Title: Beat
Series: The Beat and the Pulse #1
Author: Amity Cross
Release Date:
October 6, 2014
Synopsis
Renee "Ren" Miller was five when her Dad left to go to the shops and never came back.
Left to grow up with a cancer riddled mother, things have never been easy for a teenager who had to be wise beyond her years. Then one day they lose the battle and she’s all alone.
Now twenty-two, Ren reluctantly goes to find her estranged father. He owns the down and out boxing studio, Beat, and Ren finds herself drawn to the ring. She thrives on learning a new way of fighting a life that kept kicking her down...instead of struggling against the current, she kicks it right between the legs.
Then one day, Ash Fuller, her Dad's star fighter comes back to town. Mysterious, handsome... Dangerous... Everything Ren doesn't need.
But he's got other ideas...
...and so does she.
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Review
I loved everything about this book. The characters, the plot, the suspense, and even the ending, though I feel like I should demand Pulse right now!
Renee (Ren) Miller has not had an easy time at life. Her father abandoned her at five, leaving her to deal with a chronically ill mother. Upon her mother's death, taking her last request, Ren sets out to find her father and try to attempt a relationship with him. She tracks him down to the gym/training center he now owns, only the reunion doesn't go well. While things might not go well with her father, Ren does form relationships with other club members, twins who are training and the elusive prodigal "not son" Ash who's just returned after a long absence.
Ren was such a unique character. True, she had issues, what person wouldn't after all she had been through, but she was still a good person at heart. She's been let down so many times, but she still tries to give the benefit of the doubt. I loved that she found peace in MMA, she took the one thing she could get from her father (training facility and classes) and used it to her benefit. It showed how much determination she had to do something for herself. And also seemed a last ditch effort to try to form SOME bond with her father. It's going to be interesting to see how that plays out in book two.
Ash was a hard one to figure at first. I couldn't understand his seemingly double personalities. But eventually it makes sense and made me hurt for him. He tried so hard to do the right thing and keep his demons away from Ren and everyone else he cared about. In the long term, though, he was unable to keep things from Ren and unable to keep her out of that part of his life. He has a quiet emotional strength that I don't think even he realizes he encompasses, but Ren sees it and I think that's what she's drawn to most at first.
When the dark parts of Ash's past life intertwine with the present and threaten his relationship with Ren, more than fists fly and trouble comes calling. Ash will do anything to keep Ren safe, even if it means sacrificing himself it seems.
I did not expect the ending at all, not that it came out of nowhere, but Wow, way to slam dunk the suspense to keep me waiting for book two.
This was my first Amity Cross book, and I can say it will definitely not be my last. Not only am I not-so-patiently awaiting Pulse, but now I'm heading for the backlist.
4 Stars to this emotional, twisty wild MMA fighting ride.
Excerpt
My fist
slammed into the heavy leather bag, the impact
jolting up my arm and absorbing into my torso.
The only
light was from the back row of fluorescents
I’d switched on over the ring. It was dark, murky and helped me pretend I was
someplace else. The drama from the daylight hours was gone and it was just me
and the darkness. Exactly the way I liked it.
I began
another set of punches, hair sticking to the
sweat beading across the back of my neck. Structure. This was the only thing
that was predictable in my life and I needed predictable.
Stance.
Guard. Punch. Guard. Repeat.
There was
a loud cough behind me and I spun on my
heel, heart thumping in my chest, and my gaze collided with Ash’s.
“Fuck,” I
exclaimed, holding a hand over my heart. “Don’t
fucking do that, Ash.” Typical. The creeper was being all creeper again.
“What are
you doing?” He stared at me, his gaze
hovering a little too long on my bare midriff.
I steadied
the bag with one hand, taking deep breaths.
“What does it look like?”
“I’ve never
seen...” He trailed off and I wondered if
I’d finally made the Golden Boy lost for words.
I
turned my back so I didn’t have to look at him. “What? A woman in a sports bra?
Highly doubt it.” I rolled my eyes and wiped my forehead with the back of my
arm. Even though I couldn’t see, I felt his gaze burning into my skin and I
suppressed the urge to squeeze my thighs together. Infuriating, self-absorbed,
arrogant...
Coming Soon
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