Whitewater by Meredith Shayne (review)

Title: Whitewater
Author: Meredith Shayne
Release date: March 12, 2013
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: LGBT, Contemporary
Buy on: Amazon | Dreamspinner
Goodreads

Baker Luke Henderson loves his job, and owning a bakery at Coogee Beach makes it even better. When he opens the shop before dawn, he hears the waves. When he walks along the beach after sunrise, he admires the surfers—one in particular: Cameron Brown. A chef and café owner, Cameron secretly watches Luke right back. When Luke proposes a business deal, Cameron seizes the chance to get close. But Cameron’s ideal man is physically perfect, and Luke’s awkward limp could be the flaw that fractures their romance.

Take A Bow by Elizabeth Eulberg (review)

Title: Take A Bow
Author: Elizabeth Eulberg
Release date: April 1, 2012
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
Genre: YA, Music
Buy on: Amazon | Book Depository | B&N
Goodreads

Chasing fame. Chasing love. Chasing a future.

Emme has long lived in her best friend Sophie's shadow. She writes songs, and Sophie sings them. It's always been like this, and feels like it always will be.

Sophie will stop at nothing to be a star. Even if it means using her best friend and picking up a trophy boyfriend, Carter.

Carter is a victim of a particular Hollywood curse: He's a former child star. Now all he wants is a normal life. But being normal is about as hard for him as being famous.

Ethan has his own issues -- a darkness in his head that he just can't shake. He's managed to sabotage every relationship he's ever been in. Emme's the only girl he's ever really respected . . . but he's not sure what to do about that.

The Hollywood Version by Harry K. Malone (review)

Title: The Hollywood Version
Author: Harry K. Malone
Release date: May 9, 2013
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: LGBT, Romance, Contemporary
Buy on: Amazon
Goodreads

Mark Lawler has always imagined the world as a movie. With his overactive imagination, he can’t help equating life and art. Currently, he’s living the dream: successful actor, beautiful wife, and he works with his best friend, television heartthrob Zach Pericles. The problem is a certain contingent of fans are convinced Mark and Zach are really in love.

When a compromising photo of them leaks to the press, Mark’s life spins out of control. The show’s executive producer plans to kill off Mark’s character, and Mark faces unemployment and life as a single man. He turns to Ross Lockhart, an old acquaintance, to help him pick up the pieces.

Ross has to be the most frustrating man Mark’s ever known, but he’s levelheaded and wise for his years, and Mark envies the honest life he leads. Maybe Ross can teach Mark a thing or two about finding his own happily ever after.

The Reflections of Queen Snow White by David Meredith (review)

WARNING: EXPLICIT SCENES, NOT FOR CHILDREN
I received a copy from the author in exchange of an honest review 

Title: The Reflections of Queen Snow White
Author: David Meredith
Release date: October 2, 2013
Publisher: self-published
Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tales
Buy on: Amazon
Goodreads 

What happens when "happily ever after" has come and gone?

On the eve of her only daughter, Princess Raven's wedding, an aging Snow White finds it impossible to share in the joyous spirit of the occasion. The ceremony itself promises to be the most glamorous social event of the decade. Snow White’s castle has been meticulously scrubbed, polished and opulently decorated for the celebration. It is already nearly bursting with jubilant guests and merry well-wishers. Prince Edel, Raven's fiancé, is a fine man from a neighboring kingdom and Snow White's own domain is prosperous and at peace. Things could not be better, in fact, except for one thing:

The king is dead.

The queen has been in a moribund state of hopeless depression for over a year with no end in sight. It is only when, in a fit of bitter despair, she seeks solitude in the vastness of her own sprawling castle and climbs a long disused and forgotten tower stair that she comes face to face with herself in the very same magic mirror used by her stepmother of old.

It promises her respite in its shimmering depths, but can Snow White trust a device that was so precious to a woman who sought to cause her such irreparable harm? Can she confront the demons of her own difficult past to discover a better future for herself and her family? And finally, can she release her soul-crushing grief and suffocating loneliness to once again discover what "happily ever after" really means?

Only time will tell as she wrestles with her past and is forced to confront The Reflections of Queen Snow White.

LGBT Month: Letting Go by Jeanette Grey (review)

WARNING: EXPLICIT SEX SCENES BETWEEN TWO MALES
Title: Letting Go
Author: Jeanette Grey
Release date: June 1, 2011
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press LLC
Genre: LGBT / M/M romance, Short stories (68 pages)
Buy On: Amazon | Dreamspinner Press
Goodreads 

Between taking care of his dying father and putting himself through college, David Mackenzie is approaching his breaking point. A twenty-year-old virgin, he doesn’t have the time or energy to date or socialize. When his father agrees to try medicinal marijuana as a treatment option, David meets an attractive, outgoing young man named Zev, who becomes the friend David never realized he needed. David’s father is nearing the end of his life, and Zev is becoming far more than a shoulder to lean on — he might be David’s first opportunity to embrace life and let go.

Steal My Sunshine by Emily Gale (Review)

Title: Steal My Sunshine
Author: Emily Gale
Release date: May 1, 2013
Publisher: Random House Australia
Genre: YA contemporary, Cultural (Australia)
Buy on: Amazon |
Goodreads

During a Melbourne heatwave, Hannah's family life begins to distort beyond her deepest fears. It's going to take more than a cool change to fix it, but how can a girl who lives in the shadows take on the task alone? Feeling powerless and invisible, Hannah seeks refuge in the two anarchists of her life: her wild best friend, Chloe, and her eccentric grandmother, Essie, who look like they know how life really works. But Hannah's loyalty to both is tested, first by her attraction to Chloe's older brother, and then by Essie's devastating secret that sheds new light on how the family has lost its way. Even if Hannah doesn't know what to believe in, she'd better start believing in herself.