Review: Would recommend it to romance lovers who like their main characters sexy, stubborn, and strong
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 5, 2014
Logan used to be a prima ballerina on the top of her game, until her ex dropped her on America Gets Its Groove On. The incident leaves her injured and unable to perform professionally anymore. To add insult to injury, her ex turns into a media darling/famewhore who blames the drop on Logan’s cup size.Keane used to be a Marine Corps Martial Arts teacher before a tragic event turned him into a hardened man who uses fighting, drinking, and women to forget.  Now a welterweight MMA fighter, Keane doesn’t want to fight anymore – until an ex-ballerina turned ring card girl does everything in her power to talk him back into it.My favorite part of Knock Out was how imperfect Logan and Keane were. These characters had depth. It would have been so easy for Logan to be a Pity Party Princess with all the crap her ex put her through and the way the media wanted to exploit her and her boob size (which- rude), but she was stubborn and she owned it. I felt at times she was a little selfish in the way she was really pushing for Keane to fight in most of the book, when it was obvious he really didn’t want to, simply so she could keep her job and earn a cash bonus, but that was just another facet of her character. She was walked on by her ex and now she pretty much had nothing, she needed that money and it was time for her to be a little selfish.While Logan started to see outside herself as the book went on, Keane never really changed all that much – and I like that. Keane was as grumpy as a grizzly (with a secret soft heart) from beginning to end and whenever Logan kept up her stubborn invasion of his life I wanted to warn her not to poke the bear, but she did. And they fought. And then had lots of steamy, incredibly detailed, naughty times.While I enjoyed this book and the well-rounded characterizations of Logan and Keane, there was one thing that time and time again dragged me out of the story – Logan’s ballet-inspired exclamations. She said things like “sweet pirouette!” or “leaping leotards!”.  She said “twist my tutu” five times and by the eleventh time she uttered “bleeding leotards”, I almost started to grind my teeth (seriously, 11 times!). She also said “crinkle my camisole” five times, but that wasn’t ballet inspired.  Of course, this is just a matter of personal taste. I am positive other readers may find this a quirky habit of Logan’s and quite charming – just not me.Despite the aforementioned exclamations, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to other romance lovers who like their main characters sexy, stubborn, and strong. I’ll definitely be picking up the next book in this series – it revolves around the relationship of two characters who had a bit of an altercation in Knock Out and I can’t wait to read it.*I received an ARC of this book to review. You can find this review and others like it at BookAndCoffeeAddict.com, along with recommendations for a fantastic cup of coffee.