A Hard Day’s Night
by Mia
Kerick
GENRE: YA LGBTQ Contemporary
Romance novella
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.
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.
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-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:
Giveaway:
$20 Amazon/BN GC
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