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A “New Adult” novel from D.H. Starr: Wrestling With Love

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The second part of Scott and Derek’s story is almost here! Wrestling With Love follows these young men to their freshman year of college.  Where their first story was Young Adult, they’re maturing and becoming more sexually active, so consider this new novel to be New Adult. They are definitely facing adult challenges with coursework, classmates, and responsibility.

As a pre-release special, the first part of their story is on sale for $0.99, so if you’re coming in fresh to the series this is a great time to start Wrestling with Desire. And if you’ve been waiting for Scott and Derek’s next adventure, be ready to read on April 19.  You can preorder starting now at Amazon, and the rest of your favorite retailers as links go live.

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Derek Thompson and Scott Thayer met in high school. Facing challenges and overcoming obstacles that would make lesser young men fold, they now have a chance to forge a life together. As they enter college, they finally have the time and space to discover each other sexually and give their virginity to each other. However, in spite of the erotic thrill of exploration, there are still challenges ahead, challenges that will test their love and devotion.

While Derek wants to live as an openly gay man, Scott wished to maintain a degree of privacy. Not only that, but another freshman, Tyrell Jackson, becomes infatuated with Derek and wants Derek for his own. In the face of these threats to their burgeoning relationship, Derek and Scott are forced to look within themselves and make difficult decisions which will change both of their lives forever.

Is their relationship strong enough to bear the strain of balancing their needs as individuals and as a couple? The only way Derek and Scott will attain their ultimate reward is by finding the courage to face their fears. Will they rise to the challenge?​​​​

Get your copy of Wrestling With Love at Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, or Kobo.   Read an excerpt here.

New YA from D.H. Starr: The Spirit of Kilapea

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D.H. Starr has a new sweet YA novella for us: The Spirit of Kilapea.

Recalling his own wonderful summers at camp, Doug has given us a coming of age story, where Nick, a long term camp leader with a secret meets Kip, openly gay and with a chip on his shoulder. He’s let these two young men learn from each other and blossom into more together than they were separately.  “Mind, body, spirit,” the three pillars of Camp Kilapea, do their magic on these two young leaders.

This story is sweet in that the on-screen contact is hugs and kisses, but very thought-provoking and deep, as Nick and Kip both find something more inside themselves than they believed possible. Hand a copy to your teen (and enjoy it yourself. I did!–Pam)

Can one summer change the lives of two young men?

All-American boy Nick Pinchert, popular, athletic, envied by the jocks and desired by the girls—or that’s what he wants everyone to think. Deep down, he harbors a secret he fears will rip his world apart. His summers of leadership at sleep-away camp are sacred, a time to let go of trying to meet others’ expectations and just be himself…mostly.

Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Kip Davenport has everything except parents who care about him. He’s grown up shipped from boarding school to boarding school, and Camp Kilapea is one more holding station where he needs to claw his way to the top by tearing others down. Placed in a leadership position he hasn’t earned, Kip plans to deal with the extra resentment the same way he always has.

When the two meet, the attraction is immediate, terrifying Nick and providing Kip with the perfect target for his manipulations. But Camp Kilapea’s teachings challenge even the most obstinate. The three pillars of body, mind, and spirit force campers and leaders alike to examine their choices and to become better people.

But is the spirit of Kilapea strong enough to force Nick and Kip to lower their guards and let each other in?

Available at your favorite booksellers. In mobi and epub, and coming soon, in print.

Coming soon, D.H. Starr’s Wrestling series

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Like Young Adult? Get sniffly at young love finding its way through the thickets of maturing into young men? You’re going to love Rocky Ridge’s newest author.

Welcome, Doug Starr, or, as we find him in the bookstores, D.H. Starr. He’s redone his sweet YA series just for us, complete with stunning new covers and, dare I say it? A fourth book! We get to start with Wrestling With Desire, follow our protagonists to college in Wrestling With Love, see them blossom, with maybe some crash and burn (come on, this is D.H. Starr, you know he won’t go easy on his characters!) and love each other in Wrestling With Passion, and finally, Wrestling With Hope.

We’re starting Derek and Scott’s journey at the beginning, when Book 1 comes out this weekend.

I’ve just finished reading my shiny new copy of Wrestling With Desire, and love it even more than the first incarnation. This is a book I would put into the hands of a teen who wants a good story and could use a few guideposts on working out what real love is. And I would press it into the hands of an adult who wants to watch young men come of age and learn about themselves without following them into the bedroom. This is YA, and appropriately focused on the feelings, rather than the bodies, of the characters.

Derek and Scott are wrestlers too, so Doug gives us some heavy competition and a good look at winning and losing, and what that means to a young man’s growth.

Let’s follow them on their journey.

~Pam

Derek Thomas is a senior and a wrestler, and has a secret. He’s gay.

Scott Thayer is a new student who’s just moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts from Iowa. On the first day of school Derek and Scott meet, and their lives change in an instant.

As Derek and Scott discover the things they have in common, they enter into one of the closest, most loving relationships either of them has ever experienced. When unexpected circumstances threaten to tear them apart, they both have to make a decision.

Do they protect their secret and separate? Or fight for what they want…each other.

Coming in MOBI, EPUB, and print, August 26.