Tag Archives: Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week Book Spotlight: So Lucky by Nicola Griffith

March 9th kicked off Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week, and as any reader knows, one great way to raise awareness of a disability is to read a book with a main character who has said condition, written by an author who shares it. This week we’re highlighting So Lucky by Nicola Griffith, a psychological thriller that released back in 2018 and won the Washington State Book Award. (You can read more about the book and Griffith’s interviews here.) 

Image of a book cover of So Lucky: A Novel, by Nicola Griffith. The background is matte black with the title “So Lucky,” and the author’s name “Nicola Griffith,” in big uppercase type rendered as burning paper. In smaller, brighter letters between title and author is, “A novel,” and, below the writer’s name, “Author of Hild”

Mara Tagarelli is on top of her world. She’s the head of a multimillion-dollar AIDS foundation, an accomplished martial artist, and happily married. Then, in the space of a week, her wife leaves her, she is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and she loses her job.

Mara has never met a problem she can’t solve—until suddenly she can’t solve any of them. Everything begins to feel like a threat. At first, she thinks it’s just her newfound sense of vulnerability. Then she realizes the threat of violence is real, deadly, and imminent.

But how do you defend yourself when you can’t trust your own body? How do you face down danger when others believe you are helpless, yet you know monsters are coming? This will be a fight unlike any Mara has faced before.

Buy it: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Libro.fm

Fave Five: Physically Disabled LGBTQA MCs in Contemporary Romance

Long Macchiatos and Monsters by Alison Evans (m/nb)

Sated by Rebekah Weatherspoon (m/f)

Just Business by Anna Zabo (m/m)

Gays of Our Lives by Kris Ripper (m/m)

All in the Family by Q. Kelly (f/f)

Bonus: Second Position by Katherine Locke is not demisexual on page, but is a great choice for those seeking a demi m/f romance, and features an amputee hero

Rainbow heart

New Release Spotlight: Autumn by Cole McCade

Already a fan of McCade’s Crow City series? Totally new-to-you author? Somewhere in between, because you’re a fan of McCade’s work under Xen Sanders? Doesn’t matter what you answered, because though McCade’s first foray into Contemporary m/m Romance is a companion to the Crow City books, this book about a dad with MS discovering his bisexuality later in life can be read as a total standalone.

34469554There are worse things in life than loving a man who hates you.

Unfortunately, Walford Gallifrey can’t think of many.

Ever since a ghost from his past kidnapped his niece, Willow (THE FOUND, Crow City #2), Wally’s life has been nothing but grief, turmoil, and loss. With no idea if Willow is dead or alive, Wally’s only comfort is in caring for his grieving brother-in-law and Willow’s father, Joseph Armitage. For the past twenty years, Wally has never hoped to be anything but the backdrop to Joseph’s life; between marrying Wally’s sister and decades of mistakes building walls of enmity and resentment between them, Joseph has been firmly cemented in Wally’s mind as unattainable.

But the pain of Willow’s loss forces them to face the demons sleeping between them, find common ground—and more. Together, they explore mutual grief. Shared memories. Quiet respect. Warmth. Camaraderie. The joy of learning to live again.

And an unspoken attraction, buried beneath the scars of hurtful words and terrible missteps.

Yet even as they work through the thorns and tangles of old wounds, Joseph has his own struggles to face. The struggle to leave his ex-wife in the past. To let his daughter go. And to trust Wally to love him, to see him as more than just his multiple sclerosis, when so many have treated him as less than a man. The only way forward for them both is forgiveness. Trust.

And a second chance to discover what it means, to truly be in love.

Buy it: Amazon