Review: Great Afternoon Read with A Good Story and Fun Characters!
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 16, 2014
* Written for Craves the Angst Book Reviews *3.5 Sexy, Fighting Stars!The Review:I really enjoyed this read. It was light and fun with a small bit of angst and with characters who have history stemming from a childhood friendship. I enjoyed the playfulness of the scenes and the wonderful story within this well written novel. I had some issues with a few parts, which I’ll go into detail about in my Wish List section, but for the most part, I found this to be a great start to a series I know will be fun and exciting.Story/Characters...Chrissy Martin, aka Chris, comes back to town after being gone for eleven years, to bail her brother out of jail. Getting back to her hometown wasn’t without its problems and mishaps, including getting pulled over by the police for speeding. After she rolls her window down to talk to the officer, one thing leads to another and before she knows it, she’s apologizing, squirming and then she’s raging mad.Officer Jack Daniels, yes, thats really his name, stops a speeder on his way home from a long shift but unknowingly walks into a situation that has him hugging the ground as soon as the chatty, nervous woman inside starts an animated dig-around for her ID.To say their introduction was funny is an understatement. I loved the way these characters come together in their first scenes. And what's better is, they realize quickly who the other one is. And they have history.Chrissy and Jack grew up together and Jack is Chrissy’s brothers best friend. She, the younger of the two, used to follow them around, wanting to be included, but they always made her feel like a pest and a nuisance and she left on bad terms with both her brother and Jack, so there’s angst and hard feelings right from the start of their reunion.For most of the story, this read was fun and steamy. There was plenty of hilarity to go along with the angsts and I absolutely loved Chrissy. She was silly but brave and smart. Jack was a total hottie and besides being an officer of the law, he was also a part-time MMA fighter with a smokin’ hot body and a dominant side that could make you swoon. I also loved the tension between the brother and the sister, giving them something to work towards for their HEA. There was a lot of miscommunication between all the characters and it was enjoyable to sift through all that and get to the meat of the story.Oh, and there were some majorly funny moments with a cranky half pitbull, half chiuwawa too!Wish List...The first half of this book was amazing. I really loved practically every moment of it. The middle, I saw it start to lose some of its steam but it was still really good. The last few chapters of the book I felt dragged a little and the ending was so wrapped in mushy mush, I felt sticky afterwards. There was a lot of overly sappy moments that didn’t feel like it was part of this book, considering the first half. These characters needed to reconnect and clear the air and that part was great but I just wasn’t to fond of all the “ILY’s” every other sentence and all the “feel-good” moments that felt forced.The Wrap Up:Overall, this was a light, fun read that I enjoyed and I'm definitely looking forward to the next installment because I'm hoping its about Slade, Chrissy’s brother. That man has a blazing chip on his smokin’ hot shoulder and I’m excited to see the woman that can bring him to his knees.NOTE: Against the Cage is book one in the Worth the Fight series and is an Adult, Contemporary Romance written by Sidney Halston. I was gifted a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through Tasty Book Tours .