Against the Ropes by Sarah Castille- a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO / The Book Depository

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 3, 2013

He scared me. He thrilled me. And after one touch, all I could think about was getting more…

Makayla never thought she’d set foot in an underground mixed-martial arts club. But if anyone needs a medic on hand, it’s these guys. Trouble is, at her first sight of the club’s owner she’s the one feeling breathless.

All sleek muscle and restrained power, the man they call Torment plays to win at any cost. Whether it’s in the ring or in the bedroom, he knows exactly when to use a soft touch and when to launch a full-on assault. He always knows just how far he can push. And he’s about to tempt Makayla in ways she never imagined…

REVIEW

3 out of 5 for this reader folks!

Against the Ropes by Sarah Castille is a contemporary romance with elements of Erotic/BDSM. Sarah is a new author to me, so I really had no idea what to expect. The premise of this story however, really grabbed me and so I decided to dive right on in!

We meet our heroine Makayla right away. She has taken on an under the table job to sell tickets at an underground fighting event. Sarah works at a hospital full time throughout the day in medical admin, and as a EMT on the side. She is a smart cookie if not a little naive, is quick witted, hates violence and tends to get nauseated at the most inopportune moments. Honestly, she is an average girl trying to make ends meet in the best way she knows how.

While selling tickets, she is conned into a conversation with out hero “Torment” Max. Max happens to be one of the top contenders in this underground fighting ring and happens to own the place that hosts many of these fights. OH .. and he is super rich by day as some kind of business executive. He fights because he truly loves it. He is also seriously attracted to Makayla right away and comes on super strong (actually it was kind of creepy how strong). LOL

Max decides to hire Makayla to provide medical attention ring side to his fighters. Max also wants her close and ensures everyone knows that she belongs to him. Makayla is completely lusting for Max, but thinks his “bully you into loving me” is a little much, so she holds him back at an arms length until she can’t fight her attraction to him anymore.

Through some pretty tough battle of wills, some nasty fighting, misunderstandings, hot nooky, experimental nooky, these two try to find their way to each other. However, Makayla is not sure if she can live in this underground fighting world that Max seems to love. She also isn’t sure if she can live with the fact that he is filthy rich and thinks that gives him reason to take what he wants, forget about anyone else’s feeling.

Okay … I had really high hopes for this book. I mean hot underground fighting, all that testosterone flowing. HELLO, SIGN ME UP! LOL Well unfortunately this read like a very, unbelievable, immature attempt of hot erotic romance with some BDSM elements. This book has potential to be a great book, but the fluency wasn’t there and it came across choppy. I felt somewhat disengaged and apathetic through most of it. If you have read my reviews before, you know I love my smut and tend to gush if I really am smitten with a book. While I want to do so here, I really can’t!

To end a review on a small negative note is not my style, so now I will tell you what I loved. THE HUMOUR! I actually chuckled out loud at some of antics and conversations. These two can text me into stitches as they banter back and forth. It’s rather amusing. The whole premise of underground fighting .. LOVE THAT! The fight scenes were vivid and the kind of fighting used was well researched. Some of the sex scenes were hot, and I love me a hot sex scene!

Overall, not a terrible read but I think there needs to be some growth with this author.

HAPPY READING! 🙂

Reviewed by Rachel T.