Rebel by Rhys Ford

Rebel by Rhys Ford

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Blurb

The hardest thing a rebel can do isn’t standing up for something—it’s standing up for himself.

Life takes delight in stabbing Gus Scott in the back when he least expects it. After Gus spends years running from his past, present, and the dismal future every social worker predicted for him, karma delivers the one thing Gus could never—would never—turn his back on: a son from a one-night stand he’d had after a devastating breakup a few years ago.

Returning to San Francisco and to 415 Ink, his family’s tattoo shop, gave him the perfect shelter to battle his personal demons and get himself together… until the firefighter who’d broken him walked back into Gus’s life.

For Rey Montenegro, tattoo artist Gus Scott was an elusive brass ring, a glittering prize he hadn’t the strength or flexibility to hold on to. Severing his relationship with the mercurial tattoo artist hurt, but Gus hadn’t wanted the kind of domestic life Rey craved, leaving Rey with an aching chasm in his soul.

When Gus’s life and world starts to unravel, Rey helps him pick up the pieces, and Gus wonders if that forever Rey wants is more than just a dream.

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Review

I’ve read and reviewed another book in this series before – Savior. It was a brief review, because talking too much about that particular plot would have been full of spoilers. Suffice it to say I loved the book, loved the characters, loved Mace more than I’ve loved any male not biologically related to me, and loved the world Ford created. Naturally, I’d read the second in the series. I went through a whole six-month period where I kept doing that, I don’t know why.

Anyway, I finally read the first book. I figured enough time had passed that I wouldn’t be accused of turning this into a Rhys Ford fan blog or something.

The funny thing is, Gus and Rey show up in Savior. They seem to be made of chill and I quite like them. In Rebel, Gus has no chill at all, and he’s a lot harder to love.

None of this takes away from how much I love the world Ford has built in the slightest. (Or how much I love Rey, the small child involved, the rest of the brothers, Ivo, or especially Mace…. You get the picture. Plus – bonus for fire!) 

Here’s the thing. Ford has constructed a series in which all of the characters come from troubled backgrounds and have some pretty big obstacles to overcome, which is frankly singing the song of my people. I don’t think I could ever give one of these books anything less than a four-martini rating. These are a bunch of complex guys and I love to watch as they find a way toward their own kind of happiness.

In Savior, Rey has his work cut out for him. He’s known the brothers since they saved his life, and his mom’s life, back when he was a kid. He and Mace live together now, and they work together as firefighters. He and Gus had a relationship, but Rey ended it because Gus just couldn’t get his s*** together enough to convince Rey he took the relationship seriously.

Gus went wandering, Rey stayed in San Francisco and became a firefighter, and our story picks up several years later.

What’s that I smell?  Second chance romance?  (mmmm…. Again, singing straight to me here.)

The situation is complicated by the discovery (which is news to poor Gus) that Gus seems to have fathered a child during a drunken one-night stand after he and Rey broke up. Gus is determined to do the right thing by his child, which is admirable. He’s also not sure he knows how to do the right thing by the child, because his own background shows every extreme of bad parenting and bad adult behavior I’ve ever heard of. (Which isn’t to say it doesn’t happen. It does, I’m sad to say. His story is all too believable.)  I understand his fears completely and I don’t fault him for them. In fact, I admire him for his determination to do right in spite of his fears.

Here’s the thing. Gus and Rey broke up back when they were younger because Gus just couldn’t manage to get himself together enough to have an actual relationship. Some of that is the result of his background, but most of it is just… Gus. He couldn’t show up on time to dates, ever. He couldn’t remember things he’d agreed to do.

Somehow Rey was the bad guy, for not just swallowing it all and putting up with it because Gus had had it rough.

Sorry, I’m not okay with that. Sure, Rey could probably have handled it better – this is all stuff that is discussed, instead of shown playing out on screen. At the same time, if you’re always late for plans with someone, you don’t respect that person. Period. If you can’t be bothered to honor your commitments to that person, you don’t love them and you don’t care for them. Once in a while – things happen, you’ve got things on your mind.

When it’s a consistent pattern, just admit you don’t care and be done with it.

It’s not like Rey’s background was sunshine and roses either. I could have lived the rest of my life without seeing Rey shamed for standing up for himself and taking care of his own needs, rather than setting fire to himself to keep Gus warm.

In the end, them being together is still a happy ending. It’s something they both want, and even if I died a little inside every time Rey’s needs or issues were glossed over I already knew they’d be happy together further down the road.

Get this book. It has everything. Murder (okay the murder isn’t fun it’s scary, and deserves a content warning, but still), fire, an amazingly complex romance, and brotherly bonding. Also tattoos.