Picks from the Bottomless List: March

Posted March 1, 2017 1 Comment by Dale

Hey everyone!
Another month is over (where did february go?) and it’s time for our Picks from the Bottomless List!

Books we read and loved in the past month:

My favorite had to be Storm Season by Pene Henson (though I must shout out to my second favorite which was Hard Wired by Megan Erickson and Santino Hassell). Storm Season is just beautifully written and really nuanced. It’s a lovely book to get lost in.

The great outdoors isn’t so great for Sydney It-Girl Lien Hong. It’s too dark, too quiet, and there are spiders in the toilet of the cabin she is sharing with friends on the way to a New South Wales music festival. To make matters worse, she’s been separated from her companions and taken a bad fall. With a storm approaching, her rescue comes in the form of a striking wilderness ranger named Claudia Sokolov, whose isolated cabin, soulful voice and collection of guitars bely a complicated history. While they wait out the weather, the women find an undeniable connection—one that puts them both on new trajectories that last long after the storm has cleared.

Goodreads / Interlude Press

My favourite book this month was Peter Darling by Austin Chant. I *adored* it, and I really liked Austin’s take on Neverland. It was a sweet tale, dealing with a lot of things, but it was above all a brilliant love story. It played with my emotions, and I fell completely in love with Hook.

Ten years ago, Peter Pan left Neverland to grow up, leaving behind his adolescent dreams of boyhood and resigning himself to life as Wendy Darling. Growing up, however, has only made him realize how inescapable his identity as a man is.

But when he returns to Neverland, everything has changed: the Lost Boys have become men, and the war games they once played are now real and deadly. Even more shocking is the attraction Peter never knew he could feel for his old rival, Captain Hook—and the realization that he no longer knows which of them is the real villain.

Goodreads / Less Than Three Press

I thought it was quite easy this month to choose one book that I love. And there was one that clearly stood out for me, until I read Thaw by Elyse Springer. Now I can’t decide between that and Beneath the Stars by Lynn Charles.
Because both books are incredibly well written and so beautiful. Whenever I talk about start talking about them I go into fangirl-mode immediately. They’re both truly special and each in their own way really resonated with me. Thaw obviously because of the ace-rep. I can’t describe what it means to me to see people like myself represented in books. (Something I never realised that I missed.) And Beneath the Stars is such a beautiful story about families, the one we’re born into and the ones we create ourselves. Sid’s and Eddie’s story is not one I will soon forget.
So: to hell with the one book rule! I just couldn’t decide for one over the other.

On the cusp of launching his fashion line for transmen and butch women, Sid Marneaux receives a life-altering phone call. His father, who raised his family alone, is in failing health. As he returns home, he wonders if he could lose the business he has spent most of his adult life building.

What he could not have anticipated was meeting Eddie Garner, the city’s new fire chief. After a heroic rescue, their romance sparks hot, launching into a swift affair. But Eddie is harboring his own burdens: the painful death of his best friend and the responsibility of raising her young son—their son—Adrian.

Through the wisdom of a child and the connection of mothers-now-gone, Sid, Eddie and Adrian venture and fumble to define family, career, and most importantly, love.

Goodreads / Interlude Press

Abigail is content with her quiet life as a librarian. But when she’s invited to a high-profile charity auction, she finds herself dancing with one of the most beautiful women she’s ever met. Abby’s sure she’ll never see her again, but then Gabrielle calls and asks her on a date. And soon after, another.
Supermodel Gabrielle Levesque has a reputation as the Ice Queen—cold and untouchable—except she warms up whenever she’s with Abby. Only Abby isn’t interested in the heat between them; she’s asexual, and she’s worried that admitting as much to Gabrielle might spell the end of their blooming romance.
They’re two different women from two very different worlds, but Abby knows she can love Gabrielle. Her passion for books, travel, and theater prove there’s more to the Ice Queen than meets the eye. But they’ll have to overcome Abby’s fears—and Gabrielle’s own threatening secrets—in order to find their way to love.

Goodreads / Riptide Publishing
Release Date: April 24th

Upcoming books we can’t wait to read:

F.T Luken’s The Star Host is one of my favorite books, which I wasn’t expecting when I picked it up last year. I have been eagerly (ha! that’s one way to describe it) waiting for the sequel, Ghosts & Ashes from the moment I put The Star Host down.

Three months have passed since the events of The Star Host, and Ren is living aboard the Star Stream under the watchful eyes of the Phoenix Corps. Plagued by vivid nightmares that ravage the ship in his sleep, he struggles to prove he isn’t a threat and fears he has traded one captor for another. His relationship with Asher, whose efforts to balance his personal loyalty to Ren with his professional duties to the Corps are failing, fractures.

Adrift without an anchor, Ren must return to his home planet of Erden if he has any chance of reversing his dangerous descent into madness. There, he hopes to search for his missing brother and salvage his relationship with Asher. What he finds is knowledge that puts everyone’s allegiance to the test.

Goodreads / Interlude Press
Release Date: March 9th

One book I’m looking forward to is Insight by Santino Hassell. I love Santino’s writing and I really liked Stygian, so I can’t wait to see what he does with another paranormal tale.

Growing up the outcast in an infamous family of psychics, Nate Black never learned how to control his empath abilities. Then after five years without contact, his estranged twin turns up dead in New York City. The claim of suicide doesn’t ring true, especially when a mysterious vision tells Nate it was murder. Now his long-hated gift is his only tool to investigate.

Hitching from his tiny Texas town, Nate is picked up by Trent, a gorgeous engineer who thrives on sarcasm and skepticism. The heat that sparks between them is instant and intense, and Nate ends up trusting Trent with his secrets—something he’s never done before. But once they arrive in the city, the secrets multiply when Nate discovers an underground supernatural community, more missing psychics, and frightening information about his own talent.

Nate is left questioning his connection with Trent. Are their feelings real, or are they being propelled by abilities Nate didn’t realize he had? His fear of his power grows, but Nate must overcome it to find his brother’s killer and trust himself with Trent’s heart.

Goodreads / Riptide Publishing
Release Date: March 13th

One book I’m dying to read is Enemy Within by Tal Bauer. I really liked the first book in the series and absolutely *loved* the second one so naturally I’m really looking forward to the last book in the series. Usually I find politics very complicated but in this series it’s very easy to follow along. Plus there’s a whole cast of amazing characters. I can’t wait for Tal to twist my heart some more before Jack and Ethan get their happy end (which they better be getting! lol).

The White House, infiltrated.
The president, running for his life.
A traitorous general, intent on burning the world to the ground.

When everything falls apart, who do you trust?

President Jack Spiers fled Washington DC on the heels of a devastating attack on CIA headquarters, masterminded by one of America’s own, former General Porter Madigan. While the world believes Jack was killed in the bombing, he embarks on a wild infiltration mission, smuggling himself into occupied Russia to rescue the love of his life: former Secret Service Agent and First Gentleman Ethan Reichenbach.

Reunited, Jack, Ethan, and deposed Russian president Sergey Puchkov, along with President Elizabeth Wall—the only person left in Washington DC who Jack trusts—must work together. They piece together a desperate plan, hunting Madigan to the ends of the earth and the bitter frigidity of the Arctic, where Madigan’s world-shattering doomsday plan comes together.

Outnumbered, outmaneuvered, and outgunned, Jack, Ethan, Sergey, and the rest of the team struggle to put a stop to Madigan and his army. In the desolate extremes of the Arctic, their resolve, their strength, and even their love is tested, pushed to the absolute limits as choices must be made: choices that pit the fate of the world against the love in their hearts, and the loves of their life.

As the world crumbles around them, Jack and Ethan find themselves waging a war on two fronts—against an enemy they can see, and another, hiding within their ranks.

Who can be trusted when the enemy is within you?

Goodreads
Release Date: March 28th