PRIDE month always feels a bit off for me. Growing up in a college community, we had PRIDE early in May every year—a concession to the desire to include the large local student population in the annual parade. So for me June always feels a little late. 

This PRIDE we're celebrating the release of Love Aggression, by Cindy Sutherland. Despite some delays and pitfalls along the way, I felt an amazing bit of personal pride when I held the proof in my hand. I know Cindy will too in a few weeks when her author copies get to her.

As part of PRIDE, we've put all novels (that's everything that's not already 99 cents) on sale for $3.99. I hope that some of you will take a chance on our stories. On the College Rose Romances. On Love Aggression. Even on our 99 cent bargains. Remember: Celebrate love. Celebrate PRIDE. Happy reading.

Cindy wrote a number of novellas and a full length novel, all published by Dreamspinner Press. While we celebrate Cindy's success with Love Aggression, I think it's important to revisit those other books too. As luck would have it, today is the final day of Dreamspinner's Celebrate Community sale, so you can pick any of these up from Dreamspinner for 30% off if you buy them today (after you've picked up Love Aggression, of course)​. All are romances of various flavors.

Wrapped Up in Chains (BDSM)
Cindy's full length novel is an easy entry for readers interested in BDSM. Centering on dom Devon West, the story covers his efforts to bring Chase into the community of safety and consent that the young sub has never known. Terrifying and poignant, I found myself rooting for Chase all the way through. 

Hunt and Pray (Suspense/Thriller)
I love this one for the cover, which isn't typical of the genre. But the story hooks you and keeps you terrified, wondering all the while if Drew can escape his predicament, at the mercy of a madman and the son Chance that is his only hope to survive on the run.

Luck of the Irish (Sweet and Sexy)
Cian owns me in this one. I confess, I got to read it as Cindy was writing it, and I will say she stopped in some places that made me just want to scream. But I loved these two men together. I wanted to borrow them, either one—both! Setting and character made this one a win for me.

Other Stories
Cindy also dipped her hand in cowboy stories with Cowboy Way and has a strong contemporary (translated into four languages) with All the Things I Didn't See. Find all her Dreamspinner Press releases at their store.

I'm so happy to be here to talk to you about Love Aggression today, on release day!

Cindy Sutherland has given us a wonderful story, full of suspense and wonder and romance. It's a shifter story, a werewolf story, a story about family and the struggle to find romance when you're afraid and on the run. Ty's little son, Jesse, will steal your heart and run with it at times and you'll wonder if you're supposed to be paying more attention to him or to the romance. But that's part of what makes it great, because Ty can't have a romance without acknowledging Jesse, and the central truth that keeping Jesse safe is the most important thing to him right now—even over his own heart.

There's a lot that's gone into this story. It's hard for me, sometimes, as an editor, because I read the early drafts and I remember things that aren't part of the story for the reader anymore. But I've also read the final cover-to-cover three times since the final edit. As an editor, I'm terrified because you always miss things, and I know they're in there, waiting for me to find and chastise myself over.

But for me, getting the input from proofs, hearing about what readers wanted more of, hearing that they liked it, just affirmed for me that I'd made the right choice. I've been told in no uncertain terms that we need a sequel for Woof, and I have to tell you, I hope Cindy is up for that, because I'd love to see it.

Enjoy the story.

Obviously we're excited to announce the release of our second promotional short, The Tendire Gate by Ashavan Doyon. Like the first, this one will remain at the low price of 99 cents to give new readers to the press a chance to try out our books.

There's a lot of exciting things happening with this story. It's our first story that didn't fit neatly into the contemporary mold. Offering something sci-fi that fit the apocalyptic mold of so much current young adult fiction was something that appealed me, in part because I'm a fan of those books, but I do not see myself reflected in them. That was a lot of my drive to write gay romances—the dearth of stories that I could see a reflection in.

The Tendire Gate is a story of a young man caught between duty and love... and while the setting definitely plays into that conflict, it's still one that fuels all sorts of romances. I'm a fan of love stories that go beyond finding love to keeping it in your life when circumstances make that hard. For Elijah, the duty is grim, and has kept him very lonely.

Read it and don't forget to let us know what you think! You can always find Ashavan at his website ashavandoyon.com or just drop us a line here at Purple Horn Press. Sequels or Prequels aren't out of the question if the story is popular!

I know. It's awful. The Tendire Gate, while quite romantic, doesn't have a whole lot of sexy times, so we're not quite sure what's going on, but the symptoms are consistent with what readers and authors refer to as the "adult dungeon." We're looking into it.

In the meantime, The Tendire Gate is available at the Purple Horn Press store.

And if you're really determined and in the US, you can buy it at this direct Amazon link.

​We'll get it broken out of the dungeon soon... don't worry!

Violet the rhino bug has invaded the store and is changing prices! We're sure to get this fixed soon, but until we do, all College Rose Romances are 33% off!
Enjoy Violet's little bit of April Fools mischief and save on some lovely romances!

Before Aidan found his love, in that nebulous period before the College Rose Romances start, Aidan had a broken heart. Broken by Michael. His response was to search out meaningless encounters—pleasure. He used two boys from his lit classes for that purpose. Both closeted. I assumed, initially, that the two characters were a lot alike.

Oh, how wrong I was!

I couldn't write Andrew at first. Lawrence (Rory) insisted on pushing his way in. Then, when I was deeply stuck in writing Becoming Rory, Andrew's Prayer came, all in a rush. Drew is the sort of character I really like. We see a bit of him in the first two books, enough to get a picture of who he is and what he is. And I love showing everything that's underneath those impressions. 

Because readers of the first two stories probably don't like Drew very much. Unlike Lawrence, who was very much in the background, Drew is up front. He's taking money to talk to reporters and give up the goods on Aidan. He's pushing Steven to join him in the tunnels and drown his sorrows in Drew's body in just the way that Aidan had. He's not a character that you wanted to like.

Yet, inexplicably, you find out very fast that there is a whole lot of unexpected in Andrew Tuttleman. And, of all my characters, a whole lot of distance to travel. Because Drew doesn't even believe love exists. Not romantic love. Not what Aidan and Steven were desperately searching for. 

Finding that place where he could believe in love wasn't easy for Drew. And indeed, that's the joy of Andrew's Prayer, discovering that capacity and desire for love that he didn't even realize he had. To give you some hope for Drew, I'd like to share a little extra I wrote for the story, that pairs up Drew with one of my favorite side characters, the ever delightful Melinda Marie.

Steven's Heart wasn't supposed to happen. Not exactly. My original concept for the first book required that Sammy, Aidan's love interest, get jealous. Over the course of the story, this blossomed to a love triangle, and eventually the balance tilted in such a way that I had serious conversations with my editor over whether to abandon the original romance and go with Steven. He was light and hopeful and romantic. He was exactly what you hope for in a romance—readers loved him.

While many readers never forgave me for it, I stuck with my original concept. Thousands of words of the romance between Aidan and Steven were chopped to make the balance of the romance work better, to allow Sammy to shine more. I still believe that ultimately, Aidan made the right choice. I still agonize over whether there's some nugget of story I could have shared to help readers understand what was in Aidan's heart—and to see the depth of the love in Sammy's.

After I finished Loving Aidan, I knew the story couldn't end there. Too many readers had invested in Steven, and they wanted to know what happened. I wrote Steven's Heart. It's a gut-wrenching, angst filled story. But I love Steven more than any of my characters, because he pulled a gotcha on me. There's a surprise midway through the book. And Steven never told me. Even though he left little hints even in Loving Aidan. I love when characters live like that.

There's a moment early on where Steven's confused. He loves Aidan. But he has these feelings for Michael, and he's not sure what to do with them. When the story had its original release from Torquere, I wrote a brief extra where Michael's sister Adrienne gives him some advice. In the book, this scene would fall between chapters four and five.

When Loving Aidan was first released, one of the pieces that didn't fit into the story was the actual scene where Aidan met Sammy. The scene is referenced in the story. As readers we know what happened—that when Aidan moves in Sammy protects him somehow. But as readers we never experience it.

I wrote the scene where they meet as an author extra to share with readers, and while the blog where it was originally shared is, I believe, long since gone, I am happy to share it here again.

Greetings! Today we're taking the time to welcome Purple Horn Press author and co-founder Ashavan Doyon to the blog to talk about the rerelease of Loving Aidan.

I'm excited to be here! 

This series is still a favorite of mine. In part because Loving Aidan was my first novel. But also because there's a lot of personal bits spread throughout the series. From the focus on LGBT life on campus, to campus leadership, to the struggle of feeling alone on campus. These were all familiar things. And they made writing Loving Aidan both easier and harder.

Easier, yes easier, because it was something I knew. I know what the reaction of a campus to seeing someone in a flashy outfit like Aidan wears will be. I know what it looks like. I know when it will get ignored and when it will get him chased at night with people ready to beat his head in. And yes, while I was not the one wearing the outfit, I remember what it was like to have to run and to feel that fear. So in that sense writing Aidan was easy, because I could so easily put myself into the mindset of this flamboyant and very out young man and know how he'd respond. And so I knew what Aidan would do, both when he was alone and desperately in love with people he couldn't have and when he was cornered.

Harder, because damn. This shit is still hard. And that makes it painful to write about.

I love Aidan. Flamboyant. Tiny. Strong. We don't see Aidan's strength grow, because he comes into the story with it, but we see how it's grown and how he's been hurt in his conversations with Sammy and with Steven. And if you read carefully, the scars are plenty visible. Ultimately they shape the choice he makes.

Steven is easy to see as a sweet and romantic character. I don't want to take away from that, because he is—once he starts to find himself, to trust himself and to really fall for Aidan, we get to see a Steven that I think a lot of readers probably fall in love with. But Steven has a history. He hasn't always been supportive of Aidan and that teasing? It didn't start as flirting. On the other hand, the openness with which Steven offers Aidan his feelings is breathtaking. Want to know a secret? It was a surprise for me too.

I think Sammy gets a bad rep. He's a very dominant possessive guy. If you look at Aidan and how he grew up and how they meet, Aidan's attraction will make sense. He's also very driven. Sammy comes from poor-as-shit country. School is his chance to escape and he plans to escape. It's easy to miss in the focus on him being possessive that he's also a straight 'A' student with a 4.0, studying to be a doctor while managing college athletics and still reading to sick kids in the hospital on weekends. 

Loving Aidan is now on sale at major retailers, and of course here at Purple Horn Press.

Don't miss the previous two stops on this mini blog tour! 

The Passion Stroll (there's a free scene at this one—the first meeting of Aidan and Sammy)
Love Byte's LGBT Romance Reviews (giveaway! There's still a few hours left, I'll be picking a winner tomorrow, Monday 3/27/17! The winner gets to pick between a free ebook copy of Loving Aidan or American Pride)