Travestis are males who, often beginning at ages as young as ten, adopt female names, clothing styles, hairstyles, and linguistic pronouns. More dramatically, they ingest massive doses of female hormones and inject up to twenty liters of industrial silicone into their bodies to create breasts, wide hips, and large thighs and buttocks. Despite such irreversible physiological changes, virtually no travesti identifies herself as a woman. Moreover, travestis regard any male who does so as mentally disturbed. Kulick analyzes the various ways travestis modify their bodies, explores the motivations that lead them to choose this particular gendered identity, and examines the complex relationships that they maintain with one another, their boyfriends, and their families. Kulick also looks at how travestis earn their living through prostitution and discusses the reasons prostitution, for most travestis, is a positive and affirmative experience. Arguing that transgenderism never occurs in a "natural" or arbitrary form, Kulick shows how it is created in specific social contexts and assumes specific social forms. Furthermore, Kulick suggests that travestis—far from deviating from normative gendered expectations—may in fact distill and perfect the messages that give meaning to gender throughout Brazilian society and possibly throughout much of Latin America. Through Kulick's engaging voice and sharp analysis, this elegantly rendered account is not only a landmark study in its discipline but also a fascinating read for anyone interested in sexuality and gender.

    That was before she met a very handsome and somewhat mysterious man named Khaleel who, like Brianna, is an engineering student at Columbia University. Before graduation, however, Brianna's life is turned upside down when she becomes pregnant with Khaleel's baby and is suddenly whisked away to a tiny village in the heart of Saudi Arabia's Empty Quarter. Completely separated from everything she has ever known, Brianna quickly discovers that Khaleel is no longer the man she fell in love with. That man has been replaced by a domineering stranger who wants to control everything, especially Brianna. This revelation is followed by other shocks as Brianna tries to adjust to a world that has suddenly turned into an endless nightmare of abuse, suppression, threats, and isolation. Pregnant and cut off from the outside world, Brianna can focus on only three things now: her own safety, the safety of her unborn child, and, most of all, how to escape from a prison built on hatred.

    In terms that draw from feminist and queer theory, Butler considers the norms that govern and fail to govern gender and sexuality as they relate to the constraints on recognizable personhood. The book constitutes a reconsideration of her earlier view on gender performativity from Gender Trouble. In this work, the critique of gender norms is clearly situated within the framework of human persistence and survival. And to "do" one's gender in certain ways sometimes implies "undoing" dominant notions of personhood. She writes about the "New Gender Politics" that has emerged in recent years, a combination of movements concerned with transgender, transsexuality, intersex, and their complex relations to feminist and queer theory.

     Keller has been in love with the same girl for as long as he can remember, but she's never going to be his. After college football practice, he starts to notice a certain redhead that always seem to show up where he is. He isn't ready to be hurt by another girl, but she's almost too beautiful and tempting to resist. Athena has had a crush on Keller for over a year and watched him play football as she performed on the dance team. She knows it's probably hopeless, and he's never going to get over her friend Carter enough to notice her. But she still has to try and get his attention. Keller and Athena do find their way together, but can two people that come from opposite backgrounds make a future work? And will Keller ever be able to love Athena the way she loves him? Or will their pasts get in the way of a relationship that has become so important to both of them? This book is told in alternating POVs and has an HEA and no cliffhanger. This book is recommended for readers over the age of 17 due to strong language and explicit sexual content.

    He’s going to do everything he can to convince Celeste that she’s the only one for him… and his bear. He’s had two dreams in his life: Turning Mystic Mountain Resort into a getaway for shape shifters and to have Celeste at his side. The town is excited as nearly all the residents are shifters themselves. Celeste Olwin is at a turning point in her life. She raised her kids as a single mom, with Aaron as her friend and rock. She was already half in love with the man. But Aaron has always kept his emotional distance from her and after all of this time he’s offering her a dream. There are still some questions she has about him, something she’s sure he’s hiding from her. She’s not sure if she can take that leap, because if he broke her heart now, she’d never survive. Aaron knows he has to tell her who he really is if this is going to work between them, but to drag up old memories into the darkest night of her life may set her against him forever. Still, he can’t give up. He’ll move a mountain to prove that he’ll protect her and love her like no one else could, because they were meant to be.