Title: Rebel
Authors: KM Neuhold & Nora Phoenix
Series: Ballsy Boys #1
Genre: M/M Romance
Release Date: January 31, 2018
Summary:"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.
“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.”
“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?
“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.”
KYLEEN: Honestly, the biggest thing that made me decide to write MM was the community surrounding it. I was writing MF before getting into MM and as I started reading MM I saw how wonderful the MM reader and author community was. Authors were so much more welcoming and friendly than I’d experienced before, and readers seemed so much more open to different things. I felt like I’d be able to have a lot more creative freedom and get to tell the beautiful stories about forever love I really wanted to tell.
NORA: The first MM romance I read was J.R. Ward’s ‘Lover at Last’ in the Black dagger Brotherhood series. I loved that series, but all books until then had been MF. She has already started their relationship in the previous book, and I found myself very intrigued. When the book came out, I devoured it. It was so good…and it touched me in a completely different way. I was curious to see if there were more MM books, and holy crap, this whole world opened for me. Interestingly enough, one of the first authors I read was K.M. I totally fangirled over her and reviewed her book and that’s how we first connected. That makes it so special for me to co-write Rebel with her, because she’s one of the people who made me fall in love completely with this genre.
When writing a book, what is your favorite part of the creative process (outline, plot, character names, editing, etc)?
KLYEEN: Getting to know the characters. I guess that would be along the lines of plotting, but before I actually get to any plotting I think about the characters and start the process of falling in love with them. That’s usually when I find out about quirks about them or other interesting things. To me that’s the most fun part before the work of doing them justice begins.
NORA: I don’t think there’s a writer in this planet who will love editing most! I used to write extensive outlines, but I don’t anymore. Now, I start with developing the characters, but even that’s more in general terms. I’ll know their occupation, for instance, or some broad characteristics. Then I come up with a premise, a basic gist of the main conflict between the two main characters. After that, I start writing, and as I write, I fill in the details. Sometimes, it takes me a while to get inside the character’s head, and when I do, I may have to go back and change some things I write before, but that’s fine. But it’s that aspect I love the most, to make characters come alive and give them a background, a story, a pain and a dream in life. I guess I fall in love with them, just a little…and that’s where the magic starts.
When reading a book, what genre do you find most interesting/intriguing?
KYLEEN: I mainly read MM, but on occasion I will read sci-fi or horror
NORA: I read almost exclusively MM romances, but within that genre, pretty much any subgenre. My one requirement is that the book has to have a happy end, aside from quality requirements. I love books that are a bit more on the steamy side, but I’ve read sweet gay romances as well that I completely loved, so I’m really open to anything.
If you could co-author with any author, past or present, who would you choose?
KYLEEN: I’m not sure anyone could beat Nora Phoenix. Working with her has been amazing. I never expected we’d get along so well and work so seamlessly together.
NORA: I was super happy and honored to co-author with K.M. Neuhold on Rebel. Since we have more books coming out in this series, I wouldn’t even have time to co-author with anyone else! But if I had time, I would love to write a book with Nora Roberts and show her how awesome the MM genre is, lol. I’ve been a fan of her books for many, many years, and she is such a terrific writer.
Have you always wanted to write or did it come to you "later in life"?
KYLEEN: I started writing literally as soon as I learned words. I’ve always been a day dreamer and I realized very young that it was even more fun to day dream if I wrote it down afterward.
NORA: I started writing stories when I was a teen. First in longhand, then on a typewriter, before switching to a computer. So it’s really been something I have always done. But I didn’t focus on it until a few years ago, and last year was when I decided I really wanted to go for it. I’m still super grateful that I did, and also proud of myself for making a lifelong dream come true.
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.
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.
Nora Phoenix
KM Neuhold
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