Title: Believe
Series: Oni Fighters #2
Author: Natalie Gayle
Genre: Contemporary/MMA Romance
Release Date: December 1, 2015
Blurb
Have you ever hit a point in your life where everything looks good from the outside but there’s this feeling deep in your gut that tells you something is wrong?
Dane Roberts was just an ordinary guy—so he thought. Best friend to MMA fight sensation Xander Todd, and all round decent guy. But now a restlessness surrounds him. Dare he reach for more? Could he too emulate his best friend’s results in the cage?
Arianne Le Flegg was a woman starting over, with her son. Running from a past littered with broken promises, manipulation and violent abuse at the hands of family. Violence terrified her on every level. She longed for an “ordinary life”—safety for herself and her son.
Can there ever be a future for two people who view violence so differently? One embraces it, the other dispels it. One is seeking the extraordinary, the other ordinary. She longs for the type of man he’s trying to leave behind.
For there to ever be a future together, they’ll need to dig deep and decide what really is important to each of them.
To do this, they must first accept—The hardest demons to defeat are the ones inside.
They’ll have to Believe
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REVIEW
Believe is book 2 in the Oni Fighters series, and it overlaps with book 1. That usually bothers me in a series because it involves too much retelling of the same storyline. In this case, Dane has his own thing going on, and there are very few parts of the story that are actually retold. This book was well-written, and dealt with some complex issues such as bullying and domestic abuse. I absolutely loved Isaac, Arianne’s son, and he stole my heart from the beginning. While this is a very good story, I would have liked to see more resolution to Isaac’s bullying issues at school. I also felt somewhat cheated on Marcel’s involvement. Both of these issues probably stem from my strong desire to see Arianne stand up for herself more rather than relying on Dane to save her. Don’t get me wrong, Dane is awesome knight in shining armor material. Even with these minor personal issues, I enjoyed this 4 star read.
After reading Brave, I was very excited to learn more about Dane. His character was not explored much in the first book, but the little I saw made me more than curious. Dane has always felt like he was just your average guy and recently started to feel the need to challenge himself more and discover his own potential. There is this part of him that is worried he will regret not trying more in life. Dane is a great guy who can be super hot in many ways—definitely in the sexy time ways in case you are wondering. I really enjoyed getting to know his character better in this book, and loved his combination of sweet and sexy. I had trouble connecting with him and Arianne as a couple because I just didn’t bond with her. There were several moments when I felt she was being completely unreasonable and wondered why Dane was putting up with it. She did come around near the end, and I found myself liking her more, but still didn’t fall in love with her as the heroine in this story.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
~ REVIEWED BY CASSANDRA ~
~ REVIEWED BY CASSANDRA ~
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REVIEW
Brave is book one in the Oni Fighters series. This is a very emotional story with a lot of action and some fairly steamy scenes mixed in. I really enjoyed this 4.5 star read. On the surface it appears that Eden and Xander are very different, but I soon found they were kindred spirits in many ways. Both were fighting demons, even if it was not obvious at all times. This book deals with a lot of complex issues. I loved the build up to Xander and Eden’s relationship as well as their interactions. The only part of their relationship that bothered me was how it seemed as if Eden’s life wasn’t really moving forward without Xander in it.
Eden was on her way to a modeling career—had just signed the contracts—when she was badly burned in a fire. After the fire, she retreated from the world and rarely made it out of her own home if she could avoid it. When Xander enters the picture he pushes Eden to move forward with her life. I liked Eden’s character for the most part, but I would have liked to see her stick up for herself more. It felt that she was constantly having others come to her defense instead.
Xander is the owner of a martial arts school and appears to have everything together. At least that’s what Eden thinks when she first meets him. In reality Xander has his own demons, and while Xander is trying to help Eden fight hers, she is able to make him realize he’s been avoiding dealing with his own. I loved Xander throughout the entire book. He was sexy, sweet, and an all around good person. All in all, he was five star book boyfriend material.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
~ REVIEWED BY CASSANDRA ~
~ REVIEWED BY CASSANDRA ~
Author Bio
She loves spending time with family and friends, hitting the beach, cooking, working out and curling up with a good book. Her pet hates are cleaning and anything else that can be considered “domestic dullness”. If she could have one wish it would be to be able to fit 48 hours into 24.
Natalie is the author of the Centre Games Series. A fast paced, romantic suspense series set on the Gold Coast, Australia. The series tells the stories of the Centre, a quasi government agency established to fight environmental, biological and agricultural threats. The Centre Games books are filled with hot alpha males and the feisty independent females strong enough to capture their hearts. Natalie’s books pack lots of action, hot romance and surprises.
She recently released Brave—the first in her Oni Fighters Series. This series is MMA contemporary romance with inspirational themes. The series is about people overcoming tragedy, pain and circumstances—fighting their inner demons. The next book, Believe, will be released late 2015 with another early 2016.
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