Win by Submission by Melynda Price (Against the Cage #1)
Released: April 28, 2015
Contemporary Romance
Montlake

Reviewed by Mandi

I haven’t had much luck in reading MMA books lately. What does this mean?  Where are my awesome fighters who meet awesome heroines?

Cole fractures his spine during a fight – and it’s bad. So bad, he ends up in a wheelchair and the doctors say there isn’t much else they can do for him. So bad he will probably walk with crutches the rest of his life. His manager sends him from Las Vegas to Wisconsin to be helped by a physical therapist named Katie, the manager’s niece. Cole is angry about this but grudgingly goes. Katie just happens to be house sitting for someone in a wheelchair so her house is the perfect set-up for Cole. What Cole doesn’t know is that Katie’s ex-boyfriend named Carter, is stalking her. Already abusing her, she has been on the run from him, but forced to come back to her hometown after her dad had a stoke. Because of Facebook, Carter now knows Katie is back, and he starts his erratic behavior again. Cole finds out and vows to keep Katie safe. You get the rest of the picture. The suspense is so predictable in this one. Stalker- abusive ex vs. new mma fighter boyfriend. With the perfect heroine in between.

First – let’s point out the fact that Cole fractures his spine and doctors are pretty sure he will never walk again. I’m not sure how long he is in the hospital and then wheel chair but let’s assume it’s in the multiple months range. Wouldn’t his muscle tone be – weak? Dare I say, kind of gone? But I’m pretty sure he still had perfect abs and perfect legs and perfect everything when he bounces out of the wheelchair one day. Oh yeah – it takes him NO time to be able to walk, like really walk, once he meets Katie. What happened to the life-time injury?

One thing that bothered me –  I felt it was really odd that Cole would actually move in with Katie. Maybe while he was in the wheelchair but what about once he could walk? Wouldn’t it be more appropriate if they didn’t live together as strangers? They become familiar with each other quick – too quick to be believable.

Also – Katie was very poorly treated by her ex-boyfriend.

“When he finished cutting me, he raped me – over and over again. There was so much blood…I thought I was going to die. I prayed I would so I could finally escape his torture. That was the last time a man has ever touched me and I swore to God it would be the last time one ever would. But then I met you…”

Katie is very wary to become intimate with Cole because of this. Cole doesn’t force her or anything but he does push her which really annoyed me. Katie’s past abuse is horrific. The first time they are intimate he lets  her tie him up so that she feels more safe, but at that point I don’t even think she was ready for that. It was all about Cole’s pressing need to have her rather than her dealing with being raped. Cole felt selfish.

“Open you mouth, sweetheart. Let me taste you,” he coached softly.

His request was a too tempting to resist, even when the little alarms sounding in her head warned her it was too soon. She wasn’t ready for this. But Cole had been nothing but tempered with her, gentle and controlled. Surely, he was safe to explore a kiss with, she reasoned, letting him prove she could trust him.

And then there is the time she is scared of how big his dick is. As far as going into full zone-out mode where he has to shake her to make her “wake up” and tell him why she is so scared.

And after she tells him about all the horrific abuse she suffered at the hands of her ex –

His granite flesh bucked against her slippery folds, asking for permission, begging for entrance as he held himself statue-still above her. “I want you, baby. But if you say no, I’ll understand. If I’d only known, I wouldn’t have pushed you so hard. I feel like a selfish bastard for wanting you still. If I let you go without telling you, I’m afraid you’d get the wrong idea. I want nothing more than to make you mine. But this is your decision – no pressure.”

He didn’t have to give her any pressure. The pressure building inside her was already nearly unbearable.

I’m not feeling it. Miss for me.

Grade: D

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