Love Spell
by Mia Kerick
Genre: YA Contemporary Fiction (LGBTQ)
Re-Release Date: August 2018
Summary:
Having come to terms with being gay, Chance César is still uneasy with his gender identity, or, as he phrases it, “being stuck in the gray area between girl and boy.” This concern, however, doesn’t stop him from strutting his fabulous stuff on the catwalk in black patent leather pumps and a snug-in-all-the-right (wrong)-places orange tuxedo as the winner of this year’s Miss (ter) Harvest Moon Festival at the local Beans and Greens Farm’s annual fall celebration, serenaded by the enthusiastic catcalls of his BFF, Emily Benson. Although he refuses to visually fade into the background of his rural New Hampshire town, Chance is socially invisible—except when being tormented or beat up by familiar bullies. But when Chance, the Harvest Moon Festival’s mockingly-elected Pumpkin Pageant Queen, meets Jasper Donahue (Jazz), the legitimate winner of the Pumpkin Carving King contest, sparks fly. Chance wants to be noticed and admired and romantically embraced by Jazz, in all of his neon orange-haired glory.
And so at a sleepover, Chance and Emily conduct intense research on their laptop computers, and come up with an article in an online women’s magazine called “Ten Scientifically Proven Ways to Make a Man Fall in Love with You.” Along with a bonus love spell thrown in for good measure, it becomes the basis of their strategy to capture Jazz’s heart.
Quirky, comical, definitely “sickening” (this is a good thing), and with an inner core of poignancy, Love Spell celebrates the diversity of a gender-fluid teen.
by Mia Kerick
Genre: YA Contemporary Fiction (LGBTQ)
Re-Release Date: August 2018
Summary:
Having come to terms with being gay, Chance César is still uneasy with his gender identity, or, as he phrases it, “being stuck in the gray area between girl and boy.” This concern, however, doesn’t stop him from strutting his fabulous stuff on the catwalk in black patent leather pumps and a snug-in-all-the-right (wrong)-places orange tuxedo as the winner of this year’s Miss (ter) Harvest Moon Festival at the local Beans and Greens Farm’s annual fall celebration, serenaded by the enthusiastic catcalls of his BFF, Emily Benson. Although he refuses to visually fade into the background of his rural New Hampshire town, Chance is socially invisible—except when being tormented or beat up by familiar bullies. But when Chance, the Harvest Moon Festival’s mockingly-elected Pumpkin Pageant Queen, meets Jasper Donahue (Jazz), the legitimate winner of the Pumpkin Carving King contest, sparks fly. Chance wants to be noticed and admired and romantically embraced by Jazz, in all of his neon orange-haired glory.
And so at a sleepover, Chance and Emily conduct intense research on their laptop computers, and come up with an article in an online women’s magazine called “Ten Scientifically Proven Ways to Make a Man Fall in Love with You.” Along with a bonus love spell thrown in for good measure, it becomes the basis of their strategy to capture Jazz’s heart.
Quirky, comical, definitely “sickening” (this is a good thing), and with an inner core of poignancy, Love Spell celebrates the diversity of a gender-fluid teen.
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Excerpt:
Before
Mom got home from work today, I borrowed (stole) three types of perfume she
keeps in the back of her bathroom closet. In a small Tupperware bowl, I pour
liberal quantities of Utter Damnation, Breath of God, and The Good Earth,
certain that, between these three fragrances, I’ve covered all of my
bases—hell, heaven, and our trusty home planet in between. Then I add a few
splashes of my own favorite fragrances to the mix: Silky Underwear (boasting a
fresh forest scent), All Girly (smells like bubble gum), and The Second Coming
(I just like its name).
Using
a tablespoon to mix the concoction until it’s fully blended, I’m slightly
concerned by the notion that I’ve inadvertently created a toxic combination,
which will aromatically poison my entire household, or maybe something
potentially explosive. But nothing major happens when the perfumes are all
combined, except a truly unusual odor (my signature scent) rises from the
tomato sauce–stained bowl. I soak the tip of a cotton swab in the fragrant
(pungent) blend and dab it onto my wrists, the pulse points at the base of my
throat, and throwing caution to the wind, I stick my fingertips in and wipe
them off on my clothes.
Yes,
my signature scent, Utter Breath of Earth’s Girly Silky Second Coming, is…is…
Well, I haven’t yet come up with a fitting descriptive term for it other than
fucker-nelly outrageous.
The language used in Love
Spell is colorful. Which puts it mildly.
Chance calls his BFF Emily the Ms. Merriam-Webster of
Improvised Language. In other words, well, she
makes up words. After she creates words she uses them constantly and
expects Chance to do the same. And he does. Believe me, he does!
And so for today’s vocabulary lesson, let us focus on three
of Emily’s finest words:
First, there’s PIE-STROLL.
Pie-stroll is defined as something that’s easy to do, even easier than a
cakewalk.
In a sentence: I find singing the blues to be a pie-stroll when compared with singing
opera.
Next, is FUCKER-NELLY. Fucker-nelly is used consistently throughout Love Spell. Chance, at first struggles
with its proper usage, but in the end concludes that it is an adverb meaning
extremely.
Here is fucker-nelly in a sentence: “Your new camo skinny
jeans are fucker-nelly awesome!”
Finally, we have DOOZA-PALOOZA. Unfortunately, you have one and I have one;
it’s defined as a humongous problem.
Today’s dooza-palooza
is straightening my hair since the power is out. (Get the picture?)
I hope you check out Love
Spell by moi, Mia Kerick. You will laugh. You probably won’t cry, but there is a fucker-nelly remote chance of it.
About the Author
Mia
Kerick is the mother of four exceptional children—a daughter in law school,
another a professional dancer, a third studying at Mia’s alma mater, Boston
College, and her lone son off to Syracuse. 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
her wonderful publishers 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 First Place Award for Cultural
Diversity, a Story Monsters Purple Dragonfly First Place Award for YA Fiction,
among others.
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 at www.miakerickYA.com for updates on
what is going on in Mia’s world, rants, music, parties, and pictures, and maybe
even a little bit of inspiration.
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1 comments:
I am so thrilled to be here at The Avid Reader to provide for your readers a quick vocabulary lesson! Thanks for hosting me!!
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