BSB UK Bash, 2013 – A Truly Fabulous Fest!

Sitting in the sunshine and reading through eight pages of scrawled, at times barely legible notes is making me smile. The sunshine is playing its part in that, but the notes were taken during the recent Bold Strokes Books UK Fest and they are bringing back very fond memories. With over eighty people crammed into Waterstones’ events room, cameras clicking and snapping, enthusiastic audience participation and a book sales table that looked like a plague of locusts had been through it, this year’s event was the best one yet. It was, in no uncertain terms, a bloody good weekend. So, where the hell do I start?

News Roundup: Devon Marshall & Nicola Griffith interviews, BSB UK Blog updates, Freebies, VG Lee & Emma Donoghue

It’s raining, so I made cake. Let’s settle down with a nice cup of tea, a big piece of raspberry oaty-niceness cake and the news, shall we?

Devon Marshall has been interviewed over at The Modern L, which has also posted a rave review of her novel Voodoo Woman. Check out her answers to vital questions such as “Do you believe in the Loch Ness Monster?” and “Do Scottish dykes wear kilts?”, as well as much less serious matters such as self-publishing and dealing with criticism, here.

(The answers, by the way, are “Yes” and “It’s what they wear UNDERNEATH their kilts that matters.” Hmm…)

~~~

After her recent honour from the Lambda Literary Foundation and with the release of Hild drawing ever closer, Nicola Griffith has been busy fielding interviews this past week. An interesting and revealing chat with Seattle newsite Crosscut has just been published, and on her publisher’s website Nicola discusses the origins of Hild with editor Sean McDonald.

“In the writing of it, I knew I really wanted Hild to measure up to Mantel’s Cromwell: that sense of an extraordinary mind breasting the waves of competing political agendas. Beneath that I hope the reader will feel the same wild magic of the landscape evoked by Mary Stewart in The Crystal Cave. And if I could give readers the sheer exhilaration in Hild’s company that Patrick O’Brian gave me with Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin I’d know I was finally getting it right…”

~~~

Proving that even award-winning, seasoned writers like Emma Donoghue get nervous when submitting new works for consideration, she recently posted this little teaser on her blog:

“Just sold my new novel. Phew! (It’s nerve-wracking every time… no guarantees that publishers will like the next just because they liked the last.) Out next spring, details to follow.”

We’ll pass on more news as soon as we hear any!

Also, her short story collection Astray is newly out in paperback. She says: “Picador’s just brought out a lovely paperback of ASTRAY in the UK. So many of my books feature either a headless or a back-to-the-viewer woman…”

And it would seem that this latest version is no exception to that rule. It is pretty, though.

~ ~ ~

The UK authors of Bold Strokes Books are gearing up for their Nottingham Fest with a two week blog extravaganza which will feature posts from each of the attending authors. First up are Lesley Davies answering some prompts from readers, and Jane Fletcher, who has been pondering that age-old question What Is Lesbian Fiction? The blogs will run on a daily basis up to and including Friday 7th June, so keep checking them out!

~ ~ ~

You  know how much we like free stuff over here on UK LesFic. We don’t actually get any of it, but we like it all the same. But there is free stuff up for grabs over on Goodreads, where Sky Croft is running a giveaway for her new novel, Mountain Rescue: The Ascent. There are two copies in the draw and entrants will be accepted until the 26th June. Good luck.

~ ~ ~

Lastly, a date for your diary: VG Lee will be performing the Lady of the Wild West Hill! on Friday 20th September, 7.30pm at Birmingham LGBT Health & Well Being Centre, 38-40 Holloway Head, Birmingham, B1 1EQ. For details try phoning: 0121 643 0821 or keep an eye on VG’s own website.

~ ~ ~

Editor’s note: Despite an unpromising, purpley appearance, the cake was actually quite tasty. Huzzah!

News roundup: reviews, festivals and follow us on Facebook

Reviewers have been busy with Cari Hunter‘s books. Terry Baker reviewed the new thriller-romance Desolation Point. This is what she had to say: “I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is an extremely well written, page turning adventure romance. I simply couldn’t put this book down and read well into the night. The suspense and tension along with several OMG moments had my heart racing and left me breathless.” You can read the rest of the review here.

Hannah has also reviewed Cari’s first book Snowbound, another gripping romance set in a wintery Peak District. “Whether it is the author’s exceptional writing talent, the fact that we have had an uncommonly snowy winter, or a combination of both, but when I started reading Snowbound by Cari Hunter I was immediately drawn into the atmosphere and the plot.” Read the rest of the review here.

C-Spot Reviews covered the audio version of Jackie Kay‘s Trumpet. The novel centres on Joss Moody, a famous jazz man, who was discovered to be a woman on his death. He left behind a widow, Millie, and a son who had only known Joss as a man and his father. The award-winning novel has long been critically acclaimed and this is what C-spot had to say of the audio version: “Jackie Kay’s writing is just wonderful. She gives each character a voice that feels strong and true and my emotions went in so many different directions that I feel raw having spent about four hours with the story today. I chose to experience Trumpet by listening to the unabridged audio book and I highly recommend it. The narrator, Cathleen McCarron, brought so much to the story that I couldn’t imagine feeling the same level of emotion if I had read the words on the page.” The rest of the review is available here.

There are two new events for your diary. The McGal Festival will be held in Dunfermline at the end of August. The Scottish festival aims to celebrate lesbian culture and have a safe and friendly environment for LGBT women and their queer-postive friends and family. As well as music, comedy, a pole-dancing workshop, films and speed-dating, the festival features a reading and a “ways into writing workshop” by VG Lee.

VG will also be appearing at Booqfest as will Crin Claxton and Lesley Davis. Crin and Lesley will be discussing the mysteries behind their specialist genre – fantasy – and VG will be reading an excerpt from her play The Lady of the Wild West Hill (for the Brighton Fringe in May) and taking part in a panel discussion with other playwrights. Booqfest is Northampton’s free gay & lesbian literary festival and takes place 13-15 September.

Gill McKnight has also been making promises about the BSB Nottingham Meet that might not be entirely true. Here’s her blog post “Lose 43 pounds of fat just by attending the 4th BSB UK event!” which also has some factual information about this fab and free event.

Finally, you can now follow UKLesFic on Facebook. We have a shiny new page you can like here.

News Round Up: New books from loads of Brit authors, The Cocktail Hour Needs You, and Gaze Magazine hits the Internet

We hung on to the news this week so we could post a bit of a bumper update! And bumper it certainly is! Deep breath, here we go…

Let’s kick off with what we’re all about on this site, which is new books by UK authors:

Bold Strokes Books updated their forthcoming schedule last week, providing details on all their new releases up to and including February, 2014, and there are loads of UK authors listed.  In June, Crin Claxton’s vampire thriller Scarlet Thirst will be getting an e-book rerelease, while July sees brand new works from I.Beacham and Ke Payne. Andrea Bramhall has Clean Slate out in September and the next instalment of Lesley Davis’ Wings Paranormal series Pale Wings Protecting is released in October. Rounding out 2013 and just in time for Christmas will be Secret Lies, the début from YA novelist Amy Dunne. The synopses and covers for all those novels can be found by clicking the above link.

LT Smith has a new novel pending with her new publisher Ylva. See Right Through Me is slated for an autumn release  (well, the site says Fall, so I’m translating that into Brit!) and the blurb goes a little like this:

Trust, respect, and love. Three little words—that’s all. But these words are powerful, and if we ignore any one of them, then three other little words take their place: jealousy, insecurity, and heartbreak.
Schoolteacher Gemma Hughes is an ordinary woman living an ordinary life. Disorganised and clumsy, she soon finds herself in the capable hands of the beautiful Dr Maria Moran. Everything goes wonderfully until Gemma starts doubting Maria’s intentions and begins listening to the wrong people.
But has Maria something to hide, or is it a case of swapping trust for insecurity, respect for jealousy and finishing with a world of heartbreak and deceit? Can Gemma stop her actions before it’s too late? Or will she ruin the best thing to happen in her life?
Given her track record, anything is possible …

Over on Val McDermid’s blog is the revelation that she is currently working on a new Tony and Carol thriller.

Val says: ‘I’m working on the new Tony & Carol book, Cross and Burn — the title comes from the saying, ‘the problem with bridges is knowing which ones to cross and which ones to burn.’ A killer is on the loose, a killer who threatens both Tony and Carol but in very different ways.’

Val is also busy with preliminaries on her reworking of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. Never let it be said that this is an author who doesn’t like a challenge.

Last but not least of our roundup of “new release” news this week is BSB’s UK editorial arm Victoria Oldham (an honorary Brit!) who has a short story (Love’s Horizon) published this month in the anthology Blood and Lipstick: 

In Love’s Horizon, yacht captain Jayne moonlights as a paranormal researcher, so she isn’t surprised when her newest client, Eleni, turns out to be a vampire. What does surprise her is that after making Eleni promise that she was permanently off the menu, she becomes increasingly frustrated when Eleni keeps it.

For more information on the anthology and the stories within, check out this link.

Moving on from reading to listening now, and the lovely ladies at The Cocktail Hour podcast have been in touch with UK LesFic to open up an invitation to any UK authors who might be interested in featuring on short recordings. Cheri – who regularly co-hosts the show – wrote to say:

Any authors looking for an audience for a short reading or would like to chat for a bit about their work and/or future projects can contact the folks over at Cocktail Hour and set something up. info@cocktailhour.us

The Cocktail Hour podcasts have  a large and enthusiastic fanbase and their focus is mainly on LesFic, whether that be interviewing authors, chatting about books or, on occasion, just getting a little bit tipsy. If you’ve never visited their archives before, you could probably get lost in them for a good few days! At the moment, they are holding a Best of 2012 poll where listeners can vote for their favourite show of the year. There are some huge LesFic names in the running, so go catch up on those you might have missed, and pick your winners!

A new gay culture review magazine, Gaze, has just hit the Internet. In a recent article for The Guardian, co-creator Paul Burston explained the thinking behind the publication which lists VG Lee as one of its contributors: “We didn’t want to write about gay lifestyle or pander to straight soap hunks who love their gay fans. We wanted to tackle issues one doesn’t generally read about in the lesbian and gay press.” Sounds like it might be well worth a peek. The magazine can be purchased here.

To round out on a lighter note, the best search term of the week resulting in a hit to this site simply has to go to: lesbian hunting hunting lesbian girls in shopping center

Whoever the hell was trolling for that, I hope you eventually got lucky. PS – you misspelled centre.

Book feature: Dark Wings Descending by Lesley Davis

Lesley Davis was recently short-listed for a Lambda Literary Award. Here, she very generously answers some questions for UKLesfic on her award-nominated book Dark Wings Descending.

For those who haven’t read the book, here’s the blurb:

Goodness may appear in many forms; evil need only take one.

The Chicago PD Deviant Data Unit specializes in the dark and cruel aspects of criminal behavior. When a serial killer who leaves his victims oddly posed starts terrorizing the city, Detective Rafe Douglas leads the team tasked to find this sadistic killer. Still recovering from severe injuries sustained in the line of duty, Rafe’s tenuous hold on what is real is further tested by someone who wants in on the case and won’t take no for an answer.

Private Investigator Ashley Scott experiences the world through unveiled eyes. She alone can see that Hell’s inhabitants are breaking free from their confines and are bringing their evil to Earth. She believes the killer isn’t human and knows she has to convince Rafe there are more things happening in the Windy City than anyone could possibly realize. Only together can they solve the secrets revealed in the killer’s brutal slayings.

Congratulations on being a Lambda finalist. Before telling us about the book, would you like to tell us a little about yourself and your background?

Thank you. I’m chuffed to pieces to have been nominated in the Best Lesbian Romance category with Dark Wings Descending. It’s a fantastic honour.

I’m from the West Midlands of England, born and bred in the Black Country. I’m a huge fan of science fiction and fantasy films, and eat, sleep and breathe gaming. (Yes, just like Trent in Playing Passion’s Game!) I play on all consoles but am a Nintendo diehard through and through. I suffer with M.E. so battle daily with the demons that particular illness carries. And in a former life I was a Mortgage Associate…. before the dark times, before redundancy!

How would you classify Dark Wings Descending?

I’d classify it as Supernatural Romance. With a crime story. And a cat, don’t forget about the cat!

What attracted you to the story and these characters? What’s the core appeal of the book for you?

I’ve written supernatural stories before with Cast A Wide Circle and A Touch of Alchemy (previously published works) but this time I didn’t write of witches and magick. I wanted to go a different route and picked angels and demons. I hope the appeal is firstly the romance between two very strong women, each with their own place in a very crazy world. A world that gets crazier for Detective Rafe Douglas the more she gets exposed to it. But with Ashley Scott by her side she finds her true place. I also wanted to explore how someone would react if faced by things we’re told exist but that we never truly see except with eyes of faith.

Did you enjoy writing from the perspective of one character in particular?

Rafe Douglas was great fun to create. She’s my most sweary character to date, I think! But I figure, if I was surrounded by the badness of human criminality as well as demons from hell, I’d swear a lot too! I wanted her to fight against what she was being shown, after all, who wants the knowledge that hell exists and is bleeding out onto the earth? But when she accepts that she really has no choice any more she gains purpose and a new fight. I also liked she never held back what she thought either, especially if it was a sarcastic reply!

Did you set out to write a series when you began writing the book?

I had the idea for the sequel while I was writing Dark Wings Descending. Blythe Kent, Rafe’s FBI friend, had a much bigger scene originally but it was edited down (which worked out better for me in the long run). I knew that the next story would be Blythe’s and would be about her and a detective investigating child abductions. Dark Wings Descending was written to be followed by Blythe’s tale, hence it being done immediately after. Pale Wings Protecting is due for release in October 2013 and I’ve got an idea for what comes after that one too. But I have some other stories to do before then…unless those characters start talking to me louder than the others!

The book has a great cover.

Sheri always does fantastic artwork for Bold Strokes. I love all the covers she has done for my books and this one was particularly eye-catching. I just wanted a cover alluding to wings and I got the most fantastic descending creature possible. The cover for Pale Wings Protecting is equally as striking and the books totally complement each other.

Would you like to tell us a bit about your other work?

I have three books published with Bold Strokes so far. Truth Behind The Mask tells the story of a city watched over by masked Sentinels. It’s my version of a superhero story (I love my superheroes!) but these don’t have special powers, just some very fancy gadgets and a vigilante spirit. Pagan and Erith are my romantic leads in that story. Playing Passion’s Game features characters very close to my gaming heart! Trent is a passionate gamer who finds romance with the beautiful Juliet. I’ve been very pleased by how many people have told me they enjoyed the story so much they went out and brought a console because they wanted to play too! I feel my job is done there! Does my gaming heart proud! I’m working on a spin off to those characters at the moment. Dark Wings Descending is my third book and its spin off, as mentioned above, is out in October. I also have five other works (that were published elsewhere) that are now in the hands of BSB and I’ll be re-working those as soon as I finish writing what I’m working on now and can put my games controller down! I also have numerous short stories in some of BSB’s anthologies. Check out the BSB website or my own http://www.lesleydavisauthor.co.uk for further details of them all.

News on the Run…Queer’s the Word at Shout, Lambda Finalists announced…

Awfully sorry for the short notice on this one, but it sounded too good not to mention. The SHOUT festival – currently being held in Birmingham and the West Midlands – is hosting Queer’s The Word, a creative writing and poetry workshop tomorrow (Sunday 10th March) from 2pm-5pm. Aimed at new and emerging queer writers, the event is being hosted by author and poet Sophia Blackwell.

According to the website blurb, the workshop will be: “full of tips on learning to express yourself, editing your work, finding inspiration all around you, and getting your writing out there, this session is bound to inspire and get the creative juices flowing. For all levels from absolute beginner to advanced.” Tickets still seem to be available here and are a snip at a mere fiver.

Meanwhile, Wednesday 6th March saw the finalists for the Lambda Literary Awards being announced. Now in their twenty-fifth year, the Lambda Literary Awards celebrate achievement in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) writing for books published in 2012. A huge congratulations to Brit author Lesley Davis whose novel Dark Wings Descending is nominated in the Lesbian Romance category, and to Jeanette Winterson who is nominated in the Lesbian Memoir/Biography category for Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? A full listing of all the nominations can be found here, and the winners will be announced during a ceremony on Monday June 3, 2013. We’re keeping our fingers crossed…

Valentine’s Day

To celebrate Valentine’s Day and the recent vote of approval for gay marriages, we thought we’d ask some of our favourite lesbian authors a few romantic questions! 

1) If you were to take the plunge and get married, what would your “first dance” song be and why? (If you’ve taken the plunge already, feel free to answer retrospectively!)

Manda Scott: I had to ask my partner this – I don’t do music – she says we’d have a ceilidh band and we’d let them pick something; sounds fine to me…

Rachel Dax: Not that we want to get married but… First dance song would be Still The One by Shania Twain – 15 and half years later and still together… 😀

Cari Hunter: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Part 1 by the Flaming Lips. Just because it would be hilarious trying to dance to it. Great song too, though.

VG Lee: She Bangs by Ricky Martin.

KE Payne: Well, t’other half and I prefer to keep our dancing to the privacy of our front room as we’re both shy little creatures so I doubt we’d partake in the traditional first dance. If we did, Dido’s Thank You was always ‘our song’ when we first got together, so I guess we’d go for that.

Rebecca Buck: I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith. I know, cliché. But it makes me cry and says everything about being totally in love…

Lesley Davies: I Want To Be Free by Toyah…Sorry, but I don’t aim on ever getting married (unless I can have a Star Wars wedding and dress as Han Solo when I find my Princess)

Andrea Bramhall: My Girl by the Temptations. Yes it’s cheesy, yes it’s old, but it’s a classic and I love it, and it’s exactly what it should feel like when I’m being twirled around in my wedding dress. *sigh*

Clare Ashton:  Between me and my very civil partner there’s an introvert and someone who hates being the centre of attention. So the first dance is some kind of hell. But I find the thought of dressing up as Abba for Take a Chance on Me oddly appealing. Maybe there’s a secret (and slightly odd) extrovert in there somewhere. Why Abba? Why ever not Abba?

Kiki Archer: It was You’re still the one by Shania Twain. We loved the lyrics! We are planning on upgrading our civil partnership to marriage and we will be doing the whole thing all over again in 2015. With lots more crying. (I am the one blubbing!)

Devon Marshall: I’m highly unlikely ever to “take the plunge” ( Kate Beckinsale is already married, alas) but supposing I did, my first dance song would be Jennifer Lopez’ Ain’t It Funny. I just love the song, and I’d need to be seriously drunk if I were getting hitched, which is also the only way I could be persuaded to try dancing Latin American style…

2) If you were to arrive early at a first date, what book would you be reading in the hopes of impressing your companion?

VG Lee: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys.

Clare Ashton: Pride and Prejudice, although perhaps a gay version like Kate Christie’s, and The Secret History. I love romance novels and romantic comedy films. She would need to be able to cope with repeat viewings of Pride and Prejudice, When Harry Met Sally, Imagine Me and You, so this would be fair warning. Then I adore mysteries too so she would need a high level of tolerance for those too. 

Rebecca Buck: Antic Hay by Aldous Huxley. Because most people haven’t heard of it so it’d start a conversation. And that would mean I could enthuse about the 1920s for ages. Either that, or Pride and Prejudice. Or a history book so I can look all intelligent and then start talking about history a lot…

Devon Marshall: Stephen King’s It…to impress upon her that horror is, and always will be, my first love!

Andrea Bramhall: The Power Book by Jeanette Winterson. Love it and it’s a great conversation starter. Doesn’t hurt that it has a picture of a very naked woman on the front cover: conversation starter number two.

Kiki Archer: I am currently reading the hardback version of The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling, so it may weigh me down slightly!

Manda Scott: Given a lifelong aversion to being anything other than myself, whatever the circumstances, I’d be reading whatever I was currently reading. Just now, that’s the new (not yet published) novel by Robert Wilton called Traitor’s Field.  It’s a cracking second novel from a brilliant writer. If I truly wanted to impress someone, I guess it would have to be a Hilary Mantel.

KE Payne: Comprehending and Decoding the Cosmos: Discovering Solutions to Over a Dozen Cosmic Mysteries by Utilizing Dark Matter Relationism, Cosmology, and Astrophysics. In Greek. But I’d be careful to make sure the book wasn’t upside down while I read from it.

Lesley Davies: No book, I’d be carrying my DS and playing Mario. If that doesn’t impress her then she’s so not for me!

Rachel Dax: (Hypothetically of course – given that I’m already in a relationship…) I would have with me The Remarkable Journey Of Miss Tranby Quirke by Elizabeth Ridley. It’s lesbian, it’s historical, it’s well written and it’s one of my favourites.

Cari Hunter: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. If my date hated that novel, I don’t think we’d have a future.

3) If your date got to the restaurant first and tried the same crafty tactic, what book would make you run a mile?

Cari Hunter: Legendary Farm Tractors: A Photographic History. I’m sure it’s a fascinating book, but I’d be out of that door faster than she could say “Now, this here is a lovely John Deere.”

Manda Scott: That list is endless (!) but Fifty Shades would have to be right at the top.

Lesley Davies: Anything period costume-y, I can’t stand historical dramas.

Devon Marshall: Fifty Shades of Grey…I don’t even need to say any more about that, do I?!

KE Payne: Fifty Shades of Grey. Especially if they were wearing a gimp mask and had a riding crop propped up against the table. Time to go home and watch Corrie with a cup of hot chocolate if that ever happened.

VG Lee: Anything by DH Lawrence.

Rachel Dax: Fifty Shades Of Grey… Any book that postulates that it’s ok for a woman to sign a contract giving a man total dominance over her and then justifies itself by saying ‘It’s ok because he marries her in the end…’ is not the kind of book I’d want a potential lover to be reading…

Rebecca Buck: If my date was reading while they waited, I’d be unlikely to run anywhere. What better way to pass the time? However, I’d be wary of anything sci-fi or futuristic… or anything like a glossy magazine… Just not my thing.

Kiki Archer: Ummm, Fifty shades! Or possibly the lesbian kama sutra!

Clare Ashton:  The Well of Loneliness. No unhappy endings please.

Andrea Bramhall: I’d have to say something that is obviously fake. Like they’re reading Simone De Beauvoir, The Second Sex, got it open half way and can’t tell you anything about it. Obviously brought to show off and failing. Anything else, well at least it gives us somewhere to start and I’m always interested in learning new things.

So there you go: how to impress (or fail to impress) your literary date. Many thanks to all our authors for taking part 🙂

News Roundup: Cari Hunter, Barbara Davies and Lesley Davis

Cari Hunter has a new blog post about the perils of dealing with Unknown Unknowns:

My favourite comment left in the margins during the editing of my upcoming novel, Desolation Point, was a slightly exasperated: “I know we’re in Sarah’s POV and she thinks British, but don’t you people ever wear pants?” To which there could only be one answer: “Yes, all the time. Right under our trousers.”

Ah, the joys of writing a novel with a bilingual point of view…

Read the blog here.

Meanwhile, Barbara Davies has been in touch to tell us about her new novel, Licensed to Spy, which is available now:

While the rest of the Canary Islands celebrates Carnaval, British secret agents Ashley Blade and Jemma Jacobs try to unravel a Libyan terrorist plot against the United States. If they don’t succeed, it’s goodbye to Boston and the U.S. eastern seaboard. Then the Libyan terrorists launch a new nefarious plot in Brazil, and Ash and Jemma scramble to save the world from a deadly sarin attack.

Ash and Jemma finally return home to London for some much needed rest and relaxation. Unfortunately, where Ash and Jemma go, trouble is not far behind.

Finally, Lesley Davis has been blogging about Pale Wings Protecting, a spin-off to her novel Dark Wings Descending. Read her entry on the Bold Strokes Authors website.

Coming soon: new novels by Kiki Archer, Andrea Bramhall, Amy Dunne and Lesley Davis

Binding Devotion by Kiki Archer (March 2013):

“What’s more important … the bond of marriage or the pull of desire?”

“But what’s more powerful?”

Andi Armstrong is the 29-year-old CEO of the UK’s largest LGBT campaigning organisation, Proud Unity. She’s a public figure, an empowering speaker, a devoted boss and a loyal wife.

Having spent the past seven years fighting for the marriage rights of same-sex couples, she can’t imagine that her own civil partnership might actually be failing. She committed for life. She’s bound by law. She’s an example of how it works … Andi Armstrong knows that she has to make it work. She wants it to work.

But what happens when love blind-sides you … when the pull is stronger than imaginable? Should Andi sacrifice everything, her beliefs and her loyalty … for desire, for excitement, for happiness … for a love that should never have happened?

For someone who isn’t her wife?

“Binding Devotion” is a saucy and topical lesbian fiction novel that will leave you questioning the intricacies of commitment in the face of unexpected infidelity.

Catch the book trailer for Binding Devotion here.

Clean Slate by Andrea Bramhall (September 2013):

After a vicious attack Morgan Masters wakes up to find that nothing is how she remembers it. John Major isn’t the Prime Minister anymore, the Millennium has been and gone, and it’s been a very long time since she was in college.

When Erin’s worst fears become reality and her world crumbles around her, she has to pick up the pieces and start all over again.

Can losing everything, actually be the best thing that ever happened to Morgan?

Can Erin learn to forgive the sins of the past and let her heart lead her head for a change?

Or is happiness beyond their reach?

Secret Lies by Amy Dunne:

Would you face your biggest fear to save the one you love?

Nicola Jackson escapes from her abuser, only to realize she has no one to turn to and nowhere to go. In a twist of fate, she accidentally bumps into Jenny O’Connor, the most popular girl at school. They strike up an unlikely friendship. As their trust in each other develops, they share their darkest secrets, and their relationship blossoms into a secret romance. Jenny loves Nicola, but she is fearful that if their secret relationship is discovered, she might lose her family, friends, and her seemingly perfect life. 

Nicola confronts her abuser and blackmails him to leave for good, but things go terrifyingly wrong. Jenny is left with a life-changing dilemma: should she face her fear and accept who she is, or let Nicola take the blame and pretend their relationship never happened?

Pale Wings Protecting by Lesley Davis (October 2013)

Pale Wings Protecting is the next in Lesley Davis’ Wings paranormal series. No blurb yet, but here’s the cover. Find out more on Lesley’s site.