Reviewed by Elizabetta

TITLE: Fight

AUTHOR: Kelly Wyre

PUBLISHER: Loose Id

LENGTH: 243 pages

BLURB:

To Nathan Hunt, honesty is anything but the best policy. Telling the truth has gotten him nothing but heartache and pain; so lying about who he is and what he wants seems to be the only path to job security and friends. Hell, it even brings him a hollow kind of happiness.

Except, that’s not much of a life for any man. Especially one with Nathan’s passions. Desperate to cure his self-made misery, Nathan agrees to go along with a con that will score cash for Nathan to start over. There’s just one problem: lying is getting harder by the day. And a con who can’t lie, is a con who gets caught.

Nathan’s attempts to distract himself from his moral quandary lead him to a mysterious, intoxicating man named Fury. The Mixed Martial Arts fighter knows a thing or two about lies and pasts better left buried. He and Nathan have something else in common – they both want to be with someone who lets them be themselves.

Together, they undertake a journey that proves honesty is more dangerous and more difficult than either of them could have imagined. And as they combat addiction, thugs, guns, and their own inner demons, Nathan and Fury can only hope that their battle to be together will be worth the bitter fight.

REVIEW:

Good god, Nathan Hunt is in a world of trouble and hurt. He is another case of a messed up childhood with a homophobic dad who did such a number on him that he’s grown up shut down and buried in the closet. But Good. Booze, drugs, and quick tricks in filthy bathroom stalls are how Nate deals with the pain and denial. He’s got his beard, too. His fiancée, Laura, and he are planning a wedding. They have a mutual understanding. And Laura is hiding just as much as Nate.

I wanted to read Fight because I’m looking for more M/M romance stories based around fighters, UFC, mixed martial artists (MMA), brawlers… guys who use their bodies and fists to sort things out. Mixed martial arts and ultimate fighting make for some good story lines too. Throw in a little Fight Club action and, hey, fun to be had. More of that, please.

Hale Fury is the fighter. And, like Nathan, he’s learned to hide his own world of hurt. But he uses his body and fists to sort things out, to get out all that aggression. The two guys work out at the same gym and have been kind of eyeing each other at a distance. When Nate decides, one night, to take in one of Fury’s MMA matches things start to get hot and heavy between them. Nate likes the sweaty, cut, big and silent Fury, and Fury is drawn to Nate’s clean-cut prep-boy appeal. I guess this is a case where opposites really do attract. (And don’t worry about cheating, here. Remember, Nate and Laura’s ‘arrangement’ is only for show, they are each of them free to have other hook-ups.)

Throw in some criminal activity going down at Fury’s fight club— drug running, don’t you know— and the story gets some gory violent action. The two guys are dragged right in the middle of it, too. We find out about Fury’s family and background and how his past can come back to haunt him.

This was an entertaining read, I really like the author’s voice. I like Nate’s dark broodiness and snarky self-deprecation. Fury is a tricky character. He could have easily fallen into the big, dumb hulk stereotype, but the author never allows that to happen. We get some nice glimpses into the gentle sweetness beneath the beefy brawn. Of course, the sex is steamy-hot— it’s desperate and volcanic, these guys are so parched for love— but it never overwhelms the story. There is a nice balance of plot to romance to sex. I would have liked more of the fight action, more of Fury’s training and fighting, but what was there was fun. Now, I’m thinking I really need to read more of Ms. Wyre’s stuff. And, hey, if any of you out there know of some great M/M romances around a ‘boxing/wrestling/MMA/fight club/brawler’ theme… let me know. (Or add your picks to my fight list on Goodreads:

Goodreads

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Loose ID

Amazon