Title:  Breaking the Rules
Author: Jennifer Snow
Publisher/Year: Penguin 7/21/15
Length: 231 pages
Series:  Beyond the Cage #1

Overview

MMA fighters go the distance in this all-new series from Jennifer Snow, author of the Brookhollow novels.

Walker Adams was supposed to follow in his lawyer father’s footsteps, but instead he’s training to be an MMA fighter. And while he works for his chance to make it in the Maximum Fight League, he’s bunking on his baby sister’s best friend’s couch. Gracie Andrews is all grown up—in all the right places. But she’s engaged to the fight match-maker who holds Walker’s career in his hands…

Gracie had almost convinced herself that she’d put her silly childhood crush on Walker to rest. But the sight of him sleeping in only a pair of boxer briefs makes it clear that some things never change. And as old sparks turn to flames, Gracie is forced to decide between the future she thought she wanted or the man she’s never stopped loving…

My Thoughts

First off, thanks to the folks at Red Moon Book Tours for sharing the ARC with me – always appreciate being able to check out authors and books to give my thoughts.  It’s funny – with all that i’ve read in the genre, it’s usually in a different context that we’re brought into the world of hand to hand anything.  I think back to a favorite series of mine where the lead characters are all Ds, but they also own a Dojo and that’s where we get the element of fighting.  In this though, it’s really brought to us in a nice way.

The other nice element here is that similar to a bit of other stuff that i’ve read recently, we get to see that there’s a bond when kids are younger (or at least an unrequited crush) and it’s not until everyone’s grown up, filled out and gotten a bit of hard life experience that brings them back together.

There’s a lot of back and forth here – Gracie doesn’t know what it is that she wants in life  and what does that mean for her?  well you have to stay invested here to really get it.  Then there’s the fact that Walker’s eyes may have been opened up once he saw what Gracie has grown into, and while that’s a nice thing – it’s very expected.

The journey that we go on here is nice, there relationship that they develop is a good one – it’s sweet and i think that you want to root for the happy ending.  The question is though is what will it mean to each other since they clearly chose different paths.  All in all though, i think that this could be the beginning to a good series.  I’m one to really hope for spin-offs with other characters since the supportings tend to be really interesting, so here’s to hoping.  I hope that you guys get a chance to pick it up – it’ll be a nice read for you.  Enjoy!