A.M. Arthur Interview + Giveaway

Gay Book Reviews welcomes A.M. Arthur, author of to the blog today.

Hi A.M., thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.

Hello! I’m an m/m romance author, who mostly writes contemporary but occasionally delves into paranormal. I live in Hicksville, USA with two rambunctious cats and a large collection of horror film DVDs.

My newest release, Come What May, is the first in a new NA romance series with Carina Press. Jonas Ashcroft is suspended from college after a fraternity prank goes wrong, and he’s stuck working in his aunt’s thrift store—his very first job ever. Tate Dawson runs an LGBT homeless shelter nearby, and when their paths cross, sparks fly. So do insults, misunderstandings, and smexy times.

Q. Was there a basis for you story?

A. A previous experience or something else? The entire story of Come What May came out of my own education on the crisis of LGBT youth homelessness. One of the most recent statistics I’ve seen is that while only 7% of the youth population identifies as LGBT+, these teens make up 40% of homeless teens. These disproportionate numbers are staggering, and there are far too few safe shelters for LGBT homeless teens. So when I was developing a new series for Carina Press, I knew that a homeless shelter for these teens would be a huge part of the story. Tate Dawson, one of the heroes of Come What May, is a co-director of All Saints House, a shelter that caters exclusively to LBGT+ homeless teenagers.

The sex was very very very steamy when appropriate and sweet and tender when the situation called for it.Vallie's Review

Q. What skills do you think a writer needs?

A. One of the biggest learned skills, I think, is the ability to listen to criticism. You don’t always need to agree with a critique—and sometimes a crit can be completely off-base and wrong—but listening is important. Seeing other points of view. And being able to accept that maybe a critique is right, and that your book needs some work to make it the best it can be.

Q. What for you is the perfect book hero?

A. I think my perfect book hero is a guy who’s been through hell without losing his personal integrity, who will stand up for himself, but is still vulnerable enough to let the heroine/hero into his heart.

Q. Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

A. Second-guessing if the book is going to be marketable/if readers will like it. I mean, yes, I want to sell books. I want to write books that readers will enjoy. But the second-guessing makes the writing process extra-stressful, so I kind of wish I could turn that part of my brain off.

I loved how Tate and Jonas supported each other, understood one another and Tate was there for Jonas as he worked through coming out;CP's Review

Q. Tell us about your favorite childhood book.

A. I was obsessed with the Little House on the Prairie series. I seriously reread those books one after enough, over the course of months. I adored them, and my tattered copies bear the proof. As a little girl, I loved reading about another little girl who had these adventures, who lived on the frontier, and who lived a life so completely different from my own. I wanted to be Laura so badly.

Title: Come What May (All Saints #1)
Author: A.M. Arthur
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: May 23, 2016
Genre(s): Contemporary Romance
Page Count: 320
Reviewed by: Crabbypatty and Vallie
Blurb:

Jonas needs Tate. He just doesn’t know it yet.

Or at least, he doesn’t want to admit it. Because there is no way Jonas Ashcroft is gay. He’s a straight, carefree frat boy player, just like any good son of a conservative state senator. If only his struggle to convince everyone—especially himself—didn’t leave him so miserable. No matter how many girls or bottles he drowns himself in, Jonas can neither escape nor accept who he is.

Come What May is a sweet and beautiful story about acceptance and love.PIU's Review
Enter Tate. He’s smart, confident, and instantly sees right through Jonas’s surly exterior. Sure, he’s done things in life he’s not proud of, but he knows who he is and what he wants. And what he wants is Jonas. As their easy friendship intensifies into something more, Tate introduces Jonas to a life he’s never known. One filled with acceptance and sex and a love that terrifies and excites them both.

But some inner demons refuse to be shaken off so easily. When Jonas’s old life barges in, he faces a shattering choice, one that could destroy everything he and Tate have fought so hard for. Sometimes love just isn’t enough—and sometimes it’s exactly what you need.

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A.M. Arthur Bio

A.M. Arthur was born and raised in the same kind of small town that she likes to write about, a stone’s throw from both beach resorts and generational farmland. She’s been creating stories in her head since she was a child and scribbling them down nearly as long, in a losing battle to make the fictional voices stop. She credits an early fascination with male friendships (bromance hadn’t been coined yet back then) with her later discovery of and subsequent love affair with m/m romance stories. A.M. Arthur’s work is available from Samhain Publishing, Carina Press, Dreamspinner Press, and SMP Swerve.

When not exorcising the voices in her head, she toils away in a retail job that tests her patience and gives her lots of story fodder. She can also be found in her kitchen, pretending she’s an amateur chef and trying to not poison herself or others with her cuisine experiments.

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