This month, the Golden Crown Literary Society, dedicated to promoting lesbian literature, has announced its 2019 Goldie Awards. So here is the full list of winners with our reviews:
Categories
Ann Bannon Popular Choice
‘A Proper Cuppa Tea‘ by KG MacGregor
Channing and Lark meet on a plane ride to England. Channing is upset over her Grandfather’s death, and the end of a long term affair with her married boss. Lark can’t help being attracted to Channing even if she is in an awful mood. When they part ways Lark regrets not getting her number. When the stars align and these two meet up again, Lark hopes this may be the chance to finally date Channing. Is there a chance at a relationship or are they destined to be only friends?
Contemporary Romance: short
‘The Promise’ by Claire Highton-Stevenson
Susan and Ali Jenkins are happily married until Susan is diagnosed with terminal cancer. With little time left, Susan asks Ali to promise her that when she’s gone Ali will be open to a new chance at love. Will Ali keep her promise?
‘The Neighbor’ by Gerri Hill
Laura Fry is a novelist with a writer’s block who is forced to move back home to care for her incapacitated mother. With time to spare, she starts caring for her mother’s garden and making friends with her lesbian neighbor. Cassidy Anderson is a successful businesswoman who has built a beautiful weekend house and likes to throw parties and bed a large number of bimbo women. But when she meets her tomboy neighbor she starts to question herself about her choice of friends and lovers and realises that maybe she has looked in the wrong places all her life.
‘Breakthrough’ by Kris Bryant
Kennedy Wells is an LA-based showbiz journalist sent to Alaska to write an article on fishing after a scandal almost finished her career. Feeling completely out of her comfort zone, she gets into trouble almost immediately and is saved by sexy ranger Brynn Coleman who introduces Kennedy to the vibrant wildlife and breathtaking landscape of the 49th state. Kennedy slowly falls for both Brynn and Alaska but her home and career are back in LA. Will they have a happily ever after?
Contemporary Romance: Mid-length
‘Pursuit of Happiness’ by Carsen Taite
Senator Meredith Mitchell, a member of an American political dynasty, is expected to become the first American female and openly lesbian president. When she meets public defender Stevie Palmer their mutual attraction is undeniable. Stevie is dedicated to her job and has strong convictions. Trying to date a presidential candidate gets tricky when her privacy is threatened but it becomes impossible when one of Steve’s clients might implicate the Senator’s family in a corruption case. But even the potentially most powerful person in the world needs a chance at love, doesn’t she?
‘A Wish Upon a Star’ by Jeannie Levig
Leslie Raymond returns to her hometown in LA after a bad relationship that left her wary of straight women with children. Erica Cooper has a 7-year-old girl with special needs and has learned to stay independent and not to rely on anyone else. Not even her new next-door neighbour Leslie who is so good to her daughter. It doesn’t hurt that Leslie is caring and gorgeous too. Will the stars align for them?
‘Blend’ by Georgia Beers
‘Blend’ is set in Vineyard, a wine bar property of Piper Bradshaw’s mother who decides to take an extended vacation and leave her daughter in charge along with general manager Lindsay Kent. Piper has a full-time corporate job and very little interest to liaise with Lindsay as they seem to be complete opposites. Piper is a control freak, distant person while Lindsay is creative and cheerful. Will they be able to manage Vineyard without conflicts? And what if opposites attract?
‘Love at Cooper’s Creek’ by Missouri Vaun
When Shaw Daily escapes San Francisco to her grandparents’ town of Cooper’s Creek to decompress from the stress of her corporate career, she finds there more than she bargained for. In the rural town, she meets Kate Elkins, a beautiful school teacher in a sabbatical year to care for her aging mother. Along with love, Shaw discovers unexpected family secrets. Will Shaw be able to make peace with her past and take her budding relationship with Kate to the next level?
Contemporary Romance: Long
‘Just for Show’ by Jae
Dr. Renshaw is a successful couples therapist with a mild obsessive-compulsive disorder and a big reputation at stake when her fiancée calls the engagement off. As an expert in relationships, a career-changing book deal might fall through if her publisher realises that she’s been dumped. Hiring an actress to play the role of her fiancée seems to be the perfect solution, at least in theory. But when Lana appears in Claire’s life with her untidiness, her diet full of carbs and tendency to put her foot in her mouth, Claire starts second-guessing her decision. Will they be able to fake their relationship? And what if it’s not so fake after all?
‘Three Reasons to Say Yes’ by Jaime Clevenger
When Julia Maguire meets Reed Baxter on a holiday in Hawaii, she knows that their relationship has no future. Reed is the mother of 4-year-old twin girls and a busy doctor with no time to have a full-time girlfriend. But their attraction is undeniable and Julia decides against her own convictions to engage in a holiday fling. Soon she realises that she has feelings for Reed but a relationship with her is impossible. Or is it?
‘Gold’ by E.J. Noyes
Pro alpine skier Aspen Archer is retired from competitive skiing due to a serious injury. She prefers to keep a low profile by teaching in ski resorts and hiding her problems. While working in Australia, she meets Cate Tierney, a Physical therapist with relationship issues and a teenage daughter. Their mutual attraction is undeniable but will their emotional baggage get in the way of happiness?
‘It’s Not a Date’ by Heather Blackmore
Kade is a woman of great contradictions: professionally successful, widely recognised in her field, but personally immature and insecure as a child. In a rare work-free day, Kade meets lovely Jen, a startup entrepreneur with a heart as big as her work ethic. Sparks fly but when they are both back home, eventually Kade finds herself as Jen’s boss. Will Kade be able to help Jen professionally and at the same time let Jen into her life?
Romantic Blend
‘Chasing Stars’ by Alex K. Thorne
The plot follows Ava Eisenberg, PA to Hollywood ice queen Gwen Knight. Ava is an alien from a faraway galaxy gifted with flying and strength superpowers who patrols LA streets under the secret identity of Swiftwing to help people in need. Ava’s life is turned upside down when her boss asks her to pose as her girlfriend to win Gwen’s son custody. Will Ava be a good fake girlfriend and, at the same time, keep her secret life as Swiftwing? Will she be able to hide her growing feelings for Gwen?
‘My Lady Lipstick’ by Karin Kallmaker
Paris is an author who writes bodes rippers under the penname Anita Topaz. Paris suffers from really bad anxiety so she has never made any public appearances. In fact, she is so off the grid that only a few trusted people know her secret. When her publishing house is bought by a new company, Paris is facing pressure to become the face behind her books. Diana is in Massachusetts, undercover, at an acting company. She travels the world looking for items she believes should be returned to their rightful owners or museums. When she finds out Paris’ publishing house is now owned by a man that has such an artifact, she hatches a scheme to recover it. Will Diana go through with her plans even if her feelings for Paris evolve?
‘Ask me Again’ by E.J. Noyes
‘Ask me again’ is a different kind of book by Ms. Noyes. Normally, she writes romances in which conflict is a mechanism to create tension and move the story forward. In this case, the conflict is in the driving seat of the story and the romance is in the background. The main issue is Sabine’s PTSD as a consequence of serving as an army surgeon in Afghanistan and her partner Rebecca trying to help her cope with it.
Humorous Novel
‘Great Bones’ by Lynn Ames
Rachel Wallach has a great life—on paper. Millions of people fall in love with her words every day. Her greeting card sentiments are the stuff of legend in the industry. And yet … and yet she couldn’t find the right girl if you stuffed her into a Subaru full of lesbians.
Debut Novel
‘Chasing Stars’ by Alex K. Thorne
The plot follows Ava Eisenberg, PA to Hollywood ice queen Gwen Knight. Ava is an alien from a faraway galaxy gifted with flying and strength superpowers who patrols LA streets under the secret identity of Swiftwing to help people in need. Ava’s life is turned upside down when her boss asks her to pose as her girlfriend to win Gwen’s son custody. Will Ava be a good fake girlfriend and, at the same time, keep her secret life as Swiftwing? Will she be able to hide her growing feelings for Gwen?
‘The Music and the Mirror’ by Lola Keeley
This is the story of Anna, a newbie in a successful dance company, and Victoria, former prima ballerina, and its current artistic director. It gives us an insight into the ballet world with its high competition, the physical demands, the threatening of injury looming all the time, the jealousy and egocentric behaviours.
‘Compass Rose’ by Anna Burke
‘Compass Rose’ is set in a dystopian world in 2513 in which the sea levels on Earth have risen and the land is either flooded or too polluted to live on. Humans live on sea stations mainly located in the North Atlantic Archipelago. Compass Rose is a navigator born with an extraordinary ability: she can always tell her exact location and get the best nautical routes to a destination. When her Admiral orders her to work alongside mercenary Captain Miranda Stillwater to defeat the pirates that threaten to rule the Atlantic, her world turns upside down. But even her exceptional navigational skills won’t prepare her for Miranda’s captivating persona and for her threatening crew.
Erotic Novel
‘Breaking the Rules’ by Larkin Rose
Virginia Ward has one goal in life: to find the funds to save her granddaddy’s service station from closure. She has no time for heroes who, in her experience, lie, cheat, and break hearts. However, her disastrous dating column in the local newspaper proves there are many other pitfalls to finding happiness. Firefighter Carmen Johnson shuns love and commitment, believing her chosen career will likely bring about her early death. Her family is cursed and she doesn’t want to leave a loved one behind to face life alone. Gin’s determination to stay far away from the hero, and Carmen’s goal to make the hero hater a notch on her bedpost spurs a heated competition. They find themselves battling their willpower and their bodies, where the electric energy is far more hazardous than any inferno. Can Gin and Carmen relinquish their long-held beliefs for a happy ending? Or will the family curse finally claim the next one in line?
Fiction Anthologies
‘Language of Love’ by Astrid Ohletz & Lee Winter (eds.)
‘Language of love. A flirty, festive anthology’ is a collection of eleven lesfic short stories with the common theme of holiday season traditions around the world. Ylva is a very international and multicultural publishing company and this is reflected in this compilation. The mains characters in these stories include an ice-queen, a shy lesbian, an allegedly straight woman, young and mature. It is also surprising the mixture of genres like romance, mystery, drama, crime and young adult.
Historical Fiction
‘Lies of Omission’ by Elena Graf
In 1938, Margarethe von Stahle is desperately trying to practice ethical medicine despite the Nazi policy of “racial hygiene” forcing doctors to collaborate in the extermination of the handicapped and mentally ill. She has always avoided politics, but now she must decide whether to remain on the sidelines or to act on her convictions. At the same time, she is struggling to hold her family together, despite intrigue, secrecy, and an unforgivable indiscretion. The people she holds most dear are conspiring against her for their own ends. Neither of Margarethe’s children are playing to script, frustrating her hopes for the future of the House of Langenberg-Edelheim. Perhaps the only solution is to face the truth… or tell more lies of omission.
Mystery/Thriller/Crime
‘What You Want to See’ by Kristen Lepionka
Marin Strasser has a secret. Her fiancée thinks her secret is that she’s having an affair, and he hires P.I. Roxane Weary to prove it. Then, just days into the case, Marin is shot to death on a side street in an apparent mugging. But soon enough the police begin to focus on Roxane’s client for Marin’s death, so she starts to dig deeper into Marin’s life—discovering that the elegant woman she’s been following has a past and a half, including two previous marriages, an adult son fresh out of prison, and a criminal record of her own. The trail leads to a crew of con artists, an ugly real estate scam that defrauds unsuspecting elderly homeowners out of their property, and the suspicious accident of a wealthy older woman who lives just down the street from where Marin was killed. With Roxane’s client facing a murder indictment, the scammers threaten Roxane’s mother by ensnaring her house in their web of fraud unless Roxane drops the case, and it becomes clear that the stakes are as high as the secrets run deep.
‘Alias’ by Cari Hunter
A woman wakes up in a car accident next to a dead body. She doesn’t remember her name or how she got there. As she is recovering in hospital from her injuries, she discovers some facts about her identity which leaves her with more questions than answers. She realises that her life is in danger because she knows something that might implicate someone… but has no idea what or whom. The only person she trusts is Browen Pryce, the smart and beautiful detective who rescued her from the car wreck. Will they be able to solve the mystery before it’s too late?
Paranormal/Occult/Horror
‘Gnarled Hollow’ by Charlotte Greene
Emily is an English professor, who has just been laid off before reaching tenure. She is feeling bleak and a bit depressed with no new jobs on the horizon. When she gets a letter, inviting her to study the papers of an important deceased author, she hopes this is the break she needed. Little is known about the author’s life since she became a recluse in her estate of Gnarled Hollow until death. Emily and a few other scholars will be spending the summer living and learning about the estate, art, and the author’s diaries. But when Emily gets to Gnarled Hollow she quickly realizes there is something strange going on. Gnarled Hollow is hiding secrets that may put their lives in danger. Can Emily and her fellow scholars figure out the mystery before it is too late?
Science Fiction/Fantasy
‘Waking the Dreamer’ by K. Aten
Around a century into the future, the world is a much different place. With natural disasters, the sun heating up and air quality diminishing there are fewer and fewer good places to live. The USA is run by a general with his military in charge. Chicago is the new Capitol and that is where Julia lives. Julia is a wanted woman because she is a Walker. A Walker is a person who can project out of their body into the world around them. The government has been collecting Walkers to force into service and be experimented on. Julia hides in plain sight as a courier for a tech company. She lives her life alone with no family or friends. This all changes the day she runs into another Walker being hunted by the government. Julia can’t help but be attracted to Niko and wants to help her. These two women are the most wanted women in the USA. Is there any way for them to be together and stay free?
‘Lucky 7’ by Rae D. Magdon
Elena Nevares is on the run. She’s a jacker, someone who connects to virtual reality with their brain, and everyone else on her crew was murdered during a mission gone wrong. Sasha Young is planning a rescue. She’s a handler, a team leader whose crew has been scattered by an evil corporation: Axys Generations. Together, they must find the rest of Sasha’s crew: Cherry, the engineer and explosives expert; Rami, the master of disguise; Doc, the wunderkind Medical Officer; and Rock, the mechanically modified muscle. But Axys Generations has bigger plans than taking down Sasha’s crew. Elena, Sasha, and the rest of the Lucky 7 must go on their most dangerous mission yet—not for credits or tech, but to save the world.
‘Proxima Five’ by Missouri Vaun
Geologist Dr. Leah Warren wakes after extended cryogenic hibernation to discover she’s crash-landed on a foreign planet. The sole survivor of her crew, she struggles to piece together what went wrong. Leah ventures from the ship in search of signs of life only to be captured by desert raiders. Keegan, a clan warrior, discovers Leah, weak and barely alive. Her kindness and affection for Leah seem in direct conflict with her tough and emotionally remote façade, and Leah’s attraction for the reserved warrior grows. Unfortunately, Tiago, the clan’s volatile chieftain, is a tyrant who wants Leah for himself. Keegan will have to relinquish Leah or challenge Tiago. Will love give Keegan the strength to defeat him?
Young Adult/New Adult
‘Snowsisters’ by Tom Wilinsky & Jen Sternick
High school students—Soph, who attends private school in Manhattan, and Tess, a public school student who lives on a dairy farm in New Hampshire—are thrown together as roommates at a week-long writing conference. As they get to know each other and the other young women, both Soph and Tess discover unexpected truths and about friendship, their craft, and how to hold fast to their convictions while opening their hearts to love.
General Fiction
‘Perfect Little Worlds’ by Clifford Mae Henderson
Lucy can’t hold the secret any longer. Twenty-six years ago, her sister did the unthinkable. Portland, Oregon, 1989: Lucy Mustin, living somewhat happily, pumping out wedding cakes for starry-eyed heterosexuals while she, a lesbian, can’t legally marry, is called upon to travel to Santa Cruz to help her autistic sister, Alice, care for their Alzheimer’s-afflicted mother. She knew the call was coming sooner or later. She’d just hoped it would be later. Mother issues. The possibility that resolution might be lost to dementia is a heartbreak she doesn’t feel like feeling. Santa Cruz, California, one week later: a trip to the family bakery ups the ante tenfold when the Loma Prieta/World Series Earthquake, racking up a whopping 7.1 on the Richter scale, traps the sisters below ground. There, Alice reminds Lucy of a promise made to their mother many years ago, a promise she plans to keep.
‘Bird on a Wire’ by Tagan Shepard
Robin manages to escape her small hometown by being a real rock star. She has a new life in LA, with her wife and a band that tours all over the world. When she hears about her mother’s unexpected death, Robin drops everything to come back to her childhood home. Between dealing with her grief, a marriage that is rocky, and seeing her former best friend and first love, nothing about this trip is going to be easy.
If you prefer to receive this monthly list by email please sign to our mailing list.
[contact-form][contact-field label=”Name” type=”name” required=”1″ /][contact-field label=”Email” type=”email” required=”1″ /][/contact-form]