• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Leta Blake

author. human. working hard to become stellar at life.

  • Home
  • Books
    • Contemporary
      • North’s Pole
      • Punching the V-Card
      • Cowboy Seeks Husband
      • Mr. Christmas
        • Mr. Frosty Pants
        • Mr. Naughty List
        • Mr. Jingle Bells
      • My December Daddy
      • Any Given Lifetime
      • Training Season
        • Training Season
        • Training Complex
      • Wake Up Married
      • Will & Patrick Wake Up Married, Episodes 1 – 3
      • Will & Patrick Wake Up Married, Eps 4 – 6
      • Will & Patrick’s Endless Honeymoon
      • Smoky Mountain Dreams
      • The River Leith
      • Vespertine
      • The Difference Between
      • Stay Lucky
      • Bring On Forever
    • Omegaverse
      • Heat of Love
        • White Heat
        • Slow Heat
        • Alpha Heat
        • Slow Birth
        • Winter’s Truth
        • Bitter Heat
        • Winter’s Heart
      • Heat for Sale
        • Heat for Sale
        • Bully for Sale
    • Fantasy
      • Raise Up, Heart
      • Gay Fairy Tales
        • Levity
        • Flight
      • Omega Mine: Search for a Soulmate
      • Any Given Lifetime
      • Angel Undone
    • New Adult
      • ’90s Universe
        • My Skin Begs You Please
        • 90’s Coming of Age
          • Pictures of You
          • You Are Not Me
          • Only You
    • Audiobooks
  • Translations
    • French
      • Bulletin
      • Titres autonomes
        • À l’ombre de Smoky Mountain Dreams
        • Dans n’importe quelle vie
        • La chute de l’ange
        • Le coeur ne ment pas
        • Le Retour de Leith
        • Monsieur Frosty
        • Monsieur Naughty
        • Vespéral
      • Entrainement
        • Saison d’entrainement
        • Centre d’entrainement
        • Entraînement: Intégrale
      • Passion
        • La montée de la passion: Passion #1
        • La passion de l’Alpha: Passion #2
        • Une passion amère: Passion #3
      • Se réveiller mariés
        • Will & Patrick (se réveiller mariés : épisode 1)
        • Will & Patrick rencontrent la famille ( se réveiller mariés : épisode 2)
        • Will & Patrick traversent les fêtes ( se réveiller mariés : épisode 3)
        • Will & Patrick combattent leurs sentiments ( se réveiller mariés : épisode 4)
        • Will & Patrick rencontrent la mafia: se réveiller mariés #5
        • La fin heureuse de Will & Patrick: se réveiller mariés #6
        • La lune de miel de Will & Patrick: Se réveiller mariés #7
        • Se réveiller mariés: Intégrale
      • Tentations
        • Lévitation: un conte de fées gay
        • Envol : un conte de fées gay
      • Vers la vie adulte
        • Vers la vie adulte #1
        • Vers la vie adulte #2
    • Italian
      • Notiziario
      • Titoli indipendenti
        • North’s Pole: Un pacco per Natale
        • Cowboy cerca marito
        • Vespertine : Edizione italiana
        • Smoky Mountain Dreams: Edizione italiana
        • In ogni singola vita
        • Un uomo fortunato
        • Un fiume in piena
        • Le Differenze
        • ANGELO IMPERFETTO
        • La leggerezza del principe
        • Rise: Una favola gay
      • ’90s Coming of Age – Versione italiana
        • Ritratti Di Te (’90s Coming of Age Vol. 1)
        • Tu non sei me (’90s Coming of Age Vol. 2)
      • Calore d’Amore
        • Slow Heat: Calore Inatteso
        • Calore Proibito
        • Calore Amaro
      • Calore in vendita
        • Calore in vendita
      • Home for the Holidays – Versione italiana
        • Cuore di ghiaccio (Home for the Holidays Vol. 1)
        • La lista dei cattivi (Home for the Holidays Vol.2)
      • La stagione dell’allenamento
        • Training Season: La stagione dell’allenamento
        • Training Complex: Il complesso dell’allenatore
      • Svegliarsi sposati
        • Svegliarsi sposati (Wake Up Married Vol. 1)
        • Svegliarsi sposati 2 & 3: Will e Patrick incontrano la famiglia (Wake Up Married 2 & 3)
        • Svegliarsi sposati 4 & 5: Will e Patrick combattono i loro sentimenti – Will e Patrick incontrano la mafia (Wake Up Married 4& 5)
        • Svegliarsi sposati: Il lieto fine di Will e Patrick – La luna di miele infinita di Will e Patrick (Vol 6 & 7) (Wake up married)
    • German
      • Die einbändige
        • Auch in diesem Leben
        • Das Herz findet immer einen Weg
        • Heat for Sale – Deutsche
        • Mr Frosty Pants (German)
        • Mr. Naughty List (German)
        • Smoky Mountain Dreams – Deutsche Version
        • Stay Lucky– Deutsche
        • Vespertine: Der Priester und der Rockstar
      • In der Hitze der Liebe
        • Langsame Hitze
        • Alpha-Hitze
        • Langsame Geburt
        • Bittere Hitze
      • Training Season – Deutsche Version
        • Training Season – Deutsche
        • Training Complex – Deutsche
      • Überraschend … verheiratet!
        • Überraschend … verheiratet! (Wake up Married 1)
        • Überraschend … verliebt! (Wake up Married 2)
        • Will & Patrick: Endlose Flitterwochen: Wake up Married Bonusstory
      • Newsletter
    • Spanish
      • Sueños en las Montañas Humeantes
  • About

favorites of 2016

My Favorite Reads of 2016! A Hodge-Podge of Excellence and Entertainment! #bookrecs

December 21, 2016 by Leta

The rules for this list were simple: books I read in 2016, loved like whoa or found edifying in an important way, and (most importantly) didn’t beta read or edit.

Click on the book cover to purchase!

Seraphina & Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman

51jd87nz8ol

61gxyvytrolThese fantasy books featuring dragons and a wonderful, diverse cast of characters, including trans and gay characters, as well as a polyamorous end-game were simply wonderful. Highly recommended. I’d love to see more in this fascinating and well-drawn universe. My top reads of the year.

 

For Darkness Shows the Stars & Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund

51rhgxrrfgl 51oskrptajl These fantasy books featured post-apocalyptic reimagining of Jane Austen’s Persuasion and Baroness Orczy and Otto Penzler’s The Scarlet Pimpernel respectively. Unique world-building with descriptions that “roll film” before your eyes, these stories were addictive, new, and yet familiar all at once. Highly recommended. I’d love to see more in this universe, especially since a few threads are left dangling at the end of the second book. 

Backwards to Oregon by Jae

512z3nsdzhl-_sx326_bo1204203200_

I both loved this book and found it frustrating, yet it’s making my Favorites of 2016 list. How’s that possible? I bought it expecting a lesbian Western and quickly realized that it was a trans Western more than anything else. Luke Hamilton is clearly a transman and I loved the aspect of the book that dealt with how stunted Luke’s life had to be to keep his secret. But, again, it’s advertised as a lesbian Western, and it consistently calls Luke “she” when written from Luke’s own point of view. Which, well, really made me uncomfortable. I started to replace the ‘she’ with ‘he’ in my mind just to ease the cognitive dissonance. I wish that the author would edit this book to reflect Luke as a transman, removing the female pronouns, because it was, otherwise, an excellent, well-researched, very engaging read that’d I’d highly recommend. It’s a shame that it’s so good and yet this issue makes it deeply uncomfortable at times. Or maybe that’s a good thing, too. It certainly made me think.

Rorschach Blots by RoughDraftHero

76636e7ac369eb39b42ce1290709fd3890ed89e5

This book is short and you can pay whatever you like for it (including nothing at all) over at Smashwords. I can’t recall what made me pick it up. It’d been in my TBR for a long time, but this year I finally got around to it. I will say that this book is pretty problematic in that it covers a teacher and student getting involved in deeply inappropriate ways. It wasn’t even wildly well-written, but, dude, it’s free-ish, so let’s get our priorities in order here. It smacked of repurposed fan fiction, but I’m down with that, and maybe it wasn’t even and it just had that feel. BUT it’s on my Favorites of 2016 list for a reason and that is the really fascinating psychological stuff going on when you’ve got a young, uneducated, fledgling dom trying to assert himself over an older, not entirely educated sub who is resisting every step of the way because, duh, he’s the dom’s teacher. I’d probably sell a kidney to see a sequel to this book, to be honest. Okay, not a kidney. But I’d make statements like, “I’d sell a kidney” and hope the author would just simply deliver for me despite no kidneys being sold. Recommended if you enjoy twisted set ups with odd pay-offs and lots of spanking.

Blue on Black by Carole Cummings

5135-ggjjsl-_sy346_

Fantasy-Western with angry men who are desperately attracted to each other? Yes, please. Fascinating world-building with several unexpected twists that I didn’t see coming? Double heck-yeah! I’m always excited when a book surprises me, because, to be honest, it doesn’t happen a lot. So I was pleased as punch when I got to say, “Now, what? Didn’t see that coming!” while reading this book. I’m a sucker for fantasy books and this one was my cuppa all the way. Broody men with high-stakes and a mystery that kept me curious until the end. Recommended!

The Mystery of Nevermore by C.S. Poe

51rhgenflhl-2

I adored this mystery by C.S. Poe. It had hints of Adrien English without all the almost unbearable angst. If you enjoy acerbic characters who are sexy while solving mysteries and who just can’t keep themselves out of trouble, then you’ll enjoy this one, too. This book felt like an old friend. It has the vibe of a cozy mystery despite being set in bustling New York City. Maybe it’s because of the heaps of snow? Regardless, this is a lovely read and I recommend it.

 

Merry Christmas, Mr. Miggles by Eli Easton

51umphnvmfl

I’ll just admit up front that I have a certain weakness for a younger/older book where the older character is the more flamboyant, over-the-top, dramatic one, and the younger character is steady and steadfast. This absorbing read hit that button hard and fast, and I loved it. Easily one of my all-time favorite Christmas reads, I lost track of time while reading this one and ended up staying up until 3:30 am. Not even on purpose! I was so absorbed, I didn’t even know what time it was! Highly recommended. Very cute. Loved it. Would read again.

Filed Under: books, ebook, ebooks, Gay, Reading Tagged With: 2016, book, fantasy, favorite books, favorites of 2016, recommended, recs, trans

Footer

Search

Follow Me

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • tiktok
  • amazon
  • book

Join Us

Copyright © 2025 · Leta Blake - All Rights Are Reserved · Designed by SloanJ Designs