Reviewed by Becca
TITLE: Hard Justice
SERIES: The Asylum Fight Club #3
AUTHOR: Tibby Armstrong & Bianca Sommerland
PUBLISHER: self-published
LENGTH: 520 pages
RELEASE DATE: February 24, 2020
BLURB:
Scandalous headlines threaten to turn Jamie Kent from a pop star to a pariah on the regular, but this latest one is a little too close for comfort. The Asylum Fight Club seems like a good place to hide out…until he has to prove he belongs—deep in a lifestyle with a contract and rules he breaks within the first five minutes. Staying means complete surrender, but a lifetime scripting love songs didn’t prepare him to give his heart to the one man who claims everything he has to offer.
The day he returns from prison.
Reputation has its own kind of power in a place where pain and pleasure depend on who’s in control. Entangled in the lives of those he’d give anything to protect, Noah Leonov rarely takes chances, but the hardened fighter refuses to abandon the vulnerable new sub to vultures who could tear his life apart with a camera flash. With the cage where he spent two years fresh in his mind, Noah won’t trap the man he loves in his brutal world. Jamie deserves the glamour and fame, where he can have more than a broken man can provide.
He belongs in the spotlight.
Neither man ever had the choice to decide their own destiny. Imprisoned by the roles they’re forced to play, their key to freedom might be to do the unexpected.
Refuse to let go.
REVIEW:
First of all, if you haven’t read the first two books, you need to. You will miss out on a whole lot if you don’t. Second, this book and this series is not for the faint of heart. At all. It gets into very heavy BDSM scenes, it’s a fight club, there’s beatings almost to death, and some very bad manipulation and control issues. Not to mention attempted murder and other things. If any of this is a problem, please take care. It does get graphic at points and I don’t want anyone to have a trigger.
I love this series though. But this one was a rough one. Noah is home now, and he’s not adapting back to real life after being in prison. Oh, people are still fearful of the man, but things that should not be happening, are. Even though every relationship in the BDSM world is different, there’s still a standard Noah is strict on, and he is being challenged at every turn. And tensions are really rising. When Jamie shows up, it gets much much worse. Noah takes an interest in Jamie and lets Jamie get away with things none of the other subs are allowed to. And the tension with everyone else is even rising higher as they see the favoritism, yet the harsh behavior with everyone else. But unfortunately, one bad thing finally triggers Noah and he’s determined to set himself on a course that will lead to trouble again. His uncle takes him in again to ‘fix’ him, and goes too far. And even goes farther when he tells Noah, it’s time to let Jamie go because of what Jamie’s life has brought to the Asylum. And because he listened, he lost the one man he truly loves and Jamie is destroyed. When Noah’s mother steps in, it’s time for Noah to make it right. But will Jamie forgive him and let him make it right, or is it over for good?
Out of all the crap that everyone at the Asylum has been through, I feel sorry for Noah the most right now. And Wren, but that’s a different story. Noah’s life was made into a living nightmare after what his father had done, and because of it, he was following in the man’s footsteps. Not knowing what else to do, Noah’s mom, who is as sweet as can be, asked for help from her brother. And what Rhodey seemed to do for Noah, seemed to help. But the truth is, I don’t know if it really did. Yes, he gave Noah focus on something else, but to take a kid in the mindset he was in and literally make him a lethal weapon??? For me, I was angry. Because Noah’s first priority always, is to protect those weaker and his family, and because of it, he landed it jail. Granted, the dude had it coming, but come on. Prison did change him and how could it not? And then trying to fix his triggers the way he did. Yeah, this one pissed me off bad. Really bad.
I understood the tension between Noah and the guys at the club. Noah felt out of control and was trying to find his feet again and felt undermined at every turn. So I get why he was lashing out and even why he so favored Jamie. Not that he doesn’t love Jamie, don’t get me wrong. But he let Jamie go a little too far a lot and because of it, resentment was flying everywhere. And I got it. He was trying to find the control he lost. In one way or another.
So I got Noah and I love him. His hard edges and all. But I don’t know if I will ever be happy with the way his uncle did what he did. From the time he was a kid and to present day. He deserved better in his life. He deserved peace. And for people to begrudge him that peace he was starting to find with Jamie, left a bad taste in my mouth. But it’s still one heck of a book and I’m waiting now to see if there’s a certain two people that are going to make their interests known soon.
RATING: 
BUY LINK: