BLOG TOUR with EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT, PRE-RELEASE REVIEW and GIVEAWAY: 'Hush' by Lynn Kelling
Title: Hush
Series: The Manse # 4 - Prequel to Bare
Author: Lynn Kelling
Release Date: April 17, 2018
Cover Artist: Siol na Tine
Genre: Contemporary Romance; Erotic Romance; Mystery/Thriller
Length: 398 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M; M/M/M; Menage; Bisexual; BDSM; D/s; Deaf; Comfort/Hurt; Coming Out; Interracial; Motorcycle Club; HEA; Standalone
CW: Gay Bashing, Hate Crime, Off-Page Murder, Violence
Kinks: Bondage, Edging, Electrical Stimulation, Figging, Genital Torture, Humiliation, Object Penetration, Sex Toys, Sounding, Spanking, Non-Conventional Toys, Voyeurism, Sadism, Masochism, Milking
About Hush
Rune Tooby is a smartass rebel and closeted gay biker with The Born Soldiers motorcycle gang. Rune’s life centered on casual sex and less-than-legal employment, until a pickup truck full of homophobic white supremacists rammed into his bike, destroying his hearing and shattering his life. Learning to live deaf and silent overwhelmed Rune, sending him to humbly beg help from the last people he trusts completely: the rich and powerful Dominants of the Manse, who trained Rune in the arts of BDSM.
Oliver Hughes, cocky day trader and sexual Dominant, lives a life of indulgent luxury. Despite this, he feels adrift and unneeded since his beloved submissive, Jackson Whitney, became absorbed into life as a family man and cardiologist, leaving him little time for his Master. When a meeting between Rune and Oliver is carefully arranged by the leaders of Manse, it starts a wild ride, sweeping up everyone who gets too close to the explosive pair. Rune and Oliver find themselves on a path filled with frustrating miscommunications, rage-filled vengeance, and painfully unearthed secrets.
It was just so fucking quiet.
He’d loved heavy metal music, kept it cranked to a low roar until his neighbors banged on ceilings or floors. The smooth tenor of his voice had been his charm, his in. It connected him with the guys in his crew. He’d always been chatty. Outgoing. Over-confident.
Now, he never said a single fucking word. His pride wouldn’t allow it. Way back when, he’d said fuck you to speech therapy. Hated that he couldn’t tell what was coming out of his mouth. Lost all of his plentiful confidence. Did an about-face and began keeping to himself, all the time. Stopped using his voice which only made it worse to try starting again. He could see it on their faces, from the first, how they shied away from trying to communicate with him. Maybe he sounded off. He didn’t know and was too afraid to ask. One thing he knew for sure was how uncomfortable he made them, for being so different than he’d been.
Most people that Rune encountered those days acted just like Denis in one respect—they never looked him in the eye. Their gaze slid off like he wasn’t really there, or like they were afraid he’d try to communicate with them and then they’d need to figure out how to do it in return. There was no desire, no hunger. No one wanted him to do anything except go away and stop making things awkward.
He didn’t sell anything anymore. His accounts had long been drained from the medical bills. Sometimes he did odd jobs for pocket money, but he had no steady gig. He didn’t have a place to live, or a bike, or a purpose.
There were no more calls from horny or hard-up guys like Denis. He still had an account on Grindr, but it would have been a joke if he tried to hook up with anyone. He pictured it—some hot, hard-bodied guy showing up at the club, a grizzled senior member like Axe pointing the poor bastard to the storage room, and Rune standing there with his board scribbled with “Hi, I’m Rune,” like the biggest shmuck in the world.
It never would have gotten that far, even if he was desperate. For all that Rune mocked his customers for staying in the closet, he’d never set a foot outside either. None of his friends knew he was gay. None of the crew. None of his family. Not even his therapist, or the people he found through Meetup.com to practice American Sign Language, ASL for short.
The crash should have killed him. He’d fractured small bones in the base of his skull, which had caused ossicular chain discontinuity, which meant he was completely, one hundred percent deaf. There was a slim chance surgery might improve his hearing, but he couldn’t afford it and was too scared of disappointment to try.
The road rash along his arms, legs and back had healed. He’d been slowly, steadily covering the scars with new tattoos. But he’d always be broken.
It had been about six months since the accident. His road rash had disappeared after a few weeks, but it took a lot longer for him to adjust to the other injuries and the many practical and financial consequences. He’d felt instantly distant from everyone and had no idea how to claw his way back to normalcy. What the long months had taught him was that now, no one wanted him. No one needed him. He was only trouble. A hardship. A weight his friends shouldn’t have had to carry.
Part of him needed to do something about the accident and the people who’d caused it, but it was hard to care enough to take the first steps at getting some revenge when he was barely getting through the days. Soon though, he told himself. Once things started to click again, he was going to act. The promise of that helped keep him going.
"The dimensions Kelling explores in the D/s relationships in this story are deeper, darker, and more intense than I’ve known her to go before."
Meet the Author
Lynn Kelling began writing in order to tell stories that aren’t afraid of the dark, don’t hold anything back and always strive to be memorable, forging lasting attachments between character and reader. Her inspiration comes from taking a closer look at behaviors and ideas lurking at the fringes of life—basically anything that people may hesitate to speak of in mixed company, but everyone wonders about anyway. Her work is driven by the taboo in order to expose the humanity within it. Lynn is an artist, designer and lover of any form of creative self-expression that comes from a place of honesty and emotion, whether it’s body art or opera. She is an award-winning author who has written over fifty works of erotic fiction of varying lengths, and always has several novels in progress.
For more from Lynn be sure and visit her website.
