RELEASE BLITZ
Book Title: Release (Rent Boys #1)
Author: A E Ryecart
Publisher: Indie published
Cover Artist: Tammy Clarke
Release Date: August 9, 2019
Genre/s: contemporary MM romance
Trope/s: opposites attract, sex worker hero, class difference, found family, slow burn
Themes: salvation, redemption, attainment of a better/different/more fulfilled life
Heat Rating: 2 flames
Length: 70 000 approx. words
Buy Links – Available on Kindle Unlimited
Universal Amazon Link | Amazon US | Amazon UK
When life holds them captive, can love be their release?
Blurb
Selling his body since he was a fifteen-year-old runaway, rent boy Sean Farrell has learned the hard lesson that the only way to survive the streets is to act tough and cocky. But an act is all it is, as underneath he’s never felt more adrift as he struggles with crippling self-doubt. Sean’s distilled life into three simple rules: earn enough cash to get by, stick close to the friends who have become his family — and don’t let anyone steal his heart.
Art is Laurie Cassell’s profession and passion. His calm and ordered life is just how he thinks he wants it, but it’s becoming harder to ignore the creeping feeling that calm and ordered has become dull and predictable. Laurie craves more but doesn’t know what, or not until a man with dark hazel eyes and a bad attitude swaggers into his life — and leaves with his heart.
Two men who should never have met, let alone fallen in love. Can Sean and Laurie release the other from lives that are holding them captive?
*** Release is a slow burn, opposites attract MM romance. Found family, good friends who give advice our men don’t want to hear, and the redemptive power of love can all be found between the pages. No cliffhanger, and a guaranteed HEA. ***
Release is the first book in your new Rent Boys series. Tell us where you got the idea from.
The idea for the series came out of my Christmas novelette, Company for Christmas, which is a Cinderfella type story about a young street walker called Nathan, who lives with a bunch of other rent boys. The one he’s closest to is the cynical, jaded, tough Sean. There was something about Sean that made my fingers itch to write his story, which is how Release was born.
What appealed to you about Sean?
Sean’s rough, tough and strong, and is everybody’s rock. He’s fierce in his loyalty to those he loves — which are the friends who have become the family he never had and with whom he shares a beaten-up house. But there’s a side he keeps hidden. Sean wants a different life, he wants to realise his ambitions — but he’s been told he’s no good for so long he’s paralysed by crippling self-doubt beneath his cocky swagger. It’s only when he meets Laurie that he lets his guard slip.
The rent boy and the art historian… that’s an unlikely couple!
Yes, exactly! I love opposites attract stories and on the surface Sean and Laurie are so different. They are separated by the lives they lead, their backgrounds, education, money… these are two men who shouldn’t have met, let alone fallen in love. But they have more in common than they first realise. Both are hemmed-in and limited by the lives they are living. They want more from life and they come to realise that the other can give them what they need. Sean and Laurie have to take a leap of faith with each other— but it terrifies them. Do they take that leap? Well, this is an MM romance…
If Release is book one in the Rent Boys series, it means there must be a book two…
There will certainly be a book two, and more. I’ve already got ideas brewing for the next in the series, concentrating on a different couple facing different but equally challenging issues. But there will be a chance to catch up with Sean and Laurie, to see how it’s all working out for them!
Laurie stopped on the threshold of the large room, known as the gallery, which took up the whole of the upper storey of the tall, Georgian former house.
The visitor had his back to him and was studying one of the charcoal drawings, but the tight black jeans and even tighter white T-shirt made it clear he was a lot younger than most who found their way to The Lady Cecily. Laurie’s bland, professional smile morphed into amusement. A fit young guy. Maybe he could eke out the thirty minutes to forty-five.
Laurie gave a discreet cough, ready to launch into his standard ‘Welcome to the Hoskins collection’ when the guy turned around.
“You? I… Sean. It’s Sean, isn’t it?” Laurie could only stare at the man who’d come to his rescue the week before.
“All right?”
Sean jerked his chin up, whether in greeting or acknowledgement, Laurie wasn’t sure. When he didn’t say anything more, a worm of doubt crawled through Laurie’s stomach as to whether the guy recognised him.
Sean stood with his hands thrust in the pockets of his jeans, making it clear, Laurie thought, that he was to make the next move. Sean was perfectly still but looking at him with curiosity, his eyes very slightly narrowed in an understated arrogance.
Laurie felt the flush creep up his face, and he cleared his throat ready to try his best to switch back to professional art historian mode. If Sean didn’t recognise him or want to acknowledge what had happened, then he’d play along.
“Welcome to The Lacy Cecily Archer, and to the Hoskins collection.” Laurie stepped further into the gallery, acutely conscious his voice was overloud and overformal. Laurie cleared his throat again. “Are you familiar with the work of Arnold Hoskins?”
Sean wrinkled his nose as he swept his gaze over the art-covered walls.
“Never heard of him, and pretty glad I haven’t, looking at this lot. I’m only in here because it started pissing down with rain. No jacket and no umbrella, see?”
“Oh.”
The hard edge to Sean’s voice reminded Laurie of how Sean had spoken to the drunk in Blue. An undertone of aggression, a warning not to mess with him. Irritation spiked in Laurie. Sean had no right to use that voice on him. If Sean had no interest in the collection, Laurie had plenty of other work to keep him busy.
“If you don’t want the tour and just want to wait out the weather, I’ll leave you to it. We’re closing in just under an hour, though, and you’ll have to leave, whether or not it’s raining. Your lack of jacket and umbrella notwithstanding. Enjoy The Lady Cecily and please do leave a comment on Trip Advisor.”
Laurie made to leave. Sean’s honesty about why he was there in the first place was a point in his favour, he supposed, but it irked him that Sean had been so dismissive about something he clearly knew nothing about.
“Laurie.”
Sean’s voice sliced through the gallery’s silent air.
So he does recognise me… then why the hell didn’t he say anything?
“You okay, after what happened in the bar?”
Sean was still stony, even pugnacious, but the hard edge of his expression had smoothed a little. He advanced towards Laurie, his hands still thrust in the front pockets of his jeans, swagger in every step; Laurie resisted the urge to step back.
I love all kinds of MM romance and gay fiction, but I especially like contemporary stories. Born and raised in London, the city is part of my DNA so I like to set many of my stories in and around present-day London, providing the perfect metropolitan backdrop to all the main action. When I’m not writing at home, in the gym, in cafés – in fact any place I can find a good coffee – I can be found with my feet up thinking of more ways to put my men through the emotional wringer!
Author Links
Talking RoMMance… with a British accent
(This a shared group. The other UK authors are Jack L Pyke, Louise Mae, and Susan Mac Nicol)
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