Happy Pride Month!

dark gay mm romance novels for pride month

05/31/2023

Hey Ryders, and happy Pride Month for those of you in the US! Not too much has happened since the last email, but this week’s updates do include a few questions for you, a couple hot book recs, and a link to a hot gay book sale, so be sure to read all the way to the end. And please leave a reply or send me an email if you have any questions, suggestions, or just wanna talk about my cat-children. They love you already, I promise!
Copernicus
Nugget
Busey

Dark Reads for Pride Month!

Steamy FREE Gay Romance Anyone?

Check this out~! June is Pride month in America and I’m soooo happy to be included in this MM Pride Reads – Dark Version promo! 3 of my books are on there, but there are over 40 books to choose from, at least 30 of which are free or free on Kindle Unlimited! What are you waiting for? The sale is only on until the end of June, so be sure to check them out now!

MM Pride Reads ~Dark~ Books Sale

A Steamy Summer MM Romance Rec

A Place for Alistair by Caleb Marks

Click here to read A Place for Alistair by Caleb Marks

I know I’ve recced Caleb Marks before, but what can I say? I love his style! I haven’t touched this one yet, but I totally plan to! It sounds extra hot and steamy, just what we need for the summer, right?

Alistair Simmons and his college buddies are determined to hold on to their rented house until they graduate college. The exasperatingly alluring Finn Roberts is in charge of handling the repairs. Alistair must get creative to convince Finn to stop the house from going on the market.

My long-time friend, Grey, has me getting the properties of his recent late father in Saltwater Cove ready to sell. I couldn’t say no since Grey helped me out so much with my messy divorce.This one property, though—the one with the college kids—is going to be a headache.

Our first scheduled meeting turns south when one kid, er, the twenty-four-year-old, Alistair, shows up late. I have a soft spot for him, though. Going for his MFA, I know he won’t find a cheaper place to rent. Yet this house needs a total overhaul. And didn’t I mention he’s drop dead gorgeous?

From the moment I gazed into his sea-green eyes, I knew I was in trouble. But he’s too young for me, not to mention, he’s my boss’ tenant. I don’t even want to imagine the turmoil our relationship would bring to my son’s life. His grandparents, who have visitation rights, are just looking for an excuse to get full custody.

But I can’t deny my feelings for him anymore. With each passing week, it’s heating up…This property, and Alistair, just may be too hot to handle!

A Place for Alistair is a small town, age gap, off-limits, alpha, college M/M romance that happens over the summer months. You’ll find hot, steamy moments and intimate encounters with a HEA ending to love.

Click here to read A Place for Alistair by Caleb Marks

One Step Forward Two Steps Back by Cyd Sidney
Read Billionaire Daddy and His Boy Series Collection by A. Little free on Kindle Unlimited!

The other book I added to my TBR this week is this one. The cover is gorgeous, and it’s on Kindle Unlimited. Plus, I can’t pass up a good surprise-hookup-leads-to-love story!

Click here to read One Step Forward Two Steps Back by Cyd Sidney!

A stuffy composer meets a flirty ballet dancer. Can these opposites make music together, or will their dreams pull them apart? This is a sweet and steamy MM romance set against the sun-soaked hills of Los Angeles.

Joshua: I should be applying for grad school. Or looking for a job. Anything to get out of my awful rut. But instead, I’m obsessing about the dancer I hooked up with at the ballet studio. Who would have thought a gig playing the piano would lead to the hottest sex of my life?

Before we got down to it, I think I promised to help out on a dance concert he’s producing. I was in such a lust haze I barely remember. He’d better text soon. I wonder if he’s still interested in seeing me in a *very* unprofessional capacity.

Brandon: I can barely focus on the upcoming dance concert or my move to New York. I’m thinking about that cute pianist instead. Did I tell him I’m moving? Things happened so fast between us I can’t remember. I’ve never had an experience like that where I was totally unraveled by a stranger.

If I wasn’t about to move across the country, I would definitely want to go another round. But I’m leaving, so no more hot domination games with Joshua. I’ve got to keep things professional and not fixate on the way his elegant fingers moved across my body.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back is the first book in the Ballet Boys series. Each book is a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, Cyd suggests starting with book one.

Click here to read Billionaire Daddy and His Boy Series Collection by A. Little!

Give me your recs!

Ok, that’s it for my recs. But now I want some recs from you! You know what I write, so you know what I’m into, but I want to share in what you love too. So here are some questions – you can answer as many or as few as you like by simply leaving a  reply on this blog post, or you can send your answers to ryder@ryderocox.com

1. What are your all-time favorite queer romance books? What do you love about them?

2. What sub-genres and tropes do you read most?

3. What are your favorite types of characters in romance?

4. What are your favorite of all the ‘required’ beats in romance? Are they all necessary in every story for you? (In case you’re unsure what those beats are, they are typically: The Meet cute, No Way Can I Date Them!, Getting Together, The Breakup, The Dark Night of the Soul/Crisis, and then a Happily Ever After)

That’s all I can think of for questions, but if you have anything else to add, go for it! I’d rather think of you as a friend than just a subscriber or fan, so let’s talk about something we both enjoy!

How Can You Support Indie Authors?

Support Indie Authors
Check out this page on my site for plenty of ways you can support me and independent authors like me without having to spend a dime! The graphic above shows the basics, but the page has more in-depth descriptions of how to do each one and why it helps – https://ryderocox.com/best-free-ways-to-support-indie-authors/

Inside My Mind

As questions and get answers from Ryder

No new questions this week in my NGL, but if you want to send me a question for a future update, feel free to hit reply to this email. Or, if you want to send anonymously, you can use my NGL link – https://ngl.link/authorryderocox

For now, I’ll just give a general update, I think. It’s officially summer, so I’m excited to go out more. I am going to try to go to my first Pride this year with my girlfriend (she’s doing great by the way! Thanks for all the sweet inquiries about her!). We also started working on our garden plot together with my boyfriend and we’ve almost got all the weeds removed. Fingers crossed we’ll get it done this week and we can start planting some veggies! Do you garden? What sorts of things do you grow?

My high school bestie is getting married at the start of June and I’m standing up in the wedding. Hopefully I’ll get back into the swing of writing once that’s all over with. I’ll be sure to send pictures with the next update (June 14)!

More coming soon!

Still fighting with publishers to get my prizes here for the 100 subscribers celebration, and now I’m almost to 400! That’s fine, I’ll just multiply the prize pool by 4 lol 

Until then, if you’ve got something you’d like to see me do here, or even if you want to share something you’ve made with my followers, let me know by replying to this email!  And if you’re looking for my latest and upcoming books, check out this page on my site!

My Books