No Limits by Lori Foster (Ultimate #1)
This isn’t a true DNF and since I skim read the last 60%. When the will of Yvette Sweeny’s grandfather brings both Yvette and pro MMA fighter Cannon Colter (who by the by once saved her from sexual assault) back to their hometown, they have to work together sort out her late grandfather’s pawn business. Oh and he ends up protecting her from some new threat because of reasons.
When I picked up this book I must have been having author amnesia or something because this is the third Lori Foster book I’ve DNFed. We just don’t click. Her heroines always feel bland and her heroes lean a little too close to Meathead McAlphahole. All the men are big brawny protectors for all the womenfolk who always need protection from…well, rape personified usually. It’s just not my thing.
In the end this book (like a few other books I read for this) really wasn’t even an MMA or fighting book. It was an alpha-dude-protects-the-pretty-lady with a side of forced seduction, which wasn’t what I was looking for. We see a lot of Cannon signing autographs and going to a gym he helped open, but he never fights on the page. What can I say, I wanted more grit.
SIDENOTE
Foster must be the queen of sequel bait because every time I pick up one of her books it always feels like I’m coming in the middle of something. I think the initial sexual assault Cannon saves Yvette from is from an earlier book in a different Foster series. Her entire catalog must be connected.
Also, what I do find interesting is that Foster writes almost exclusively from the male POV.
Take Me On by Katie McGarry (Pushing The Limits #4)
This is a YA romance about Haley Williams, a former teen kickboxer who has it pretty tough. She gave up kickboxing for an abusive boyfriend and her Dad has been out of work for a year, forcing her family to move in with her controlling Uncle and his family. She sees college as her only way out, but without a kickboxing scholarship, it could never happen. Haley crosses paths with West Young, a rich kid who was just kicked out by his parents and yada, yada, yada she has to train him to fight against her ex-boyfriend.
Let me back up. I met Katie McGarry at my first BEA and I remember just being really impressed with her personality and personal story. She grew up in a town where poverty was common and friends were like family and that comes through in her books.
I really like a lot of the themes and subjects in her books. I could see the relationships and world she was building. She seems to have the market cornered on poor white Southern communities.
All that said I just can’t get into her books and it’s mainly because these books are too damn long. And so angsty. There are just pages of internal dialogue that I kept zoning out. And I know people love these books, but much like Foster, me and McGarry do not click.
I tried with this one I really did, but I could see it would take me too long to read and I had to DNF it. I think if you gave me 200 less pages I’d be all about it.
This is the fourth in the Pushing The Limits series and she has developed a very connected world of characters. The books seem to bounce off each other at times so I was a little lost. I’d suggest reading this series in order.
