Shadowboxer

Tapped Out #1

by Cari Quinn

She's in for the fight of her life...with the man who only wants to be her lover.

Fighter Mia Anderson has faced the dark side of life and survived. But just getting by is no longer enough. To fund her new life with her baby sister, she’s determined to beat the reigning king of the male fighters in New York’s underground MMA circuit, Tray “Fox” Knox.

Tray refuses to fight a woman, until he learns Mia’s tougher than anyone he has ever known. He soon realizes he wants more from her than blows and blood, and he’s willing to hit below the belt to get it. He’ll fight her, but if he wins, she spends the night in his bed. All night long, his rules. No tapping out.

Mia agrees, certain that he’ll lose. What she doesn’t realize is that Tray loves to fight dirty…and that this match may end up being the most important one of their lives.

Warning: Please be advised this book contains content some may find triggering (past sexual trauma) and also contains graphic sex and language.

Genres: Romance, New Adult, Sports, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Fighters, Mixed Martial Arts

360 pages, Paperback

First published February 4, 2014

About the author

USA Today bestselling author Cari Quinn grew up wanting to be a singer more than anything else. When she realized she probably wouldn’t be hired as the opening act for the Foo Fighters, she stopped singing and started writing. Now she happily writes about rock stars, MMA fighters, suited heroes, bodyguards and everything in between. And she blasts her music as loud as the neighbors can stand, because hey, she’ll always be a rock star in her own head.

She's also half of the duo Cari Quinn & Taryn Elliott, as well as one half of the USA Today bestselling author Taryn Quinn, who writes steamy small town romantic comedies (among other things.)

Visit Cari at www.quinnandelliott.com to sign up for her newsletter and visit the Word Wenches on Facebook, her fun, sexy reader group with Taryn Elliott! https://www.facebook.com/groups/34642...

Reviews

[Lana ❇✾DG Romance❇✾ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Hard Hitting Stars

Pretty enough shell, empty insides. Now my shell wasn't so pretty anymore, yet I still used it to accomplish what I needed to.

I've had this on my TBR forever, but have been putting off reading it due to mixed reviews. I finally decided to bite the bullet, and am kicking myself for not reading it sooner. I LOVED IT. I can see how this may not be for everyone, but I loved everything about it; the writing style, the story, the characters, EVERYTHING

Gritty. Emotional. A little dark. And entirely enthralling.
Shadowboxer takes the reader beneath the bustling city of New York,

into the dark corner of underground MMA fighting.

But here's the kicker, both the hero AND the heroine are fighters.

Mia Anderson is used to doing whatever it takes to support herself and her younger sister. She lives in the shadow of her devastating past and uses the physical pain to drown out the memories. She fights and she's not afraid of taking punches. But she wants out of the underground MMA circuit, and her ticket out is to fight the reigning champion of the male fighters, Tray "Fox" Knox.

I bruised faces and occasionally broke bones for a living, but I'd never left a woman feeling bad about herself. My dignified Long Island upbringing hadn't left me even though I now lived in a walkup in Brooklyn.

While Mia was the girl from the wrong side of the tracks, Tray seemingly has it all...he just doesn't want it. Going against the grain and everything his rich parents wanted for him, he turned to underground fighting to beat his demons. But he draws the line at fighting a woman. Mia is desperate, and as infuriating as the sexy fighter is, she's determined to ignore the sexual chemistry that instantly ignites between them and convince him to change his mind.

Guys like you, you think you know everything. You've got the world by a string, and it only ever unwinds the way you want it to. That's not how it is for the rest of us. We have to fight for what we want. We have to bleed.

Mia is a character that's difficult to understand at first. The book is a bit of a slow build, but it really takes off after the 30% mark. The more you find out about her past, the clearer her actions and thoughts become. My heart absolutely broke for her and what she had to go through. As much as I wanted to hate her for her treatment of Tray at times, I just couldn't help but feel for her. Sure some of her methods of survival weren't exactly orthodox, but I thought that Cari Quinn did a phenomenal job of painting a picture of a truly broken woman with an extra tough shell.

As for Tray? I fell in love with him from the first few pages. He was this perfect combination of a dirty talking badass

and a man that falls for the last woman he would expect to capture his heart.

My lungs seized up and I couldn't haul in enough oxygen. She surrounded me, drenching me in everything she was...that had somehow become all I wanted.

I was completely enraptured by this story. It wasn't a light read, though I wouldn't exactly call it dark. It was somewhere in the middle, but incredibly entertaining.
While Fox gives into his attraction and feelings for Mia, Mia fights her feelings as long as she can. Her past has always paved her future, and her past was not a light one.

I wore my scars on my body because the internal ones had scabbed over and gone numb. If all I was destined to feel was pain, at least it was mine. This wasn't real. It couldn't be. Stuff like this didn't happen to girls like me.

I devoured this book from beginning to finish. Cari Quinn throws in some unexpected twists and turns, and all of it packed a hell of a punch. I couldn't get enough. By the end of the book I was so invested in the couples relationship, I simply didn't want it to end.

I am absolutely dying for the next book in this series. Mia's sister and the baddest of the bad boys, Giovanni? I'm practically salivating for it.

If you enjoy MMA books that are different from anything you've read lately, emotional, gritty, and STEAMY AS FUCK, I can't recommend this enough! I know I'm the odd one out within all the mixed reviews, but I really encourage readers to give this a shot. Who knows? You just may love it as much as I did!

For more reviews visit

[Vaishali • [V.L. Book Reviews] · Rating 3 out of 5]

R A T I N G: 2.5/3 stars to Shadowboxer ★ ★ ★

'The scars on my body would fade. But I’d never be normal enough to walk the same path as regular people..’

“Guys like you, you think you know everything. You’ve got the world by a string, and it only ever unwinds the way you want it to. That’s not how it is for the rest of us. We have to fight for what we want. We have to bleed.”

If I were a fish, the premise to Shadowboxer would have been a hook to my scaled skin. Truth be told, it was a hook to the skin. I saw the cover, read through the blurb and I was nothing short of eager to spare some time for this. A female fighter? A hero/heroine MMA face off? A hardcore, corded female MMA brawler and a scene that depicts the underbelly of an unsanctioned sport? A survivor who doesn't stop fighting outside of the ring and who remorselessly intends to lock fists with he who will soon become her hero? Consider me bought, bundled and sold. I wouldn't have required any peripheral convincing because my 'now now now' reflex had flipped its switch. Little would have impaired my craving to indulge in a read that spotlights a badass female fighter. Credits to the cover designer because the striking design was yet another reason for my buzz. Shadowboxer isn't a bright light, it's also not blindingly dark but the story still manages a raw intensity that never leaves the story (or the romance) feeling unburdened by every obstacle.

Mia encourages a style of character that's more abrasively assertive than carefully dominant. She's a survivor and a shadow on the sidewalk, pronged to the hilt, spiked to the tail and full well in belief that all she's destined for is the life of a walking shadow. She's a truly hard nut to crack and to even attempt such an thing would land one at the mercy of her closed fists. While most see the chill, nobody sees the pain because Mia's more broken than she'll ever confess to. But with scabbed knuckles, a fighter's gait and determination that clings to each swing, she's prepared to forget her fear to build and buy a better life for her sister. To rely on her body is all she's ever had and she's prepared to use it to secure something better, even as she delights in every painful punch, every incoming bruise. She knows her opportunity lies in bringing the fight to the fighting best and that's Tray Knox. He however, is completely in the dark about her plans to fight him.

As a survivalist character, Mia's arc is both individual and a really interesting - even poignant - one at times as she fights her way from lifelong grief to a second chance. She's not easy to sympathise with, she’s absent of subtlety and nor does she always behave in acceptable ways but the author manages to - by way of some raw grit and prose that intermittently locks in the intensity - display who she is at the heart. She's messy, she's morose, she's fickle, she's flawed but a trove of grief is the caveat to beat. Though the story doesn't really give way to a healthy healing journey (because there wasn't a particular intention to address her trauma, and I don't believe love should moonlight in the role of therapeutic intervention), I sat back with the intention of letting her claw and roar in the ways she needed to, even if I’m not sure I liked the idea of violence and volatility being the accepted voice of reason.

In that respect, I should address Mia's behaviour towards Tray. Tortured characters often fall into the cyclical trappings of transferring their trauma to those around them, and that can look like abuse, indecision, disassociation, repressed ire, outbursts, inability to form connections, reluctance to commitment and gaslighting. As a maladjusted character, Mia's socially untogether and not shy of airing her pain. She does do some debatable things like taking a forceful swing at Tray (an aim that lands true enough to leave a mark). That Tray seemed surprised but unbothered is less the point and though Mia was remorseful, though I absolutely don't dare nor desire to find fault with a survivor's tale a character should be more/do more than defensively lean on their backstory to explain away abuse caused by their own hand. Tortured heroes tend to mirror the same. If this is a to-read on your list, prepare for some very fickle fights, chronic back and forth and repetitious denial because there's an advent of that to witness. The cycle does admittedly get very exhausting.

Shadowboxer was a story that I enjoyed in pieces and parts rather than as a whole. The writing has a dual outcome: prose-wises it periodically, precisely, exquisitely packs a solid punch but mostly I soldiered on through a sluggish narrative which - for me - really fatigues the story. I plodded on more than I felt engaged in what I was reading and the overlong passages fiddle with the pacing in a way that drags rather than drives. While the driving plot particulars were interesting, the plot itself always loses steam within each narrative corner the author takes it in rather than delivering a story that thrives in a full-steam-ahead sort of way. I'm always interested until I'm not. I liked the protagonists until I didn't. I liked where things were heading until I didn't. This was a slow work in progress and the plot gradually becomes thinner and reneges on promising outcomes. Case in point: the emerging fight. The biggest selling feature for me was the M/F fight (which doesn't happen). It's then backed by another promised fight (which also doesn't happen). There's only one on-page unsanctioned fight and that's Tray Vs. Costas. To say I was deflated understates how deflated I was.

As a protagonist himself, Tray was latter of a hit and miss for me. I found him to be a featureless accompaniment to the story. I also found that I liked him better from Mia's POV than I did from his own. He was alpha, sweet-gestured, long-suffering in the way he took every punch Mia gave and never gave up, a bachelor painted as a man who's had his fair share of women, a bit displaced in life and looking to put his fighting days behind him. He really tried in the persisting way I love a hero to be - he was all of that without being all of that. While he and Mia have their binding, emotionally-taut moments, those moments aren't quite moment-worthy. Tray comes from privilege but sought out a life far less polished. He's quick to say yes to any fight and any fighter that demands a few rounds with him. He's a big name in the illegal fighting circuit, hence Mia's thirst to best him particularly. He likes the ego trip of being someone to remember by men and women alike but his fire to beat and be beaten on. Both he and Mia use the sport to exercise their troubles but the difference is that Mia's in it to win.

For this type of story Quinn's cast of characters are complementary to each other - even if I didn't love them. It’s fairly advocated that a survivor's story isn't meant to be a moralising tale nor something to ethically condemn, and with Mia I never once judged her choices made or the routes taken to get to where she now is. She's hardened, she's brave and she's tough as old boots for a woman at the ripe age of twenty-one. There's a lot of misfortune in that but also a lot of worn-in transformation. Mia’s not the perfect person and I believe that the author intended for her fallibility to be the centre-most part of her and the centre-most point of her arc. She got by how she could and I had so much respect for her in the very places she failed to see that. But of course, the way she treated Tray wasn't always admissible.

But for me, the collapse was a lack of traction, a lack of plot, unexpected execution and a story and characters that lost me in a number of places. While I did feel drawn to Mia's arc and the places in the story where the author surfaces a more emotionally bare - connectable - Mia and a vulnerable Tray, I wasn't completely convinced or satisfied with the story. Throughout the entire book, whatever interest I picked up along the way always failed to sustain longevity. In just a few words, I wanted to put the book down more than I wanted to return to its resting point. I do appreciate what Quinn was trying to create but it didn't quite come together for me.

An unexpected competitor comes knocking for Tray "Fox" Knox in this Brooklyn-set barbed romance. Interest made money, interest garnered attention and that's exactly what the women’s fighting faction doesn't have. Mia needs Tray, needs his loss to win, needs his failure to thrive. She's paid for a life with her body and her blood, her sweat and her soul, and though she's all fists, teeth, fire and pain, it becomes harder to keep her mind in the fight, on the future, in the cage and out of the gutter with a man who's all endurance in every way. Shadowboxer brings forth a shadow walk on the shadier streets of Brooklyn. With a marked-all-over fight-or-flight heroine who's no stranger to the darker side of life and a hero who loves to fight but wants to fight for love instead shadow fight their way out of the shadows in this opening to the Tapped Out series. A wealthy hero/deprived heroine romance. Edged with a pure need to win turns into a pure need to deny Tray Knox. Both are prepared to take risks with their lives, neither are afraid of endangering their safety and it all boils down to a fight for the unexpected.


Content Warning: Violence. Blood. Abuse. Poverty. Mentions domestic abuse, sexual abuse, past rape and kidnapping, past parent death. Misogyny/misogynistic attitudes. The narrative sometimes recalls Mia's trauma by way of flashbacks. Frequently describes injuries. Panic attacks and PTSD.

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[SueBee★bring me an alpha!★]

FREE on Amazon US today (4/30/2015)

BLURB:
She's in for the fight of her life...with the man who only wants to be her lover.

Fighter Mia Anderson has faced the dark side of life and survived. But just getting by is no longer enough. To fund her new life with her baby sister, she's determined to beat the reigning king of the male fighters in New York's underground MMA circuit, Tray "Fox" Knox.

Tray refuses to fight a woman, until he learns Mia's tougher than anyone he has ever known. He soon realizes he wants more from her than blows and blood, and he's willing to hit below the belt to get it. He'll fight her, but if he wins, she spends the night in his bed. All night long, his rules. No tapping out.

Mia agrees, certain that he'll lose. What she doesn't realize is that Tray loves to fight dirty...and that this match may end up being the most important one of their lives.

http://www.amazon.com/Shadowboxer-Tap...


FREEBIES are often good for MORE than one day, I have gathered all my FREEBIES on a special shelf: Kindle-freebies (currently over 400 books)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

[Cristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mia Anderson is a bartender that gives BJ's in the back room for 20 bucks and an underground MMA fighter. She does what ever she can to get enough money so she and her sister can start a new life far away from New York. What the people don't know is that when she was 14 she was kidnaped, held hostage and raped for months until she escaped and killed her kidnaper.

Mia is a damn good fighter and in order to get the money she needs to get a start on her life she plans to fight Tray “Fox” Knox and beat him :D

Tray “Fox” Knox is a MMA fighter that sets his eyes on Mia before he knows of her plans to fight him and doesn't plan on letting her go easily. He suspects she's broken but wants to be with her.



Together they try to get through whatever life throws at them and in the end they come out at the other side together.



If you want to read a story about a woman that turns her grief into power, about a man that wants to find himself but manages that only after he finds someone else first and two people that are better together apart then this is the book for you.



*ARC generously provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

[Tessa Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the honor of reading this book before its February 2014 release date because Cari Quinn is a fellow author of mine and a friend. She asked me for my honest opinion and here it is:

This is one of those books that will stay with me. It gripped me the entire time and it was worth every anxious second spent between reading sessions. I laughed while I read it, but while reading the very same page, I could just as easily be sighing dreamily or gasping at the very authentic world of fighting Cari Quinn writes. It's an honest and raw book, but written in a beautiful way that built me up right along with the characters by the time it was over. I loved it so much.

We have Tray and Mia, two characters who share nothing in common beside the fact that they both participate in unsanctioned MMA fights for cash in the seedy, underground fight scene in Brooklyn. I fell in love with Tray on the double and Mia's weakness for him made me feel like we took that headlong journey into falling for Tray together. Their courtship is hot, folks. White knuckles on your e-reader hot. But there is emotion behind every time these two come together. It's never empty or purely physical. So much is happening under the surface and as the story unravels, you'll be racing through it to find out what happens next.

Fabulous book - I sincerely hope there is more to come in this series with some of the secondary characters.

I might even harass Cari until I get them.

[Namera [The Literary Invertebrate] · Rating 4 out of 5]

⤅ This one's a real hidden gem.

We have Mia, a closed-off, tortured heroine who's an MMA fighter determined to make a name for herself... by making the hero Fox, also an MMA fighter, have a match with her. Obviously, he realises that's not a great idea, and ends up falling for her.

My only bugbear with this book is that I can't BELIEVE Mia is so obsessed with fighting a man and so convinced she'll do well, when it's just illogical and she should know better. As a sportsperson myself (rowing, in my case) the difference between male rowers and female rowers in terms of performance is flatly obvious. And for tennis, in 1998, Karsten Braasch - then the 203rd ranked male tennis player in the world - absolutely trounced the Williams sisters when they were ranked first. I can only imagine that in contact sports like martial arts, this sex difference becomes exponentially more obvious. He's much stronger than her, and probably faster. Fox knows this, so he's reluctant to fight Mia, but I couldn't get behind her own enthusiasm to engage in a match with him.

That aside, this is a great book.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to be honest and say that this is the first Cari Quinn book I have read and not absolutely loved.

Granted this book is darker and grittier than the previous books that I have read, which for me wasn’t the issue. My whole problem is with the fact that I pretty much disliked every one of the main characters.

It is understandable that Mia would have a few emotional issues, and struggle on the social skills front after what she suffered when she was in her early teens, and I did for that reason feel sorry for her. But the constant repeat cycle with Tray of “no we can’t” and then just going ahead doing it, then treating him like shit afterwards really started getting old at about 50%.

Tray ticks all the boxes with regards to being a character I would normally fall a little in love with, but again I just found the constant internal monologue about how he felt slighted by his rich daddy (even though he was provided with, and used an allowance, an apartment, and was offered finance to pay for his education, by said Daddy) again just got on my nerves…

There writing in parts is absolutely beautiful, and although this book wasn’t 100% for me, highlights why I love this authors writing –

She was bruised in too many places. Her body was a tapestry of fading wounds and scars, yet she also had patches of smooth, unblemished skin without a freckle to mar the perfection.

The premise was excellent, and the sex as per all of Cari’s previous books is hot and extremely well written. I just couldn’t get past my total dislike for the main components of the book.

I want to thank Cari for providing me with an ARC for this book, in exchange for the above honest review. I am just sorry I couldn’t be more positive on this occasion.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

New Adult Tropes: 20

“Welcome to this century. Women can do everything men can. Including fight.”

Where to start with Shadowboxer? This book includes so many topics: verbal abuse, domstic abuse, sexual abuse, kidnapping, death of (more than one) family member, prostitution, underground fighting, estranged parents, protecting a younger family member, money troubles, a rich guy feeling sorry for himself, trust issues, slutshaming, misogyny... are you exhausted yet? We'll take it from the start.

Mia is a female underground fighter. She's in it for the money she desperately needs so that she and her younger sister Carly can move away from the city. In the beginning, Mia went into prostitution (oral sex only), but then went into the fighting scene, but is also working at a bar. For months she's been training to set up a fight with the famous underground fighter Tray "Fox" Knox so she can get the money she needs. Tray is the golden boy that got tired of living good life with the money his parents gave him. Tray dropped out of college and went into the underground fighting scene. When a chance meeting have them cross paths, Tray is immediately drawn to Mia in ways he doesn't understand. Mia on the other hand, wants nothing but a fight from Tray. What follows is a long push and pull of Mia wanting Tray, hooking up, and then pushing him away. It goes on for more than half of the book, with little else to add into the plot.

Basically, there's no plot. It's all Mia and her trust issues (which aren't brought up until somewhere around the 40%-60% mark) and Tray's endless longing for Mia. This is supposedly a MMA fighter story, but there's almost no fighting going on, only a few mentions of their workouts. There are two big fights looming in the future at the beginning, but neither of them happens. In the end, it's all about their lust for each other. So let's take a look at our main characters. Introducing Mia:

I wasn’t some quivery female caught in the storm of my emotions.

Mia is the heroine with an disdain toward anything female or feminine (which kinda changes once she lets Tray into her life). She's a fighter that can (apparently) take on any fighter, male of female. She comes from a troubled childhood filled with parents dying, and on top of that, she was kidnapped and sexually abused for several months. You'd think this would play a bigger role in this story, but it doesn't (apart from when Tray makes it all about himself). It's brought to light somewhere in the middle of the story, and Mia has two (I think) panic attacks due to memories from her time in captivity. Other than that, it isn't that big a deal, or it doesn't come off as it when in her POV. Once again, New Adult uses sexual abuse as a plot device, and in this case, a backdrop for the romance. It's difficult to care for Mia; she's mean and her (as above mentioned) disdain for female and femininity is cringe worthy.

Now, here's the best of Tray "Fox" Knox:

My knowledge of the thought processes of females was practically nonexistent.

I’d kill for her in reality, maybe because no one else ever had.

“I can deal with Sandra Bullock,” I muttered, grateful that Slater wasn’t around to hear me turn in my man card.

If it's hard to care or like Mia, it's even harder to give a single fuck about Tray. He's the kind of guy that is all don't need my parents or their money, fuck them while still having them pay for his Ivy League college, his apartment, and his new car. Please tell me more about how hard your life is. To be fair, he does come from a family where his father abused (verbally and physically, from what I gather), his mother. And Tray has a policy that a real man never hits a woman. A policy that obviously doesn't apply to his mother, since Tray doesn't really do anything to help his own mother to get out of an abusive relationship. He does however feel the need to protect a female stranger that appears to have been in a fight (Mia) from the second he lays eyes on her. Good guy, right?

Moving on. When he finds out that Mia was kidnapped and sexually abused and later prostituted herself, he somehow makes it all about himself.

How could I be ready to listen to her talk about being hurt? How could I ever let her put her mouth on me and not think she was imagining a money transaction afterward?

Add in the usual, Mia's not like other girls, deserves better than an alley fuck, and the usual "my girl is a special snowflake" mentality, you have Tray. (I'd mention the secondary characters, but they were all flat and boring, they're barely worth mentioning.)

Moving on to the fighting aspect. It's ridiculous. Throughout the book, there's the theme that Mia is the best fighter ever. Tray describes her as tiny, but fit. She's feet shorter than him, and he outweighs her greatly. Yet, she thinks she can take him in a fight. How? No clue. Look, I agree with the initial quote: women can do anything men can, but there are limits. Biologically, men are (generally) stronger, taller, heavier. A trained male fighter will 99% of the time win over a female fighter. That's biology, nothing you can do about it. The last 1% is all about luck and coincidence. Nothing in the story indicates that Mia is delusional otherwise, but this is both delusional, and frankly, a bit suicidal. I believe this story would've done better (on the fighting aspect) if it had focused on the difference between male and female sports, especially society's view on it.

Going back to Mia's past abuse and prostitution. There's a huge gap about how her life after she escpaed her kidnapper/abuser and the present. Why did she enter prostitution? How did she do it? How old was she? How did she reason? Because she had a job (bartender), how bad was it for that she felt the need to prostitute herself? Or was she of the mentality that prostitution is just another job? It's never explained. There's also little time over for dealing with her past abuse, both in the past and in the present. As it is, it reads like it is Tray's magical dick that somehow saves her, which is an angle one should never take in fiction. It is insulting to victims of sexual abuse to keep up this mentality that a man (or woman) can cure you from the trauma by sex. It should be with professional help and support from trusted and loved ones.

Last, apart from all mentioned above, the writing is very amateurish. Tray for example, has two different sides: the one we see in his POV and the one from Mia's. They are at times almost two different people, who speaks and thinks differently. Add in awkward and painful methafors such as this one:

By the time Mia emerged in her sports bra and a pair of tiny bike shorts that made her ass look like a pair of puffed-up marshmallows suspended on two sexy sticks, I was considering a number of sexual harassment suits.

To sum up this book: poor execution and no sensitivity when it comes to sensitive topics.

[Christie«SHBBblogger»]

**DNF: Can't fully review. I only got about 30% in. I needed a mini-rant though**

This has to be a record for the fastest I've ever given up on a book. But when it's glaringly obvious that a book isn't for you, it's pointless to continue. I didn't like the heroine. I love strong and independent girls, but she wasn't straddling the line between strong and independent and a hardcore bitch. She was miles past that line. I had sympathies for her and her situation, but first off...

1)She gives oral sex in the back of the bar for money?!?!

The first time a man offered me money, I was shocked. But that guy had interpreted my desire to pleasure him as part of a menu of services rather than my pathetic attempt at control, and I hadn’t refused the cash. How could I?



2) First time having sex...(After he catches her trying to give a stranger a BJ in the alley)


Thick wavy strands tumbled down around us, cloaking me in her darkness, and I pressed my lips to hers, warming them with her name while we fumbled through what had to be the clumsiest, coldest fuck in the history of sex.

I sucked in a breath ripe with the scent of garbage turning rancid in the cans along the back fence. Too loud laughter burst out from inside every now and then, competing with the really crappy techno rock.



Not hot. Not sexy. Not anything. Ew. Just Ew.

[Taryn Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the supreme pleasure of reading this one early since Cari's my writing partner. Even in the midst of my own crazy schedule I sat up with this book until 4am. I truly couldn't put it down.
Mia and Fox will own you by the end of this story.

No lie.

Every heartbreaking struggle, every impact from a punch, every drop of blood--all of it leads to an exceptional love story that suits the characters down to the bone. But it's not an easy love story, but I promise you it's worth the read.

This is a world of violence and poverty, laughter and love, honesty and the lies we tell ourselves to get through the day. This book hurtles through emotions like you're in the ring at a MMA fight. They both are sizing up the opponent, trying to break them down to their essential parts, and then trying to figure out how to pin them.

(And oh, did they pin each other. Whew! There is some supreme steam between these pages.)

But when they broke down each other's defenses they found something raw and beautiful.

Mia, a woman with a strong, disciplined body and a broken spirit.

Fox, the golden boy who's excelled at everything he's tried, but never allowed himself to actually believe in anything.

Together they are magic and pain and then finally...simply love.



Add it to your shelves people. You're going to want to read it in February. Then you'll be bugging her for more.

[Ari Reavis · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off.... the 2 big fights I was waiting for in the book DID NOT happen, which kind of ruined it a bit for me. Granted the fights didn't happen because of the romance in the book, but I was disappointed, nonetheless. The rest of the book was ok. Tray helped Mia get over some past traumas and for the most part he was an upstanding guy. Mia got on my nerves at times with the push and shove that were her feelings. Her sister added a nice element to the book. Maybe she'll get her own story.

[Dali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved every second of this story. It's very old school Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliott, but of course it is since it was originally written a few years ago. Nevertheless it is wonderfully written with interesting characters and all the feels I can't wait to read the next installment!

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[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Question for all of you out there. Have you ever read a book that you just couldn't put down. The book that will make you stay up all night and just to see what happens to the characters. There have been a few books that I have risked book hangover for and I am adding another one to the list.

I bought SHADOWBOXER by Cari Quinn. I was hearing so much about it on a facebook page I am a part of . I was warned once I start it I would not put it down. They were correct on that one.

What can I say about this book. I was warned by a lot of people that it was dark . I didn't realize how dark it was. Mia has seen such a dark life. She has been through so much in her life. She becomes a MMA fighter to help ease the pain from her past .Wanting to help her younger sister and her to disappear from the darkness. Enters Tray the fox another MMA the man she wants to fight to win the title so she can just leave . They meet one night at the bar where she works and thing proceed from there. She is smitten with the hot man in front of her but they are dealing with the darkness in their lives.

Will they survive the past to try and have a future .

This book was tearing from my heart strings from the very beginning of the story. To have that much pain and darkness just tore at my heart. Cari brought the characters to life with such a rawness and a passion. Cari wrote Mia with such a intensity that made you feel for her and wanted to help her out of the darkness. She captured the struggle that Mia has just trying to be normal , or normal in her eyes . Tray is the alpha that is actually has a heart and his own brand of darkness that he is keeping under control also. These two characters will claw and fight their way into your hearts .

Cari has said that writing the character of Mia, helped heal her in so many different ways and Mia gave Cari her sense of hope back.

I will tell you I was nervous about reading this book but so happy I did. I want everyone who likes very dark characters who have to fight their way to normal. Oh yeah they have some great sex scenes in there also. So give this book a try and see what you think . I suspect you will not be disappointed

[Flavs is Mrs David Gandy♥~♥’ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book I received an ARC Copy.

I enjoyed the book, but it took me a while to get into the story because it was a bit slow. I couldn't connect with the main character Mia. I liked the fact that she was a fighter and strong emotional and physically, but she seemed a bit distant to me. It's like she couldn't make up her mind about stuff.
And the same was said about Tray.

One thing I also didn't like about Mia was the fact that she finally found someone that wants to be with her and she fought him at every turn.
I mean there is only so many times you can play hard to get. But he stuck with her.

The sex scenes were really Hot!! Which I say makes up a little bit for the no-connection.

I liked it, but didn't love it.

[~♡AB♡~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Knock Out Stars

[Ashleyjo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was in the center of my wheelhouse. A badass fighter FMC who’s hardened as hell but soft for that one special alpha male. An alpha male equal parts dirty and sweet.
And, this book delivers that ^ until it just kind of sinks like the Titanic.

Writing

It’s a mixed bag of great and horrible. At times, the author writes like a tornado of emotions hitting the pages. At other times, this drags on and on like sludge. I’d be really into a plot point/scene/character development… boom…it would run out of gas and just coast through some mundane bullshit. <<< That became a frustrating pattern.

Plot

She’s a fighter. He’s a fighter. She wants a fight with him for a big payday. He dangles that as a way to woo her. They chase each other back and forth, leading to him getting injured. Cue her wanting to fight someone else. I didn’t care for how this all played out. Spoiler - she never fights anyone on page in this book past the opening chick fight. << Uhm, doesn’t that defeat the purpose of the plot here?!? The wrap up of the fight that is the entire center of the plot is so freaking lame. 🥱🤨😡🙄

From a storyline standpoint, I enjoyed the personal plot devices, but I didn’t care where the author took/left the personal devices. Her abuse hang ups, for example… it was a poignant plot point. Yet, each step forward took me a step back because this book leaves you with the concept that it’s okay for a woman to hit her man. His daddy issues … ah, disappearing plot points that have been harped on aren’t my idea of good writing!

The ending place was lackluster. This is advertised as a HEA with no cliffhanger, which insinuates it’s a standalone. It’s not. It’s a HFN, and I discovered after reading it that these characters have ANOTHER BOOK (Sneak Attack.) That’s not a standalone within a series… that’s a duology.

MCs

While I didn’t like some of the shit the FMC did, I respect her for the first half of the book. Not so much after she hit him in anger. Not so much after pages and pages of wishy-washy turn into a single scene of unspoken words and violence just seems to wash away everything. Eh, it felt cheap.

The MMC is as swoon-worthy as they come. A little dirty. A lot of persistent. Again, I liked him until I didn’t. The chase was good, but he never had those magic moments to make it all worthwhile. The hold her down… fight me… abuse me… let’s cry together shit just didn’t work for me.

Overall

I enjoyed this until about 50%. Where the author took this was weak, lame, and disappointing. All the emo buildup was for nothing. All the fight buildup was for nothing. Too many plot devices with extraordinary attention to buildup only to disappear or be extinguished too easily!! Much ado. I won’t be moving on with this series.

[LAKristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written with an entire cast of interesting characters. There are no cliffhangers, but the scenes are set for a couple of follow-up books about other couples in the circle.

This is a complex story of survival, recovery, guilt and the power of love. It all sounds very dark and serious, but there's a lot of humor and optimism in this book. The lead male character is a charming, handsome, alpha MMA fighter with a very soft center. The lead female character is a surly, sensitive, thrill-seeking MMA fighter with a very soft center. Clearly, a match made in heaven.

The book has sizzling sex scenes that are pivotal to the plot. There's a lot of dirty talk and dirty thoughts, but again, nothing is gratuitous, it's all really core to the plot.

I am really looking forward to the next books in this series.

Strongly recommend.

[Claudia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like the book but it just didn't work for me.
I couldn't connect to Mia and to her choices of selling her body and being at the same time a fighter.
The when she meets the guy she intends to fight I find her behavior nothing short of childish, dare I say stupid.
Tray was sweet to redeem the book for me and make it bearable. I admit a skipped a lot of pages when it came to Mia because she was just plain boring.
At least to me.

[*Nan* · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been quite a while since I have read M/F books but after reading this book I will definitely read more. I loved the story and Felt the connection between Mia And Fox. I was drawn intho this book and hated to see it end.

[Dianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars. This was a nice read but it wasn't a favorite. It took me a while to get into the story because it was kind of slow. Mia was a difficult character for me to connect with. I loved how strong she was, physically and emotionally, but I couldn't endear stand her way of thinking most of the time. She seemed to flip flop her thoughts various times in the book and that irritated me. Tray was the same exact way. He was strong too, physically and mentally, but he was also fickle. I get that the author was trying to show that they wee the same type of person by having a fighters mentality, but sometimes I just didn't know who's POV I was reading. It seemed all the same to me. I think that is part of the reason this book dragged out for me. Shadowboxer became one of those I like it but I'm not in love with it type of book. I hope the series improves with the next book.

[Hbeebti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow this book was so freaking good. I loved Fox (Tray). I just adored him, a man like him could just about have anyone and he wanted Mia. Mia who was such a bitch to him in the beginning again and again. But Tray knew what he wanted and he fought for her, for them. Mia's past is dark and twisted. I felt bad for her. I loved those moments where Mia would let go and just be in the moment. No past haunting her, no dwelling on looming fights. It was bittersweet. I cant wait to read the rest of this series.

[Stephanie Scrivens · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this book last night and I am still thinking about it. I think I may have even dreamt about this book. It's one that will stay with you long after you have turned the last page and set the book aside. Emotions ran high and you will feel them all. I laughed, I cried, I wanted to punch someone. One broken girl + one lost guy = a love story that will have you steadfastly in their corner.

I am so glad Cari didn't shove this one under the bed.

Read. This. Book.

[Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book surprised me. I don't know exactly what I was expecting but I loved this book. It wasn't too dark but it was moving. I like how the characters felt real. Nobody was perfect. The relationship between Tray (Fox) and Mia may have started out unexpectedly but I like how it progressed. No instant fixes for imperfect people. Just two people loving each other, regardless of the situation.

[Komal · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Vfc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fighting is a means to an end for Mia. She uses it to exorcise her fractured soul and the demons of her past. Her sister Carly will soon be out of high school and they will make a new life far away. Mia, Fox, Slater, Giovanni and the others are all active in underground unsanctioned fighting. This story has minimal scenes of actual MMA battles, but an exodus of emotional angst.

At twenty-one, Mia is struggling, trying to make her way in New York, wanting a fresh start.

Mia is flawed, she doesn’t always handle life in the way others might. She just needs to convince Fox to fight her. Then she will have enough money for a fresh start, leaving her past behind.

Trauma affects everyone differently and Mia is no stranger to surviving.
 
“He really doesn’t want to give her back her job, but word is she can be awful convincing.”

Snidely “Bet she’s setting up something for later,” Spiky said with a smirk and a finger gesture that I was reasonably certain indicated a money exchange.

Having given up one form of making money with her body for another, soon enough this too, would be history. To make a fresh start, they need the payday from the fight…their ticket out. No, she is not a prostitute.

The formulaic plot in keeping the central characters traumatic secrets to the end chapters of the novel. This is a formula authors have engaged in, throughout time to entice readers. It is a dated, overused ploy that deters the story.

Mia (Spyder) is highly skilled, but when she accidentally runs into Fox, the same man she plans on propositioning for a fight, things don’t exactly go as planned.

Now that she was finally earning money in the underground MMA scene in Brooklyn, she’d almost reached the point of walking away for good, having spent months preparing for an upcoming battle with the top male underground MMA fighter on the circuit, Fox. Perfect, blond ‘Fox’ Knox, a man who probably didn’t know she existed.

Tray's character was underplayed and the reader catches glimpses of Tray's history and family life. Tray is Tray (Trayherne) Knox, born into privilege, from an affluent Long Island family, from which he gets monthly payouts.

Mia has a dark past that’s tainted her bleak outlook. She experienced a harrowing abduction as a child, readers are exposed to the fragmented references.
“Don’t you know there isn’t enough money in the world to justify selling off pieces of your soul?”
He had no idea how close he’d come to the truth.

"Fox" (Tray) is bored. With fighting. With his life. With everything. He doesn't even know what he is looking for...until he sees Mia on the street. She intrigues him. Something about her calls to him. From the onset, he set his sights on her. There is no cheating, except Mia does something to try and deflect his attention.

Depicted from dual perspectives. Light humour.
“I wasn’t running away, and I wasn’t acting like a jerk.
Yet. I reserved the right to start at any time”.

Everything inside me insisted I go to her. But I couldn’t, not yet. Not when she’d probably slam the door in my face again.
I needed at least a couple of minutes between rejections. I was weird like that”.

He discovers a Georgia newspaper headline —Mia is Amelia Anderson, which explained Carly’s use of “Ame” about a local girl rescued from a basement prison.
She was imprisoned by a disturbingly average-looking guy in his mid-thirties and held in captivity and repeatedly raped for three months. He could’ve been anyone. His eyes weren’t filled with madness. He’d given her a ride home after cheerleading practice one day. She hadn’t been seen since.
Eventually, she’d saved herself by taking advantage of him being away from home, sneaking out of a basement window. He’d returned early and caught her on the way out, she’d stabbed him with a piece of glass from the window she’d broken.

He died later at the hospital.

Fourteen years old and she’d killed a man to save her own life.

Darren was dead, and she still struggled against him every time a man put his arms around her. His voice echoed in her head on replay. The promises, the lies. The praise she’d grown to crave, in hopes of avoiding the pain.
Out of everything she’d done, wanting Darren’s approval shamed her most. Mia was shattered.

Tray’s father is abusive. Tray recognises that psychologically he fights for the sheer purpose of beating his father repeatedly. In a place no one could stop him, where he could win…where he has control.

“My father thinks I’m a loser.”
“He never wanted me to fight. I was supposed to stay in pre-law at Cornell and then go into the family firm. When I dropped out, he wanted to disown me, but he wasn’t about to let his cronies see his son not doing well financially. Reflects badly on him, you see. So he dropped money in my bank account, offered me this apartment, and basically shut me out of his life other than the monthly visits my mother still insists on.”

She gets him a gift, a replacement for his favourite leather jacket…I am not certain of any twenty-three year-old that would wear a leather duster, other than a drug dealer or a pimp❓

There were similarities between Mia and Mila of Susan Fanetti’s ‘Crazy Cat’. The female leads, their names, their choice of a career, their emotional stability or lack thereof…

[Mandy Sawyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!
I do love a strong woman who shows a little vulnerability. Great writing skills from Cari to get the right balance. Great performance from both Kai and Wen.

[Heather in FL · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I'm a little behind on my ratings/reviews, but I finished this tonight and really wanted to get my thoughts down on it. At the end of the book, the author says she wasn't sure how people would like this story. To be honest, going into it, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this. I'm not big on things like MMA fighting... the guys are lickable, sure, but I don't get off on watching people beat the crap out of each other. So it was doubly interesting that the main female character was an MMA fighter. But I'm a big fan of Ms. Quinn and I saw the novella coming out next month (thanks, Goodreads). It seemed so different from what she'd written before, so I wanted to give it a shot.

It totally worked for me. Not necessarily the blood and bruises and losing consciousness and stuff like that, but learning about Mia and Tray. I sort of got Mia's draw to the sport, based on her history. And even though Tray's motivations and background were completely different from Mia's, there was a sort of parallel in what each got out of the sport. And while Mia had the lion's share of messed up history, Tray wasn't completely unscathed, regardless of his privileged upbringing.

It took a while to get to how Mia became today's Mia. You knew early on that something had happened, but not really what. Little hints were dropped here and there, but when we really learned what happened -- through Tray's eyes -- it was hearbreaking, both for the reader as well as him. And I loved how he reacted to it. Or... well... he kind of kept his knowledge hidden because he knew exactly what Mia would do if she knew he knew. And she almost did exactly what he thought, but he even handled that brilliantly.

I loved that Tray wouldn't give up on Mia, no matter how hard she shoved him away. And she shoved hard both physically and mentally. But bless him for sticking with her and slowly pulling her walls down. At least enough for him to get through.

Really great story. I don't expect anything but a good story from this author, but this one was so unique to me... and gripping... and heartbreaking... and uplifting... and the penis cake with custard filling was an awesome addition, lol.

I'll look forward to the novella next month as well as her sister's story with Tray's nemesis. And I'm thinking (maybe?) there will be a story about Kizzy and the dude who took over Mark's? Oil and water create great stories... just saying. :-) Though it looks like right now, only Carly's story is in the works. I'm wondering if Carly will ever find out exactly how far Mia is willing to go to protect her. How far she went.

[Sashoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This read was a pleasant surprise. Having never read anything by Cari Quinn before this was a great book to get her on my radar.
Mia is strong, troubled and independent. I picked this up for because she is literally a female MMA fighter but she's a fighter in so many different ways as well. She is an overall interesting character who is well developed and I can't wait to read how her relationship with Fox continues to grow.
Tray "Fox" Knox. A sexy name for a sexy man. I really liked him, I liked that he didn't understand his name until Mia almost died laughing. I like that he tried to go against his families expectations by doing something so "beneath" them while all the while seeing himself as a fraud. He is troubled in his own way, albeit less traumatically troubled like Mia so it makes them a good fit.

Ever since Mia took his jacket and the "jacket" keeps cropping up in conversation I always wondered what the hell was in the pocket he's so eager to have back. It was always at the back of my mind and as I neared the end of the book I feared Ms. Quinn wouldn't tell me what was in the damn pocket. She did, thank god!

For some unknown reason I do not like Carly. Somehow I have the image of entitled/spoiled teen who is rebelling for some reason. I don't know why or exactly how I got this image in my head. Maybe it was when she showed up out of nowhere or her language despite being 18 or maybe her talk with Costas, I don't know but I don't like her and would rather read about Kizzy (who is crazy awesome) and Sutton Pierce than I would about Carly and what I'm sure has to be Costas very interesting story.

Can Kizzy and Pierce have their own book please? And preferably before Carly's so I don't have to wait, Thanks!

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I loved this! Seriously, I didn't want it to end. Superb read! Intriguing characters, good dosages of humor, detailed and gorgeous writing and just simply engaging.

A few people have complained that the pacing is too slow, or they don't like the way Mia acted. Personally, I don't mind a slow beginning if the characters are interacting and the author is developing them. And their conversations were just magical: hilarious, exciting and fluid. Mia's indecisiveness and behavior was justified when considering her past. No one that damaged can commit so easily, let's be frank. I never was a fan of "omg insta-love! let's like go out" anyway. Insta-fuck? I can dig that.

The author's adoration of these characters was palpable. I believe Mia was intended the demonstrate how we all have imperfections and faults we dislike about ourselves. We all can't be "the perfect woman" ideal for a man, but we have the understand that's not our purpose. Mia attempted to hide behind physical strength, while failing to develop her emotional and mental strength. She had to learn to love herself and heal, and that process takes time along with pain and tears. Mia wasn't simply another character in a book, but rather an example of emotional growth.

I received a free copy by the author in exchange for an honest review.

EDIT July 11: I seriously think about this book still! I'm boosting to 5 stars.

[Christine Manzari · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. I was really intrigued with the storyline of Shadowboxer. I've read a few really good books about fighters this past year, but this was the first one where the "heroine" was a fighter as well as the "hero." The part of the plot that I found really intriguing was that they were set to fight each other. A man and a woman? Really? I wondered how this could possibly play out and couldn't wait to get my hands on this book.

I thought the characters were well developed and although the storyline didn't exactly deliver the fight I expected, Mia and Tray did battle it out in their own ways. The schmexy scenes were full of schmexiness and the story was full of angst. I enjoyed the book and I think the author did a great job of setting up other relationships for interesting stories for the rest of the series. The writing was good and there was plenty of humor, which I enjoyed immensely. It was nice to see Mia and Tray both grow throughout the story.

The one thing I wish had been different....I felt a little cheated that there was never an actual big fight in the ring. I wanted to see Mia really prove herself. I still liked the ending and think it was done well, but there was a part of me that wanted to see the smart girl outwit the big guy and win in the ring.