#lev ac rosen

[torpublishinggroup]

Celebrate Pride with Tor Publishing Group!

Rakesfall by @adamantine

They met as children in the middle of the Sri Lankan civil war. Later, in a demon-haunted wood, an act of violence linked them and propelled their souls on a journey through the ages. As they reincarnate ever deeper into the future, a truth emerges: Some stories take more than one lifetime to tell.

Running Close to the Wind by @ariaste

In this queer pirate fantasy, Avra Helvaçi has accidentally stolen the single most expensive secret in the world. To avoid capture, he flees to the open sea, where only his on-again, off-again ex aka pirate Captain Teveri az-Ḥaffār can help him survive, profit, and become a legend.

Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin

Something evil is buried deep in the desert. It wants your body and wears your skin. Welcome to Camp Resolution, a queer conversion center where everyone leaves a different person. In 1995, seven queer teens were abandoned here by their parents, but survived. Sixteen years later, they’re scarred and broken, but back to face an evil that threatens the world. 

Kinning by Nisi Shawl

In this alternate history where barkcloth airships soar and former colonies claim freedom from imperialist tyrants, the identity of the island of Everfair still wavers. Victorious in the wake of the Great War, a new threat looms. Can Everfair continue to serve as a symbol of hope for anticolonial movements around the world, or will it fall to forces within and without? 

Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by @rebeccathornewrites

Can one of the Queen’s private guard and the most powerful mage in existence leave their lives behind to settle down in their new bookshop that serves tea? This cozy fantasy is steeped in sapphic romance and nestled on the edge of dragon country. 

The Fragile Threads of Power by V. E. Schwab

Once there were four worlds, nestled like pages in a book, each pulsing with fantastical power and connected by a single city: London. After a desperate attempt to prevent corruption and ruin in the four Londons, there are only three. Now the worlds are going to collide anew��brought to a dangerous precipice by the discoveries of three remarkable magicians.

Now available in paperback!

The Archive Undying by @emcandon

This is a story about misplaced faith, complicated love, so much self-loathing, and yeah—giant robots. Plugged into his AI god when its apocalyptic corruption renders him unfortunately immortal, sad gay disaster Sunai takes a die-again-or-die-trying approach to things. Unending life’s tough when intimacy is somehow scarier even than either of the warring police states set on turning you into a weapon or the rogue undead mecha-fragment of your old god that wants to eat you. 

Now available in paperback!

The Bell in the Fog by Lev AC Rosen

A dazzling historical mystery that dives into the shadowy, closeted world of the Navy, emerging in the gay bars of the city. It’s a whirlpool of missing people, violent strangers, and scandalous photos in 1952 San Francisco. 

Now available in paperback!

Celebrate Pride with more titles from Tor Publishing Group here!

[rubyredbonnetblue]

My queer book rec for the fall season!

I just reread Lavender House and The Bell in the Fog by Lev AC Rosen, and I need to talk about these books with more people!!

The setting is immersive and the characters are real and enjoyable. You've got time to read the first two before the third book comes out on Oct. 1st and is about books, so you know it's gonna be great.

[eruwaedhiel-in-an-impardis]

Evander Mills is the soggiest sadboi I have ever seen, I wanna put him in a cardboard box and shake him, but he would just sob so hard he'd soak the bottom of the cardboard box and it would tear off, sliding his little sorrowful lump out onto the floor where he would just lie there sniffling in a puddle of his own tears

He's the silent mysterious figure sitting in the shadowy corner of the (gay) bar bc if someone talked to him he'd just burst into tears and apologize for breathing, top notch character design, I need twenty more in this series

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[bookishpixiereads]

“Rough Pages” by Lev C. Rosen

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5 Stars

Thanks to Tor Publishing Group/Forge Books for the eARC of this book. It dropped last week! All opinions are my own.

“Rough Pages” is the third book in the Evander Mills noir-ish, queer, historical fiction detective series set in 1950s San Francisco. Outside of the murderous plots, the series provides a well-researched look into how queer people lived during that time period. I adore this series. I already had pre-ordered this book before I even read the ARC and I never do that.  

Evander “Andy” Mills is a gay private detective for queer people who can’t go to the police because the police are not friendly to the LGBTQ community. He was a cop for the San Francisco Police Department before he was fired after they found out he was gay. 

A friend of Andy comes to him with a case. The two owners of a queer-friendly bookstore have gone missing. Along with selling queer books from a store front, they have a mail-order service where they mail queer books to subscribers. And the fear, along with the safety of the owners, is that the list of subscribers could fall into the wrong hands and at the worst, those people’s lives could be in danger and at best, they could become the object of blackmail. Also, at this point in history, mailing queer books is a federal crime.

And this list potentially puts people that Andy’s holds dear at great risk. And he wants to do everything he can to keep them and their newly adopted baby safe.

Were the bookstore owners arrested by the Feds? Was this a Mafia hit done out of fear of the possible outing of one of their own? Was there a crime at all and are they just on vacation?

Andy also has to deal with a reporter who is getting a little too close for comfort and his former boss, who is making implicit and explicit threats to Andy’s safety. And is his own romantic life falling apart?

“Rough Pages” comes during the current political climate of banning books. And it has beautiful things to say about representation in books, why books are dangerous (in a good way), and books as a whole.

What’s more important truth or secrets? Especially if the truth puts peoples’ lives in danger. 

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Evander (Andy) Mills- Lavender House by Lev Ac Rosen

Catherine St. Day- The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite

Sideways Pike- The Spacegracers by HA Clarke

Malini- The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

[skepwith]

Queer mid-century San Francisco is the setting for this noir mystery series featuring detective Evander "Andy" Mills. Author Rosen nails it on multiple levels: the noir-style narrative voice, the satisfying mystery plots, and the historical details of being queer in SF in 1952. But it's the evolution of the main character that gives these books an emotional depth beyond standard whodunnits.

Lavender House opens with Andy having just been kicked out of the police force after being caught in a raid on a gay bar. Closeted for years, he thinks his life is over. Then he's hired by a woman to look into the murder of her wife—discreetly.

Along with all the pleasures of a good mystery, we get the pleasure of watching Andy become able to reimagine his life, this time as part of a community he'd previously kept at arm's length. In The Bell in the Fog this includes atonement for having been a cop; the police in these books are absolute bastards to queers (as they were in reality). Rosen has clearly done his historical research, and sometimes it's pretty damn grim, but the books are never hopeless. They show all kinds of queer people grabbing their joy with both hands and making the most of it, creating their own spaces and families in a hostile world. Andy's growth demonstrates that finding happiness is possible, with a little self-acceptance and a lot of solidarity.

Recommended for fans of noir mystery and queer history.

[daphneblakess]

books i read in 2023: lavender house by lev a.c. rosen

"Here was the only safe place. Here was the only place we could be a couple. Sometimes it feels more like a prison than paradise."

[follyy]

Where my Lavender House fanbase at

[pridepages]

🌈 Happy Pride! 🌈

This June, good things come in sets of six as I spotlight some of my favorite rainbow reads.

✨ Category is: Be Gay, Do Crime✨

Learn more about these titles under the cut!

A Million to One by Adiba Jaigirdar (a YA historical sapphic thriller as a girl gang sets out to pull off a heist on the high seas. But the mission turns into a deadly race against the clock when the Titanic strike an iceberg… Rep: F/F, BIPOC characters)

Outlawed by Anna North (Historical fiction, in a world where AFAB people are reduced to their reproductive value, an outlaw band seeks to create a paradise for the forgotten queer children who dare to defy the norm. Rep: trans/nonbinary mc, sapphic characters)

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (Dark Historical Romance, In Victorian England, a thief poses as a lady’s maid to con her employer. But what happens when she falls for the mark? Rep: F/F)

Aces Wild by Amanda Dewitt (YA, a group of online friends meets IRL to plan a casino heist to save one of their own. Ever thought Ocean’s 11 would be better without the distraction of sex and romance? Rep: NB/M, trans/nonbinary mc, asexual mcs, asexual scs, aromantic scs, BIPOC characters)

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian (Historical Romance, a young lordling hires an ex highway man to teach him how to stand and deliver. The two find their partnership becomes more than they bargained for. Rep: M/M, gay mc, bisexual characters)

Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen (Historical Mystery, an ex policeman newly outed and ostracized is given a new job: investigate the death of a mysterious soap magnate. But behind the doors of Lavender House hides more than one secret…could someone among this queer found family have murdered one of their own? Rep: M/M, F/F, gay characters, lesbian scs)

[rubyredbonnetblue]

you—soft and only, lost and lonely

Hiiiiii I just posted a fic for like the second time ever and the first time in like 7 years asjdgljkl. It's Gene/Andy from Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen. I hope you'll give it a read even if you haven't read the book! Only the most minor spoilers~

Review from @shelbychild: "absolutely embarrassing gays"

Here's the first scene:

When Gene sees the man Elsie is carrying into the bar, he springs immediately into action mode, his adrenaline pumping the second he sets eyes on the man’s beat-up face. He rushes over and hands Elsie a towel filled with ice. He’s used to helping patch people up around here, but this guy he’s never seen before.

When he comes back with the bandages and starts tending to the man’s—Andy’s—wounds, he puts on a smile that he hopes is comforting. People often try to play it cool, but he knows how terrifying it is to get attacked, how it shakes someone to their core. He’s seen it enough times, and lived it himself a few. But Gene has learned that it’s good to stay nonchalant, to try to settle the fear, so he holds out his hand and introduces himself. Andy responds affably. The guy seems okay, not too shaken up. Just very hurt.

Gene doesn’t know why his mind goes there when Andy starts unbuttoning his shirt. He’s seen enough people roughed up that he should have known what was happening, and yet—

“Maybe not the time for that,” Gene says, and he winks.

“They cracked a rib, I think,” Andy says.

Gene realizes his error, mortified.

“Oh!” Gene does his best to smile through the blush quickly rising on his face. He immediately helps Andy get his shirt off and starts inspecting his bruises—back on task.

He must have been thrown off by Andy so boldly calling him good-looking. He’s not unaccustomed to being flirted with, but he’s not the flirting type himself. He’s friendly, sure, likes to smile at everyone. But Gene has never been good at flirting and doesn’t care to be. He might—might throw out a friendly wink from time to time. Friendly. But he can’t believe he just so blatantly flirted with the severely injured man in front of him.

And yet, the man keeps making conversation with Gene, smiling and laughing despite the pain he must be feeling. At one point, Andy takes him by the wrist to readjust the ice Gene is still holding to his face, and Gene tries to ignore the way he swoons a bit at the touch. Their conversation turns serious and Gene feels like he sees Andy. His loneliness, his regret, the feeling of being lost. Gene has been there. He wraps Andy up in a hug— because he can’t help it, because he thinks this man needs it, and because, for some reason, he wants to.

Read the rest on ao3

[evenaturtleduck]

I read The Bell in the Fog today (yes all in one afternoon--it's an extremely readable book <3) and there are a lot of longer and more detailed reviews out there that can speak to how it handles queer history in the 1950s, so all I'll say is that in addition to the painful exploration of how do you get justice when your whole existence is considered criminal, it's also about finding community and loving yourself and being loved by others.

I don't usually love noir detective type novels because the protagonist is usually so isolated from the community, but Andy Mill's arc reverses this--he starts the first book so desperately alone, then starts working as a PI and by the end of the second book he's found his people and his place in the community, and it's not perfect but on the whole he's glad he's there. It just feels very warm at the end, you know?

[aurorawest]

Summer Reading Update (part 2)

Fall for You by AJ Truman - 3.75/5 stars

Should have read this in the fall since it's fall themed.

By Any Other Name by Erin Cotter - 2.5/5 stars

In His Sights by KC Wells - 4/5 stars

The Bell in the Fog by Lev AC Rosen - 5/5 stars

LOVED this one. I enjoyed the first in the series as well but this one was much better IMO—just a tighter mystery. I actually gasped at one of the reveals.

Lightning Strike Blues by Gayleen Froese - 5/5 stars

I was really pleasantly surprised by how good this book was. It looks like a superhero book but the vibe was more Fringe to me. Fringe meets Letterkenny. And it was really well written! Another book with a good twist. I highly recommend this one.

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid - DNF at pg 108

The Misfit Mage and His Dashing Devil - DNF at pg 8

In Plain Sight by KC Wells - 3.75/5 stars

Planetfall by Emma Newman - 4/5 stars

Before All the World by Moriel Rothman-Zecher

I didn't know how to rate this one, so I didn't. It was pretty experimental, and I just didn't think I could rate it fairly. Its Storygraph average is 4.2/5 and it's definitely an interesting read.

Somewhere in the Gray Area - DNF at pg 32

Kit & Basie by Tess Carletta - 4/5 stars

Fence Vol 6: Redemption by CS Pacat and Johanna the Mad - 5/5 stars

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White - 4.75/5 stars

I haven't had good luck with Rainbow Crate books, to the point that after I canceled my subscription, I went through all the ones still in my TBR, read the first page, and got rid of most of them. I kept this one because it's highly praised, and I ended up loving it. It probably would have been a 5 star read, except I thought the epilogue really undercut the effectiveness of the rest of the book.

Time to Shine by Rachel Reid - 5/5 stars

I think Rachel Reid was the first m/m hockey romance author I read, and I still think she writes some of the best.

Paladin's Hope by T Kingfisher - 4/5 stars

One Wicked Night by Colette Rivera - DNF at pg 136

10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall - 5/5 stars

I was really apprehensive about this book. A few years ago I LOVED Alexis Hall, but I haven't enjoyed several of his new releases. I'm so glad I gave this one a chance because it's probably my favorite of all his books now. It's hilarious and cringey (good cringey) and romantic.

After the Forest by Kell Woods - DNF at pg 63

Lord Garrington's Vessel by S Rodman - DNF at pg 5

Alike as Two Bees by Elin Gregory - 4.25/5 stars

Dragged to the Wedding by Andrew Grey - 3.75/5 stars

His Lordship's Master by Samantha SoRelle - 4.5/5 stars

Fire from the Sky by Moa Backe Åstot (translated by Eva Apelqvist) - 5/5 stars

Gorgeous YA book about a Sami teenage boy who's struggling to reconcile the fact that he's gay and in love with his best friend with the fact that he doesn't want to leave his town and reindeer herding, even though he'd find more acceptance in a city. Also the translator lives in Minnesota.

[torpublishinggroup]

Release Roundup - 10.10.23

another tuesday means more new books!

👇title info below👇

Nightfire

Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt

Forge

The Bell in the Fog by Lev A. C. Rosen

[annafromuni]

Five Historical Fiction Murder Mystery Series To Investigate (And Sherlock Holmes Isn't One Of Them)

I’ve decided to try something new and make book recommendation posts for specific genres and sub-genres that I have read more than a few titles of, that way I can compare these books and/or series to each other without putting one above the rest. The books I recommend are books I genuinely would like you to read and I don’t want to rank them before you’ve had the chance to read them for yourself.…

[nana-glass-chillhop-radio-hour]

The Bell in the Fog was so good. Everyone in the world is sleeping on this noir detective book series that centers around the 1950's queer underground in San Francisco. It's an ongoing series and the audiobooks are fantastic. Run, don't walk, to your local library / bookstore.