Review: Heatbreakingly gorgeous
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 13, 2014
I was going to wait to post this review, but it needed to be posted somewhere. I received an ARC in exchange for this. Anyone who knows me knows that I won't mince words. I don't care if you are my mother, if I don't like something, I'm going to tell you.In the interest of full disclosure, before this review gets underway, it needs to be known that I am actually friends with Gina Maxwell. Now, making that statement isn't one of those, ‘oh, aren’t I special’ things. It just needed to be said before I let my thoughts regarding the latest installment of her Fighting for Love series roam free. When she told me that she was writing a character that was a victim of sexual abuse, I cringed a bit. She writes romance. Steamy romance and she’s damn good at it.If you’ve had the privilege of reading Seducing Cinderella or Rules of Entanglement, you know this. Her heroes are strong and sexy and her heroines are actually likable. This is a huge thing for me when it comes to romance because nothing puts a sour taste in my mouth quite like a milquetoast woman that swoons just because the hero says she should. I knew that when it came time for book number three, it would be amazing, but as I previously stated, when it was set up that the heroine would have a background riddled with moments that no human being should live through, I felt my stomach turn. I didn’t doubt that she could pull it off, not in the least. Gina is one of those authors that labors over every word she writes. Every syllable has meaning. What I was worried about was actually reading it.In the interest of yet more disclosure, I was a victim of sexual and domestic abuse. This isn’t a sob story about me. That is just an important piece of the review. I’m a ten year survivor and am always anxious to encourage people to stand up and speak out. Living through something like rape and physical battery is something that one eventually comes to terms with but there are still scars, scars that you fight like hell nearly every day to get over. When it comes to learning to love or even more arduous, learning to love again, you’re fighting an uphill battle, one that needs to be handled carefully, patiently and passionately.Kat MacGregor is the human equivalent of a bait dog. Abused in the worst possible way, every move she makes is calculated and every moment is spent looking over her shoulder. Working a hopeless job in a dive bar with only survival in mind, she’s confronted with a looming debt that her pathetic excuse for an ex-boyfriend owes to a not-so-nice man that makes his money peddling drugs and exploiting women. Constantly avoiding her sister, the one person that could help her out of the Louisiana swamps and wipe her slate clean, Kat eventually finds herself trusting in Aiden “Irish” O’Brien, the bar’s bouncer. Little does she know that he was sent there by her sister’s fiancé – the hero from Gina Maxwell’s 2nd book – to keep an eye on her.But Irish does more than keep an eye on her. Throughout the narrative, we see that he is just as scarred, but from dramatically different cuts. A former MMA fighter, Irish blames himself, his fists and his temper for the accidental death of his best friend’s sister. Because of this guilt, he refuses to get close to anyone, but there is something about Kat that settles deep into his soul and he goes above and beyond to protect her. To save her life, Irish does the one thing he swore he would never do again; fight.As the hero is based on the obnoxiously aesthetically pleasing Adam Von Rothfelder, picturing Irish was easy-peasy, but what makes the character quite literally the sexiest man I’ve ever seen on paper is his attitude.No one ever asks to fall in love with someone that has more baggage than a Kardashian and when Irish discovers the abuse that Kat has survived, the reader literally sees him switch gears. A man that was once interested in keeping her safe and maybe engaging in some horizontal action does everything in his power to bring Kat out of the shadows. It no longer becomes about him and his needs. Yes, there is sex in this book. Oh mother, is there sex and it melts panties and possibly whatever surface you are sitting on, it is so hot, but every interaction is meaningful. Every single solitary lick and touch is Irish’s way of showing Kat that not every man will hurt her and that sex can be about her. Not the person that’s using her, but actually her. The dialogue between the two of them is scintillating and refreshing. It isn't just, "Hey, my dick is hard and you know you want me to place it somewhere in your person." There's actual conversation. Real, meaningful, everyday people working their way over a hurdle together conversation. The tenderness between these characters is unbelievable.What is more magical about this book is that Gina captures Kat’s journey from broken to beautiful in the most glorious way. The reader will actually watch her transform and the only word that I can use to describe it is autobiographical. There were entire paragraphs from Kat’s point of view during which I had to put the book down and take a deep breath because I felt like I was reading a diary. It hurt, but it was the best kind of hurt because it was illuminating. Abuse survivors run the gamut of emotions and one of the most damaging is their willingness to blame themselves for the bad things that happened to them. Kat morphs from a terrified caterpillar in an iron cocoon to the most spectacular butterfly.Fighting for Irish is the kind of book everyone deserves to read. There is joy, there is pain. There is sex. Did I mention the sex? Duct-tape your ears shut because your brain may possibly melt and trickle out. It’s that good.I’ve used a plethora of words in this review, but really, the only ones that count are these: this book is spectacular. Gina’s readers and anyone who loves Alphas with huge heart will now have a new favorite in their library. Were this book not already perfect, I would love it simply because of the dedication. Gina dedicates it to victims of sexual abuse, encouraging them to never stop fighting.This book is a manifesto, giving the broken a glimpse to that someday, when, if they keep fighting and never loose hope, their Irish will happen too.(less)