Making Love by Aidan Wayne - Blog Tour with Giveaway

Hey everyone, Aidan Wayne here! Wanted to welcome you to the blog tour for my latest release, Making Love. Throughout the week I will be sharing behind-the-scenes information about Making Love, and the inspiration behind it. Please feel free to participate in and comment on the tour. By doing so, you also get the chance to receive a $15 Riptide gift card!

Sexuality and Making Love

In Making Love, I have two characters who, while romantic, have very different experiences with sexuality. Leeta is a succubus--a sex demon. Sex is just part of who she is (as well as how she eats). It’s always been a part of her life. It is established that most succubi and incubi in the story are pansexual; when asked if she has a gender preference, Leetah laughs and responds, “I wouldn’t be very good at what I do if I had that.”

Once Carla reframes the question, Leeta does admit to romantically preferring women over men, “But I’m open to anyone who might work for me. I would like to be matched with someone whose mind and body work well with my own. I care quite less about said body, as long as I am able to be attracted to it.”

Carla, on the other hand, is written as demisexual. She has never really thought about sex much before; it just never mattered to her. She is a cupid and love matters to her greatly, but while she always sort of maybe assumed that sex might possibly be part of that, it was an abstract concept over anything else.

As Leeta and Carla grow closer, how sex might play into their relationship is a real worry for both of them. Leeta wants to be monogamous. Which means that she would need to get her food source from her partner. But Carla doesn’t even know if she would like sex, having never been all that inclined to try before. There is a lot of talking and, eventually, experimentation to figure out what both of them are comfortable with.

I'm of the opinion that there is a lot talking and compromise that goes into a good, well-rounded relationship, and discussions about sex should fit into that. And being frank and open is one of the ways that Carla and Leeta, two very different characters, end up able to work well together, in all aspects.

About Making Love

Carla the cupid is an excellent shot, but her chemistry is so bad that most of her matches don’t last. Her dream is to shoot a True Love pair, but until her scores improve, she’s relegated to the Puppy Love division of Aphrodite Agency.

Leeta, a succubus, is looking for a True Love match. Which is highly unusual, as most succubi are aromantic. But Aphrodite Agency—her only hope—turns her away because the receptionist can’t believe she’s not just looking for an easy meal.

Carla agrees to take Leeta’s case on freelance. She figures it’s a win-win: Carla gets to put a succubus’s True Love match on her résumé, and Leeta gets to find her True Love! Except as Carla tries to find a match for Leeta, she finds herself maybe . . . relieved when the matches don’t end well. And Leeta seems to be getting pickier and pickier. Things will never work out until Carla learns enough about chemistry to figure out who’s truly best for Leeta, and until Leeta can admit what—or who—she truly wants.

Now available from Riptide Publishing. http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/making-love

About Aidan Wayne

Aidan Wayne is a big believer in character-driven stories with happy endings. This is not to say that stories can’t contain a little (or a lot) of grief, just that at the end of it all expect there to be bandages and hugs. They particularly like to write about minority characters because damn it, they deserve happy endings too.

When not writing, Aidan enjoys practicing aerial, martial arts, and ASL, and watching reality cooking shows. They are probably in the middle of twelve projects as you read this.

Tumblr: justsayins.tumblr.com
Twitter: @justsayins
Website: aidanwayne.wordpress.com

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Making Love, one lucky winner will receive a $15 Riptide credit! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on February 4, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!