Exclusive Excerpt from Sound of Silence

by Mia Kerick and Raine O’Tierney

Renzy

His BMW is idling by our curb, and I really should get my ass out of his car. The longer I wait, the more awkward it gets. But I don’t want to leave—I really don’t. I had the best time today. It may have been the best time of my life.

I shouldn’t tell him that. Instead I place the notebook back on my knee and scribble. <Did I thrill you today?> I’’m trying to be playful, but when I look up, Seven is studying me in the hazy evening. He says so much with his eyes, I wonder if he knows? Without actually moving, he pushes back my hair, fingering the buzzed side. He touches my cheek, running his fingers down the side of my face, up under my chin. He leans forward and kisses me. All of this he does with his eyes only. I lick my lips and his gaze unabashedly follows the movement of my tongue.

“There are ways you could thrill me more,” Seven says, and I die.

I’m dead now. Dead, gone, buried because I don’t know exactly what he means, but I know enough to know that we’re going to kiss for real, and goddamn I’m ready.

I lean forward at the same moment he leans forward and we share a barely there whisper of a kiss.

Okay, yes. That happened.

I just kissed Seven Moreau-Maddox. In his BMW. In front of my house.

Holy shitballs, that just happened.


“You’re blushing.” Is he surprised? This is my first kiss—who doesn’t blush at their first kiss? Maybe Seven didn’t. That makes me blush even more. “It’s a nice shade of pink, though. Reminds me of the spring cherry blossoms in Paris.”

About Sound of Silence

Renzy Callen exists on the periphery of life, and not just because of the horrific childhood event that robbed him of the ability to speak. Walling himself off from the rest of the world as a means of protection, he occupies his time with art, music, and an obsession with self-help groups—whether he needs them or not. His isolation protects him, and he’s immune to drama and emotional games… or so he believes. Everything changes when he meets Seven and Morning Moreaux-Maddox, the wealthy, jet-setting siblings who move from a life of sophistication in Europe to humdrum Redcliff Hills, Missouri.

Both Seven and his sister are impossibly beautiful and elegant, like the stars in magazines and high-fashion models on the runway. When Renzy is pulled into their push-and-pull of affection and rejection, he realizes there is more to both haunted Morning and cold, diamond-sharp Seven than meets the eye.

The three teens embark on a quest to learn the reason behind Renzy’s selective mutism, and something more than friendship blossoms between Renzy and Seven. It’s during this trip of a lifetime that the three realize the truth they seek might be found in the sound of silence.

Available at: Amazon

About the Authors

Mia Kerick is the mother of four exceptional children—a daughter in law school, another in dance school, a third studying at Mia’s alma mater, Boston College, and her lone son still in high school.  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 Dreamspinner Press and Harmony Ink Press 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 Award for Cultural Diversity, among other awards.

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 website for updates on what is going on in Mia’s world, rants, music, parties, and pictures, and maybe even a little bit of inspiration.

Find out more about Mia on her Facebook and Twitter.

Raine O’Tierney loves writing about first loves and friendship. She believes the best thing we can do in this life is be kind to one another, and hopes her stories always reflect that. Raine loves encouraging people to write and has been known to repeat the phrase “I believe everyone has a story to tell” endlessly, until she breaks down even the most stubborn non-writer!

Raine lives outside of Kansas City, Missouri, with her husband, fellow M/M author Siôn O’Tierney. When she’s not writing, she’s either playing video games or fighting the good fight for intellectual freedom at her library day job.

Contact her if you’re interested in talking about point-and-click adventure games or about which dachshunds are the best kinds of dachshunds!

Website, Facebook and Twitter.

As part of this blog tour, Mia and Raine are giving away a $15 Amazon Gift Card!! To enter, just click the link below!

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Please be aware that the only way to enter the giveaway is to click the Rafflecopter link above. Any comments on this post will not count towards entering the giveaway unless otherwise stated but are still welcome anyway.

Good luck!