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Book Title: The Man Inside Me
Author: Sean Kerr
Publisher: SGK Publications
Cover Artist: SGK Publications
Release Date 31st September 2018
Genre/s: MM Romance, MM Historical, MM Gothic Romance, MM Paranormal Romance
Heat Rating: 4 flames
Length: 202 Pages
It’s a standalone story.
Blurb
Victorian London is a difficult place to be when you are gay, as Henry and Gabriel know all too well.
When they were young at Oxford University, Henry and Gabriel’s love burned hot and bright, and they thought to change the world together until a devastating tragedy ripped them apart.
Now, as youth fades away, Henry can no longer stand to see his own reflection in the mirror. All he sees is a sad, tired old man whose body has betrayed him. He craves the touch of another, to feel attractive and vital once more but his obsession with finding a cure for insanity has stolen his life away, and now his work has taken on a dark and sinister dimension. How far will he go to recapture the passion of his lost youth?
Gabriel fears that Henry is losing his mind, and when a brutal killer invades their lives, they are thrust into the dark depths of Victorian London in a fight for their very lives.
As their friendship is tested to its limits, Gabriel cannot help but wonder if there is still a chance for love. Can they move beyond the friendship that has spanned over thirty years and find the love that once made their hearts beat as one?
You may never be too old to find love, but will you be able to survive it?
Buy Links - Available on Kindle Unlimited
5 Stars!
I'm not sure what to say about this book without spoiling it for others, other than saying it's an amazing read. The writing is so elegant, almost poetic in some parts, very reminiscent of the time period it covers. I love historical romances, although I wouldn't say this is quite a romance, even if it's being heralded as a gothic or paranormal romance. To me, it's more of a gothic story with some romantic elements.
I really liked Henry and Gabriel, who'd been lovers at one time during their youth and now thirty years later are just friends. I liked the way the author showed us how they had met and how they fell in love and then why it all stopped and was hoping they could rekindle their relationship at some point.
The story is told from several perspectives in many different manners. We get Henry's POV, we see his inner turmoil, his love for Gabriel and his mother, his despair over the loss of his mother and his hate for her husband and above all, how his obsession changed him and made him turn his back on Gabriel's love back when they were still in their 20's. I can say I was truly surprised when I learned his true identity around the middle mark of the book, even if I had my suspicions before then. We get Gabriel's perspective, his fear that his dear friend, the man he's loved for so long, might be ill or losing his sanity. It was heartbreaking to realize how much it affected him to lose Henry's love and how lonely he'd been all those years. Then we have Richard, Henry and Gabriel's friend, who is privy to other details that add up to the mystery surrounding the story. Added to those, there are some articles from a newspaper regarding the mystery and some letters that round up the plotline and make it more detailed and rich.
I can safely say The Man Inside Me wasn't what I expected, and perhaps it's not for all readers, but if you love historical books and you love Gothic romances, you'll surely love this book.
*** While a copy of the book was provided to Bayou Book Junkie, the reviewer chose to borrow a copy through KU, a review wasn't a requirement. ***
About the Author
Hi everyone, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Sean Kerr, and I am a 49-year-old gay man living in Cardiff, Wales with my husband of 28 years, Derek. We have two cats, Rita and Harry, and a host of tropical fish.
I worked on building sites for years, and I used the money earned from that to put myself through college, specialist paint techniques etc. I trained in fine art, and then I went out and painted murals on client’s walls, and created Roman Bathrooms and fantasy hand painted bedrooms, all the rage back in the late eighties and nineties. I then became an Interior Designer for a large DIY chain. For the past thirteen years I ran my own Interiors business, and while that is no longer in existence, I am now looking for my next challenge in life!
By night I am an Author, and I am very proud to be an author for Extasy Books. It took me some years to get to this point. I spent a very long time trying to get an agent because I thought it was the right thing to do, and after a heck of a lot of refusals, I nearly gave up. I came so close to hitting the delete button on Dead Camp 1 because I thought I did not stand a chance. At the very last moment, I decided to have a go at approaching a few publishers directly, and I sent the manuscript to six. Within two weeks, I had offers of publication from three! Let’s just say that there may have been tears lol. It was my chance, at last, to become a part of a world that I have always loved and admired from a distance, and it is one of the very best things to ever happened to me.
Dead Camp is the first series I ever wrote, and then there is my short novella called Hush Little Baby. Dead Camp is my take on the Vampire genre, an MM Paranormal Romance series that is set against a backdrop of World War 2. However, the series uses key moments from History to tell one enormous saga, and I have loved every single moment of writing it. There are five books in the Dead Camp series.
Hush is a pure horror story with more than a nod towards such classic programmes as The Twilight Zone and Tales of The Unexpected. The project happened just after I completed Dead Camp 3 and it is a story that I had to get out of my system. It’s definitely a different beast to my Vampire saga, and I hope it will make you go to bed with the lights on lol!
I recently ventured into the world of self-publishing, and as such, I have just released my first independent book series, The Last Child. The Last Child is a horror series that is in 3 parts dealing with the occult. It has a definite Dan Brown vibe in that I love conspiracy stories, so I have used religion and some intriguing legends as the backdrop to this contemporary supernatural thriller that tells the story of a female protagonist trying to protect her young student. Neither of them realises how their lives, and indeed their histories, are intertwined in the most horrific and tragic ways.
My latest book, ‘The Man Inside Me’ is an MM Victorian Gothic Romance, and I think it is the favourite thing I have written so far. It deals with two men in their fifties trying to find love again, a subject that is very close to my heart as I approach that milestone. It is a very important book to me, and while it has some very ‘KERR’ twists and turns, it is, at its heart, a very romantic tale that deals with middle age. I am particularly proud of this book, and it is a very different spin on the MM genre.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I look forward to meeting you on social media.
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thank you so so much for hosting me today, and for your wonderful review of my book! xxxxx
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