Author Name: Mia Kerick
Book Name: Love Spell
Release Date: June 1, 2015
Blurb:
Strutting his stuff on the catwalk in black patent leather pumps and a snug orange tuxedo as this year’s Miss (ter) Harvest Moon feels so very right to Chance César, and yet he knows it should feel so very wrong.
As far back as he can remember, Chance has been “caught between genders.” (It’s quite a touchy subject; so don’t ask him about it.) However, he does not question his sexual orientation. Chance has no doubt about his gayness—he is very much out of the closet at his rural New Hampshire high school, where the other students avoid the kid they refer to as “girl-boy.”
But at the local Harvest Moon Festival, when Chance, the Pumpkin Pageant Queen, meets Jasper Donahue, the Pumpkin Carving King, sparks fly. So Chance sets out, with the help of his BFF, Emily, to make “Jazz” Donahue his man.
An article in an online women’s magazine, Ten Scientifically Proven Ways to Make a Man Fall in Love with You (with a bonus love spell thrown in for good measure), becomes the basis of their strategy to capture Jazz’s heart.
Quirky, comical, definitely flamboyant, and with an inner core of poignancy, Love Spell celebrates the diversity of a gender-fluid teen.
Pages or Words: 44,300 words
Categories: Contemporary, Gay Fiction, Romance, Young Adult
Excerpt:
Not to say that I kept my phone basically right beneath my chin for the next four days, but I kept my phone basically right beneath my chin for the next four days. Yes, I was oh-so-pathetically waiting for his call, which I am aware fully explains the need for the phrase “get a life.” But Jazz hadn’t been at school on the Thursday or Friday after he had called and cancelled our playdate, and now it’s Sunday night, and I still haven’t heard from him. And although I’m frustrated that all of my elaborate plans to make him fall head over heels in love with moi have apparently tanked, I’m also growing genuinely concerned.
That’s when my cell phone, which I placed on my chest before I lay down on my now “love-spell-pink” wrapped mattress, starts singing Express Yourself.
“Yo.” I don’t check the number. It’s Emmy—who else would it be?
“Hi, Chance.” The deep voice is so not Emmy’s.
Yaaassss!!! This is what ninety-nine percent of my insides shout. One percent says quietly, “It’s about frigging time you called, asshole.”
But my voice is calm. “Jasper,” I say blandly. In my opinion, he hasn’t earned the right to be called Jazz any longer.
“Um, sorry, no. It’s Jazz.”
I try not to roll my eyes even though I know he won’t see, but it’s an epic fail. “Whatever.”
“I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch for a couple days. My mom’s been real sick. I was lookin’ after her, gettin’ her to the doctor, goin’ to the pharmacy, bringing JoJo back and forth to school, and stuff.”
Oh.
“Mom caught JoJo’s strep throat and had to go to the ER because she couldn’t even swallow.” He stops talking for a second and then clears his voice. “Alls she could do was spit into a rag whenever she needed to swallow.”
Well, that’s definitely TMI, but I get the fucker-nelly revolting picture. “I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault, dude.”
And then there’s silence.
“Gonna take JoJo to the library after school tomorrow. But first I gotta stop by the cable company and pay up or we’re gonna lose our TV and internet at home. They already warned us like twice.”
“Want me to pick up Yolo at school and take her to the library?” I’m so freaking pissed off at him. Why am I offering to save his ass again?
“That’s cool of you to offer, but there’s a bus she can take to the library from her school. Could ya be waiting for her at the library, in case I get held up?”
“Of course.” I’m a Class A sucker.
“You’re such a cool pal.” Ugh—so not what I’m going for.
“Thanks.”
“I’m not gonna be at lunch tomorrow seein’ as I’ll probably be collecting my makeup work. So, I’ll see ya at the library. ‘Kay?”
I don’t say kkkk cuz it’s not even slightly cool. “Sure. The libes after school, it is.”
“Thank you, bro,” Jazz offers.
One more silence, and then I say, “Later.”
I have research to do.
Sales Links:
http://www.amazon.com/Love-Spell-English-Mia-Kerick-ebook/dp/B00XT3044W/
Mia was also kind enough to answer a few questions about Love Spell
Hi Mia, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.
Thank you so much for having me here today to promote the release of my new YA Contemporary Romance with plenty of humor, Love Spell!
What’s the easiest thing about writing?
Ideas. I get so many ideas that it is hard to organize them. I never have to wonder what to write next; the words just pop into my mind. And if I don’t like the first words I came up with, another set of words pops into my head just as easily. This is the easiest part, and it is followed by many more challenging tasks.
Tell us about your cover and how it came about.
I did a lot of cover research prior to making my decision for a cover of Love Spell. I wanted some thing youthful, contemporary, quirky, and comical. I searched for books on various YA booklists that seemed to have the feeling I was trying to create, and I copied them all and studied them. Many of these book covers had backgrounds that were bright-colored or white and solid. Many of them featured an image of a teenaged main character that was in some way humorous, and often a bit sarcastic. I will admit that I took a long time thinking about the covers I printed, and analyzing the font. Why did one of these covers lead to a successful book and another… well, not so much?
When I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted, I started my own searches in stock photos. Lo and behold, I found the perfect model and he was posed in so many positions that I was going to have to make a tough choice. I then found some great ideas for the background and created a tagline I liked. When I had my ideas together, I sent them to Louis C Harris, the cover designer for CoolDudes and YoungDudes Publishing. He created the cover I have now, and it wasn’t exactly as I’d planned—it was better!! (Thank you, LouisC!)
Is this book part of a series? Do you have ideas that could make it into a series? If it is a series, tell us a little about it.
Love Spell is a standalone novel. To this point I haven’t known beforehand if a book is going to be part of a series. I decide on whether or not to make it a series based on the audience response to the book and the characters. For example, a lot of readers wanted to know what happened next with Casey, Nate, and Zander, and so I decided to write the next part of their story, Here Without You.
I don’t know yet if readers will want to know more about Chance and Jazz.
I want! *raises hand*
And now a totally random question: Word association. Tell us the first thing that comes to mind when you read these words.
Ketchup-mustard
Flakes-corn
Elastic-band
Timer-buzz
Google-documents
Hmm… not too thrilling results on the word association.
LOL, yeah!
Thanks for having me today!!
Thanks for stopping here!
About the author:
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-two 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 people and their relationships, and she believes that physical intimacy 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, Harmony Ink Press, CoolDudes Publishing, and CreateSpace for providing her with alternate places to stash her stories.
Mia is a social liberal and cheers for each and every victory made in the name of human rights, especially 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.
Stop by Mia’s Blog with questions or comments, or simply share what’s on your mind. Find Mia on Facebook, Goodreads, and Amazon.
Where to find the author:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mia.kerick?fref=ts
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MiaKerick
Pinterest: http://www,pinterest.com/miakerick/
Goodreads Link: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6474518.Mia.Kerick
Publisher: Cool Dudes Publishing
Cover Artist: Louis C. Harris
Rafflecopter Prize: $25Amazon Gift Certificate
Rafflecopter giveaway
Tour Stops:
25-May
Bike Book Reviews
Hearts On Fire
MM Good Book Reviews
Rainbow Gold Reviews
Amanda C. Stone
Carly’s Book Reviews
26-May
BFD Book Blog
Cathy Brockman Romances
Mikky’s World of Books
The Novel Approach
Divine Magazine
Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews
27-May
Because Two Men Are Better Than One
3 Chicks After Dark
Cate Ashwood
Prism Book Alliance
28-May
Love Bytes
Velvet Panic
Boy Meets Boy Reviews
Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
Chris McHart
29-May
Inked Rainbow Reads
Bayou Book Junkie
EE Montgomery
Molly Lolly
My Fiction Nook
Nephylim
Jessie G. Books
Chris McHart 
Thank you, Chris, for welcoming me to your blog today and I really loved talking about my cover. It isn’t often I get asked about my cover and I do so LOVE the cover to Love Spell by Louis C Harris!