by Mia Kerick
Genre: NA Contemporary Fiction - LGBTQ
Release Date: October 29th 2018
NineStar Press
Summary:
Saving the one who once saved me.
College junior Liam Norcross is a hero. He willingly, even eagerly, risks his life to save a stranger as a murderous, deranged shooter moves methodically through the darkened theater on the Batcheldor College campus, randomly killing innocent men, women, and children.
The stranger he saves is college freshman Jason Tripp. Jase loses everything in the shooting: his girlfriend, who dies on the floor beside him, and his grip on emotional security. He struggles to regain a sense of safety in the world, finally leaving college to seek refuge in his hometown.
An inexplicable bond forms between the two men in the chaos and horror of the theater, and Liam fights to bring Jase back to the world he ran away from. When Jase returns to school, they’re drawn together as soulmates, and soon Liam and Jase fall into a turbulent romantic relationship. However, the rocky path to love cannot be smoothed until Jase rescues his hero in return by delving into his shady past and solving the mystery of Liam’s compulsion to be everybody’s savior.
IT’S CERTAINLY AN unusual feeling to have your bloody clothes carefully removed by a burly, male stranger. And once I’m stark naked, to have him stand right beside the shower with his hands on my waist, while I do my best to clean the blood off my body—well, this kind of thing doesn’t happen every day. At least not to me. I hang my head and watch as the bloody water swirls around and is swallowed by the drain, and I don’t freak out, mainly because I don’t think there’s any “freak out” left in me. As soon as my head is clean, the guy pulls me out of the shower and forces me to bend at an odd angle so he can examine whatever made my head bleed so much. He studies my scalp for a long time, until I start to shiver and need the spray of hot water to warm me.
When he lets me go, he says, “I think a bullet grazed the top left side of your head. There’s a two-inch scrape there, and it’s kind of deep. The bleeding’s stopped, but you probably ought to get it checked out by a doctor in the morning. It’s pretty nasty.” His large palm finds its way back to my hip. “But dude, I’d say that, overall, you’re pretty lucky, know what I mean?”
Not feeling particularly lucky, I again nod and return to my place beneath the stream of water, wishing I could wash away everything that happened tonight. What’s weird is the deep scrape on my head doesn’t hurt...nothing does; I’m physically numb. I decide at this moment I’m not going to think about the stuff that hurts my mind until we leave this bathroom...or better yet, until we leave this apartment, which represents a short reprieve between the hell of the shooting and the hell of accepting that it was real.
I found this book a little intense. I prefer my books more happy in mood and this was a little depressing. Jase is really upset about the events and struggles with his emotions. He's suffering from post dramatic stress and can't stop thinking about what happens. He questions his relationship with his girlfriend and how he felt about her. This book is graphic in detail of the shooting. The relationship between Jase and Liam is confusing. They have a special bond but neither has been with a man before. They both have issues and Liam's past is haunting him. They need someone but that doesn't mean it's going to be an easy ride. This is an emotional read and both characters have a lot to overcome. They need each other more than they realise.
4 stars out of 5.
*I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review as part of the blog tour.
About the Author
Mia Kerick is the mother of four exceptional children—a daughter in law school, another a professional dancer, a third studying at Mia’s alma mater, Boston College, and her lone son off to Syracuse. She writes LGBTQ 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-four 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 emotional growth in turbulent relationships. As she has a great affinity for the tortured hero, there is, at minimum, one in each book. As a teen, Mia filled spiral-bound notebooks with tales of said 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 her wonderful publishers for providing alternate places to stash her stories.
Her books have won a Best YA Lesbian Rainbow Award, a Reader Views’ Book by Book Publicity Literary Award, the Jack Eadon Award for Best Book in Contemporary Drama, an Indie Fab Award, and a Royal Dragonfly First Place Award for Cultural Diversity, a Story Monsters Purple Dragonfly First Place Award for YA Fiction, among others.
Mia is a Progressive, a little bit too obsessed by politics, and cheers for each and every victory 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. Visit her at www.miakerickYA.com for updates on what is going on in Mia’s world, rants, music, parties, and pictures, and maybe even a little bit of inspiration.
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Thanks so much for hosting me on your blog and for the great review! I truly appreciate it!
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