Recommendations based on "Burnished by Fire"

A new life. A new school. A new bully. That's what Darrell Mercer faces when he and his mother move from Philadelphia to California. After spending months living in fear, Darrell is faced with a big decision. He can either keep on running from this bully or find some way to fight back.

Random Family tells the American outlaw saga lurking behind the headlines of gangsta glamour, gold-drenched drug dealers, and street-corner society. With an immediacy made possible only after ten years of reporting, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc immerses the reader in the mind-boggling intricacies of the little-known ghetto world. She charts the tumultuous cycle of the generations, as girls become mothers, mothers become grandmothers, boys become criminals, and hope struggles against deprivation.Two romances thread through Random Family: the sexually charismatic nineteen-year-old Jessica's dizzying infatuation with a hugely successful young heroin dealer, Boy George, and fourteen-year-old Coco's first love with Jessica's little brother, Cesar, an aspiring thug. Fleeing from family problems, the young couples try to outrun their destinies. Chauffeurs whisk them to getaways in the Poconos and to nightclubs. They cruise the streets in Lamborghinis and customized James Bond cars. Jessica and Boy George ride the wild adventure between riches and ruin, while Coco and Cesar stick closer to the street, all four caught in a precarious dance between life and death. Friends get murdered; the DEA and FBI investigate Boy George's business activities; Cesar becomes a fugitive; Jessica and Coco endure homelessness, betrayal, the heartbreaking separation of prison, and throughout it all, the insidious damage of poverty. Together, then apart, the teenagers make family where they find it. Girls look for excitement and find trouble; boys, searching for adventure, join crews and prison gangs. Coco moves upstate to dodge the hazards of the Bronx; Jessica seeks solace in romance. Both find that love is the only place to go.A gifted prose stylist and a profoundly compassionate observer, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc has slipped behind the cold statistics and sensationalism surrounding inner-city life and come back with a riveting, haunting, and true urban soap opera that reveals the clenched grip of the streets. Random Family is a compulsive read and an important journalistic achievement, sure to take its place beside the classics of the genre.

Chris faced up to the fact that he was gay young man in spite of all the stories he read where he didn't fit the profile-his family wasn't loaded, he didn't drive an incredible road machine, and he was neither effeminate nor the super?jock. He didn't hate himself, and while he didn't exactly bolt out of the closet, he wasn't in a state of painful denial either. So, what did he want?Chris wanted love but that's tough to find. But that didn't matter anyway, because everything he heard and saw told him all gay men wanted was sex-and that he knew how to find.Looking for it one night he met Jamie Levesque, and with stars in his eyes he had to change his mind... The way Chris saw it, once he had a boyfriend, everything was going to be different. Just like in the stories, life with Jamie was going to be sunshine and lollipops forever-right?Uh?huh. Right.Read about it in a story that's told by Chris in his own words and in his own special way.

Review Angels of Mercy - Volume 1: Elliot is an exceptional display of walking in Elliot's shoes - a diary of sorts. Being a teenager is hard enough, being gay in a small town and in love with the star quarterback can be dangerous.  Sensual and sarcastic conversations and inward monologues bring life, laughter, disappointments, danger, and a carnal love to Elliot and Marco.  But, will it last? - Saguaro Moon Reviews [4 out of 5 Moons] Kindle edition reviewed Product Description On the cusp of his senior year at Mercy High, Elliot Donahey, an out but terminally shy gay young man who keeps to the shadows – never wanting to be seen or noticed – suddenly finds himself in the arms of the highest profile jock on campus, local star quarterback, Marco Sforza. Their lives, and those closest to them will never be the same.Set against the backdrop of competitive sports, this character study work (the first in a series) deep dives into the lives of these young men who each must "play the game" so Marco can play the game he loves. They are just trying to find some small slice of happiness to call their own amidst their hellish final year of high school.Author's Note: Angels of Mercy is first and foremost, a character study. A great deal of it is inner-monologue. Elliot will pause the action, will break momentum as he grapples with his world – all the while flipping a finger to the fourth wall. He knows you're there. It was far more important to me as its author (and a gay man) that the reader come away with the whys of Elliot’s choices in how he navigates his often tumultuous world. The same can be said of Marco (his jock boyfriend) who will have his own line of books covering the same timeline but from his POV (the first, Diary of a Quarterback Part 1, due winter 2015). I’ve read much queer literature and what I find rather interesting is that for the majority of it, very little is written about the character’s headspace. When you live in a world where you constantly have to be vigilant as you navigate through, it can make for some very powerful storytelling. That is my goal in writing these boys’ lives. I want the reader who may not be queer themselves to come away with what it might be like to be in a gayboy’s shoes – constantly polling and pulse-checking your world because your very survival depends upon it. All of that while you hope, you secretly pray, that you’ll find someone who will see you too and find they can’t live without you in their world. A small slice of happiness to call your own. And though you do everything to keep to yourself, you may still run into those who find your very existence threatens who they are and how they think the world should run. I pull no punches with this work. They are hormonally charged eighteen year old young men who are sexually active. While the sex is present in the work it is not gratuitous in that the main character does evolve from his physical intimacy with his high-profile boyfriend. It is not a genre romance read either, though it has a very strong romance threaded in the work. These elements bring a light to their world that attracts all the wrong attention. In a time where more queer youth are coming out to their teammates and their loved ones, I find that work of this nature is both timely and necessary to tell. I hope you'll find it as interesting and provocative a read as I believe it is.Our Voices. Our Lives - as we live them. About the Author SA Collins hails from the San Francisco Bay Area where he lives with his (legal) husband, their daughter and wonder of all wonders, a whirlwind of a granddaughter. A classically trained singer/actor (under a different name), Mr. Collins knows a good yarn when he sees it. Mr. Collins specializes in character study work. It is more important for him as an author that the reader comes away with a greater understanding of the characters, and the reasons they make the decisions they do, rather than the situations they are

The author of The Two-Bear Mambo serves up a gritty, bawdy, action-packed Texas thriller involving a black, gay protagonist, a chili chef, a femme fatale, a rabid squirrel, a tornado, and several corpses. Reprint.

From acclaimed author Kevin Christopher Snipes comes a moving romance about two star-crossed boys trapped in a millennium-spanning cycle of reincarnation whose only hope of escape may be a price that neither is willing to pay. Perfect for fans of Adam Silvera and Eliot Shrefer! Out and proud, Riley Iverson knows there's nothing more cringe than crushing on a straight boy. But from the moment that the handsome, sporty, and painfully heterosexual Jackson Haines walks into his life, Riley can't help but feel an instant and undeniable connection. Mainly because, as impossible as it seems, Jackson is the spitting image of the boy who's recently appeared in Riley's dreams--dreams set in another time and another place where he and Jackson were desperately in love. At first Riley tries to dismiss the coincidence as a product of his hormone-fueled, overactive imagination, but as his friendship with Jackson deepens into something more, the dreams prove harder to ignore. Especially when Jackson begins having them too. Plunged into increasingly vivid visions of the past, the boys find themselves in various eras scattered throughout history. No matter where or when their dreams take them, though, two things remain constant: Riley and Jackson are always together, and they always die at the end. As it becomes increasingly difficult to view their dreams as anything but warnings, the boys are forced to consider the possibility that their burgeoning relationship might be propelling them headfirst into their own tragic ending. But is it worth staying apart to save their lives if the price is forsaking a love that has defied not only time and space but even death itself?

The beloved characters from The Best Man movies and hit television series reunite for a sexy and soulful, heartbreaking and hilarious reckoning of love.Recently divorced and fresh off a Pulitzer Prize win, Harper Stewart is in a new era. He’s working on a movie and living the ultimate bachelor life in his Brooklyn penthouse. But still, something is missing. What else explains the stubborn creative block? The carousel of women? And seventh-wheel status with his friends?Jordan Armstrong had to flee New York. First, to give herself distance from Harper and, second, to escape the corporate grind. In her beachfront Malibu property, the façade of a “healed” Jordan flourishes. Yet she finds herself unmoored. Despite the physical distance, she still feels Harper’s magnetic pull.Meanwhile, in Ghana, Robyn has gone full bohemian restaurateur. She has finally found peace and won’t let another man ruin it—that is, until a handsome local entrepreneur commands her attention. But it’s all too much change for her daughter, Mia, and when she secretly calls Harper with an emergency Robyn would rather hide, their world is shaken and relationships are tested once more.Book one of The Best Man trilogy follows Harper, Jordan, and Robyn as they try to establish lives away from the hurts of the past and come to realize that some love is impossible to break. With support from their close-knit crew of chosen family—Quentin, Shelby, Lance, Murch, and Candace—they fight for a future that proves one’s second act can be the extended chapter worth it all.

THE NEW NOVEL FROM THE WINNER OF THE GUARDIAN CHILDREN'S FICTION PRIZE 2016Round these ends, it's hard to hold on to your dreamsLife's a constant hustle for Mo. Her mum's boyfriend Lloyd is just another man who likes to beat down women; the South Crong streets are fraught with hazards and nasty G's; and when it comes to matters of the heart . . . she's still hung up on Sam.No wonder she's vexed so much of the time. Thank god her sistrens, Elaine and Naomi, are on her side: if one of them falls then they all fall.But when badness goes down and a life is left hanging in the balance, Mo has to face her hot urge for revenge . . . and she might end up losing more than she wins.

Vince Franklin, the renegade stepson of Amy Rocklin Franklin, is intent on inheriting the family fortune and enlists the aid of Jake Hardin--a man who could be Vince's twin brother. When Jake falls in love with Vince's sister, both men face the most important spiritual decision of their lives.

A POWERFUL CRIME MYSTERY WITH A YOUNG MAN'S JOURNEY OF SELF-DISCOVERY AT ITS CORE"There's a lot of power and heartbreak in this outstanding small-town crime novel. Gill has proven he's a real talent to watch." - Paul Cleave, Author of Trust No OneWhen the body of wealthy teen and aspiring photographer Evan Wiley is found faceup at the base of Taonga Falls, one thing is immediately clear: he didn't jump.Detective Brooke Palmer races down to the struggling New Zealand town she once called home to comfort her oldest friend - Evan's mother.But when Brooke learns Evan had been hanging out with a boy who used to bully him, she quickly gets drawn into the case. She fears this dangerous new friendship may have cost Evan his life - or at the very least, his heart.And as Brooke confronts her own past, she is reminded that in Taonga, even those who have it all can hit rock bottom.A gripping whodunnit through a fresh lens, Boy Fallen will keep you guessing until the very end.