Welcome to my third Muse Monday post. It’s a chance for a character who inspires me to guest on the blog. Today, we have Darryl Keejik, the troubled and volatile First Nations politician from Blessed, book one in The Matawapit Family series. Check out what Darryl has to say.
I know I’m portrayed as this angry man in the novel, but people don’t understand what my childhood was like, and I blame it all on Emery’s beloved church. The place he loves above everything has caused me nothing but heartache. It was responsible for stripping my people of their culture.
Although I never attended a residential school, my parents and aunt did. The school stripped my parents of everything they believed in, and they turned to alcohol to numb their suffering. I lost them when I was a kid. My aunt raised me, and she’s an angry woman. Angry about what the school did to her. Angry at what the government did to her. Maybe she poisoned me why I’m so pissed off?
All I know is I want to make First Nations communities better places after the church and government tried to destroy us. It’s why I returned after Emery and I broke up. It’s why I ran for band council and now help run the community after I became elected to fill one of the seats at the leadership table. But how am I supposed to do that when Emery’s father, the church deacon, keeps shoving into my face the very place that cost me the man I love?
Now Emery is back. He’s visiting here for the summer while taking a break from the Catholic seminary where he’s studying to become a priest.
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A mixed-blood Catholic seminarian struggles to discern his true calling: the priesthood or his ex-lover, a proud but damaged Ojibway man.
It’s been ten years since Emery Matawapit sinned, having succumbed to temptation for the one thing in his life that felt right, another man. In six months he’ll make a life-changing decision that will bar him from sexual relationships for the rest of his life.
Darryl Keejik has a decade-long chip on his shoulder, and he holds Emery’s father, the church deacon, responsible for what he’s suffered: the loss of his family and a chance at true love with Emery. No longer a powerless kid, Darryl has influence within the community—maybe more than the deacon, and he intends on using his new-found power to destroy Deacon Matawapit and the church.
Hoping to save the church, Emery races home. But stopping Darryl is harder than expected when their sizzling chemistry threatens to consume Emery. Now he is faced with the toughest decision of his life: please his devout parents and fulfill his call to the priesthood, or remain true to his heart and marry the man created for him.
Genre(s): Multicultural, M/M Contemporary Romance, First Nations Romance, Adult, LGBTQ+, Inspirational.
Heat Rating: Level 3
Publication Date: July 6, 2018
Publisher: eXtasy Books
Maggie Blackbird 