I’m usually checking out books to read through recommendations and ratings and this one immediately got my interest when I found out it’s about MMA fighters. I’m like – Whoot! Hoot! I want me some Travis Maddox from this genre – lo and behold – I got a way better deal. I got Michael Kage Santori aka Kage ( Ting! Ting! Ting!) And it’s coming from Maris Black – a new author for me and by god it feels like I hit a jackpot with this novel. It’s abso-fucking-lutely amazing! I’m like OMG (no.1), this was like the first book I’ve read this year that totally affected me so much because I’m just so into the MCs.
It’s not just about Kage though, it’s also about Jamie Atwood and his aspiration to become a publicist. Little did he know that his coverage of an MMA fight for a project at uni and his first encounter with Kage will land him an internship as the publicist of the guy himself? And OMG (no.2) from the start, their chemistry was just EXPLOSIVE. See, people Jamie’s straight. He’s got a girlfriend and he’s all too focus on becoming a great journalist. At first, it feels like him having feelings with Kage were like out of nowhere and totally WTF but overtime, it just came naturally. Like it was meant to happen the way it was written. OMG (no.3) worthy right?
Kage meanwhile has no qualms whatsoever about his sexuality. Although not entirely out from the closet (due to his UFC aspirations,) he’s also very much open to having a relationship and with Jamie – he’s willing to do everything. Only thing is, Jamie’s only open about it in the privacy of their bedroom.
Now at the beginning, I was thinking that I’d see a lot of Kage fighting his opponents and getting all bloody and brute on us but nope – if you’re looking for some MMA action here, you’d be hella disappointed. There’s only two major fights here – the first one was the first fight that Jamie was able to witness from Kage and the second one was their fight about their relationship at the end. Do not fret though, because it’s all good. It feels like in this very first book we get to meet these two guys who are still in the process of accepting things about themselves and revealing something about them that will make you more curious and yearn for more up to the last page. For some reason, the slow burn in the story between these two makes it more exciting and when it finally happened it was like OMG (no.4) – that was like the hottest thing ever!
Now this may sound too much but it’s just perfection for me. Every chapter and every page were thoughtfully written – it’s just simply worth your time reading it word per word. My problem right now is the almost three months wait for the sequel (Arrrrggghhh), I feel like having a withdrawal (not that I knew exactly how that feels unless you count my catatonic state after the final season of Fisica O Quimica) and OMG (no.5) people, git your copy NOW!!!! Just fucking Get.It.Right.Now!
Rating: Fucking Perfect Five Stars out of Fucking Perfect Five Stars!
Published May 25th 2015 by Maris Black Books