Reviewed by Valerie
TITLE: Worth the Fight
SERIES: Winning at Love #1
AUTHOR: Denver Shaw
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 210 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023
BLURB:
A bad boy who lives outside the law. A compassionate soul focused on helping others. Sometimes rules are meant to be broken… for love.
Caden
Helping my brother was my focus. He got into trouble and I’ve been using my skills in the ring to prevent loan sharks from breaking his kneecaps… or worse.
Until I met Noah.
He’s a good man who makes me want to be better. A man who doesn’t lace up his gloves and step into underground rings. But I have one last fight coming. This time the stakes are higher than ever. What I have to do to save my brother could cost me the man I’m falling for.
Noah
I should have walked away and never looked back when I first met the MMA fighter with honey-gold eyes. Yet Caden’s charms are too appealing to ignore. As a social worker it’s important for me to keep my nose clean.
And Caden is a red flag in every way.
Still, he’s hot as sin and I can’t seem to stay away. I’m taking a risk by opening myself up to him, but I’m convinced beneath that bad boy exterior beats the heart of a good man who is worth the fight.
REVIEW:
Worth the Fight is a romance between opposites, a champion MMA fighter and an overworked social worker. It’s been years since Noah’s last, serious relationship. He’s devoted to his job, the community, and his “nephew” Austin, an eighteen year old former client. Caden, the mixed martial artist, is one smooth operator: pushy, conceited, and slick. He has to be to stay alive in the ring. He puts the full court press on Noah when they meet at one of Caden’s fights. But Noah’s not going to kowtow to Caden’s too smooth flirting and aggressive pursuit of him.
Caden’s persistent and cocky, though, and won’t take no for an answer when he strong-arms Noah into having lunch with him. Noah’s attracted but is hesitant to get involved with the bad boy. What follows is a profusion of lies, half-truths, out of control anger, possessiveness, and violence – all hard deal breakers for Noah. In the plot’s primary conflict, Caden is forced to become involved in illegal activities to help his low-life brother
When Caden jumps in to help Noah when Austin is in danger, he proves himself to be loyal, caring, and devoted, and eventually Noah can’t pass up the bad boy. It was odd that Noah was so turned off by Caden’s violent solution to solving conflict outside the ring yet still got involved with him. Caden’s sudden ability to deal with anger and possessiveness calmly rang false to me.
Love comes quickly for these two, although I wouldn’t classify it as insta-love. Despite this being the world of MMA, I oddly found there to be something almost innocent about their love. I actually enjoyed the dynamics with the side characters sometimes more than the main relationship.
I’ve grown tired of sports romances lately – I’ve been inundated with football and hockey stories galore – but it’s been a while since I got wrapped up in an MMA book. It was an enjoyable change. The fights are obviously central to the plot, but I wouldn’t have minded more insight into the sport. Thankfully, the fight scenes weren’t overly bloody or violent.
Overall, I would call this an average read that I do recommended, especially to MMA fans.
RATING: 
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