FIGHTING FOR LOVE
(Second Chances #4)
Author: L.P. Dover
Published: March 9, 2014
Fighting for someone’s heart is more challenging than fighting for a title.
For a time, many years ago, love had grown, love was made, and in the end … love was lost.
The decision to leave had been the worst mistake Shelby Dawson could have ever made. However, at the time—ten years ago—she felt her secret needed to stay hidden, even if it broke her heart and the heart of the man she loved. Back then, he was all hers and she was all his, but now things have changed and he isn’t the same guy she knew.
He happens to be the well-known MMA Heavyweight champion and famous bad boy, Matt ‘The Destroyer’ Reynolds, who once before struggled to help his family pay the bills. Now, he has money flowing with each undefeated win and an insurmountable number of women filling his bed. Everything is perfect for the illustrious fighter, until one day it all changes. In walks the girl from his past, the same girl who promised to stick by him but left and never looked back.
Their second chance to make things right will not come easy, for when one mistake is made an unwelcome consequence soon follows. Someone out there wants to rip them apart and they won’t stop until Matt and Shelby pay the ultimate price … their love.
For a time, many years ago, love had grown, love was made, and in the end … love was lost.
The decision to leave had been the worst mistake Shelby Dawson could have ever made. However, at the time—ten years ago—she felt her secret needed to stay hidden, even if it broke her heart and the heart of the man she loved. Back then, he was all hers and she was all his, but now things have changed and he isn’t the same guy she knew.
He happens to be the well-known MMA Heavyweight champion and famous bad boy, Matt ‘The Destroyer’ Reynolds, who once before struggled to help his family pay the bills. Now, he has money flowing with each undefeated win and an insurmountable number of women filling his bed. Everything is perfect for the illustrious fighter, until one day it all changes. In walks the girl from his past, the same girl who promised to stick by him but left and never looked back.
Their second chance to make things right will not come easy, for when one mistake is made an unwelcome consequence soon follows. Someone out there wants to rip them apart and they won’t stop until Matt and Shelby pay the ultimate price … their love.
(Second Chances Standalone)
by L.P. Dover
ARC Review
Published: March 7th, 2014
My rating: 3 of 5 ⭐️
Ten years ago Shelby though she was making the right decision in setting free the man she loved so he could pursue his dreams. Slight miscalculation on her part was that she never bothered asking him what he wanted. Over the years she had much cause to regret that decision, and even after all this time had not been able to completely let go. Of course, just as Shelby is getting ready to take that first step, who else but the source of her years of pining would make a sudden appearance in her life. But now in the form of subject matter for an article she has just been assigned to write on the MMA Heavyweight Champion, "The Destroyer".
Years of hard work and dedicated training have paid of for Matt Reynolds, and now that he has reigned in his 'wilder' side, he hopes he can settle into a steadier groove after winning the championship. He had come from very little, but had managed to make something of himself, it was time to treasure that. When his manager suggested an article for a renowned fitness publication would help boost his image, Matt didn't hesitate a moment. That is, until he was introduced to the writer of said article..... a woman he had tried hard to forget for years, the same woman who he had never been able to completely remove from his heart.
To say their unexpected reunion was a surprise is an understatement. Both Matt and Shelby are shaken by the encounter, and although Shelby runs, this time Matt is not going to let her get away easily. Even though it's been years, he still wants some answers and if possible a look to see if there is anything left between them. When cornered, Shelby tries to explain her reasons for leaving back then, although she still doesn't share everything with him. A decision she may come to regret.
When a long-time nemesis gets a lead on some damaging information, he does not hesitate to try and use it to drive a wedge between Matt and Shelby and threatens to break apart what has only just been rediscovered....
****
The story is not unfamiliar...... rejected years ago only to find each other again with an opportunity to clear up any remaining misunderstandings, leaving out one crucial detail that threatens to end the blissful reunion yet a second time around!
This particular version made a bit more interesting with the addition of a competitive nemesis of our hero, who is known to stoop low to shake up his opponents. Low enough to dig up dirt as old as ten years down memory lane....
Shelby thought she did good by letting Matt go to pursue his dream, and for the life of me, I have never met an 18-year old who has not thought of herself long enough to come to that conclusion...... Call me a cynic.... OR..... call me a mother of four (now adult) children, feet solidly planted on terra firma, knowing that unless the girl is a veritable saint, there isn't an 18-year old female in love, in her particular situation, who could bring herself to be that self-sacrificing. If she had had any hardships in her life before that....... any hard knocks to overcome....any indication at all that she had needed to grow up at a young age due to trauma of some sort, I might have bought into the extreme maturity at a naturally selfish age. As it is......nah.
Matt's reaction back then is far more character and age appropriate: Pissed off, heated, proud, all of those things and more. Flipping the bird at her and the rest of the world, by working his ass off to get to where he wanted to go and living it up as if he isn't hurting every step of the way. Now that makes much more sense to me. But then, Matt baffles me as well! He takes one look at her after ten years and basically decides that whatever it was is forgiven, and hey.....let's try this again. For a guy who says 'he has though about her at times over the years', he sure says "I never stopped loving you" awful quick!!
Needless to say, I have a bit of an issue with the credibility of the crux of the story, BUT that is not to say I don't like it..... because I do. I actually enjoyed reading this book. In part it was the MMA scene, which is always interesting, and also the interaction between Shelby and Matt. Despite the way they came together, their effect on each other is very tangible. And I don't just mean the scalding chemistry. They have an actual connection that can be sensed in the way Shelby can hold back the instinctive violence in Matt that wants to come out, and Matt is able to ground Shelby with a simple touch or word.
That right there, is the result of a piece of fine intuitive writing on the part of L.P. Dover. She must have had a strong sense of who she needed her characters to be, to be able to tie them together so well. Not only that, but she was able to translate that into words and onto the reader. Well done!
✨A charged and steamy fight for a seductive second chance!✨
**ARC provided in return for an honest review.**
Favorite Quotes from Fighting For Love:
1.
“All I wanted was to hate you, but now that you’re right here in front of me I just hate myself because I still can’t. No matter how hard I tried, I could never get you out of my mind.”
I wanted him again, but then I knew I shouldn’t. I had to remember that so many other women had tasted his lips and felt his body between their legs while my heart ached. Although, it wasn’t a full day ago that I was in the arms of another man; kissing him, and vowing to myself that I was going to try and get over my past. It was a vow I knew I couldn’t keep.
“Okay, so I’ve made mistakes, but so have you,” he pointed out. “I’m pretty sure you didn’t stay innocent over the years, either. Right now I’d say we’re both fifty shades of fucked up. The question is … what are we going to do about it?”
With his hands caressing my back, his breath tickled my skin when he murmured in my ear, “You will be mine tonight, angel. Your body, your lips … all mine.”
“For how long?” I whispered back, shivering from his touch. “One night? Two?” I had to know what he wanted.
He nipped my earlobe with his teeth and a deep rumble sounded in his chest. “I want you always, but I’ll settle for as long as you want to give me. Whether that be one night, two, or fifty years. It’s all up to you.”
“Let me loose in a den of wolves, huh? Little does Ryan know I’m not a little lamb,” she thundered. “I’m also not a model. What if I suck?”
“You’ve never sucked at anything, Shelby. Just don’t get too comfortable with the guys, okay? I’m sure once we leave here word will spread they got to put their hands on what’s mine without getting their heads smashed in.”
“And who says I’m yours? I don’t think I gave you an answer yet,” she teased. “However, you did ask me to come here with you, so if I get excited being touched by your fellow fighters then it’s all your fault. I’m starting to think I might enjoy it.”
6.
She loved to tease me; she always had, but I fucking loved it. Her torture would come soon, and I was going to make sure she begged before I gave her what she wanted.
7.
Sliding the box of strawberries to my side, I grabbed one of the dark chocolate ones and rubbed it across her swollen lips. “Sweetheart, I don’t think this is torture, but I am getting ready to show you what torture is.”
8.
“It just feels like every step forward we take there’s always something that tries to hold us back.”
“And that’s why we’ll keep pushing,” he murmured low. “Nothing is going to hold us back because I’m not going to let it. I’ll fight for what’s mine, and you, my angel, are mine.”
9.
“I want to be the only man to have the privilege of touching you like this, of making love to you. Because this right here,” he murmured, placing his other hand over my heart, “is where I want to be. It’s where I’ve always wanted to be … it’s where I belong.”
10.
We only had to go down two more doors before he pressed me up against the wall and thrust his tongue in between my lips. Reaching between my legs to the waist of his jeans, I undid them and he let them fall to the floor. If only mine were gone I’d get him to take me against the wall and fuck me hard. I didn’t want it gentle tonight, I wanted it hard and fast.
She loved to tease me; she always had, but I fucking loved it. Her torture would come soon, and I was going to make sure she begged before I gave her what she wanted.
7.
Sliding the box of strawberries to my side, I grabbed one of the dark chocolate ones and rubbed it across her swollen lips. “Sweetheart, I don’t think this is torture, but I am getting ready to show you what torture is.”
8.
“It just feels like every step forward we take there’s always something that tries to hold us back.”
“And that’s why we’ll keep pushing,” he murmured low. “Nothing is going to hold us back because I’m not going to let it. I’ll fight for what’s mine, and you, my angel, are mine.”
9.
“I want to be the only man to have the privilege of touching you like this, of making love to you. Because this right here,” he murmured, placing his other hand over my heart, “is where I want to be. It’s where I’ve always wanted to be … it’s where I belong.”
10.
We only had to go down two more doors before he pressed me up against the wall and thrust his tongue in between my lips. Reaching between my legs to the waist of his jeans, I undid them and he let them fall to the floor. If only mine were gone I’d get him to take me against the wall and fuck me hard. I didn’t want it gentle tonight, I wanted it hard and fast.
USA TODAY Bestselling author, L.P. Dover, is the author of the Forever Fae series, as well as the Second Chances standalone series, and her NA romantic suspense standalone called Love, Lies, and Deception. She lives in the beautiful state of North Carolina with her husband, her two wild girls, and her rambunctious kitten Katrina.
Before she began her career in the literary world, L.P. Dover spent her years going to college and then graduated to cleaning teeth, which she loved doing. At least until the characters in her head called her away. She has never been the same since.
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