Today I get to tell you about an emotional, new romance from author Mia Kerick!
Check out my review below and be sure to enter the giveaway!
ScarredMia Kerick
Publication date: March 1st 2017
Genres: LGBTQ+, New Adult, Romance, Suspense
From bestselling author Mia Kerick comes a New Adult novel of Gay Romantic Suspense that will keep you up reading all night!
Matthew North waited ten years to heal from the devastating wounds inflicted by the man who abducted and abused him as a child. Living reclusively on a tropical island—with no company but his four cats—he merely avoids the lingering pain.
Wearing twisted ropes of mutilated skin on his back, Matt struggles with a profound hindrance—the scars that deaden his soul. However, on the night he meets lively Vedie Wilson, a local restaurant busboy who expresses his gender by wearing lipgloss and eyeliner along with his three-day beard, things change.
Gradually, Vedie and Mateo unite in friendship. Through a series of awkward encounters, the pair learns each other’s secrets. Vedie learns that an angelic face can front for a scarred soul. Matthew learns that the line between one’s masculine and feminine sides is blurred. Can they embrace the painful stories behind each other’s scars if they’re to find everlasting love? Or will surrendered love come to be yet another blemish on their souls?
Author Bio: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 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 men and their relationships, and she believes that sex 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 for providing her with an alternate place to stash her stories.
Mia is proud of her involvement with the Human Rights Campaign and cheers for each and every victory made in the name of 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.
Title: Scarred
Author: Mia Kerick
Format: Digital Copy
Source: Blog Tour
Have to confess that it took me a bit to get into this one, but once I did I really enjoyed it and was touched by the story and relationship between the two main characters.
Told from the point of view of both main characters, Vedie and Matt (or as Vedie likes to call him, Mateo), Scarred is an interesting romantic story about two emotionally and physically scarred men. Vedie, a character who is not afraid to show both his masculine and feminine sides, has retreated to an island where he can just be himself and possibly forget his past. There he meets Matt, a near-reclusive man who has his own reasons for retreating to the island. Together they help each other as they both drop their guards and a relationship develops.
As I said, it was a little difficult for me to get into the story at first. I almost felt like I had missed something as we jumped right into things as Vedie and Matt first meet. But as I continued to read and slowly learn more about these very different men, their secrets, and their blossoming relationship, I found myself wanting to know more and feeling all kinds of emotions. Tissues were definitely needed.
As the title of the book suggests, both men have scars from heartbreaking and traumatic pasts that they try to hide and that have lead them to the island they call home. Pasts that might be triggering for some readers including some pretty horrendous physical and emotional abuse.
Confused by his feelings for Vedie and still dealing with horrible and heart wrenching past trauma, Matt finds it almost impossible to open up at first and often disassociates himself. As Vedie observes, it's like he's been broken and in a way he has. Meanwhile, Vedie is just as reluctant to let down the walls he has built around himself and his heart due to past experiences. It's amazing that they are able to handle all of the hurt they've had to deal with and still manage to function. They both seem to understand one another and eventually find their way, but not without a few hiccups along the journey.
And while I liked how the author gave them each distinct personalities and voices, Vedie's vernacular and frequent use of slang was a bit surprising and jarring at times considering that the author is a non-POC. I know that I'm probably making no sense as I struggle to put exactly what I mean into words, but occasionally it was a little uncomfortable.
However, I really liked and felt for both of these characters as I read more about them and the terrible things they had gone through to get to where they are. The author did a great job of showing their vulnerability and also their strength as they got to know one another. And I liked how both helped the other heal a bit and how they accepted one another for who they were. They made a nice couple and it felt like they were meant to find each other despite their differences and difficult pasts. By the end, I was glad to have been able to read their story.
*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
Thanks for the review- as always, I listen to exactly what you as a reviewer like and don't like as much about my book, and learn from it. And I learned!! Thanks!
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