Whatever He Needs is an extraordinary hurt/comfort story by Mia Kerick.

This is not an easy read, so consider yourself warned. It's heavy, but it's wonderful.

Dimmy's situation is vile, as his father is basically pimping him out at his whim. Poor Dimmy feels he has no option. His father is the master of manipulation and Dimmy is the one who suffers.

As for Liam, he struggles a lot too, as he's closeted and spends his life faking his sexuality. It definitely causes him a lot of confusion, as well as conflict, as he can't face telling his family his truth. He grew up with certain expectations and is stuck in the world his family wants for him.

The opposites attract factor is large here, with two men who come from different worlds and are polar opposites. At the beginning of the book this is firmly established.

But oh man, there is so much more to these men. They're complex and wounded. They're lovable and hurting. They're both being controlled by other people and it's tough to read. The conflict this causes between the two is well done.

I appreciate how the author explores Dimmy's dependence issues, and the way he finally sees that he can fly on his own. His new found confidence is amazing.

This is a tale of finding someone worth coming out for. This is a tale of finding someone who shows you what you're worth. This is a tale of taking control of one's life.

I continued to love the author's writing style. Everything flows well and her stories are always multi-layered and powerful. These complex men have one hell of a story to tell. This is a hard earned happy ending that is hard to imagine they will ever achieve. But they do.

Whatever He Needs is a compelling read with all the feels. Mia Kerick once again impresses me with the depth of her stories. These men capture my heart early on and I couldn't read fast enough. As usual, this is another Mia Kerick book that is a must read. It's powerful, impressive, and memorable.

Whatever He Needs by Mia Kerick is a contemporary romance. Trigger warning, Whatever He Needs includes instances of physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault, and kidnapping.

Heir to the McAllister Construction fortune, Liam is focused on maintaining the myth that he is exactly the son his father wants. When he falls for Dimmy, a heavily inked go-go dancer, he fears revealing the romance, certain it won't go over well with his upper-crust family—especially his father, who seems obsessed with building a family legacy. Dimmy’s father, Gregory, is bent on making Dimmy earn his keep by any means, no matter how unsavory. He puts his barely legal son to work dancing provocatively at the seedy bar he runs and finds Dimmy work on the side providing masseuse services—and more—to club clientele. Gregory has Dimmy twisted into believing he can do no better, and Dimmy does it all in hopes of a pat on the back from his dad. Though Liam is but a few years older, Dimmy sees him as a man who might take care of him as his callous father never has, and reluctantly lets his guard down. But Liam, though he’s falling hard and fast for Dimmy, still hides his blossoming relationship from his family. A crisis ensues when a clash between the two fathers’ business interests puts Dimmy at serious risk. When the right side of the tracks meets the oh-so-very wrong side, will Liam set his priorities straight in time to keep Dimmy from harm, or will fear shatter their lives?

Whatever He Needs is a tough read emotionally. Dimmy is in a very though situation, and has never had it easy in the best of days. The abuse from his father and everything he goes through is hard to read, but his character is extremely well written. Liam has his own issues, and dos not handle everything as well as readers might hope- past and present. The relationship is a journey, and not always healthy, but I was fully engaged and invested as they each figured out their worth and how to move forward. There were moments of the book that reminded me how fully awful people can be and moments that pointed out that people can carry just as much kindness and grace- and those qualities are not dependent on circumstances. I loved the supportive secondary characters, and viscerally hated some of the characters that made life so hard. They were all well written, and invoked very strong responses from me. In fact, I plan on reading more from the author in hopes of catching some of the characters I loved one more time.

Whatever He Needs is a hard be very worthwhile read.

DNF @ 40%
Had high hopes for this one, it seemed interesting... but it ended up being meh. I didn`t last long as the DNF told you. Dimmy/Dimitri was alright, but i didn`t like Liam.

3.75 STARS
I love these characters and their journey.
Liam and Dimmy’s (Dimitri) story is emotional, sexy and a bit gritty.
Dimmy has had his choices in life taken away, he’s controlled and used by his father. Abused and taken advantage of horribly.
He remains bit naive despite the seedy world he lives and works in. It’s an adorable part of him. It’s also sad and it angered me that he was overlooked by others who knew he was in a bad situation.
Dimmy just wants to be loved. He’s so likable and sweet. I wanted to wrap him up in love and hugs.
Liam is immediately attracted to Dimmy.
He’s enthralled by him. At first it’s purely attraction, it does become more.
Friendship and true feelings emerge.
I enjoyed the interactions and chemistry between the characters.
I liked the emotional aspects and how they played out.
Both characters have things they are hiding and things to overcome.
They both help each other and that’s a very beautiful thing.
The way the characters spoke sometimes seemed not fitting to who they were. It’s something that made it seem a bit off and it could be jarring to me at times.
Overall, I loved the characters and story.
Big emotions! Big heart!

Dimmy is a gorgeous character, and his story (and his perspective) kept me going through this book at a juggernaut pace even though I found Liam pretty unlikeable until about 85% of the way through the book (sorry Liam!)

Whatever He Needs is a fairy-tale style hurt-comfort tome of big grandiose gestures to try and save poor Dimmy from truly unfortunate circumstances. But Liam is not a two-dimensional 'strong' hero, he has a ton of flaws! And Dimmy is a lot stronger than he seems, even though the way he was raised makes it very difficult for him to leave tough circumstances. I think this would suit anyone who really enjoys hurt-comfort stories with angsty back stories, that require a suspension of belief re: realism. It's exaggerated. The feelings are bombastic and so are the actions. We're talking damsel-style rescues, and grand gestures, and sometimes that's all you need on the way to the happy ending.

I really enjoyed the side characters in this, Alva, Tilly, and bless Larry Culpepper. Kerick has a real strength with these characters, they're not in there too much, they have their own personalities, and I was still able to stay focused on Liam and Dimmy. Of course the villain in this is a horrible human being, but in exaggerated hurt-comfort, I actually really enjoy that. You can sort of sink into a big fairytale story and know a happy ending is coming, and the hurt-comfort won't be forever.

I personally feel - and this is a minor quibble - that italics were over-used throughout all the dialogue. It made me feel like characters were sometimes talking to each other like five year olds, and I wish Kerick would trust the readers to know when she intends strong dialogue or emphasis. She could cut 50-75% of dialogue italics and none of the flow would suffer, if anything, it would flow better for me personally. That's just me, and like I said, completely minor.

This is otherwise really tightly edited, nicely paced, and has great flow! I'm really grateful for this review copy, and glad to see some romance with strong angst that isn't too dark (for me) and still piles on loads of rescue and hurt-comfort moments. I also liked the illustrations, there were lots of nice little additional touches in this romance, that aren't often seen, that show Kerick's love for her characters and stories in a way that touches the reader too.

I had never heard of Mia going into this, so I don’t have any expectations, but hell if I can’t relate to daddy issues 😂😂 from the start, the story pulled me in. I love a story with grit, not just some imagined hurtle the characters have to jump. Dimmy’s situation, as awful as it sounds, made this book enjoyable. It have a level of suspense that I miss a lot when reading romance. Liam was bland, but I think he’s meant to be so. Dimmy, along with Lizzie and Alva, are the heart of this story. Yes, at times I found the dialog cringe (no 21 year old, regardless of upbringing, speaks like Liam does) I enjoyed the story for what it stood for…Dimmy leaving his abusive father and standing on his own. The standing on his own part is a bit meh…despite his protests by the end of the book he still clearly is very dependent on Liam, but leaving the story I felt hopeful for his future

CW: Assault( non descriptive) , emotional abuse, prostitution, kidnapping


Let me start off by saying that I really did enjoy this story. Though in the beginning I thought it would’ve taken a darker route but glad it didn't I wasn't in the mood to be crying too much. Though I felt like important topics weren’t discussed properly enough

Ex.) When did Dimmy start realizing enough was enough with his father? In the beginning he sort of knew what his father was doing but was deep in denial. I think a major thing that kept his anchored to his father was his reluctance to prostitute his son right off the bat. llLogically prostitution was a hard no for Dimmy and once his father suggested it, he was done but

Dimmy mother. She’s the reason as to why Dimmy’s abusive realtionship with his father started-- to no fault of her own-- but makes you wonder what type of relationship she had with the father and the relationship they had as a family had. Was Dimmy’s father better with the mother then turned to a dick? Which probably is another reason it was hard for Dimmy to leave his father despite everything he did. I wanted the book to go more in depth into this because I felt like I never got enough if that makes sense.

As in terms of Liam I felt like sometimes he took advantage of Dimmy’s naivess and how Dimmy viewed Liam as some sort of savior. I think on some level it was more to do with me though. I don’t like reading m/m romance where the guy isn’t out, I think I’ve read a book or two with this trope and it made it harder for me to finish. I dislike reading “the coming out” especially Liam’s coming out, it felt formal and too performative.

I hate how Liam just neglected to mention he wasn’t out. Even when he came out, he didn’t mention Dimmy. He was all around being pretty shitty a little towards the end.

Speaking of the ending, I felt it was too fast. I think Dimmy’s situation should’ve happened sooner in the book and the ending chapters should’ve been Dimmy and Liam finding each other again. They decided to be friends then they were just like not? It was too unnatural. We’re told a little while goes back but we never see it, Dimmy was pretty set on being friends for now then he was not? I don’t but I just didn’t like it. I would’ve rather a breakup than whatever they did towards the end.

Anyways, this was a pretty solid book and a great starter book for any m/m romance readers wanting to dive into the darker stuff. Granted this book isn’t dark by my means, but it dives a little on it.

I really enjoyed this book! This is my first time reading a book from this author and I am thoroughly impressed and super interested in the rest of their books! It's definitely not for everyone so be sure to check out the CW before reading!

I loved this story and the characters in this book, Dimmy and Liam were such a passionate couple and the feelings they had for each other were so beautifully portrayed in this book, it felt right to read and to experience. The writing was amazing, flowed so well and easily that I finished this in a day! I definitely couldn't put this one down! It's your opposites attract, coming out love story and I highly recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley, Mia Kerick and Xpresso Book Tours for the earc in return for an honest review.

Liam McAllister comes from a well-to-do business family. He wears all the best clothes, stays at "The Cottage" which is actually more like a mansion, and is so far in the closet he can't see the light of day. Things begin to get complicated for him when Liam sees a dancer at a local gay club.

Gorgeous, tattoo-covered, purple-haired… Dimmy is dancing at a club. He doesn't dance because he wants to, he dances because he is locked into a ridiculously unhealthy and abusive relationship with his father. Left alone with his father, Dimmy was forced to "earn his keep" by working in his father's club. The problem is that as Dimmy got older, he was forced closer and closer to sex work.

Mia Kerick has a very emotional and visceral writing style, and this book is no exception. Liam and Dimmy are both facing immense challenges, not the least of which is how they may or may not "fit" together.

This book is an exploration of the feeling of "need" and what that really means in someone's life. She delves into the way that what we are subjected to can far too easily become what we think we need. The power imbalance that exists between. Dimmy and his father are so well written that I often found myself with tears in my eyes. And the remarkable thing that Kerick captures is the way that Dimmy moves from one controlling relationship to another because he's been so conditioned to believe he isn't the master of his own life.

Dimmy is an extremely well-written character. The descriptions of him are beautiful and heart-wrenching at the same time. He is an extraordinary man who is trapped in a life that is threatening to completely erase his sense of self. I loved the way that Dimmy struggled to be himself by covering his body in tattoos of birds in flight, by dying his hair vivid colors. He is a wounded and broken person, but he knows that he needs to escape. He will stick with me for a long time to come.

Liam is equally as interesting even though he is trapped in a completely different way. There are expectations in Liam's life… marry a lovely socialite, produce grandchildren, and be successful. Liam has known most of his life that he is gay, but he has remained silent, believing that he won't be accepted by his friends and family. As he falls in love with Dimmy, he struggles to be what he thinks Dimmy needs while at the same time keeping his true self from his family. I've met people like Liam, and it broke my heart to read it so clearly written. He is, in many ways, more lost than Dimmy.

The supporting characters in this book are remarkable. They are quirky, loving, original, and sometimes funny. They are a found family waiting to be seen, but both men are struggling too much at times to even know this support system is there for them.

This book isn't always easy to read. Dimmy is subjected to some horrible things because of his father. What I liked was that Mia Kerick handled these situations delicately and gently. While it's difficult to read the aftermath of what Dimmy had to survive, Kerick doesn't give the reader a play-by-play of what goes on. The subtle impact of Kerick's writing wasn't lost on me.

So, were there things in this book that made me uncomfortable? Yes. But ultimately, I think that is more than okay. Both Dimmy and Liam face things in this book that much of the LGBTQIA community has faced in the past. Very important issues and situations are written with care and authenticity.