reviews_and_ramblings | 2016 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: The Art of Hero Worship by Mia Kerick (79-04-11-2016)

1) A beautifully written story about a horrible tragedy and the following aftermath. This had to be one of the best stories about two men falling in love while identifying themselves as straight. This is a gay-for-you tale shown realistically. The love these men feel for each other sort of extends beyond gender and sexual orientation. The other theme is heroism, what it means to be a hero, what kind of an effect it has on someone's personality, and how that same effect is carried to a partner. Two people feel safe with each other, save one another, and try to build a life together past that heroic glow and admiration. This was a lovingly crafted story of love-conquers-all.

2) This New Adult book, with its tragic beginning and healing end, showed off Ms. Kerick’s wonderful style of pulling you into a book, a theatre, a town, and keeping you there, spellbound. As the plot unfolds and we learn about what it truly means when one says ‘hero’, flawed and necessary, broken and scared, one is unable to refrain from loving these two men, and wishing for a ‘living hero’ in our own lives...

The Art of Hero Worship by Mia Kerick
Gay Romantic Suspence
Paperback: 216 pages
Publisher: CoolDudes Publishing (January 15, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1523427868
ISBN-13: 978-1523427864
Amazon: The Art of Hero Worship
Amazon Kindle: The Art of Hero Worship

Trembling on the floor, pressed beneath a row of seats in a dark theater, college freshman Jason Tripp listens to the terrifying sound of gunshots, as an unknown shooter moves methodically through the theater, randomly murdering men, women, and children attending a student performance of Hamlet. Junior Liam Norcross drapes his massive body on top of Jason, sheltering the younger man from the deathly hail of bullets, risking his life willingly, and maybe even eagerly. As a result of the shared horror, an extraordinary bond forms between the two young men, causing discomfort for family and friends, and for Jason and Liam, themselves. Added to the challenge of two previously “straight” men falling into a same-sex love, are the complications that arise from the abundance of secrets Liam holds with regard to a past family tragedy. The fledgling passion between the men seems bound to fade away into the darkness from which it emerged. Jason, however, is inexplicably called to rescue his hero in return, by delving into Liam’s shady past and uncovering the mystery that compels the older man to act as the college town’s selfless savior. The Art of Hero Worship takes the reader on a voyage from the dark and chilling chaos that accompanies a mass shooting to the thrill of an unexpected and sensual romance.

Rainbow Awards Guidelines: http://www.elisarolle.com/rainbowawards/rainbow_awards_2016.html