Are you ready for this emotive coming of age novel from Mia Kerick’s? Check out the Cover Reveal for Dead Sea!

Story Ballads, Book 2

Releasing: March 3rd

Kyle is a swaggering bully; Lenny strives to be invisible.
Kyle has been left alone in the world; Lenny is the world’s biggest loner.
When Kyle saves Lenny from drowning, their lives will never be the same.

After a brutal encounter with school bullies, Lenny swims out into the ocean, determined to let the current whisk him away. Next thing he knows the meanest kid in town is pulling him from the waves, promising to be his Dead Sea, and to never let him sink.

All Kyle wants is to get out of beach cleanup, is that too much to ask? So he goes for a swim, only to come upon the most epic loser in the senior class drowning in a riptide. Lenny’s haunted gaze grips him, and Kyle makes the impulsive decision to save his life or die trying. Through this ordeal, Kyle and Lenny are transformed.

Kyle’s heroic act sets him on the straight and narrow, and he opens his heart to the young man he dragged from the ocean. Lenny changes too but is still unable to reveal the truth of his pain. While drowning in a sea of secrets, the reformed bully and wary victim fall in love. But staying afloat in the Dead Sea is not as simple as it seems.

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Exclusive Cover Reveal Excerpt:

Lenny

“Is that you, Zip-lip?” he yells. Heads turn.

Ugh.

My first thought: I’m so not prepared for this. Followed closely by: Holy effing shit.

Our gazes meet across the crowded barroom. And how I wish his stare could strip me bare, as teenagers’ stares so effectively do. I’d be better off naked and afraid than dressed as I am. The unforgivingly peculiar details of my attire won’t be easily overlooked.

Gil tilts his head, and his bushy unibrow lifts quizzically in an effort to make sense of what he’s seeing. I can’t fault him for his WTF moment. I certainly don’t resemble the nondescript boy he knows from geography elective. Pre-calc too.

Where’s Waldo has been spotted.

And this completely unnerves me.

Shouldn’t I have learned my lesson—don’t let anybody see you in anything except your “normal boy” uniform—in my very own bedroom in the early fall of freshman year? I didn’t, though. Some of us are slow learners in critical matters.

For much needed steadiness, I grasp the edge of the bar. My other hand—trembling, as it is—clasps my golden hoop clip-on earring and holds on for dear life. Pirates of old believed earrings offered powerful protection from such disasters as seasickness and drowning. At the moment, I need a more garden variety of protection—from utter humiliation and getting my ass kicked.

Before I’ve wrapped my brain around the confounding notion of Gil Sisti in my bar, his confusion morphs into motion. Gil is heading my way with tonight’s accomplice, Damon Zane, trotting at his heels like he does in the halls at school. Isn’t there usually a third bully in this gang—a louder, meaner one? But Kyle Larson is nowhere to be seen.

I draw in a breath and hang onto it like it’s the last one I’ll ever take. Who knows? Maybe it is. Maybe Gil will try to knock some fashion sense into me, and I’ll fall off my high stool, crack my head on the edge of the bar, and bleed out on the sticky floor.

Enter the Giveaway:

To celebrate Mia Kerick’s Cover Reveal, We are away 3 e-copies of Dead Sea!

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About the Author:

Award-winning gay romance author, Mia Kerick, knows that a satisfying romance novel is riddled with challenges. For true love to prevail, the leading men are gonna have to put in some effort. But the HEA is oh-so rewarding.

Mia has a great affinity for the damaged teenage soul in literature. Her YA gay contemporary romance focuses on such tropes as hurt/comfort and dark secrets that keep them apart. In Kerick’s books, the course of true love never does run smooth.

Mia’s books have been featured in Kirkus Reviews magazine. They have won a 2019 IPPY GOLD award for Juvenile/Young Adult Fiction, a 2018 YA GOLD MOONBEAM Children’s Book Award, a YA Readers’ Favorite Award, several Gold Rainbow Awards in YA and adult categories, a Reader Views’ Book by Book Publicity Literary Award, the Jack Eadon Award for Best Book in Contemporary Drama, a YA Indie Fab Award, a First Place Royal Dragonfly Award for Cultural Diversity, a First Place Story Monsters Purple Dragonfly Award, and more.

Mia 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:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mia.kerick/
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Twitter: @MiaKerick
https://www.miakerickya.com
https://www.miakerick.com