Brains and Brawn – Summer of Hush Bk. 2

Time: Now

MCs: MM

Sub-Genre: Contemporary Romance; Rockstar Romance

Themes: Gay and demi/bi; Age Gap; Hurt/Comfort; Proximity; Single dad; Military; Mental Health Disorders

Book Blurb: Billy “Brains” Brennan has achieved rock stardom in not just one, but two chart-topping bands, but events from his past have him convinced he’s living on borrowed time. Brains and his brothers-in-Hush are ready to take the last cross-country Warped Tour by storm…until the actions of two drunk dudes with bad attitudes set off a chain of events that leave him incapacitated…and face-to-face with a handsome stranger who inexplicably feels like home—and not the home Brains fled at sixteen. Chief Petty Officer Paul McNally has spent his 25-year career as a Navy Corpsman responding to emergencies and caring for wounded soldiers. When fate has him in the right place to provide aid to a fallen rock star, it sends his life spiraling on a trajectory he never planned for. Instead of concentrating on his impending retirement and a second career, he’s now playing nursemaid to a fascinating younger man…and falling in love—a fact he can’t seem to figure out how to explain to his adult son. 
A health scare, band drama, and pain from both of their pasts threaten to end Brains and Paul’s fledgling relationship. Fate brought them together. It will take trust, honesty, and hope to keep them together.

What I Think: It will also take some good old smacking to make them get their act together! Now, in the tale preceding this, we met Brains and saw the beginning of his seemingly insta-attraction to Paul. But, I needed to see his story and what would come out of that crazy situation. Oh, and what a series of delightful surprises took place! This tale did my head in until I had no choice but to toss all my preconceived notions out the window and just let myself be led by Mme. Merrill. So, let’s dig in! The insta-spark between him and Paul is very understandable to me because there’s nothing as stimulating as an intelligent argument and this was pure verbal foreplay. Parents and Parents-to-be including pseudo-mums of which I’m one, please take notes on how to handle a child that has mental health issues. Love them, treasure them, be there for them, and don’t stop encouraging them. I already fell in love with Paul at the beginning of this tale. He’s just doing parenting so damn right that I am soothed. I also got a new word that makes total sense – mental instaboner. Watching the band struggle with losing a bandmate to mental health issues then having to substitute the person that holds their threads in a functional pattern was so nerve-wracking that I think I was more stressed than they were. And then the disaster struck, leaving me breathless and panting even as the tale became personal. I was expecting it after reading the former tale, but it was much more graphic and real in this one. The mental swirl of darkness that Brains gets into after the accident makes me ache every step of the way. But I loved Paul first so I know he’s got this but I want to wrap Brains up in cotton and steel until I find out all the trauma and what caused them just so he can be purged of it. Apparently, we are plenty with this hospital-related trauma. Heads Up – Rant Ahead! Goddess, would it kill hospital staff to be a little nicer and more receptive? I’ve spent most of my life in and out of hospitals and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve met a nice nurse or doctor. No matter how respectful or pleasant you try to be. It also doesn’t help that Africans naturally don’t show much emotion so the humiliation and terror are ten times worse. Aaarrrggghhh, I’d change my body in a heartbeat just so I don’t need another medical visit! Rant Over. All this smoothly segued into feeling lost. Dear lawdess, Paul and Brains have so much intense baggage between them that I’m wondering if it will be possible to focus on the romance, and yet even as I think this, it’s already seeping in. That intimacy that comes from your instincts telling you this is the right person, telling you to let go and trust is already soaking into my skin. Lightweight that I am, my heart melted when I met Penny. I absolutely adore her. With everything she’s been through and still going through, that woman is really an Earth Mother and my crush is very real. She needs someone to take care of her and I want it to be me. I respect the hell out of Brains to have come this far with nothing but his own sweat and tears which is something very few of us will ever be disciplined enough to do. And, I don’t know how he does it but to just let his instincts take over where Paul is concerned makes the whole thing that much smoother as they fit like they’ve known each other forever. That almost lazy ease yet inflamed with new passion is meltingly sweet. Come on, I can’t love every person in this tale. Side Gist – This tale had me taking time off to think. How much of our personalities are based on trauma? what do we even categorize as trauma? I looked within and was shocked at what I found. Shocked at all the traumatic things that my conscious insisted were not trauma in a bid to continue to function but were deeply imbedded in my subconsious as trauma. While running errands with my sister, I blurted out that I think I’m traumatized and I think forcing myself to be ‘social’ when I have never been the type has worsened my agoraphobia and anxiety. She gave me a sideways look and burst out laughing. Then the minx turned to me and said, ”You think? You’ve gone through things that leave people in psych wards and you think?” How can one be traumatized and not know it? I definitely need to take a page from Bowie and go in for that therapy. You gotta love and hate the tales that make you think and re-evaluate yourself.
And when that fall began, you know, the luscious one that’s simply magnifique in all its form and shapes, I was focused in spite of thinking that all the emotions will get in the way. Eyes wide open, fighting the prickling only for it to all be for naught as the waterworks erupted when Brains’ found family shows him in every way that he chose right. And as Paul confirms all that his instincts already surmised, I sighed and burrowed myself deeper. This fall is going to be gutwrenching and will hurt so much only for me to burst out laughing. See what I mean about doing my head in? I couldn’t help it as Paul turned so bloody adorable. How is Paul this perfect? It’s like he’s ensuring his picture will be put up in the dictionary of metaphors as the perfect example of what it means to not judge a book by its cover. I want a Paula so bad! Even as the most torturous foreplay begins. Oy vay, the way they read each other’s minds like they were created to be together is even more magical and yet, I worry. Will Brains be able to handle the intensity that is Paul without hurting him too irreparably? Will he be able to see what’s truly valuable which are definitely not the baggage he carries but the here, now, and tomorrow that Paul deserves? I’m really sideyeing him on this, and yet, I love Brains for his quirks and failings, for being viscerally aware of his possibilities even as he strongly believes he can close the door to his emotions with less than a thought. Pfft. He’s a lightweight and I love him so, willing him to just feel and close down that magnificent brain, even for a while. Then Paul finds himself not only going through what he had to live with before but the same situation I found myself in and just ended before it went too far. All this before he dumped truth on me. Truth that made me push my laplet away (laptop + tablet  = laplet. After all, there are phablets too). I reached for a cig as my picture of Brain clicked into place, finally complete, just before my heart crumbled for him. Paul has one hell of a road cut out for him and I’m no help on the advice front because I can’t decide if he should run or stay. I refuse to even get pissed about Brains preferring to run. Not when it’ll make me hypocritical as it made me face the way I’ve pushed myself and pushed away help because I had someone who it seemed my sicknesses damaged more than they did me. I want to cry for my younger self then smack my current self. Repeatedly. with feeling. Mme Merill, this was the plan wasn’t it? Self Xrays brought upon by this tale and yet I can’t stop. Neither the process already begun in my head or the reading. Armed with more ciggies, I dove back in, my heart cringing as they lose the ease with which they’d slipped into each other and I want to scream at Brains so much, I’m huffing and puffing. Just when the thing I thought would be the biggest hurdle was crossed, everything. just. fell. apart. Everything that could have ever fallen apart, did. Mme. Merrill, don’t think I don’t see what you did here. You made me all comfy and relaxed and settling in for more loving and swift! She was cackling in glee as my eyes took up more real estate on my forehead and held me captive until the end. The End. Oh, sorry. Joy and happiness tumbled in with all the crazy and before I knew it, I was laughing my loony laugh at first hysterical, then gradually turning to waterworks as all the loves in this tale hit me at the same time with a sublime intensity. You already know I’m claiming them both. They shredded my heart then put it back together and I can hear Mme. in my head, exclaiming ”perfect!”

Verdict: Love comes to those who believe it and for you to believe, you have to be willing to cut yourself loose and do nothing but listen to your heart!

Where to Find Tale:

UBL

About the Author(ess): R.L. Merrill brings you stories of Hope, Love, and Rock ‘n’ Roll featuring quirky and relatable characters. Whether she’s writing about contemporary issues that affect us all or diving deep into the paranormal and supernatural to give readers a shiver, she loves creating compelling stories that will stay with readers long after. Winner of the Kathryn Hayes “When Sparks Fly” Best Contemporary award for Hurricane Reese, Foreword INDIES finalist for Summer of Hush and RONE finalist for Typhoon Toby, Ro spends every spare moment improving her writing craft and striving to find that perfect balance between real-life and happily ever after. She writes diverse and inclusive romance, contributes paranormal hilarity to Robyn Peterman’s Magic and Mayhem Universe, and works on various other writing and mentoring projects that tickle her fancy or benefit a worthy cause. You can find her connecting with readers on social media, educating America’s youth, raising two brilliant teenagers, trying desperately to get that back piece finished in the tattoo chair, or headbanging at a rock show near her home in the San Francisco Bay Area! Stay Tuned for more Rock ‘n’ Romance.

Be an Unashamed Fan!
Author Website
Author Facebook (Personal)
Author Facebook (Author Page)
Author Twitter
Author Instagram
Author Goodreads
Author Amazon