Two dominant males, two worthy adversaries, in a business that takes no prisoners, will soon learn that fate refuses to be ignored…
My name is Troy Babilonia, but I’m best known as Babu, a renowned literary critic with my own online column. I’m followed by thousands! I’m a living god in the literary world. I have no filter, and for that, my flock of humble followers are forever grateful. If … grateful. If it weren’t for me, they wouldn’t know what to read. I have zero tolerance for the weak-minded attention seekers, nor do I have respect for the self-proclaimed geniuses of the Indie world. My advice to all Indie authors is to never break the cardinal rule in this cut-throat business. Ever.
My name is L. Blackburn and I’m an Indie author. My extraordinary genius was loved and worshiped throughout the literary world, until one egocentric critic tried to obliterate my career. It seems I broke some “cardinal rule,” and now I’m paying the price for it. But I don’t plan on going down without a fight.
Sexual Content. M/M — Graphic Sexual Situations
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The sexual tension is very palpable!
I’m going to keep this short and on point as I could.
Blackballed is not something I expected. It was full of tension on every chapter. The chemistry between the two male characters were charged and raging hot like a bull! Granted they both had this certain “entitlement” going on; it appealed because the narrator voiced out their characters really well. He made these characters come alive! The uniqueness, the tone and it’s impact to a listener made this story even better.
This may also be full of drama and hateful thoughts (from the characters’ POV) but the authors managed to make its readers/listeners understand the root of all of it. Now I wanna read this to get a new feeling!
* AUDIOBOOK REVIEW *
In the beginning I was skeptic but it quickly grew on me. I found Babu to be a not very nice guy but as always with people there’s a reason for their behaviour. L is equally irritating but in a cocky way that also makes sense after a while.
No unnecessary descriptions of surroundings
Good, fun, snarky and passionate dialogues
The chemistry between Babu and L is sizzling and a relationship is unavoidable.
Characters is developed in to realistic personalities
This was a weird story but I must confess that since I read/listen to the amount of books I do it’s not often I enjoy a story as much as I did this one.
Narrator:
It’s a special voice listening to and I like it once I got used to it.
Clear pronunciation and read with feelings
5 stars overall
The banter, snide comments, devious, underhanded tactics these two men go to in order to achieve a goal is hilarious. Plus they both have huge egos, extreme arrogance, and are pretentious.
There is a scene in this book that try as I might every time I think of it or see a book I crack up laughing, it has to do with one of the characters and what he asks a female companion to do to said book!!! I would give this book 10 stars if I could!!!
Joel Leslie did a brilliant job bringing these characters to life.
Reviewed for Audiobook Obsession
This is a M/M read/listen.
There are plenty of funny moments throughout this story, with lots of arrogant alpha thrown in. An author that broke a cardinal rule, and a critic that has turned his followers against the author. Hate to Love, their banter and back and forth is great. Joel Leslie’s voice was amazing and his narration was very well done.
#AudiobookObsession
AudiobookObsession
It takes two not one to create drama and Troy Babilonia (Babu) and Larson Blackburn are about to create more drama than you could ever imagine. These boys are bad, unimaginably bad but in being so they become somehow so so delicious. I found myself from page one drawn into this story of Troy Babilonia a reviewer who is not so kind with his words and Larson Blackburn an indie author who is struggling and doesn’t take kindly to a bad review from Babu. So it begins and the battle lines are drawn. As Troy and Larson try and outdo each other with their diabolical behaviour you can’t help but wonder what would happen if they were to ever meet. Well they do and it’s spectacular!!! A relationship developments and we see the better parts of both of them….thank god. It gets pretty steamy in places and the sizzle factor is high. They were at times so awful it was like a train wreck I couldn’t stop reading. I really fell for both of them hard. I guess it’s like anything in life not everyone is going to like and enjoy the same thing. I enjoyed Troy and Larson’s journey but can understand why it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. I’m late to the ‘drama party’ surrounding Black Balled but will say being able to decide to read or not to read is up to the individual but should you choose to be influenced by unkind words, and the opinions of others involved in any drama then you are giving your decision making to a third party and why would you. Regardless of what others think you should read and review what you want to. I read Black Balled because I wanted to. I enjoyed it for what it was and I reviewed it because I had in fact read it.
What a great collaboration between two very talented authors! They created a very intriguing, funny, and steamy enemies-to-lovers romance between two very strong-willed alpha men. Troy and Larson butt heads when they disagree on what makes good literature. Troy (Babu) is unapologetic as his opinions cause problems for Larson and his career. But when Larson tries to confront Troy, they both find a desire and passion they never saw coming. I really like the humor and direction of this story. I enjoyed the email exchange between them, it was so revealing, letting us know each man more intimately. I loved Troy’s relationship with his neighbor as well. I was a bit frustrated with how stubborn these men were tho, but when they came together, whether out of anger or passion it was palpable!
Joel Leslie’s narration was amazing! He embodied these characters, bringing out the extreme emotions they both struggled with. His comedic timing was spot on, and his accents were wonderful. This was my first listen to his work and I really enjoyed it and will look for more from him.
Terrific Story & Audible Listen 4.5HotStars
Black Balled
By: Andrea Smith, Eva LeNoir
Narrated by: Joel Leslie
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it is well written and well told with interesting storylines that captivated my mind from start to end. The characters are complex and well developed. The two main characters are Babu (Troy Babilonia) a book reviewer/blogger with a weekly column and Larson Blackburn the author of a book Babu slams. The two exchange heated words via email escalating their situation and hate for each other. I really got a kick out of some of those messages, two grown men acting like children. LOL! These two are interesting characters, both hotheaded, high strung alphas so going head to head via email just does not cut it and Larson makes the first move to find out who is behind the name Babu. I loved the back and forth between these two, before and after they meet. I had mixed feelings about Babu, liked him, didn’t like him but the more I learned about him he started to grow on me, it sucked what he had to endure when he was a boy. But he finally gets his awakening, does it make him a better person, doubt it, but at least he is happier. I felt back for Larson, between getting slammed by a reviewer and then the accusations thrown his way, it could be a tough go for anyone. There is some great plotting here and I love how this story played out. This story has it all, there is plenty of drama, angst, humor and some hot romance, the scene in the elevator was smoking. I adored Ida Whatley and her Muffy, I’d love to have a neighbor just like her. Thank you Andrea Smith & Eva LeNoir for this great and entertaining story.
I listened to the Audible edition, Joel Leslie is a wonderful narrator and voice performer. He brought these characters to life, gave each their own voice and personality. He switch roles effortless and was great with the back and forth banter. I loved his take on Ida, she sounded just as I pictured her. He is an entertaining storyteller and a pleasure to listen to.
Thank you @AudiobookObsession #AudiobookObsession #AudiobookObsessionReviewer
4 Star review Black Balled by Andrea Smith and Eva LeNoir
Audio Review:
Both Eva LeNoir and Andrea Smith are relatively new to me as is narrator Joel Leslie.
I had a hard time liking the two heroes, Troy Babilonia aka Babu, a literary critic and L. (Larson) Blackburn an indie author.
Babu’s reviews can make or break an author. After giving Larson’s latest book a scathing review Babu is in Larson’s line of fire. Scrambling to save his writing career Larson becomes interested in Babu.
This is a case of art imitating life. Over the last few years there have been numerous dramas in the book world and this is a parody. Often the behaviour is scathing and at times disgusting and this was certainly shown in Black Balled.
I enjoyed Joel’s performance as he used a variety of voices and accents. There was also intense chemistry and hotness between Babu and Larson but so much drama that at times it was a tad overwhelming.
I absolutely loved the bonus stories from the neighbour and her cats point of views; I laughed so much I almost cried.
The commentary between these two is so fun to listen to. They are both very stubborn and head strong that they clash in an explosion! I love how this book came out and have to say the bonus chapters were fantastic! Cracked me up!
Black Balled was a hilarious MM romance that had me hooked from beginning to end. This story was nothing like I expected. This enemies to lovers romance really took the enemies to another level. The back and fort banter between Babu and L was so ridiculous at times you just had to laugh, however when these two finally got together they exploded. Their intensity and passion could be felt through the pages of the story. These two characters were flawed and complex and as we get further into the novel, their back story broke your heart. Expect this story to evoke a range of emotions from you.
The audible version was narrated by Joel Leslie. I absolutely loved his voice. He did an incredible job with these characters and infusing the right amount of arrogance where needed. His voice was clear and understandable and it was a pleasure listening to him narrate this story.
Black Balled was a fantastic story and i would highly recommend it to all lovers of M/M enemies to lovers romance.
It is completely ironic, the reason I started this book. You see I 2 starred a book by one of the authors which launched a need for the author to contact me. I am not sure why and honestly it was uncomfortable. Unless I have a relationship virtual or actual friendship with an author, they don’t typically contact me.
The author justified her contacting me as a way to get me to try and read her next book which would be a continuation of the one I reviewed. I was noncommittal (hello, I just 2 starred the “prologue “). However the author was adamant I not give up on her writing. I informed the author, I have had this book on my kindle for years and I would read it before considering others. Which led me here!
The author generously gave me a copy of the audiobook of this series. As a loved of MM, i was excited to dive in. I knew nothing else about the book despite being on my kindle almost since it was released. Mistake #2
You missed Mistake #1 didn’t you. Apparently so did I, the unsolicited conversation with the author is Mistake #1.
Mistake #3 will probably be this review based on how far in this novel I have gotten.
Mistake #4 I am declaring this book a DNF. Based on the way, I started it I think it’s best. Its hyper aggressive and vindictive in the way it’s written. It feels like a physical attack on the reader. I would almost assume it were a dark enemies to lovers with the hatred spewing off the pages but its not. Its just angry at reviewers. Given that I reviewed a 2 star, it oddly feels like warning. I don’t need that kind of negativity. I don’t want it around so I am DNFing.
Mistake #5 Reading the reviews after I decided to DNF. Clearly the controversy around this book is legit. It feels like an attack before knowing/reading about the drama. It’s safe to say I will totally be stepping back from offerings from both authors.
I did not finish this book. At this time I have no plans to do so. The audiobook is probably not going to be finished because along with the hateful hyper aggression of the words on the page, the narrator makes the reviewer sound like a massive dick and not in a good way. I just cohld not get into this book even with the promise of hate sex.
3.5 stars – I’m not even sure where to start so here goes. This was a very charged book – in and out of the bedroom. The two main characters, Larson “L” and Babu, are very angry individuals which is directed toward themselves, each other, and most of those around them. That anger turns to passion on a few occasions with their identities slowly uncovered. The harshness of their personalities were borderline a turnoff initially. I’m glad I trudged through. The chuckles over “magic tree trunk” and many other colorful analogies were too fantastic to miss. LOL!
I like that this mostly m/m book gets dirty with some female action tossed in. The story also has some very sad moments. All in all, I liked this book. There are definitely some messed up moments. There were also some really negative reviews when the book first came out. I don’t know what that is about but after about two minutes of wondering, I decided it was irrelevant. Maybe it was a specific event that triggered the outcry or maybe the book has undergone a rewrite. Either way, I got a few chuckles and a bit hot in special places and that works for me.
I decided to give this book a try after it was highly recommended in one of my reader-groups. Usually, I stay clear of books featuring authors as a main character. In my experience, writers writing about a writer is more often than not an indication of one of three things; either the writer in question lacks in imagination, is a really poor writer or has an inflated ego. Sometimes, even all three applies.
As I started in on Black Balled, I thought the writing itself was pretty good. No worries on that account. However, one of the main characters, the reviewer called Babu, was such a despicable douchebag I couldn’t believe he was actually one of the love interests. I mean, it’s a classic technique to slowly reveal more information as a story progresses that explains previous actions, thus changing ones view of a character. And I like reads like that. Where the author is able to gradually change the readers perception of events or characters. But. I actually put Black Balled down after a bit because it left me feeling so uncomfortable. I didn’t know if I even wanted to continue the story.
That’s when I went and read the reviews on Goodreads.
Now, I didn’t just read one review and took that at face value, but I dug around a bit and concluded that I did believe what was being said. A summary of the turn of events can be read here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1232568362
After learning of the backstory, I just couldn’t make myself to finish Black Balled. I can’t imagine the workings of Smith’s mind, but it’s safe to say that my opinion of her isn’t favourable and I will definitely not read any more of her work.
Now, I absolutely understand that it can suck big time to put your heart and soul into a book and then, when you put it out there for the world to see, it gets criticized. It must be tough as hell. But first, you can’t expect everyone to like your work. Second, if you have such a fragile ego that you can’t handle (i.e. ignore) criticism, you have no business being a publishing author in the first place. And third, if you start stalking someone for criticizing your work, you should probably be commited. It’s so petty and childish it’s hard to find words.
But one thing I can’t fathom, though, is how Smith managed to convince Eva LeNoir to co-write this story. I hope that she was just unaware of the backstory. It would be sad to think there’s actually two such petty authors out there.
https://reflectionsofaswedishgirl.blog.se
The premise of this book sounded interesting, and I enjoy an enemies-to-lovers story. However, the two main characters of this book are just intolerable and I disliked them immensely. I usually like characters that are sarcastic with rough edges that can cut deep, but both Troy Babilonia and L. Blackburn are not just jerks, but pompous jerks with overinflated egos. The writing style of Andrea Smith and Eva LeNoir is not bad, but there were a lot of passages where L. Blackburn and Troy Babilonia would have preachy moments talking about the reviewing process and author’s writing process that felt like the Smith and LeNoir were discussing their viewpoints and justifications for how authors write and reviewers review. Overall, this book could have been so much better, but it fell flat.
This is an original tale about Indie Authors. As I listened, I kept wondering if this could ever really happen. Who knows, maybe it did and that is how the book was born. But I could see it being based off of real life. I enjoyed the realistic banter between Troy and Larson. I found myself laughing out loud at times. This is almost an enemy to lovers story that grows hot quickly!
Joel Leslie brought this story to life. Mr. Leslie made a realistic storyline, more lifelike with his ability to narrate each character exactly as I imagined them. I really enjoyed Mr. Leslie’s narration of Troy and his arrogance. I hope to hear more from Joel Leslie.
Firstly, I want to start with something that bothered me so much, I actually contemplated marking it as a DNF and moving on.
The word “Faggot”
It is used a lot in this book and I am absolutely disgusted by it. There is No reason to be throwing such a derogatory word around.
Gay (or bisexual) men do not openly call each other or refer to each other as the F word! Being Very close in the LGBT community, I take high offence to this oppressive word. It’s not acceptable in everyday life, so what on earth made the authors assume it would be tolerated in a book, is beyond me.
Now, with that off my chest, let’s get the big ole elephant out of the way, what everyone is talking about. There is so much controversy on this book, and now that I have read it, I can see why.
Do I think this book is about a author getting revenge on a reviewer for their opinion on a book? Yes and No.
Let me explain the no, its so much simpler and hey, lets face it, everyone is already ripping this book to pieces over it, no need to jump in that line, besides no one really wants a author stalking them, right?
There isn’t just one story, that’s why I add the no. This doesn’t feel like the story was well thought out, it’s all over the place with multiple plots and about a million holes throughout.
This starts out with the feeling of soul revenge, like its entered purpose is to name and shame someone for not liking or giving a high enough rating on a book, which in MY opinion, is pretty pathetic.
Reviewer Babu, aka Troy, leaves a pretty harsh review about L. Blackburn, aka Larson, newest work even goes a little further and questions the sex of the author. which in term has the very thin skinned L. Blackburn jumping down Babu’s throat and adding in his cock size, just for good measures. Why? because like most of the book, he wanted to so “get over it”. A popular phrase for the book.
This kicks off the obsession from both reviewer and author.
Larson is a cocky asshat, who is completely consumed with Babu and making sure he knows he is indeed a man, a very endowed man at that. Babu has become equally consumed to the point of not being able to leave Larson’s name out of every new review he writes.
The sexual innuendos, cock pictures, blowjob video’s, cumming on books, blowjob techniques, asshole shots and some nice details on what one would like to do to the other with a well endowed cock are just the beginning with these two who seemingly can not stand the other.
And this is where things start to change ….
i won’t go into detail, because seriously, I will give too much of the book and its plot, well plots away, so let’s just sum it up.
We have, Plagiarism, a stabbing, anonymous blowjobs, an ex wife, phobia’s, hot anonymous blowjob, denial, self discovery, hot Virgin sex, a death, sex, jealousy, hot making-a-point sex, and then Insta-love … And then some more repetitive sex. That’s a lot to wrap into a book of less then 300 pages.
In all honesty, I wanted to give it 1 star for three of the sex scenes, because seriously, other than Muffy and Ida, those 3 scenes (elevator, virgin and the getting-the-point-across-to-someone sex) is all I found good with this book. But the rest of the book prevented even that one tiny star. Sorry ladies.
By the way, on the mention of sex, who wrote those scenes? Whomever, maybe you should do some M/M on your own, it’s all that kept me reading this.
Do I recommend this book as a good M/M story? No. Not at all.
Maybe if all the reviewer/author bashing was removed and it was focused on the two men, it could have been good. I mean Troy sounded like he could have had a very good story to tell especially about his life after meeting Ethan. And I am almost sure Larson would have had a pretty decent story, he did have a few almost-moments.
But that’s just my 2cents lovelies <3