Belaytionship by Nick Alamance

An upcoming outdoor climbing competition has Teddy seeking out former teammate Rex for his expertise. But Rex doesn't expect his attraction to Teddy and it quickly spirals as he isn't sure if he is ready to be out even though Teddy seems to be his perfect match.


From the blurb:

What if your formal rival was the only person who could teach you how to win?

Teddy

Rex isn’t just a climbing expert, he’s an expert in all-things rope related. And he could be my ticket to winning the competition. Can I stand to be around him long enough for him to teach me?

I’m thrilled to start off the junior season of competitive bouldering, especially now that my rival’s been kicked off the team. After coming in second place all year, there’s nothing sweeter than imminent victory. Then my captain announced a charity outdoor climbing competition. It’s open to the public, and now Rex might have a chance to beat me after all. Unless I can devise a plan to learn to climb outdoors in two months. I can’t let my hypermobility and chronic pain hold me back from this challenge. I’ll need someone to belay, and I can’t let anyone on the team find out. I guess Rex is my only chance.

Rex

I never should have helped Teddy. Now he thinks we can be friends. I want nothing to do with him. I especially don’t want to watch him climb, stare at his soft hair, his slender hands…

I’m not yet ready to explain the circumstances behind the legendary free climb of the tallest building on campus that got me banned from participating in the school’s climbing league. I don’t need my team — they were never there for me when I needed them most. At least, that’s what I thought, until my former rival showed up at my favorite outdoor climbing spot and offered to swap belays.

It’s not a friendship. It’s just a climbing partnership. I certainly don’t like hanging out with Teddy, alone in the woods, letting him push my buttons and rile me up. I can’t help but realize there’s a solution to his teasing, and it’s wrapped around my hands.

Belaytionship is a 60k word dual POV spicy rivals-to-lovers MM romance novel with a bisexual awakening, rock climbing, and numerous hot scenes involving climbing rope.


SNik's review:

Standalone. Adversarial to lovers. Light BDSM. Slow burn. Dual POV. 

Rex and Teddy were the top climbers for their college team until Rex got kicked off the team. An upcoming competition has Teddy asking for Rex’s help, and spending time together brings forth attraction. 

This story was interesting as climbing is not a common sport to read about and it was fun to learn about, and there is a good amount of technical discussion but the author provides a glossary which was helpful. Both Rex and Teddy were likable characters, and I appreciated that even as Rex hesitates to be open about his attraction to Teddy he eventually embraces it without too much fuss. The rope play was especially steamy, but I do wish there was a discussion about safety, limits and safewords. This appears to be a newer author and it was a good read, I would have really liked to see where Rex and Teddy ended up after college.








Belaytionship is currently available as an e-book and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited Subscription