The Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook asks its members to share six sentence snippets from their work each weekend. Check out the group's Facebook page to read all the snippets and add lots of great books to your TBR. You'll find all sorts of books with the common thread that the main character identifies as LGBTQ.
I'm switching over to sharing some snippets from The Artist's Masquerade this month. Cathal is cousin to the crown prince of Tournai and son of a royal duke, and is absolutely shocked when his father tells him he has arranged a marriage for him with a relative of the emperor of Ardunn, who has for some time wanted to add Tournai to his empire. A dutiful son, Cathal goes along with the betrothal despite his misgivings, but when his bride arrives, finds himself more interested in her companion, Flavia. What he doesn't know is that Flavia is really Flavian, an artist fleeing the empire in disguise as his friend's companion. He never expected to have to keep up the charade for so long, but complications keep getting in the way. Cathal and Flavian are pulled reluctantly closer and closer, tumbling into love and trust, but the situation—Cathal's betrothal, spies infiltrating Tournai, secrets and lies—is stacked against them. Since it's Mother's Day weekend here in the US, I decided to share a snippet of Cathal and his mother. This is back at the beginning of the book when Cathal's has just informed him of the marriage he's arranged for Cathal. (Meriall is Cathal's youngest sister.)
“Cathal.” Mother held out her hands to him and tilted her head for his kiss to her cheek. “I didn’t know you were here.”
He brushed a kiss over Meriall’s cheek as well. “Father wanted to meet with me.”
Because he was watching, he saw the flash of concern in Mother’s warm-brown eyes. Did she know her husband’s plans for Cathal? “Is everything all right?”