I Knocked Him Out (Love at First Crime, #2)

by Jessica Frances

[Eve1972]

I quite enjoyed book one of this series, but I'll admit I was a little reluctant to give this one a go. I'm not a HUGE fan of friends to lover books (or frenemies to lovers as was the case in this one) but I did end up enjoying it. Not as much as book one mind you, but that was mostly due to the hero. Declan was a HUGE judgy douchehole if ever there was one. It made NO sense to me how he could have known her since they were kids (18 years). Hung out together. Worked together and yet knew NOTHING about her? Surely their friends talked about her living situation? Or the fact she didn't speak to her parents? When she bought her house? Not to mention the fact that Declan dated and lived with a woman for two years and Sasha had NO clue? He never ONCE in two years brought her around to get-togethers?? Unfortunately, the implausibility of these two having known each other for so long and being so closely tied together through this group of people yet apparently remaining totally clueless about EVERYTHING stretched the believability and that ultimately took a little something away from my enjoyment. Hence my slightly lower rating.



Aside from that issue, I thought it was well written and paced. The plot was engaging and kept me turning the pages. It had humor (the nursing home ladies *lol*). There was no angst or OW/OM drama and much to my disappointment, basically no sex. Just one mild scene at 88%. I adore this little group of characters. Their friendships. The girl posse. It reminds me of my favorite series (Rock Chicks). It was also great catching up with Ava and Zander from book one. And I REALLY want to know who Jerry is! Both the main characters were (reasonably) likable. Sasha was awesome. Sassy. Smart. Big-hearted. Declan was...OK. I usually like my heroes more alpha and Declan was a BETA all the way. That said, he did grow on me as the book progressed. And by the end, he managed to win me over. But the first 35%ish were rough. He was way too much of a judgy douche. Lastly, it was all wrapped up in a sweet little epilogue that wrapped things up perfectly. All in all, this gets a solid thumb and a half from yours truly.