Saturday, February 17, 2018

Blog Tour: Rebel by K.M. Neuhold & Nora Phoenix (Review+Excerpt)

Rebel Tour Banner
REBEL
BALLSY BOOK 1
K.M. NEUHOLD & NORA PHOENIX
M/M ROMANCE
RELEASE DATE: 01.31.18
Rebel Cover
COVER DESIGN: K.M. NEUHOLD

BLURB

"I don't do relationships, I break them." ~ Troy

If there’s one thing life has taught me it’s that everyone eventually leaves. But that's okay because I have a strategy: no friends, no boyfriends, limit repeat hook-ups, no sleep overs, and above all leave them before they leave me. I’ve put my break-up skills to work doing others’ dirty work for them.

The last thing I expected when I agreed to do an embarrassing breakup song and dance was to end up on the doorstep of the very recognizable—and stupidly sexy—Rebel. When you meet a man like Rebel you'd be insane not to make a move. And just because he has me tossing out every single one of my rules doesn't mean I'm in trouble, right?

“I’m everyone’s friend, but no one’s everything.” ~ Rebel

I love working for Ballsy Boys, but when you make the kind of videos I do relationships are pretty damn impossible. Besides, guys find me sexy and want to either be with me or be me, but no one has ever cared enough to see the real me.

Until I meet Troy. He has no problem whatsoever with my job, but he’s determined to keep me at a distance. For the first time, a hook-up alone is not enough. I want more with him. Hell, I want everything. But he resists at every step until I’m about ready to give up. What do I need to do to show him that this is real and worth fighting for?

***Rebel is the first book in the Ballsy Boys Series and is a super sexy MM romance with plenty of good times. While this book and this series do contain some instances of sex outside of the main relationships, they DO NOT contain cheating.



Rebel Teaser 2
Rebel Teaser 3


**Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.**

Rebel is the first book in a new series by authors K.M Neuhold and Nora Phoenix. The authors offered a free prequel to this series that briefly introduces the main characters and gives a little information on their personality. If you haven’t read this prequel, I don’t think that will affect your enjoyment of this book. This series is set around gay porn and the men involved in the Ballsy Boys.

Rebel is a popular porn star that would love a relationship but it never works out. Every man is excited to be with him, but then they want him to quit his job. Troy has no interest in relationships, or hookups that last more than one month, or even getting the name of the guy he’s with. He has no family or friends and his whole goal is to finish college with his degree. To that end, he’s creative in his ways to earn money such as offering a break-up service. It’s his lucky day when he’s sent to break-up with Rebel, his porn star crush.

I really liked Rebel. He had a lot of depth, was a well-rounded guy, genuinely nice guy. He had a great family, a job he enjoyed, coworkers he felt like were family and a wonderful boss. He was a well-developed character. I loved his family and the support he received from them. What I didn’t like was his desperation for a boyfriend that he was willing to accept crumbs and to be walked on. For me, the character of Troy lacked the same depth. He had real potential that could have been developed more but fell flat. The chemistry between the men was strong and leapt off the page.

If you don’t enjoy books with a lot of sex involved, this is not the book for you. So, for those readers on the other end of the spectrum from the previous statement, this book is definitely for you. For me, I’m a middle of the road kind of person so it was a bit much for me. I enjoy sex in the stories I read, but I want to read about the people involved, their relationship. I want to watch it develop in the story and to feel their connection. That did not happen for me in this book. Troy and Rebel don’t have a relationship. They start as nothing more than casual sex, to friends with benefits. There’s the hint of a relationship but not really. This dynamic continues all the way to 75% of the book, and then the non-relationship relationship has a blow-up and even that’s gone. I would consider this more of a HFN book because we didn’t really get to see these two men in a relationship for more than 10% of the book. I always enjoy the friends with benefits relationships because you get to watch them grow as a couple, but that was just missing for me.

Rating: 4 stars


EXCERPT

“You really don’t have to come up. I have a shitty little apartment. It’s nothing like your place,” I tell Rebel. “Plus, I’m obviously not up for fooling around.”

“I don’t give a shit.”

I scoff and shake my head but don’t argue further. If we keep hanging out without fucking around, what does that make us? Friends? Something else?

In my apartment, I cringe inwardly, imagining what Rebel must be thinking as he steps into the one room that holds my whole life. Usually when I have a guy in here, we’re too busy getting naked for me to worry what they think of my living space. And, beyond that, I can’t imagine I’d care what any of those randoms think anyway.

“If you don’t have tea, how about I make you some soup or something?”

“Why are you doing this?” I eye him skeptically.

“What? Do you want something more substantial? I can make a sandwich.”

“No, I mean why are you being so nice?”

Rebel’s eyebrows furrow, and the corners of his lips tug down in a frown. There’s a sharp sadness in his striking blue eyes that makes me want to shove him away or crawl into bed and hide for a week, anything to get away from the pity.

“We’re friends, right?” Rebel asks.

“You’ve had your dick in both my mouth and my ass.”

“So...best friends?”

I want to laugh, but the pain meds are starting to wear off, and my nose is starting to throb. “I’m not usually friends with guys I fuck around with,” I explain for what I feel like is the hundredth time since meeting Rebel.

“Then who are you usually friends with?”

My mouth opens and closes like a dumbass fish. I’m not sure if he was trying to throw shade, but damn if he didn’t get me. “I don’t have friends,” I finally admit with a little bite in my tone. I don’t want friends, and I don’t need friends.

“We’re friends; deal with it. Now, soup?” He skirts around me into my kitchen, leaving me at a loss for words. “Why don’t you lay down on the couch and find something for us to watch? I’ll bring you some food, and we’ll get a dose of the painkillers the ER prescribed into you, and you can sleep through the worst of the pain.”

I almost ask again why he’s doing this, but decide that whatever his motivation, it feels nice to be taken care of for a change. I settle onto the couch and put on the second season of Stranger Things.

It’s not long before Rebel brings me a bowl of soup, a second dose of the painkillers, and a glass of water.

“Thank you.”

 Nora Logo Gold
When she was a little tot, Nora’s mom got a library subscription for her. That, as they say, was that, and a lifelong love for books was born. Nora never stopped reading and doesn’t exaggerate when she says she devours books, rather than plain reads them. She started writing stories as soon as she could hold a pen, and wrote her first full book as a teen (on a typewriter!). It took her waaaay too long to follow her dream to become a romance author.

Nora writes M/M romance, because hello, sexy boys, and likes her men flawed, strong, and a tad broken. She appreciates a little kink, but insists on a happy ever after.

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I'm an author of m/m and new adult romance. I have a strong passion for writing characters with a lot of heart and soul, and a bit of humor as well.

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