Strawberry Panic, Vol. 01


Sakurako Kimino - 2007
    At St. Miator Girl’s Academy, gentle breezes scatter cherry blossoms across its lush campus. Nagisa, a normal and cheerful high school student, is stunned when she meets Shizuma, the school’s top student, whose beauty takes her breath away. When Shizuma unexpectedly reciprocates Nagisa’s feelings, both love and wacky chaos soon erupt.

Heart of a Redneck


Jodi Payne - 2018
    A loner by choice, Colby works hard with his hands and finds his peace camping in the mountains outside Boulder. Gordon James is a white-collar restaurateur who owns not one, but two successful establishments in downtown Boulder. He’s a sophisticated urbanite who is devoted to his work and is accustomed to getting what he wants. The men are friends, but sparks fly when Colby falls in love and decides to show Gordon how much fun a good old boy can be. They’re just beginning to explore their relationship when Gordon’s sister’s suicide leaves him with custody of his five-year-old niece. Colby comes from a huge family and is eager to help with the girl and to prove his worth to Gordon. But neither of them is ready for the tremendous changes to their already busy lives, or for how this new relationship with Olivia challenges them, complicating the way they interact with each other. They say opposites attract, but can these two very different men work together to join their disparate lives and form a strong, if highly unlikely, family? This is a previously published title. The publisher has changed.

Second Chances


M.J. Duncan - 2013
    Still hung up on her college sweetheart, a one-night-stand gone wrong convinces her that she needs to make a change. An offer for a one-year guest lecturer position from a small private university provides her the opportunity she needs to escape, and she jumps at it. All Charlie expected to find when she left Manhattan for rural New Hampshire was a little peace. Instead, she finds Mackayla Thomas. Eight years have passed since Charlie foolishly walked away from Mackayla, and Mackayla is determined to never let anyone hurt her that way again. For Charlie, their serendipitous meeting is a sign that happily ever after might finally be within her reach. First, however, she needs to find a way to convince Mackayla to let the past go, and to give her a second chance.

And This Too Shall Pass


E. Lynn Harris - 1996
    What happens when rising stars collide?In And This Too Shall Pass, Harris takes us into the locker rooms and newsrooms of Chicago, where four lives are about to intersect in romance and scandal. At the heart of the novel is the celibate Zurich, a rookie quarterback for the Chicago Cougars whose trajectory for superstardom is interrupted by a sexual assault charge by Mia, a sportscaster with her own sights on fame. With his career in jeopardy, Zurich hires Tamela, a high-powered attorney, to defend him, while Sean, a gay sportswriter, covers the story and uncovers his heart. All of these characters face the challenge of keeping the faith--in themselves and in God--while Harris's heartfelt storytelling reveals how the love of family can help one to face the terrible legacy of long-held secrets. Throughout these characters' search for self-knowledge, Harris weaves the stories of MamaCee, Zurich's grandmother, whose lessons of faith teach one and all that "this too shall pass." Breaking new ground in contemporary fiction, And This Too Shall Pass entertains and affirms with its stirring message about the healing power of family and faith.

Like Son


Felicia Luna Lemus - 2007
    Finalist for the 2008 Ferro-Grumley Awards for LGBT Fiction.Set amidst the outsider worlds of New York, Los Angeles, and Mexico City, Like Son is the not-so-simple story of a father, a son, and the love blindness shared between them.Meet Frank Cruz: a post-punk thirty-year-old who unwittingly inherits his dead father's legacy. Born a bouncing baby girl named Francisca to parents tangled in a doomed love affair, Frank grows up in both the poorest barrios and poshest hills of Southern California. At the age of eighteen, Frank leaves for the big city, but is pulled back into helping his estranged and blind father navigate an untimely death. Upon his death, Frank's father leaves his only child a mysterious crumbling photograph of a woman with a stunning gaze: Nahui Olin, a captivating member of the early 20th century Mexican avant-garde who once brought tragedy upon the Cruz family.Punctured to his core by Nahui, Frank takes her portrait and flees to New York City to start anew—this time for real. There he meets fiery and eccentric Nathalie. The two fall in love, but after seven years of happy-go-lucky life together, in September 2001 the New York skyline tumbles, and Frank finds himself smack in the middle of his predestined fate.

The Lavender List


Meg Harrington - 2016
    The one bright spot is her friendship with the charming Laura Wright, a well-heeled woman with a mysterious war-related past.When Laura shows up outside the diner barely conscious and spitting lousy lies, Amelia takes it upon herself to figure out the truth. From mobsters to spies, Amelia quickly finds herself forced back into a world of shadows she thought she’d escaped long ago and thrust into partnership with the one person she’s sure can ruin her—the enigmatic Laura Wright.

Disturbed by Her Song


Tanith Lee - 2010
    Possibly autobiographical, frequently erotic and darkly surreal, their fiction takes place in a variety of eras and places, from Egypt in the 1940s, to England in the grip of the Pre-Raphaelites, to gaslit Paris and to the shadowy landscapes carved by the mind and memory. The themes of youth and age stream through these tales of homosexual love and desire. These stories recall, at times, the work of Lawrence Durrell, Colette, and Angela Carter.

A Boy Like Me


Jennie Wood - 2014
    It is the best and worst day of his life. Determined to impress Tara, Peyton sets out to win her love by mastering the drums and basketball. He takes on Tara’s small-minded mother, the bully at school, and the prejudices within his conservative hometown. In the end, Peyton must accept and stand up for who he is or lose the woman he loves.“A classic love story! Wood gets all the details of a trans individual coming-of-age into this novel. From the feelings about clothes, to the relationships with parents to the negotiations of life at school, this story rings true. Wood takes care with her setting and makes life, as painful and joyful as it can be, realistic. This novel is a great examination of what it means to come to terms with who you are and what it means to be true to yourself.” – Alex Myers, author of Revolutionary

Under the Witness Tree


Marianne K. Martin - 2004
    Erin Hughes, a local history professor with a passion for old houses. Dhari’s life is complicated enough without meeting such an attractive and intelligent woman: Her mother needs her, her father relies on her and her girlfriend worries her. But when Erin finds old letters and a diary, Dhari knows she can’t leave until she finds out the truth . . .Marianne K. Martin is the best-selling author of five novels including Mirrors and Love in the Balance.

She Slipped and Fell


Shonda - 2008
    Kendall Long is sexy, yet delicate. Whether separate or together, these stunning best friends tend to cause quite a stir among the male population. An innocent fall, however, propels their friendship to a new plateau -- one where each is compelled to explore and confront her sexuality. She Slipped and Fell alternates between each characters' point of view, for only Tina and Kendall can decide whether or not their friendship, and love, is strong enough to endure the humility that is oftentimes associated with being different. Will Tina and Kendall risk stepping outside of their comfort zone into unfamiliar territory, defying society, God, and their families, in their quest to discover who they truly are?

Finding Aurora


Rebecca Langham - 2018
    The victim of a malicious spell, she is powerless to control her own fate. At least, that’s how the story goes.Now, as Grimvein faces attack, Prince Amir has been tasked with the life-threatening rescue of Aurora, his parents hopeful he will marry the princess and secure safety for their kingdom. Talia, the strongest spellcaster in the known lands, protects and guides the prince in his quest to save a woman that threatens to change their lives forever. In finding Aurora, the pair will realise the truth about themselves and each other, coming to understand just what – and who – they really want in life.

Sebastian's Journal


Eden Elsworth - 2014
     From the moment he lays eyes on Nathan, a homeless young man with a secret past he has hidden from for years; Sebastian is captivated by the beautiful teenager. Having escaped his abusive home, Nathan lives on the streets, selling himself to survive. When he hits rock bottom, he turns to the only person who might be able to help him: Sebastian. As Sebastian devotes himself to Nathan’s recovery, he falls deeply in love with the damaged young man. But Sebastian’s domineering father is determined to separate his son from the man he loves.

Speak for Yourself


Lana Wood Johnson - 2021
    Girl likes boy.Girl gets friend to help win boy.Friend ends up with crush on boy...Skylar's got ambitious #goals. And if she wants them to come true, she has to get to work now. (At least she thinks so...) Step one in her epic plan is showing everyone that her latest app is brilliant. To do that, she's going to use it win State at the Scholastic Exposition, the nerdiest academic competition around.First, she'll need a team, and Skylar's not always so good with people. But she'll do whatever it takes to put one together ... even if it means playing Cupid for her teammates Joey and Zane, at Joey's request. When things get off to an awkward start for them, Skylar finds herself stepping in to help Joey. Anything to keep her on the team. Only, Skylar seems to be making everything more complicated. Especially when she realizes she might be falling for Zane, which was not a #goal. Can Skylar figure out her feelings, prove her app's potential to the world, and win State without losing her friends--or is her path to greatness over before it begins?

Beneath the Willow


Kenna White - 2006
    Paris DeMont lost her beloved Gabriella to the mindless tragedy of Nine Eleven, she lost more than her partner of eight years. She lost her will to love. A successful cardiologist to New York City's elite, Paris now lives a sterile emotionless existence on Manhattan's Upper East Side. But Paris finds out that even when one tries to give up on life, life has a way of interfering and forcing you to live it. When Paris returns to Banyon, Missouri to oversee the repairs to the aging Victorian farmhouse she inherited from her grandmother, the protective barrier she has wrapped around her heart is tested to the limit. Childhood friend Sloan McKinley still carries a torch for Paris… A torch that even after twenty-five years still burns brightly and threatens to consume them both if only Paris will let it.

The American Woman in the Chinese Hat


Carole Maso - 1994
    Set into motion by a single act of abandonment-Catherine's lover of ten years has left her-she falls deeper and deeper into an irretrievable madness. With passionate abandon and detachment Catherine pursues her own destruction. Forcing the boundaries of identity and the limits of her eroticism, she enters a series of blinding sexual encounters with a poet, a fascist, a young Arlesian woman, a fireman, and three thieves. Eerily she splits herself in two so that she is both the one who watches and the one who is watched, creator and creation, author and character, as she observes herself from afar "And I would like to help her, " the one who watches says, "but I can't." Finally she meets Lucien, the solitary, cynical, beautiful man with long hair who looks as though he has "stepped out of an unmade film by the dead Truffaut, " and through this mysterious, doomed, bittersweet liaison Catherine makes one last attempt to halt her decline through the redemptive act of story-telling. She begins to invent the story of their lives, telling it to him half in English, half in French, joining their solitudes for a moment before losing forever her belief that the shapely, hopeful prospects of narrative make sense of expenence. "She notices how everything is given up or taken away" as she loses the power of the imagination or memory or the body to console, and finally of language to convey meaning. This mesmerizing drama of sex, betrayal, and dissolution with its shattering inevitable conclusion is played out against the dazzling backdrop of the beautiful, indifferent Cote d'Azur in summer. Written in a dwindling lexicon with a simple, warped musicality, The American Woman in the Chinese Hat is a dark, uncompromising, seductive work of art.