Scarred by Mia Kerick (VET, spotlight, excerpt, and GIVEAWAY) GFT ADULT title

Scarred

by Mia Kerick

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GENRE: LGBTQ Contemporary Romance

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BLURB:

ONE tropical island.
Placida Island’s gentle ocean breezes and rolling surf beckon to those who wish to reside in remote tropical serenity.

TWO men living in self-imposed exile.
Wearing twisted ropes of mutilated skin on his back and carrying devastating damage in his soul from severe childhood abuse, Matthew North lives alone in a rustic cabin on the shore, avoiding human contact.

Gender fluidity his perceived “crime” against family and friends, Vedie Wilson flees his childhood home so he can freely express his identity.

THREE persecutors seeking their warped view of justice.
Vedie’s past refuses to stay in the faraway city he left behind when family members, intent on forcing him to change, steal him from his island home.

TOO MANY scars to count.
Their beautiful faces masking deeply scarred souls, Matt and Vedie live in hiding from the world and each other.

Can they unite and embrace each other’s painful pasts, leaving the scars behind to find love?

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Exclusive Excerpt:

Vedie

“The least I can do is cook you a decent breakfast.” When Mateo comes into the kitchen, I’m frying eggs in a pan. “After all, you saved my ass last night. And you’ve done it two times over.”

He’s naked except for a white towel tied around his waist. His wet hair falls right to his shoulders—still tangled from the shower—and he’s giving off this serious Tarzan vibe. He’s also sizing me up, probably trying to figure out what kind of mood I’m in today.

“You didn’t have to cook, Vedie.”

“I’m the kind of person who wants to show how thankful he is. Mama raised me right.” That is, until she tossed me out on my ass for being queer.

He sits down at the kitchen table, and I notice the scars on his back for the first time. I gasp, because I know about those kinds of marks. I’ve got a few of the same sort on the backs of my thighs. They’re the kind of scars you earn through hours—or even days—of pain and suffering. They cut deep enough into your skin to scratch the shrunken-up soul inside, making you different than you were before you got them.

Puckered pink ropes of pain written on your skin—that kind of shit changes you.

I don’t say anything about them, because who wants to chat over breakfast about shit like getting the skin whipped off your back with a leather belt? Instead, I come over to the table with the frying pan in hand and slide a couple eggs on his plate and then a couple on my own. “Would’ve made bacon, too, but didn’t see any in the fridge. Gimme a sec, and I’ll grab the toast.”

Buy links: 

NineStar Press

 Amazon

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Mia Kerick is the mother of four exceptional children—one in law school, another a professional dancer, a third studying at Mia’s alma mater, Boston College, and the baby finally off to college. (Yes, the nest is empty.) She publishes LGBTQ fiction and romance when not editing National Honor Society essays, offering opinions on college and law school applications, helping to create dance bios, and reviewing English papers. Her husband of twenty-five years has been told by many that he has the patience of Job, but don’t ask Mia about this, as it is a sensitive subject.

Mia focuses her stories on the emotional growth of young people who are challenged by the circumstances of their lives and relationships. She has a great affinity for the tortured hero in literature, and as a teen, Mia filled spiral-bound notebooks with tales of tortured heroes and stuffed them under her mattress for safekeeping. She has NineStar Press to thank for providing an alternate place to stash her stories.

Her books have been featured in Kirkus Reviews magazine and have won Rainbow Awards for Best Transgender Contemporary Romance and Best YA Lesbian Fiction, a Reader Views’ Book by Book Publicity Literary Award, the Jack Eadon Award for Best Book in Contemporary Drama, an Indie Fab Award, a First Place Royal Dragonfly Award for Cultural Diversity, a First Place Story Monsters Purple Dragonfly Award for YA Fiction, among others.

Mia Kerick is a social liberal and cheers for each and every victory made in the name of human rights. Her only major regret: never having taken typing or computer class in school, destining her to a life consumed with two-fingered pecking and constant prayer to the Gods of Technology. Contact Mia at miakerick@gmail.com or visit at her website to see what is going on in Mia’s world. You can also check in with Mia at Twitter and Facebook. 

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GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway


The tour dates can be found here

A Hard Day's Night by Mia Kerick (Review, excerpt and GIVEAWAY)

 

"A Hard Day's Night"

by Mia Kerick

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GENRE:  YA LGBTQ Contemporary Romance novella

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BLURB:

High school senior Kalin (Lennon) Macready knows several facts for certain: John Lennon is his hero. Beaumont Finley Danforth II (Fin) is his best friend. And—this is the complicated one—he feels more for Fin than mere friendship.

For weeks, Lennon pesters Fin, who like Lennon admits to questioning his sexual orientation, for a commitment to spend twenty-four hours together exploring “the gay side of life.” Fin reluctantly agrees. Each boy will seek to answer the daunting question, Am I gay? Lennon pre-plans the day, filling the hours with what he assumes “gay life” is all about: shopping for fashionable clothing, indulging in lavish dessert crepes, boogying to Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off”, and yes, listening to show tunes.

However, Lennon quickly realizes that in creating his plan he has succumbed to the most common and distorted of gay stereotypes. Can he be gay and not fit them? And more importantly, is it possible that spending one very hard day and night together will help Fin accept that he’s gay, too? If so, maybe Lennon has a shot at winning the heart of the boy of his dreams.

“A Hard Day’s Night” is an amusing young adult contemporary romance about two boys who seek to discover if they must fulfill stereotypes to be together.

In the end, maybe all you need is love.

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EXCERPT

We’re surrounded by lit up mirrors. I mean, I’m totally relating to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds at this point. It’s like being on a trip—talk about plasticine porters and looking glass ties.

“Giovanna, iz vhat you call me. I vill be making you up to be irrezeesteeble— preety like two perfect dolleez—you vill see, no?” My spine stiffens, letting me know in no uncertain terms that I may not be ready for this step. And if I’m wavering at the mere prospect of being made up like a “perfect dolly”, I’m certain Fin is close to panic-attack-mode. “Seet down, my booteeful boys....”

“Breathe, Fin... in, out....”

I offer this type of encouragement service to Fin at school before he takes major calculus tests. His parents freak out if he gets anything below an A minus on a test or quiz, which sometimes causes his nerves to act up.

We might be tall, but Fin and I still have to stand on our tiptoes to slide our asses onto the two matching bar stools set up in the middle of the tiny mirrored room, which was likely once been a storage closet. Giovanna is an incredibly tall, and rather masculine, glass of water, and I guess she just doesn’t like to bend over. Or maybe she does like to bend over, but just not while she’s working. In any case, we sit side-by-side like two perfect victims on the too-high stools under the glaring searchlights.

“Who I do first?” Her question sends chills of trepidation shooting up my already stiff spine. But when she unceremoniously drops a handful of cosmetics on a table near the wall and moves directly in front of us, I gather that what she means by “do” is just apply makeup. And although Giovanna’s new position blocks a portion of the blinding light (that just so happens to be shining down upon us with the directness of the sun in the tropics), her broad shoulders are still as intimidating as a linebacker’s. I shrink down onto my stool, nonetheless aware that I will be the first to find myself being worked over...I mean, worked on, by Giovanna’s impressively large mitts...or hands. Yes, hands.

 “That’d be him... he’s first.” Fin pokes me rather unceremoniously with his elbow and I nod, although I will admit I am finding it a challenge to subdue my fight or flight instinct.

Amazon link

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Mia Kerick is the mother of four exceptional children—all named after saints—and five nonpedigreed cats—all named after the next best thing to saints, Boston Red Sox players. Her husband of twenty-two years has been told by many that he has the patience of Job, but don’t ask Mia about that, as it is a sensitive subject.

Mia focuses her stories on the emotional growth of troubled young people and their relationships, and she believes that physical intimacy has a place in a love story, but not until it is firmly established as a love story. As a teen, Mia filled spiral-bound notebooks with romantic tales of tortured heroes (most of whom happened to strongly resemble lead vocalists of 1980s big-hair bands) and stuffed them under her mattress for safekeeping. She is thankful to Dreamspinner Press, Harmony Ink Press, CoolDudes Publishing, and CreateSpace for providing her with alternate places to stash her stories.

Mia is a social liberal and cheers for each and every victory made in the name of human rights, especially marital equality. Now marital equality is the law of the land!! WOOT!! Her only major regret: never having taken typing or computer class in school, destining her to a life consumed with two-fingered pecking and constant prayer to the Gods of Technology.

Stop by Mia’s Blog www.miakerick.com with questions or comments, or simply share what’s on your mind.

Find Mia on:

Facebook

Goodreads

Amazon author page

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GIVEAWAY


a Rafflecopter giveaway

The tour dates can be found here


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My review:

4 stars

A Hard Day's Night by Mia Kerick gives a glimpse of a couple of high school seniors who are exploring their personalities and their relationship.  Kalin Macready is known as Lennon and his life is permeated by the philosophy of the Beatles.  He already knows he wants to intensify his relationship with his best friend Beaumont Finley Danforth II (who is known as Fin), he just has to convince Fin of that.  A plan to spend the day doing things that are associated with being a gay male challenges both of them, and they will have to figure out how they want to proceed, with each other, and with their future plans.   

This contemporary teen romance is a gentle exploration of the stereotypes of young gay males as well as a homage to the Beatles and their influence.  The interesting goal stated by Lennon/Kalin, “I do have twenty-four feminine-side-exploring, team-switching, relationship-igniting hours to make my homeboy see the rainbow-hued light.” aptly states the premise of the story but the twists provided by their reactions to such things as a makeover day at the spa or participation in a Zumba class adds both humor and an insight into their respective personalities.  I love the evolution of their relationship and their unique responses to the various things they try, even as I cringed at some of the events that took place.  It is my impression that each chapter heading is a Beatles song title that meshes well with the contents, and the affirmation that one has to live one’s life according to one’s heart is a great message in this entertaining and positive tale.

A copy of this title was provided to me for review

Love Spell by Mia Kerick (Virtual Book Tour, Guest Post, Excerpt and GIVEAWAY)

It is my pleasure to host author Mia Kerick (who has the distinction of being the first author to answer ALL of the questions I submitted for authors to choose from, lol).  Take it away, Mia...

MK:  Hello everybody at THE READING ADDICT!!! Thank you so much for welcoming me to your blog to talk about my new release Love Spell!! Let’s chat…

What do you think is the strongest attraction about the genre(s) you like to write in?

MK:  You know how lots of people say “LOVE IS LOVE”? Well, I say it, and with everything in my heart I BELIEVE IT!! I don’t believe that romantic love can be dictated by cultural expectations or gender lines or political/religious laws. When love blooms between two people a minor miracle has occurred and it should be accepted, at a minimum, and better yet, celebrated and supported.  I often wonder about what life would have been like if the person I’d fallen in love with had been another woman instead of a man. Until recently, we would not have been able to be legally married, and in some states we still couldn’t be. There would have been no sharing of marital benefits, so I couldn’t have been a stay-at-home mother. And our children would have been viewed as a peculiarity rather than just a part of our family. Any love is good love—in as far as gender, religion, race, etc. goes. And so I write stories about these people because they are important.

What was the most difficult thing to overcome on your path to becoming a published author and how did you conquer it?

MK:First of all, I will say that I haven’t conquered it. I struggle with my challenge every day.

The most difficult challenge I have had to deal with on my path to becoming a published author has been using my computer. In high school and college, I never took a computer class, as I wasn’t a computer science major and I had a typewriter, so I figured, why should I? LOL- but it is the truth. In my author’s bio it says I pray daily to the Gods of Technology and I do!!! I have learned EVERY COMPUTER LESSON the hard way, and it seems my MacBook Air always has more painful lessons in store for me.

What would be your dream place to visit and why?

MK:  I’m a simple girl. I like simple fun. Just put me on a plane to Orlando with a suitcase filled with shorts and T-shirts and let me spend a week or ten days with Mickey Mouse. I will be COMPLETELY fulfilled. Really.

(note from ELF:  I am fortunate to live in CA, and this sounds like a great plan to me, spending a week or so at our version!)

Which author(s) has/have been the most influential to you and how or why?

MK:  I’m gonna come clean. I loved Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. No, I adored Twilight. And Edward Cullen was the ultimate in tortured-soul characters, of which I have never been able to get enough. I wrote my first book because of Stephenie and Twilight and Edward. Meyer moved me to create a tortured guy of my own!!

What do you do to mentor others?

MK:  I wrote about 12 books for Dreamspinner Press and Harmony Ink Press, their YA imprint, and last year I mentored a teenage writer by reading and critiquing a story she had submitted to a contest. Other than that, I am an excellent cheerleader for new authors (GO-O-O-O-O NEWBIE AUTHORS!!), and I often invite them to visit www.miakerick.com, where they spend an evening in my figurative guest room where they can promote themselves.

What is your writing process?

MK:  I start the writing process by doing research on what is going to be the major theme of the book. This constitutes a good part of the hard work I conduct prior to the fun stuff, which is the creating of characters. (Character creation=frosting on the cupcake.) For Love Spell, my research focused on gender confusion. I had a concept in my mind of Chance César—a teenage boy who is quite in touch with his feminine side, even admitting he wishes, at times, that he were a girl. After researching the theme I will tackle, I spend time creating a rough version of a plot. This part is difficult and intense. For the most part, I just sit and think. I think about popular culture, events in the news, what kinds of things kids deal with everyday, current music, and music that spoke to me as a teenager. This can feel like a desperate time for me until I have the plot idea, and then I feel AWESOME. The next step in my writing process involves creating a very rough outline of the events that will take place in the story. I do not use a standard outline form, just a long rambling list.

And then the fun part—creating the characters.

What scares you the most or makes you the happiest about writing?

MK:  By being published, I have lost a degree of privacy. Many people in my town know I’m a romance writer and have asked me about the books I write. I have written intimate scenes (some with three people involved) that I am not at all ashamed of, but that I wouldn’t go screaming about from the rooftops. Well, actually, maybe I would scream about my love scenes to adults, but I have kids in school, and I don’t relish the idea of their friends teasing them about the romantic scenes their mother writes. So there is a measure of privacy that disappears when you are published.

What is one of your hobbies and how has it enriched your writing?

MK:  I will admit that my favorite thing to do—aside from activities with my family—is to write. But when I say write, I mean everything that comes under the writing umbrella. I enjoy researching and creating characters, developing plot, and just daydreaming about what I’ve created.

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Love Spell

by Mia Kerick

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BLURB:


Strutting his stuff on the catwalk in black patent leather pumps and a snug orange tuxedo as this year’s Miss (ter) Harvest Moon feels so very right to Chance César, and yet he knows it should feel so very wrong.

As far back as he can remember, Chance has been “caught between genders.” (It’s quite a touchy subject; so don’t ask him about it.) However, he does not question his sexual orientation. Chance has no doubt about his gayness—he is very much out of the closet at his rural New Hampshire high school, where the other students avoid the kid they refer to as “girl-boy.”

But at the local Harvest Moon Festival, when Chance, the Pumpkin Pageant Queen, meets Jasper Donahue, the Pumpkin Carving King, sparks fly. So Chance sets out, with the help of his BFF, Emily, to make “Jazz” Donahue his man.

An article in an online women’s magazine, Ten Scientifically Proven Ways to Make a Man Fall in Love with You (with a bonus love spell thrown in for good measure), becomes the basis of their strategy to capture Jazz’s heart.

Quirky, comical, definitely flamboyant, and with an inner core of poignancy, Love Spell celebrates the diversity of a gender-fluid teen.

EXCERPT


Lost: One Rat’s Ass, $10,000 Reward if Found and Returned In Good Condition to Rightful Owner

My parents are what you might call “rather apathetic” with regard to their sentiments toward the one who will, in theory, carry on the César name. Or at least that’s how I see it. Fair warning—I’m a person who likes to call spades exactly what they are. And even if I so badly wish the spade was a club, I still call the frigging thing a spade. So yeah, when I was young, I used to pretend like Mom and Dad gave a crap, but you can only pretend for so damned long. Now that I’m seventeen, any and all remnants of the “I love you, you love me—we’re a happy family” charade are ancient history.

Nope. They don’t give a rat’s ass about their only child, Chance.

Now don’t get me wrong—Mom and Dad possess no wish for lousy shit to fly my way. They just aren’t into the whole parenting thing, and I figure that’s their right.

But on the brighter side, they don’t give a rat’s ass that I’m gay. Nope, there’s no horrific, scarring homophobia going on in the César family home. And get this: my big “coming out of the closet” last year consisted of three lines of dialogue between my parents and moi:

Me: Mom, Dad… I’m gay… and I just thought you guys might want to know.
Dad (yawning): That’s nice, Chance.
Mom: Yeah, that’s great. Oh, by the way, it’s get-your-own-dinner-night… again.

Nope, nothing emotionally scarring there.

Good thing I’m the kind of guy who chooses to focus on the positive. I can walk around the house in full female stripper garb, and nobody bats an eyelash. If I conjure up any reaction at all, it might be that my mother asks me where I bought my sexy stretch-lace naughty knickers, as she’s been looking for ones in that color. And speaking of color choices, neither Mom nor Dad said a single word when I showed up with my hair dyed the flamboyant shade of a Cheez Doodle. Not only do I have complete freedom with how I express my personal style, but when I go all drama-queen mode on their asses, my parents just look at each other and shrug. In fact, I try—and I try fucker-nelly hard—but I just can’t shock these people.

I can barely get them to notice me.


Amazon link


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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Mia Kerick is the mother of four exceptional children—all named after saints—and five nonpedigreed cats—all named after the next best thing to saints, Boston Red Sox players. Her husband of twenty-two years has been told by many that he has the patience of Job, but don’t ask Mia about that, as it is a sensitive subject.

Mia focuses her stories on the emotional growth of troubled young people and their relationships, and she believes that physical intimacy has a place in a love story, but not until it is firmly established as a love story. As a teen, Mia filled spiral-bound notebooks with romantic tales of tortured heroes (most of whom happened to strongly resemble lead vocalists of 1980s big-hair bands) and stuffed them under her mattress for safekeeping. She is thankful to Dreamspinner Press, Harmony Ink Press, CoolDudes Publishing, and CreateSpace for providing her with alternate places to stash her stories.

Mia is a social liberal and cheers for each and every victory made in the name of human rights, especially marital equality. Her only major regret: never having taken typing or computer class in school, destining her to a life consumed with two-fingered pecking and constant prayer to the Gods of Technology.

Stop by Mia’s Blog with questions or comments, or simply share what’s on your mind.

Find Mia on:
Website
Facebook
Goodreads
and Amazon