Yeah, no. Overwrought and confusing writing. Three chapters in and I have no idea what is going on. I've got better stuff to read.

I'll skip any summarizing/setup and get right to the good stuff : P This was pretty terrible, as in trite, all telling no showing. The plot that brings these two together, the heroine's bargain with the hero was a joke and made absolutely no sense. He's a trained fighter, right? Like the best of the best, but he agrees to her helping him out, a very vague premise to start with, and all she ends up doing is tagging along after him on his runs where he leaves her in the dust, making him herbal teas and suggesting he put peas on his bruised knuckles. Again, he's a trained fighter, been doing this for a while, and she offers these remedies, not only as if they are miraculous and effective, but like she invented them or something. It's ridiculous.

As for the hero, he is soooo dramatic. The book goes on and on about him being a mean tough bastard, but all he does is whine about how mean he is and how damaged his soul is. His tired shtick of pushing the heroine away bc he could be a danger to her or is no good for her might be annoying bc these neuroses are so ungrounded if I was actually rooting for them to get together, but all I wanted was for this boring poor excuse for a romance to end. A little tip: calling the hero a badass does not make him so. The author seemed to depend on the fact that he was a mma fighter to convince us that he was "mean" and "tough," but again, it was all telling no showing in terms of character development. And then she had to make him a war vet with PTSD, which made his identity as a character even more muddled and diffuse. And it made the romance even more clichéd. Our brilliant heroine was like "omg could he have PTSD?!" like it was some big mystery, when you could tell right off the bat what his deep dark secret was. And then it was all about her trying to get him into therapy, and we're subjected to textbook like passages explaining PTSD that sounded like something lifted off Wikipedia.

Bottom line, neither the characters nor their romance were believable. The plot was contrived as an excuse for them to move in together - there was no reason for it, she didn't do anything once she moved in, (besides shack up with him.) She wasn't his trainer. Her efforts to help him with his "problems," psychological or otherwise, were laughable. And she decides she loves him almost instantly after meeting him. Maybe she waited like a day. The whole thing went out the window right about there. And the heroine's bizarre expressions, like "twist my tutu," helped nudge it out there. Her job as an octagon girl was interesting, and the set up was different, what grabbed me in the first place, but the momentum petered out, and the book lost my interest very quickly. ( )

Skip it. Read Meg Maguire's MMA books instead. ( )

I really enjoyed Knock Out. While the MMA Fighter meets hot girl plot is becoming a little TOO familiar these days, Mannon puts a spin on it to make it feel fresh and interesting. The fast pace kept my attention the whole way through, and I never once got that glazed-over, need to skip ahead feeling that I sometimes get when book plots get too similar to something else.

Logan was a strong female character who didn't give up or put herself down. She was a fighter. Keene on the other hand was a little silly. He was stubborn and ran so hot and cold at times I wondered if he had any redeeming qualities. But his character flaws were small potatoes compared to Logan's ex. Him, I wanted to punch in the face myself.

I would recommend Knock Out to anyone who likes the MMA fighter theme in their adult contemporaries, or anyone who enjoys a good HEA.

Thank you to NetGalley, Carina Press, and Michele Mannon for allowing me to read and honestly review this book. ( )