SERIES TOUR

The Song of the Lost Series by Liv Savell and Sterling D’Este

Publisher: L&S Fables

Genre: Queer Epic Fantasy

Best read in order

Overall Heat Rating for the series: 2 – 3 flames

BOOK DETAILS

BOOK 1

Book Title: The Last Contender

Cover Artist: Merilliza Chan

Length: 669 pages

Release Date: November 27, 2022

Tropes: Forbidden love

Themes: Becoming who you truly are, found family, fighting for what is right

Goodreads

“What would you pay for freedom?”

Blurb

Your body?

Wynn is a carpenter in a small town in Northern Rhosan, but after he is torn from his family by ruthless Victors, he’ll have to learn to survive beneath their rule. When he is forced to hunt with the silent, stoic Dyfan, the two men forge a bond that might be enough to shelter them from a life of violence and cruelty.

Your people?

Basia and Danae are the children of nobles in the elegant, educated Phecean Confederacy. When Basia starts to discover just how horrifying the lives of slaves in her country are, she’s faced with a terrible choice: does she step up to reshape her home at the risk of losing her closest friend, or does she keep quiet and let nothing change? Dealing with the difficulties of her budding gender identity would be hard enough without the lives of millions on her shoulders.

Your mind?

Deep in the Tundra’s frozen heart, the daughter of a medicine woman learns to make poison. The dreams it gives her are full of blood, war, and terrible purpose, but when Iniabi’s village is raided by foreign soldiers, it’s all she can do to stay alive. Iniabi will have to use all the Tundra has taught her as destiny pulls her across the continent, but when it comes to the fate of her people, it’s not enough just to survive.

Continue reading “Series Tour: The Song of the Lost by Liv Savell and Sterling D’Este” →

BLOG TOUR

Book Title: Leaving Winter for a Desert Sky

Author and Publisher: Skylar Lyralen Kaye

Cover Artist: 100 Covers

Release Date: January 2, 2025

Third person/Past tense/Single POV

Genres: Literary Queer Fiction

Tropes: Recovery, family dysfunction, queer friendships

Themes: Mother/daughter, homecoming, recovery

Length: 68 000 words/234 pages

Heat Rating: 3 flames

It is a standalone book and does not end on a cliffhanger.

Goodreads

Buy Links

Amazon US | Amazon UK

B&N | Walmart | Kobo

A reluctant prodigal queer daughter returns to her dysfunctional alcoholic family and struggles to climb out of her familiar role of savior.

Blurb

Erin has spent the last six years abroad, teaching English in Spain, France, Japan. Now, she’s back home in Maine for Christmas, for the first time in years. Her abusive father, Thomas, made it clear that Erin, a lesbian, was not welcome in the house, but her mother, Janet, recently ended the marriage, then invited Erin to come home for the holiday. “Just us three girls,” says Janet, including Erin’s younger sister, sixth grader Beth—though Thomas tends to show up at night drunk and sit in his car in front of the house. Erin bickers with Janet even as she helps her mother get on her feet—setting her up a bank account, making her a resume to apply for jobs—but when it becomes clear her father is trying to reconcile, Erin—who isn’t ready to forgive—leaves for Mexico. She takes a bus to Arizona, where her drinking and her guilt over abandoning Beth get the better of her. She stops in Tucson to attend some Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. With the help of her no-nonsense sponsor, Maggie, Erin attempts to make sense of her life up to this point, beginning with the tumult of her parents’ marriage. As Janet plans to come down to Tucson to visit her, Erin must consider the possibility that she didn’t have one abusive parent, but two. Kaye captures Erin’s complex emotional journey with elegant, salt-of-the-earth economy. “They have a saying about people who keep running away,” Janet tells Erin at one point. “Things catch up with you sooner or later.” While many aspects of Erin’s situation and her reactions to it—substance abuse, sabotaged love, solo travel, motorcycles—may strike the reader as slightly predictable, Kaye fashions her in such a way that she feels like an individual rather than a cliche. It’s a breezy read despite the dark subject matter, and the reader quickly gets swept up in Erin’s redemptive saga.

MELIZA BANALES, Lambda Award Finalist

Skylar Lyralen Kaye’s “Leaving Winter for a Desert Sky” is a striking and rebellious coming of age story. With every pit stop, AA meeting, and second chance Kaye’s raw portrayal of Erin—a complex survivor turned adventurer— offers a snapshot of a young Queer finding her way through trauma and leaving room for hope, even in the most unexpected places.

TINA D’ELIA, Award-winning poet and Solo Performer
Riveting and timely! In Leaving Winter for a Desert Sky Erin, a young world traveler returns home, where ghosts, family, and unexpected arrivals challenge her in ways to which any reader can relate. Erin travels through lovers’ beds, desert skies, and looming memories in this novel of relationship cliffhangers.

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