truth when asked why he is not married: "Because I like men, not women." 

What follows is a beautiful seductive scene where Forest takes the lead. This is a favorite scene where a tentative physical move with an almost tender quality builds into full-blown lusty passion between the two men. I found the depiction of this scene to be excellent, specifically in how well Wilson conveys sexual tension, lust, passion, and the emotions involved, without going into unnecessary minute graphic or explicit details.

In the second part of the book, "Diotima's Child," Forest returns to Creek County under false pretenses and moves in with Gene as his lover, eventually becoming Gene's temporary deputy. This section details a joyful period for Gene and Forest filled with passion and love. Their relief at having found each other, however, makes them a careless pair, so it's no surprise when all ends badly and the lovers end up making their way to Atlanta and Philadelphia in the final and, to my way of thinking, strongest section of the book "Lonesome Trail," where loneliness and terrible despair awaits them. And where Gene risks breaking the law, prison, and death for love.

Wilson's characters are a study in contrasts with Gene a confident, educated, working man from the West and Forest a hot-headed, almost illiterate (not-so-bright) well-to-do gentleman from the South. Needless to say, characterization is fine tuned as well, particularly Gene. Through Gene's narrative the reader experiences the full scope of the novel, as well as the inner workings of a self-assured man plagued by loneliness whose passionate love leads to such raging turmoil and despair that he will do anything for a smidgen of hope. To a lesser degree Forest's character, the man who inspires such passionate love, is also well rendered as he evolves throughout the novel. Wilson humanizes the characters by portraying their strengths and vulnerabilities during different sections of the novel, making them fit with each other, as well as with time, place, and setting.

A Shiny Tin Star is a romance with a happy ending. This historical western is memorable for its characters, its witty, engaging, straight-forward narrative style, and a sweet, passionate romance with conflicts that fit the historical period. It ends with one of the best memorable, quotable, last lines I've read in a long time. I would quote it for you, but don't want to spoil it. Read the book and find out!

Category: LGBT/Historical Romance/Western
Series: None
Publisher/Release Date: Lethe Press/ July 1, 2014
Source: eARC Lethe Press
Grade: B+

… On Shield of Winter (Psy/Changeling #13) by Nalini Singh

Shield of Winter is a transitional book in this long series by Nalini Singh. A much needed one with many threads to follow. First we have the overall story arc which drives all the other sub-plots, including the romance.

Overall Story Arc Summary: Silence has fallen and the Psy world in the midst of chaos. Kaleb Krychek has his hands full trying to avoid total destruction as the dark virus in the PsyNet spreads and threatens the world with violent psychotic breaks from the Psy and ultimately mass death for his people. Many are relieved that Silence is gone, but Krychek also has to deal with those who still want Silence or don't know what to do without it.

Kaleb can't afford to sit on his hands. He knows the Net is in danger of collapsing and that designation E Psys may make the saving difference. He entrusts his Arrows with a list of mature empaths that with some quick training may be able to help. He brings in the Changelings as allies by asking them for safe training ground in their territory. Krycheck goes further by investigating other possibilities and bringing in other allies, including the Forgotten, as well as Nikita and Anthony. It's all very political but surprisingly humane as Krycheck, Arrows, empaths, and allies take desperate measures to contain what could become a disaster of massive proportions.

Empaths: Singh brings in a new group of Psy characters who either have been hiding their empathic abilities their whole lives or were not aware of them. Their mission is to explore and expand abilities they hardly understand to fight darkness, corruption and madness on a psychic level as quickly as possible. Singh begins to further explore designation E and gives depth to her characters by making them individuals, introducing background stories and going as far as sub-dividing psychic abilities within the designation. I believe that a deeper exploration of empaths, one where they finally come into their own, will come along with Alice's story.

Arrows: The mysterious world of Arrows as trained assassins and soldiers is also fully explored. The Arrows are assigned to guard Es with their lives on a one-on-one basis. Their collective coldness and personal isolation serves as a big contrast to the colorful and emotional world of the empaths. Singh deeply explores the brutal, violent, inhumane training, as well as the Arrows' history of survival after fighting those who used their abilities to gain power, through Vasic and Aden's characters. There's a thought provoking quality to this sub-plot that comes from the soldier at war perspective that I believe Singh may continue to explore through other story lines with Arrows as main characters, i.e., Aden, but that I believe was truly well done in Shield of Winter.

Zie Zen, Aiden, and Secondary Characters: Through the Zie Zen character/thread, Singh brings into the open the history and magnitude of the Psy rebellion, and through Aden, the immensity of the Arrows's loyalty to one another. These two characters, although different in the way they show love, provide some of the most touching, emotionally connected moments in this installment. Judd and Sascha are also quite influential -- Judd with his care and loyalty for the Arrows, and Sascha with hers for the empaths. And who can resist Ivy's dog Rabbit?

The Romance: I need to make this point first. Vasic and Ivy are not carbon copies of Judd (Arrow in Caressed by Ice) and Sascha(Empath in Slave to Sensation). Singh doesn't repeat herself and I am very happy that she didn't do that with Vasic and Ivy. Who wants to read about the same characters with the same conflicts over and over again? I don't! In that respect, I am not disappointed.

Ivy doesn't know she's an empath and has been through a form of rehabilitation to fix her. But she's not broken, instead Ivy is a joyful, hopeful woman who has benefitted from being loved by her parents throughout her life. Vasic's coldness and emotional isolation call to her empathic senses and it doesn't take long before she's longing to warm up the Arrow assigned as her personal guard. Vasic cant feel anything. He's on the edge and almost broken from guilt and despair. Ivy gets under his skin. He has never met anyone like her and doesn't know what to do when Ivy begins to push his boundaries. As the two battle the Net and the madness affecting the Psy, Vasic's cold walls begin to crumble in the face of Ivy's loving warmth. But can she walk with him in his personal darkness? Will she understand his past actions? Will she survive the onslaught of the Net's Dark Mind?

This romance is woven into the overall story arc and Vasic and Ivy spend a lot of their time in danger, battling and working on strategies to defeat the darkness. Their intimate time together is beautiful, and I like that as individuals they don't play games about how they feel about each other. I think that is because neither is capable of hiding. But those beautiful times are limited, and other, more significant sub-plots and characters, take the focus away from Vasic and Ivy. So in the end, although I love what there is of Vasic and Ivy together, the romance becomes another sub-plot in this installment, albeit, one where the two characters are an integral part of that all-important overall story arc.

Epilogue: Epilogues can be great or they can damage a great read. In this case I loved it. The Psys are evolving and the whole world will have to evolve with them. There have been changes in Singh's Psy/Changeling world and there are more changes to come -- dangerous enemies, chaos and instability to overcome, but there's hope and love too. Now we wait for the next book. :)

LGBT: Great New Releases!

There are some fantastic new releases out there for those of us who love reading LGBT themed books. There's something for everyone, and of course lots for me. Following is a list of the latest or upcoming releases that caught my attention, from a few select publishers (listed in alphabetical order):

BOLD STROKES BOOKS:

Queerly Beloved: A Love Story Across Genders by Diane and Jacob Anderson-Minshall (Queer Memoir)

Imagine if, after fifteen years as a lesbian couple, your partner turned to you and said, "I think I'm really a man." What would you do? How would you respond? For Diane and Jacob (née Suzy) Anderson-Minshall this isn't a hypothetical question. It's what really happened. Eight years later, the couple not only remains together, they still identify as queer, still work in LGBT media, and remain part of the LGBT community. How did their relationship survive a gender transition? The authors explore this question and delve into their relationship to reveal the trials and tribulations they have faced along the way. In doing so, they paint a portrait of love, not only to each other, but to the San Francisco Bay Area, LGBT publishing, and the queer community. Queerly Beloved is a love story that flies in the face of expectations and raises questions about the true nature of identity, sexuality, and love.

There is a great review for this queer memoir at the Chelsea Station online magazine. After reading it, I immediately placed the book on my wish list.

KENSINGTON PUBLISHING:

Now and Yesterday: A Novel by Stephen Greco (Contemporary Gay Fiction)

"An often poignant, and sometimes chilling, romance of the creative class." --Edmund White

In the three decades since Peter first moved into his Brooklyn apartment, almost every facet of his life has changed. Once a broke, ambitious poet, Peter is now a successful advertising executive. He's grateful for everything the years have given him--wealth, friends, security. But he's conscious too of what time has taken in return, and a busy stream of invitations doesn't dull the ache that remains since he lost the love of his life.

Will is a young, aspiring journalist hungry for everything New York has to offer--culture, sophistication, adventure. When he moonlights as a bartender at one of Peter's parties, the two strike up a tentative friendship that soon becomes more important than either expected. In Peter, Will sees the ease and confidence he strives for, while Peter is suddenly aware of just how lonely his life has become. But forging a connection means navigating very different sets of experience and expectations, as each decides how to make a place for himself in the world--and who to share it with.

Beautifully written, warm yet incisive, Now and Yesterday offers a fascinating exploration of two generations--and of the complex, irrefutable power of friendship--through the prism of an eternally changing city.

I love books that explore generational differences through intimate relationships and the effects those differences may or may not have on the individuals. A May release, Now and Yesterday is already available.

LETHE PRESS:

A Shiny Tin Star by Jon Wilson (Western Historical Romance)

On a scorching summer’s day in 1903 the sheriff of Creek County, Eugene Grey, unexpectedly finds himself partnered with feisty young Federal Marshal Forest O'Rourke. The marshal is hell-bent on capturing a wanted man—a man Eugene knows as nothing but an amiable old geezer living quietly in the hills.

But, of course, all is not as it seems. As the manhunt progresses, Eugene slowly works out the true nature of the marshal’s relationship to the old man. And something Eugene has long kept hidden begins to stir inside him. He finds it impossible to deny the desire he feels toward the determined young marshal.

Death and fiery destruction follow, but also passion and stolen moments of joy. Eugene’s journey takes him from his small town of Canyon Creek, Colorado, to the stately homes of Atlanta and Philadelphia. But it also pits him against the very laws he has sworn to uphold. He finds himself risking prison or even death—all in the name of love.

This is a classic western historical romance that was previously published but has been reprinted and released by Lethe. I received the ARC for this book and it is a gorgeous read. Upcoming review.

The Filly by Mark R. Probst (YA Western Historical) 

Escaping into the fantasy of his books when he's not working in the general store, Ethan Keller has lived a sheltered life in his mother's boarding house. One day, an enigmatic cowboy passing through the small Texas town takes an immediate liking to the shy seventeen-year-old. Ethan is intrigued by the attention, and the cowboy eventually charms him into signing on to a 900-mile cattle drive. Ethan soon finds that his feelings for this cowboy run deeper than just friendship. He never knew that this kind of love even existed; and now for the two of them to make a life together in the untamed west, they must face nearly insurmountable odds if they are to survive.

I've been in a western kick lately, and The Filly is a young adult western historical romance. As soon as I saw the book featured at Lethe's catalogue I bookmarked it and will be feeding my Kindle soon. :)

Wingmen by Ensan Case (Historical Fiction/Romance)

First published in 1979, this World War II novel, with overtones of From Here to Eternity, was a precursor to the gay romance genre. Jack Hardigan's Hellcat fighter squadron blew the Japanese Zekes out of the blazing Pacific skies. But a more subtle kind of hell was brewing in his feelings for rookie pilot Fred Trusteau. While a beautiful widow pursues Jack, and another pilot becomes suspicious of Jack and Fred's close friendship, the two heroes cut a fiery swath through the skies from Wake Island to Tarawa to Truk, there to keep a fateful rendezvous with love and death in the blood-clouded waters of the Pacific.

World War II flyboys, Hellcat fighters, and love. I just received the ARC for this classic and can't wait to read this vintage piece.

Butcher's Road by Lee Thomas (Speculative Fiction/Horror/Historical Fiction)

1932: Fortune and celebrity are years behind Butch Cardinal. Once a world-class wrestler, Cardinal now serves as hired muscle for a second-rate Chicago mobster. While collecting a parcel from a gangland lowlife, Cardinal witnesses the man's murder. Though wounded, he escapes the killers and flees into the night carrying the package. In it is a necklace with a metal pendant. Bent and scratched, the thing looks like a piece of junk, but the trinket is the reason a man died. It's the reason a lot of people will die. Finding shelter with another shamed wrestler in New Orleans, Cardinal embarks on search for answers that will reveal a world of metallic charms and weapons, all forged with unimaginable powers. Alone and outgunned, Cardinal must stand against the Chicago mobs, a brilliant and insane hitman, the police, and a mysterious order intent on retrieving their relic.

If you like a little horror with your historical fiction, you can't go wrong with the latest release by Lee Thomas. I already have it in my Kindle.

TRIQUARTERLY BOOKS:

Let Me See It: Stories by James Magruder (Gay Fiction)

James Magruder’s collection of linked stories follows two gay cousins, Tom and Elliott, from adolescence in the 1970s to adulthood in the early ’90s. With a rueful blend of comedy and tenderness, Magruder depicts their attempts to navigate the closet and the office and the lessons they learn about libidinous coworkers, résumé boosting, Italian suffixes, and frozen condoms. As Tom and Elliot search for trusting relationships while the AIDS crisis deepens, their paths diverge, leading Tom to a new sense of what matters most. Magruder is especially adept at rendering the moments that reveal unwritten codes of behavior to his characters, who have no way of learning them except through painful experience.

Loss is sudden, the fallout portrayed with a powerful economy. In Tom and Elliott, readers come to recognize themselves, driven by the same absurd desires and unconscious impulses, subjected to the same fates.

Going by the summary, I have a feeling that this gay fiction novel is going to make me laugh but that it will also break my heart. A must read!

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS:

Little Reef and Other Stories by Michael Carroll (Collection)

Little Reef and Other Stories announces the arrival of an original voice in literature. From Key West to Maine, Michael Carroll’s debut collection of stories depicts the lives of characters who are no longer provincial but are not yet cosmopolitan. These women and their gay male friends are “B-listers” of a new, ironic, media-soaked culture. They live in a rich but increasingly divided America, a weirdly paradoxical country increasingly accepting of gay marriage but still marked by prejudice, religious strictures, and swaths of poverty and hopelessness. Carroll shows us people stunned by the shock of the now, who have forgotten their pasts and can’t envision a future.

I recently read a fantastic short story by Michael Carroll and of course began looking for more. Fortunately, I found this June release. This book is going on my wish list.

WILDE CITY PRESS:

My Favorite Uncle by Marshall Thornton (Gay Fiction)

Martin Dixon’s carefully constructed peaceful life is turned upside down when his super Christian eighteen year-old nephew Carter shows up unexpectedly on his doorstep and announces he’s gay, Martin’s first impulse is to send him back to his parents. But when he discovers that Carter has been in a mental hospital to cure his gay-ness he realizes he’s stuck with the boy. Unfortunately, the two get on each other’s nerves, each driving the other to distraction. Independently, they each arrive at the same conclusion. The other would be much less annoying if he only had…a boyfriend.

I love Marshall Thornton's writing style and his Boystown series. I love this book's summary and expect the story will be a good one. This is a definite read for me.

TBR Review: Always to Remember by Lorraine Heath

June's theme for Wendy's TBR Challenge is Romance Classics. A few years back, I became a Lorraine Heath fan and ended up reading and collecting quite a few books from her backlist. As it turns out, I had the book that won the 1997 RITA award for Lorraine Heath under the Short Historical category, Always to Remember. After reading it my thoughts were, if this is not a classic, then it should be!

I found Always to Remember unique. It is short, only 100 pages, yet it reads like a full-length novel with none of those missing elements sometimes found in short works. Heath achieves this through her focus on courage, in this case using civil disobedience coming from a conscientious objector. The romance, between two people with very different ideas about the meaning of courage, is driven by the same focus and different beliefs. As a result, she creates some pretty amazing central characters who must overcome truly difficult hurdles in order to find happiness, and also makes the best out of secondary characters and setting -- small town Texas, during the post-American Civil War era.

Always to Remember is set in Cedar Grove, Texas. This small town is steeped in a dark well of never-ending grief that has turned to brutal hatred and bitter, irrational resentment of Clayton, who lives while their sons, brothers, and husbands died bravely at the Battle of Gettysburg fighting for the Cause. Clayton, the town's coward and pariah, serves as a constant reminder of their own loses. Even one of Clayton's brothers repudiates him as a coward. No one, except for the town's doctor bothers to ask him or tries to understand why he refused to fight. But no one hates or is more contemptuous and bitterly resentful of Clayton than Meg Warner, Clayton's best friend's widow.

"I will not take up arms against my fellow man."

"I didn’t believe we should fight the Northern states, and yet, I could not in all good conscience take up arms against the South, my home, and my friends. But more than that, I would not fight because I believe it’s a sin against God to kill another man."

Clayton is a conscientious objector with strong beliefs and the courage to fight for them. So when his best friend and the boys he grew up with volunteered and rode to war in a blaze of glory, strongly believing in the Cause -- that of Texas seceding from the Union -- Clayton stayed behind. And later when conscribed by the Confederate Army, nineteen year-old Clayton refused to fight and was sentenced to death. Unable to shoot him after hearing Clay's last Christ-like prayer, superior officers confined him to prison and torture until the end of the war when Clayton decided to come back home.

Meg Warner lost her beloved husband Kirk and three of her four brothers. Like the rest of Cedar Grove, she centers all of her grief and hatred on Clay. She doesn't speak or acknowledge the man, but decides to punish Clay by forcing him to admit cowardly actions and betrayal of his best friend Kirk. To do so, she commissions Clay to create a memorial of the town's heroes and insists on witnessing the process. But as she witnesses the process, Clay surprises her with his fantastic talents as a sculptor, his humanity, sensitivity, capability for forgiveness, and relentless courage, and after some humiliating, contentious events and conversations, Meg slowly begins to change her mind and to see Clay clearly.

"You think the only battles fought are done so with rifles, and the only wounds that kill draw blood. You think courage is loud, boisterous and proud."

Heath's hero is not perfect, but he approaches perfection at times. He's a "turn-the-other-cheek" type of man, and believe me that other cheek gets slapped over and over again by everyone and his own brother. But while Clayton is a memorable male character for his courage and refusal to give up on his beliefs in the face of torture in and out of prison, he also makes an impact as a romance hero with his shy, virginal, tenderness and a deep loneliness that he will break any woman's heart.

Clayton's characterization could have been a total turn-off, but Heath makes it work by balancing his characterization with Meg's. She is less than perfect, as a matter of fact Meg is truly hateful at times, but Heath does a fantastic job of humanizing her. Additionally, it is through Meg and the town's perspective that the reader gets the full scope of what this short historical romance is really all about.

As a romance, Always to Remember is contentious, tender, and passionate with a beautiful happy ever after and a sweet epilogue. Throughout its development the conflicts between the protagonists and secondary characters are thought provoking. I said above that Heath focuses on courage to develop the entire novel, but in the end it is also a redemptive read, one where not only Meg but the people of Cedar Grove, find what they need to go on with their lives. On a personal note: I really liked this book by the time I finished it, but it stayed with me, and the more I processed what I read, the more I loved Heath's execution. So Always to Remember goes on my list of highly recommended reads. If you haven't read it yet, give it a try.

"Within the shadows of honour, courage often walks in silence"

Category: Short Historical Romance - Post American Civil War
Series: None
Publisher/Release Date: Jove, 1996 - Kindle Ed.
Grade: A-

Longmire New Season Kickoff + Any Other Name (Walt Longmire #10) by Craig Johnson

The new season of Longmire kicked off in A&E. The first episode began with a bang! I personally thought it was fantastic and am following the episodes closely. It picked up exactly where last season ended with both Henry and Branch in trouble, and Walt running to save them both. These two story lines are obviously going to serve as this season's overall story arc, with mysteries to be solved by Longmire, Vic, Ferge, and his crew, interwoven within each episode.

Last year I became addicted to both the television program and the original book series by Craig Johnson. The program is based on the books and I became curious and read books 1 through 4 then skipped to book 9 because well. . . I wanted to catch up on a "spoiler" and couldn't wait to find out. I have books 5 through 8 in my Kindle but decided to read them this summer and indulge myself in more of Johnson's fantastic contemporary western goodness. For more about the differences between the television series vs. the books go here.

But there is also a new book by Craig Johnson that released last month.

ANY OTHER NAME (Walt Longmire Mystery #10) by Craig Johnson

Any Other Name begins as Walt's daughter Cady is waiting to give birth and Walt is due to travel to Philadelphia for his first grandchild's birth. In the meantime his old boss Lucian asks him to accompany him to Gillette in Campbell County to help investigate the alleged suicide of a friend's husband -- semiretired Detective Gerald Holman. The by-the-book Holman was working the County's cold files and his widow, who doesn't believe the forensic reports or the sheriff's assertion that her husband committed suicide, insists that there is some sort of cover-up going on. Lucian warns her to make sure she wants Walt involved in the investigation because “he’s like a gun; once you point him and pull the trigger, it’s too late to change your mind.” And, that's exactly what happens. Once Walt becomes invested in the investigation he's relentless and no matter the results, good or bad, there's no stopping until he's done.

Walt quickly comes to the conclusion that Holman committed suicide. But his question is why? Once he begins digging deeper Walt realizes that Holman may have been hiding information that connected the disappearance of three women, all three investigated as separate crimes. Why would a by-the-book lawman knowingly hold back that kind of information? With the assistance of his Undersheriff and lover Vic Moretti, best friend Henry Standing Bear, Dog, and a rookie from Campbell County, Walt's investigation begins to make sense of the information trickling in until it all takes a dark, unexpected, and dangerous turn. And as the countdown begins to the time when Cady's is scheduled to give birth, the anxiety builds for Walt who won't give up on solving the case or hoping that he will make it in time to get to Philadelphia.

The timeline for solving this mystery is short, a few days, so the pacing is quick and just as relentless as Walt. The bulk of the novel is taken up by the mystery with an anxious Walt trying to find out why a man like Holman would commit suicide while knowing that no matter what happens, he has to be there for over-emotional and demanding Cady. Both the mystery and action are great -- peppered with high octane dangerous situations, Walt's witty narrative, humanity and determination. As in other books, you can count on excellent contributions by Henry, Vic, and Lucian, which are accompanied by a few of Johnson's atmospheric, signature mystic moments. If anything is lacking, in my opinion, it is the lack of page time dedicated for Vic and Walt to discuss the events with which Johnson closed A Serpent's Tooth -- a situation that brought such deep despair to them both.

Any Other Name is another great mystery installment in Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire Mystery series with less of the personal overall story arc involved. Still, I gobbled up this book in one sitting. There's a big revelation at the end of the book that foreshadows what's to come in the next, or in future installments, for Walt. I can't wait to find out how that turns out. If you're a fan, I know you won't miss it. If you're not, I definitely recommend this western contemporary mystery series as a whole.

Category: Western Contemporary Mystery
Series: Walt Longmire
Publisher/Release Date: Viking Adult/May 13, 2014
Grade: B+

Review of books in Series:
The Cold Dish #1
Death Without Company #2
Kindness Goes Unpunished #3
Another Man's Moccasins #4
A Serpent's Tooth #9