Reviewed by EBookObsessed on
According to the author, this review contains spoilers of the first few books in the series so I have hidden the review.
Armie Jacobson has never sought fame. He was content to fight in local fights. Fame and limelight would only bring the pain from his past front and center and he preferred to leave that all in the dark where it belonged. It is his best friend and mentor, Cannon, who has always stood beside him through his past and Cannon that encouraged him and pushed Armie to the attention of the SBC.
Armie is certain Cannon would take a swing at Armie rather than patting his back if he knew what Armie really wanted. For the last few years, Armie hasn’t been able to help but notice that Cannon’s little sister, Merissa, is not longer a child. Each year she gets more beautiful, a fact he can’t miss, but he knows Cannon wouldn’t want his sister with anyone like Armie. Not only is Armie’s very active sex life the envy and talk of the gym, but Cannon knows all of Armie’s dark secrets. So Armie will continue to do what he has always done and that is keep enough distance from Rissy so he won’t be tempted to take a taste.
Armie isn’t the only one who lusts from afar. Rissy has taken Armie’s standoffish attitude as sheer disgust, which hurts all the more because Armie is all she ever thinks about. The fact that he sleeps with a different women almost every night, but can’t seem to stand to look at her is torture to her poor heart.
After the bank where Merissa manages is robbed and Armie is willing to take a bullet for her, she finally confronts him why he would be willing to die for a woman he can barely look at. Confessions are made and Armie and Rissy give in to temptation. But still Armie doesn’t believe he is worthy of someone like Rissy and knows that once Cannon finds out, Armie’s fantasy of a life with Rissy by his side will be over.
What they don’t realize yet is that there is more to the bank robbery than just criminals looking for cash. While Armie is preparing for his first professional fight, and trying to keep his relationship with Rissy quiet, someone is looking to hurt Merissa and might just take things too far.
THOUGHTS:
This was a strong cast of characters. This is the last book of the series and the story is mostly Armie and Merissa, but you get enough of the others to get a feel that you really missed getting to know these people if you didn’t read these other stories. I did pick up one of the other books which was on sale at Amazon last week (sorry that sale is over) and I am going to try to check this series out.
Armie doesn’t think much of himself. He knows he is a good fighter, but he grew up with an abusive, drunk father and his mother eventually left and abandoned him to the father. So Armie’s self-worth centers only on his fighting. Added to his crappy childhood, Armie was accused of rape when he was 18 or 19. He was strong and attractive even then and with the same reputation with the ladies. Armie was chased by a rich, spoiled brat while she was home from college and made the mistake of eventually giving in and sleeping with her. She got clingy and when Armie gave her the cold shoulder, she screamed rape. Even when Cannon and Armie were able to prove with video evidence to the girl’s father that she was still clinging to Armie at the party after she claimed she was raped, he threatened to ruin Armie unless he slunk off into the gutter. The rape accusation is still hovering in Armie’s background and so is his father who will happily back of the claims for enough money from a reporter.
I really like the fact that while Armie was hiding his relationship with Rissy from her brother since he felt absolutely unworthy of her, but it is her brother who is nudging his sister toward Armie. He can clearly see their interest in each other while they eyeball each other across the room, and he sees Armie for the man he is and not the abused kid he was. He also finds sponsors for Armie who are willing to support Armie not only in his career but are willing to help him if the false accusations of rape come to light again.
I also like that although Rissy wasn’t 100 percent sure of Armie’s feelings for her, since he wants to keep everything a secret, she is willing to fight him for their relationship. When Armie believes that someone is trying to her hurt because of him and she needs to walk away, she tells him in no uncertain terms that she will step back until they get things straightened out, but they are not done and he will not be sleeping with anyone but her between now and then because he is hers. I like that she was such a strong character and stands up even to her own uncertainty.
The only thing that I really didn’t like and which didn’t really flow for me was the fact that Rissy is being attacked as part of a plan by her old boyfriend for her to come running back to him. This isn’t a spoiler as we watch him plan each attack with his paid henchmen. (1) He’s really not rich or important enough to have paid henchmen. Did he put an ad in the paper? Henchmen needed for nefarious tasks to get my girlfriend back. No limit to evil deeds. And (2) His plan was to scare her so she would coming running back to him. Her brother is a MMA champ and the boyfriend knows that she is now dating Armie who is a professional MMA fighter. Why would she go running to this whiny loser? Their breakup was awhile ago, and possibly part of a prior story. He doesn’t love her. He suddenly doesn’t like it that she walked away from him and now he wants her back so he can dump her. There was too much delay between break up and needing her back. And his increasing desperation started getting more and more pathetic, even to the henchmen.
So take away the pathetic boyfriend and his really stupid plan of break up retribution and it was a really good story of two people finally getting together and getting the HEA they deserve.
Received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 18 February, 2016: Finished reading
- 18 February, 2016: Reviewed