Real (Real, Raw & Ripped #1)

Blurb

A fallen boxer.

A woman with a broken dream.

A competition…

He even makes me forget my name. One night was all it took, and I forgot everything and anything except the sexy fighter in the ring who sets my mind ablaze and my body on fire with wanting…

Remington Tate is the strongest, most confusing man I’ve ever met in my life.

He’s the star of the dangerous underground fighting circuit, and I’m drawn to him as I’ve never been drawn to anything in my life. I forget who I am, what I want, with just one look from him. When he’s near, I need to remind myself that I am strong–but he is stronger. And now it’s my job to keep his body working like a perfect machine, his taut muscles primed and ready to break the bones of his next opponents . . .

But the one he’s most threatening to, now, is me.

I want him. I want him without fear. Without reservations.

If only I knew for sure what it is that he wants from me?

My Review

It happened again. You know that book where everyone loved it but you. This is one those books for me. :((

I so wanted to love this one. I really do. I has gotten a lot 5 star ratings on GR and most of my friends loved it. *Sigh*

Sadly, it didn't work for me. Not all of it are bad. Don't get me wrong. The chemistry and sexual tension is off the charts, through the roof hot. I mean, really HOT! And Remington Tate? He is IT!

But there things that just bugged the heck out of me, which eventually killed my enjoyment for this book.

Number one. The present tense, first-person POV. This could work if you have a really likable, relatable and a really strong heroine. Someone who's head you'd like to be in. Someone interesting. Well, aside from giving us some very helpful anatomy lessons, there's really nothing interesting going on in Brooke's head.

Number two. The jarring prose. This bugged me the most. There were times when I was really getting into the story and BAM! I read things like this...

"His energy is so powerful tonight, it actually pulls at every cell and atom in my body, bathing me in pure female awareness of his hot masculinity."

...and this...

"The energy in his muscles explodes like dynamite with every move he makes, and I can almost see his ATP source—the adenosine triphosphate in charge of transporting chemical energy throughout our cells—recycling so fast in his body, it’s like it doesn’t even take him usual eight seconds for turnover."

...and this...

"The unexpectedness of his raw petting drives me crazy with lust and love, and I’m getting addicted to this moment after the orgasm where I will be so relaxed and he will still have the energy to position me in a way where he can spoon me or hold me, and do all his manly, possessive lion-like OCD things with me."

"Tonight we’re both naked and deliciously entangled, and my sexy blue-eyed lion now seems content to have petted me for a long while, until I feel groomed down to my bones."

And then there is this...

"My brain goes blank, my lungs close up, my ears shut off. I look at him. And he looks at me.And as we stare, my eyes on his, his eyes on mine, my heart resumes with one burst of emotion. It leaps and runs to him, slams into him, explodes in him, and although it hurts like an open wound to look at this man, all my senses have sizzled to life and I can’t take my eyes off him, even if my life depends on it. A private Fourth of July is happening in my stomach as I feel Melanie’s nudge at my back, and we begin walking toward them at a slower pace."

It was dizzying. I get that the author is trying to convey the character's emotions but I just feel that some of the words used or the images used were awkward and off-putting. It was awkward to read. 

Maybe I'm just nitpicking but I seriously, seriously couldn't get past the images those words produced inside my head or didn't produce in my head. And I'm not going to even mention all the clenching and all the gushing going on with Brooke's anatomy. It was okay at first. It helped with the visuals but after reading it 10 times, I was just over it. :(

I would read the sequel though. I heard it's going to be Remy's POV. That could work for me.

2.5 to 3 stars.