A warm Love Bytes welcome to author Brynn Stein joining us today on the For Mac Pride Promotion blog tour .
Welcome Brynn 🙂
Author Name: Brynn Stein
Book Name: For Mac
Release Date: May 29, 2015
Goodreads Link
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Paul Richmond
Pages or Words: 246 pages
Blurb:
Branson Farrell lost his parents when he was thirteen, and for the last ten years his brother, Mac, eight years his senior, has taken care of him. But Mac’s love came at a price. Both brothers were raised to believe being gay was completely unacceptable, and Branson has almost convinced himself he can be what Mac expects. When he looks at a man in a bar and Mac notices, Mac drags him off in horror. Mac’s distress and disgust leads to a car accident that leaves Branson injured and Mac in a coma. Branson heals and stays at Mac’s bedside, but when Mac doesn’t recover, he is moved to a long-term care facility. There, Branson meets openly gay, confident, and attractive Liam Sullivan. Liam stirs feelings Branson thought he’d rid himself of, and to honor his brother, Branson fights tooth and nail against his attraction. When the cost of denying who he is becomes too high, Branson must battle a lifetime of hatred that’s been beaten into his body and mind to try for something of his own.
Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Romance
Sales Links:
Dreamspinner Press
Amazon
why choosing the heavy laded, I might say, road of the family hating gay family members subject ?
The subject kind of chose me. Branson is modeled on several people I know in real life who have had horrible times with their family. Living in the bible belt, I regularly see families hide behind religion to hate various groups, homosexuals high on the list. I know of one young man who didn’t make it past the suicidal stage that Branson had gone through in the past. I know of two others who were in therapy for a long while, trying to come to terms with themselves. One was so conditioned by his family that he was fundamentally flawed that he voluntarily submitted to conversion therapy. He almost didn’t survive it. He’s still struggling with his identity but is finally able to admit that he’s gay and that there is nothing wrong with that. The third young man got counseling a little sooner and is doing a little bit better. Of the three, he’s most like Branson. He, like the other two, had horrible opposition from his family, but he had supportive friends, and he’s finally together with one friend. I’ve just seen this attitude toward homosexuality ruin so many lives, it often crops up in my stories, but for this story the characters insisted that they wanted to focus on the damage that can be done when that hatred is internalized.
Branson and MacKenzie Farrell were brothers, but Mac was more like a father figure. Because of the eight-year age difference, Mac had taken care of Branson the whole time they were growing up. Their dad worked the day shift and their mother worked nights—both working twelve-hour shifts—so usually whichever parent was home was sleeping. Therefore, it was up to Mac to pack Branson’s lunch, walk him to school, and take care of him in the afternoon. It was Mac’s job to tuck him in at night and read to him. It was to Mac that Branson ran when he had nightmares. Mac was the one who bandaged Branson’s wounds and sat by his bedside when he was sick. Branson idolized Mac. He always wanted to be where his older brother was, do what he was doing. He was sure he irritated the shit out of Mac sometimes, but he just couldn’t stay away. The sun rose and set on Mac as far as Branson was concerned. He did everything Mac said, tried to please him in any way possible. He wanted his brother’s approval more than anything in the world.
When their parents died in a car crash when Branson was thirteen, Mac fought long and hard to keep Branson with him. At twenty-one, Mac already had a job at a local pizza place and was making good enough money to support himself and his brother. Their parents had left the house to both boys, so they had a mortgage-free place to stay. Social Services didn’t particularly like leaving the young teen in the care of a young adult, but they couldn’t really find a good enough reason not to give the older brother custody, so Mac finally had legal “father” status as well as fulfilling that niche emotionally for Branson, as he always had.
Branson was beside himself with grief for his parents, but having Mac there made it easier. He couldn’t imagine life without Mac. He was so grateful that Mac was willing to fight for him, that he wanted to keep Branson with him, even though Mac was devastated by their parents’ deaths too. Branson strove to be the perfect teen. He continued to do everything Mac said, tried to keep Mac happy. He wished Mac would talk to him about everything. It was clear that he was struggling, but Mac took his role as father figure seriously and refused to open up to Branson, or anyone else, as far as Branson knew.
In addition Mac became a hard disciplinarian. Before, Mac had been opinionated—in that way all big brothers could be—and never failed to let Bran know when he had a differing view on something. But after becoming “the father,” he tended to try to make Branson see his side of it. Branson didn’t know what to do. Suddenly nothing he did seemed to be good enough. It was like Mac would accept nothing less than perfect, so Branson tried his best to puzzle out what “perfect” was for Mac, and be just that.
Mac rarely became physical with his discipline, but he made sure Bran knew, in no uncertain terms, that he was not to drink, not to smoke, and not to get a girl pregnant. He should be in by eleven and get up by himself on weekdays and get himself ready for school. He was never to miss the bus and never to cut school. He was to get groceries from the store down the street and have dinner ready when Mac got home. Branson didn’t understand all the changes at the time, but he wanted to keep Mac happy, so he complied with all of it. He became the perfect brother/son, housekeeper, and housemate. He was always quiet, kept to himself, and tried not to bother Mac. Gone were the days that Branson would spend all his time with Mac. Forever over were the times Branson would annoy the shit out of his big brother simply because he could. Mac seemed to work continuously, and Branson knew he was the reason, so he tried to pick up the slack as much as he could and keep his head down the rest of the time.
Mac also made it clear that being homosexual was sinful and despicable and would absolutely not be tolerated. That was brought up numerous times throughout Branson’s teen years because, as other boys his age began looking longingly at, and dreaming about, girls at school or scantily clad models on posters, Branson was more likely to drool over the football team practicing on the field or his friend Amy White’s bootleg Playgirl magazines. Bran smuggled the magazines into the house exactly once. Mac found them, of course, and went on a tirade the likes of which Bran had never seen before. Bran had finally had to crawl under the bed to escape the beating. He had a black eye and bruised ribs the next day, and it became clear to him that there was one issue over which Mac would become extremely physical.
Time after time, if Bran so much as smiled at a cute guy, Mac would at least yell at him. Sometimes he would become abusive. Branson eventually found it easier to bury that part of himself. He tried to become what his brother wanted. He tried to drool over cheerleaders and make crude jokes about women. He even had sex when he was eighteen with a girl down the street who had always thought he was cute. Mac was so proud of him then. He said that had made Branson a “real man.” Bran felt more like a “real heel” for using the poor girl. It had been the first time for both of them, and it was miserable.
But when Branson acted like Mr. Macho, Mac was happy and not abusive, so that was what Branson tried to do until his early twenties.
TEN YEARS after the car crash that killed their parents, both boys still lived in the house they owned jointly. Branson had gone to college on a full scholarship and now had a job at a local advertising firm.
Mac still worked at the same pizza place but was now the owner, having bought out his former boss three years ago. It had been The Pizza Place when Mac bought it, but Mac was proud enough of owning his own business that he wanted his name attached to it. It became Mac’s Pizza Place, and at first the customers didn’t even seem to notice. They still called it The Pizza Place. Slowly they’d started using the new name, until now people just referred to it as Mac’s.
I’ve always loved to write and wrote fan fiction before I even knew what it was called. When computers came along, with online communities and places to publish fan fiction, I wrote even more. Then a friend convinced me to try to have an altered version of an AU (alternate universe, meaning all but original) published. My manuscript was accepted and now I’m a ‘published author’.
Where to find the author:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brynn.stein
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/brynnstein2
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrynnStein
Website: www.brynnstein2.wordpress.com
Tour Dates & Stops:
29-May
Velvet Panic
Mikky’s World of Books
1-Jun
Amanda C. Stone
2-Jun
Inked Rainbow Reads
Molly Lolly
3-Jun
The Novel Approach
Full Moon Dreaming
4-Jun
Vampires, Werewolves, and Fairies, Oh My
MM Good Book Reviews
5-Jun
Love Bytes
BFD Book Blog
8-Jun
Cate Ashwood
Hearts on Fire
Divine Magazine
9-Jun
Rainbow Gold Reviews
10-Jun
Prism Book Alliance
Boys on the Brink Reviews
11-Jun
Bayou Book Junkie
Bike Book Reviews
Rafflecopter Prize: A signed paperback copy of For Mac, an electronic copy of For Mac, and three prizes of electronic copies of your choice of a back title.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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hi Brynn!
Sounds like an intense, emotional read. Can’t wait to read it.
Hello, Brynn!
Hi Brynn! I can’t wait to read this!
Thank you for the excerpt!
Hi! Congrats on the release. This book sounds very heart-breaking.