Blog Tour: Scarred by Mia Kerick (Review + Giveaway)

Scarred
Mia 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?

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4.5 Stars

Matthew has been living as a hermit on the tropical island he now calls home with his four cats as his company, as he tries to heal from the emotional and physical wounds he suffered at the hands of a man who abducted and abused him when he was only 7 years old. Meeting Vedie, a young busboy who treads the line between genders makes him want to be able to connect with someone else and slowly they strike a friendship, which eventually turns into more. However, the past has a way of sneaking into their present.

Matt's story is absolutely heartbreaking. I felt so bad for what he went through when he was just a child and really, I wanted to kill the guy who put him through all that and strangle his parents, especially his mother, for how they handled things once he returned home as a teenager. They had money and resources at their disposal and they still drove Matt away. *shakes head*

I felt bad for Vedie, too, but somehow I found it difficult to connect with him. I'm not sure why. I liked him in all his transgender glory and I loved that he was the catalyst for Matt being able to really start healing and be able to open himself and his heart again. They were a bit awkward at first, which all things considered was very realistic, and it was lovely seeing them grow more comfortable with each other as time went by. They had great chemistry and I loved that Matt could accept Vedie for all he was, researching and standing up for him whenever he needed it and that Vedie could pretty much do the same for Matt in a different way, but equally meaningful.

All in all, this was a really good, angsty read! I'm aware that the theme isn't easy, reading some of Matt's journal entries and the things Vedie had to go through at the hands of his brothers was difficult, to say the least. However, Mia Kerick did a superb job with it, without going overboard, to give us a love story that helped heal even the worse wounds of the soul.

Very recommendable!

*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***

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.

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