Happy Wednesday Scribblers, what a mind-blowing week. I’m so pleased to share with you, if you don’t already know, how my books performed in the 2020-2021 Rainbow Awards. This year I entered T.A.D.-The Angel of Death (click here to learn more) and The Called (The Calling Book 2) (click here to learn more). As some of you may know, I wasn’t sure about entering the books in the Rainbow Awards this year. T.A.D.-The Angel of Death hadn’t performed as well as I had hoped and the reviews were mixed; including a DNF (did not finish) along with a scathing review of what the reader read. On the flip side, The Called had received some wonderful reviews, but again wasn’t performing as well as The Calling had. With that fresh in my mind, I decided to sit this year’s awards out.
Well, some of my readers and a few author friends weren’t having any of my worry or concern. They told me to suck it up and enter the two books and see what happens. So, I did. Then the waiting began.
During the competition, for which I was a judge again, I accepted that there were several fine books out there and prepared myself for what I believed to be the inevitable.
I was wrong and gladly so.
How did I do? You may be wondering.
This year, T.A.D.-The Angel of Death won the 2020-2021 Rainbow Awards: Gay Alternative Universe/Reality category and in the 2020-2021 Rainbow Awards: Best Gay Book category T.A.D.-The Angel of Death was a runner-up! Here are some lovely judges’ comments:
This was a wonderful story! I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the angel of death and the drag queen/hairstylist’s lives, especially when it covers an entire life span (get tissues, you’ll need them). Although it covers some very tragic events in real life, they were portrayed with care. We have TAD, the angel of death, wanting to diminish the amount of death in catastrophic events which cost him his wings and to be sent to live life on Earth as punishment. Then we have Doug, who cares so much about humanity that when he meets TAD he can’t pass by without giving the smelly, disheveled man a hand, thinking him a homeless man, which he was at the time. Bringing TAD to the salon to give him a makeover, Doug then brings him home, where TAD spends years watching Doug ruin his life with alcohol and drugs. This friendship continues throughout the decades until Doug’s final days. What a beautiful tale this was. I thoroughly enjoyed this well-written story. This is also my first MD Neu book and I’m looking forward to reading others from this author.
Drag queen befriends the Angel of Death. What a great premise! I loved this, particularly the relationship between Doug and Tad and the way it developed.
As for The Called, I racked up a wonderful, honorable mention, and the book was the 2020-2021 Rainbow Awards: Gay Paranormal Romance (Runner Up). Here is the honorable mention:
If there’s something I love reading in a story is action, mystery, drama. Add vampires to the mix and exciting plot, fantastic writing, and I’m happier than a pig in a mud pit. This book has all the above and then some. It’s the type of story that once you start reading, you can’t put it down, thus staying up until 5AM this morning and had to finish it once I got up. This is the third book I read from MD Neu and I can assure you, it won’t be my last. I loved Neu’s writing style, the world-building where it feels like you’re actually there, living the drama. The characters are amazing. The setting is simply fabulous, and the plot, well, read above. I highly recommend this story to those who love Vampires. Well done, Neu. Well done.
There you have it, T.A.D.-The Angel of Death joins Contact (A New World, Book 1) and Conviction (A New World, Book 2) as category winners and The Called joins The Calling as a Runner Up. I couldn’t be more pleased. What I learned from this entire experience is that I can’t let the negative voices drown out the positive voices. If I would have sat this year’s Rainbow Awards out, I would not have won or been runner-up and I would have continued to doubt the worth of, not only my writing, but the worth of both these wonderful books.
To celebrate, my publisher, NineStar Press, is offering 30% off all the winners and runner-up’s books in the 2020-2021 Rainbow Awards. NineStar’s Authors had an amazing showing in this year’s competition, so please click on over (click here) and check out all these wonderful books and support these authors and our publisher.
Until next time, have a great week.