Sid, I loved meeting you on Facebook this week- we certainly had a lively chat, didn’t we? I think I even managed to make your bed shake a little bit!! No…nothing particularly naughty happened, as it turns out, my “worrying vibes” are powerful enoughto make the whole world shake—I managed to rock Sid’s world, from New Hampshire in the USA all the way to India! And then it was the laughter that moved his bed; as I said, it was a lively conversation. In any case, here I am, taking over his blog and I’m so excited to let you all know what is on my mind…

So here’s the question of the day:

Is it possible to hide from your own feelings?

And now, amusical discussion of Out of Hiding by Mia Kerick (yes, moi!!) published by Dreamspinner Press…but you are aware of all the places you can get it, right?

If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE MUSIC—it speaks to my heart, it motivates me to write. I listen to music all day long as I create scenarios of love. I value the lyrics, I treasure the sounds. It is my fuel.

On that note… 

Everywhere people stare

Each and every day

I can see them laugh at me

And I hear them say

 

Hey you’ve got to hide your love away

Hey you’ve got to hide your love away

~The Beatles

 

When Philippe Bergeron was ten years old he lost his cherished mother to cancer. Already a timid introvert, her death devastated him. He no longer had a person in his life in whom he could confide.  Philippe was very truly alone.

What was also deeply distressing to Philippe was that after his mother’s passing, the world at large seemed to stare at him as if he was an oddity. “Look—see that kid? His mother croaked and then he went nuts!” If children weren’t gawking and pointing fingers, it was the adult population in his life attempting to “drown him in a pool of loving kindness.” Being noticed in this way caused Philippe great discomfort. And so, he learned to hide.

His best hiding place was inside himself. 

Don’t cry out loud

Just keep it inside, learn how to hide your feelings

Fly high and proud

And if you should fall, remember you almost had it all

~Melissa Manchester

And in this manner, Philippe made his way through life…always flying low under the radar.  He skated right through high school, without a soul remembering so much as his name. No one knew he was hiding, as Philippe was a great pretender, always insisting he was just fine.

Philippe, however, was not just fine. Not at all. 

Oh, yes, I’m the great pretender (ooh oohooh)

Pretending I’m doing well (ooh oohooh)

My need is such

I pretend too much

I’m lonely but no one can tell

~Queen

In order to further avoid social contact with his peers, Philippe

graduatedfrom high school earlyand found a job as a commercial  fisherman, where he believed he stood the best chance of disappearing under the black blanket of night on the Atlantic Ocean.

Philippe isolated himself from the world.

I shut and locked the front door

No way in or out

I turned and walked the hallway

And pulled the curtains down

I knelt and emptied the mouth of every club around

But nothing’s sound, nothing’s sound

 

I’m in hiding

I’m in hiding

I’m in hiding

I’m in hiding

 

It’s been about three days now

Since I’ve been aground

No longer overwhelmed and it seems so simple now

~Pearl Jam

 

Philippe continued hiding out on the wide Atlantic in his role as a fisherman until he suffered a shoulder injury. And just like that, he is called to return to the real world, to be a chaperone for his seventeen-year-old niece, Sophie, as she tours the New York City Dance world in search of educational opportunities.

Philippe, however, plans to continue hiding inside himself—in his mind, nothing has changed but his location. He intends to hide under the lights of a chaotic city instead of under the stars of the wide sky over the Atlantic.

And it was a good plan. But then he meets Dario Pereira who refuses to allow Philippe to hide from him—not his heart, his mind, or his body.

Philippe has been seen by a man who will not look away.

Big quandary: can Philippe hide himself from this man?

Or maybe a more fundamental dilemma: can Philippe hide from himself any longer?

Can anyone hide from his own feelings?

Philippe desperately wants to hide from Dario’s love. In his defense, he has a very good reason.

 

I wish I could lay down beside you

When the day is done

And wake up to your face against the morning sun

But like everything I’ve ever known

You’ll disappear one day

So I’ll spend my whole life hiding my heart away

~Adele

 

Love has caught up to Philippe Bergeron in the person of Dario Pereira.

The time has come for him to decide if his days of hiding are over.

I don’t think I answered the question of the day for you, and I honestly did not intend to. My goal was to urge you to consider the dilemma that Philippe must face. What really matters in Out of Hiding, is whether or not Philippe Bergeron will continue to hide himself in the dark, or allow himself to take the risk…

…to bond with his niece.

…to build friendships.

…to invest himself in a career.

…to love a man.

OUT OF HIDING

BLURB: After graduating from high school early, twenty-year-old Philippe Bergeron spent the past several years lost among the stars while fishing off the New England coast. A shoulder injury ends his dream of living reclusively on the water, and he finds himself lost among the bright lights of New York City. His older brother, Henri, has asked Philippe to chaperone his seventeen-year-old niece, Sophie, on her tours of the city’s legendary dance programs.

Sophie meets with professional dancer and choreographer, Dario Pereira, to prepare a routine for her college auditions. Dario’s cool perfection and immaculate style contrast with Philippe’s awkward scruffiness, but it wakes desires Philippe thought he’d left behind. When the attraction is surprisingly returned, Dario’s confidence won’t let Philippe remain invisible. Unsure but curious, Philippe relaxes his rule of isolation, and as the summer progresses, his relationship with Dario leads him to a surprising discovery of his submissive sexual tendencies and a greater sense of self-awareness.

Tragedy threatens to destroy the connections Philippe has made and forces him to retreat into the shadows of his past, far from the radiance of Dario’s love. Ultimately, he must decide if it is time to stop hiding and set himself free.

ABOUT MIA KERICK

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 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 men and their relationships, and she believes that sex 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 for providing her with an alternate place to stash her stories.

Mia is proud of her involvement with the Human Rights Campaign and cheers for each and every victory made in the name of 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.

GIVEAWAY

Mia Kerick is giving away an ecopy of her book “Out of Hiding” to one lucky winner on this blog!! To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment to this post.

!!!Contest ends 20th January, 2014 @ 23:59 Pacific Time!!!