The ring is his home. It’s the place he feels in control. Zeke ‘The Storm’ Raine has his life all planned out. Fight it. Win it. Own it. The plan was working, it’s almost his time to shine, to be the ultimate. One moment was all it took to bring it all crashing down around him. One punch, one moment of distraction, one mistake by another and his dream could be a faint memory. Bryce Tanner, one time fighter and now the coach Zeke doesn’t think he needs. Moving to a new country to take this job, and he's determined that he will succeed. Now that he's met Zeke, Bryce must make his own plans, rules that he is going to have to work hard to stick to. Be strong. Be professional. Be his coach. He just doesn’t know if he will be able to resist.
Passions run high, making their professional relationship difficult. Can they keep the outward façade while becoming more? Now Zeke needs to decide, is he willing to walk away from what he loves?
Will he be able to win the most important fight of his life?
Contains both m/m and m/f scenes. Not suitable for younger readers due to sexual content
After being married for ten years and raising three beautiful kids I decided it was time to do something for myself. My passion for reading bled over with a need to tell the story that was repeating in my head and that was the birth of my first book. The rest they say is history.
I love the creative release that writing gives you, being able to take someone away to a different world feels amazing. As a reader I know how important that escape is, and as a writer I love to be able to give people that.
My other loves include music and reading (in case I haven't mentioned that before) and then when I have time a little more reading. I think if I could read for a living I would, but since I can't I will continue on the writing side of things.
This was so bad it took me two days to think of a way to write a review and not come off as a raving bitch.
You know with these types of themes (GFY) many authors always fuck up the way their characters transition from hetero to homo and "Worth the Fight" was no different. Zeke, an aspiring boxer or kick boxer (whatever), is focused on becoming the best in his field, he can only do so if trained by the best and this is where Bryce comes in. As a serious, experienced coach, Bryce is determined to see Zeke succeed but plans for championship domination takes a back burner in light of the "searing attraction" these characters immediately feel for each other.
Zeke, a once 'straight' man, is bombarded with lust for his coach.
So as the plot unfolds, Bryce and Zeke succumb to lust and engage in activities they shouldn't have.....(for the sake of Zeke's career)....
Then in untimely fashion, these MC's get caught indulging in illicit sex acts by, none other than Zeke's nemesis and boxing opponent, Dante. The series of events that transpired afterwards could have been good material for any soap opera.
Bryce and Zeke broke up.
Zeke got engaged.
Bryce sobbed and whined so much I literally felt a cell or two die in my brain.
There were over dramatic dialogue, behavior and water work.
Bryce & Zeke fuck only to not fuck, then fuck again.
Eventually..........
Bryce finds himself a man in a pathetic attempt to move on.
At this point I'm like........
This was just too ridiculous.
I didn't care for it, the writing was sub par and the characters weren't likable. If you feel like giving this a try, best of luck to you as for me.....
*** Zeke and Bryce, the fighter and the coach, *** prove there's a rocky road to romance ! Tattooed, hard muscled, Zeke, loses a fight and has a broken wrist. His ex-coach was negligent, so now a new coach comes from across the pond, British, rock solid, a gorgeous man. The connection is immediate, and they get along in and out of the gym. Plus, Zeke has never acted on his attraction to a man before, but this time he doesn't hold back. Zeke has had it beaten into him that he's not gay. He's confused but tired as well. Tired of not doing what draws him in - Bryce is the draw, no one else, no other guys, just Bryce, so that makes this a fabulous, ultimate GFY (gay for you) story. The guys need to decide what to do, and the horrible beating and bashing of Bryce's ex weighs on his mind. So, they train, not many weeks left before the next fight, the rematch. Between the sheets, or nearest surface, these guy are totally hot, raw, powerful, and hunky sex machines. The deeply moving characters will shift your emotions. The story is well written and flows along. I cried a few times and laughed at other moments, but it's definitely more dramatic. We get to take this ride and it is a different M/M romance with the issues it addresses. The world of MMA is ruthless. Terrific honest conversations happen on the incredible journey. This tale grips you and holds you. I recommend it, and hope you ENJOY it !! ================================== one thing disappointed me... ===================================["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>
Un Romance dalla storia prevedibile, non particolarmente originale, che cade in parecchi cliché. Però non posso che considerarlo appassionante e coinvolgente. Questo grazie ai due protagonisti, Zeke e Bryce, che sono delineati con accorata delicatezza, lasciando chiaramente emergere tutte le loro ferite e le loro fragilità. Sono loro ad avermi conquistata. Nel corso delle pagine i due si raccontano, con la loro storia vissuta piena di dolore in entrambi i casi, con i loro cuori pieni di paura ma anche carichi di emozioni. Anche le figure secondarie sono interessanti. Il ritmo narrativo è placido e piacevole. Lo stile pulito e gradevole. Hugs&kisses
First, i loved this book. I was lucky enough to receive an ARC from the author and even though this isn't a genre i read very often, Zeke and Bryce's story sucked me in. Zeke, a MMA fighter trying to make it big, gets a new coach in the form of ex fighter Bryce. Now Bryce totally stole this book for me. I adore him. Sparks fly between them from the moment they meet, but having to work together makes them both wary. Zeke is one very confused man. His dad has had a lasting effect on him, making him question himself constantly. Bryce has given a lot up to get to where he is...Can he really risk losing it all for a man whose passions have always been fighting and women? Is it worth the fight? You can't help but feel for them both (more so Bryce, for me anyway). And Eddie, the head coach, is a brilliant character (had to mention him cos he's awesome). Like i said at the start this isn't a genre i read often, i can count on one hand how many m/m romances i've actually finished but this book *sigh* It really is a hot, sexy, enjoyable romance, it's light hearted in parts and emotional in others. Definitely recommend especially if you like this genre. And even if it's not something you'd normally read, i'd still say to give it a go.
Book Review - Worth the Fight by TA Mckay - 4 Get out of the Closet Man! Stars
Worth the Fight was a first for both Tracy and I. It was Tracy’s first foray into M/M and it was my first foray into the brain of Tracy. It’s always a bit of a nail biting experience when you read someone for the first time, who you have met and liked. What if I don’t like their writing, what if I just don’t like their style? Luckily for me, Tracy happened to put two of the things I really love, fighting and M/M into a book together, and I’m pleased to say, that I enjoyed reading this.
In this review, I will only be going into the story and writing style, as the ARC that I received was an early ARC and as such had a lot of edits that I had to overlook (my little beta heart wanted to go through the book with the highlighter, but I managed to smother them with a pillow this time.)
Worth the Fight is a story about Zeke, a fighter who goes to take his first attempt at the big one, and is crushed when an injury shatters his dreams. Full of wrath for the coach who he was working with, he goes to his main coach and has the guy fired. So now, there is a new opening. Enter Bryce, a brit who has come abroad for the opportunity to work with a fighter he knows can hit the big time. When the two meet, sparks instantly fly, but why, because Zeke isn’t gay. Nope, Zeke has been nailing any female that moves ever since he put his gloves on, so the feelings that are stirred up in him by Bryce send him reeling back into memories of childhood admissions.
I never really bought into Ethan as Zeke’s coach, he seemed like the work experience kid who’d been given enough rope to hang himself with. The book just lacked a bit of detailing in terms of experience for both Ethan, and Bryce in coaching abilities. Why would a trainer hire a guy from the UK to work alongside his best boxer? His background only gave details of his underground fighting days, and I would have liked to just have the minor gaps filled in.
Saying that, those are only minor niggles. The main focus of the story is on the relationship between Zeke and Bryce anyway, with the fighting intertwining and somewhat smothering their relationship. I felt for Bryce, after opening himself up from his last relationship, to quite frankly, what a dick Zeke was a lot of the time. He really did put up with a lot until he couldn’t take anymore. And Zeke, well when you step back in time, you get a glimpse into why he’s so fucked up now and how everything focus’ around his projected image and gaining that title that he so wants.
To be honest, if the title he was after was Worlds Biggest Douche, he would have won it hands down, without the need for the other guy to even raise a glove. I found myself constantly getting annoyed with his assholery behaviour and his excuses for it all. I kept waiting for him to man up…… and waiting……. and waiting. Luckily Bryce and I finally got on the same page and Zeke finally has to wake up and ….smell… the….. fucking….bacon.
I dunno, maybe the guy took one too many blows to the head, or dick, but there were a few times I would have gladly stepped into the ring to take a pop at him myself. But what can I say, I must be a sucker for punishment like Bryce, because I kept hoping he would come to his senses and get his man.
Without spoiling it, there are intertwining relationships entangled amongst our boys, and one of those is a female. For some M/M readers, this is a no-no, so I wanted to put it out there, that it does contain M/F scenes, although I believe that the synopsis does allude to this. For me, it doesn’t make a difference what parts people have, I’m just interested in the story between them and I do think it worked well. Infact, I can’t wait to read a certain someone’s book, because I really need him to get his happily ever after. After all it’s bad, when you like a side character that much, that you want one of the main ones to bite the dust so he can keep his man.
Would I read another book by Tracy? Absolutely. I mean if an author can make you want to swear at the pages then that’s a sign of a job well done in bringing those characters to life.
Really enjoyed this one. It's really sexy, but it's absolutely packed FULL of angst and drama. My stomach was in knots at times. There was way too much cheating (on both sides) for my liking, but I liked the characters so much that I was desperate to see how things ended. I understood Bryce's behaviour so much more that Zeke's. Zeke just ran to someone else at the first sign of trouble and I hated him for that. I was so mad at him for treating Bryce so badly when his poor heart has already been destroyed once before. But Bryce was just looking for someone to love. He's fed up of being sad and alone. And when he finally finds someone perfect for him Zeke just comes along and lures him back in, ruining what little happiness Bryce had found. It was so sad. They were completely drawn to each other and no one else was ever going to be enough for either of them again. No matter how much they hurt each other they just kept on coming back together.
I loved all of the MMA aspects of the book. They were awesome!
Great quotes:
"I'm here to do a job, one that I'm bloody good at, and that job is to make you a champion."
**
"I want Bryce Tanner and I will have him no matter what."
**
"After everything we've done together, I can't believe you don't want me. You're the first person I've let in since Austin, the only one I let in when I was sure I should spend my life alone."
**
"Do you want me, Zeke?" I hear him sigh, the sounds coming clearly down the phone. "I want you more than anything in this life." "Will you be with me?" There's a moment's silence and it tells me what I need to know. "Baby..."...with a final sob I hang up the phone...'
**
'I can live without a lot of things, But I know I can't live without Bryce.'
**
'I will live my whole life knowing that when it came to the biggest fight of my life, I won.'
I will definitely be reading more by this author :D
I'm not rating this. I might finish it eventually, it could be a better story than I think so far. Right now, it's just too annoying. There's tons of editing issues, misspelling, missing words, sentence structure, etc. Even though there's alternating POV's, I can barely tell the characters voices apart and have to go back and check which character I'm reading. Zeke is unlikeable and Bryce is a wimp. Don't feel like MMA fighters.
Trying again 1/19/16 This wasn't the worst story in the world but I couldn't like the characters or their actions. I couldn't stand reading when there were constant errors with lack of punctuation, missing and misspelled words, and lack of sentence structure. I normally try to overlook that when I feel it's an editor/proofreader error, but it looks like it was self-published. If so, the author needs to find help, toute-suite. There was little differentiation between the characters in the POV switches, and choosing present tense was a bad choice. The characters were pretty much chicks with d***s, shown as cheaters and users. Bryce was a wimp and Zeke was a cowardly a-hole. This author is not for me.
I wanted to love this book so much...Sports/Bi boys are both right at the top of my favourites list but so many things in this one just didn't work for me ): There was cheating (3 times) and for Bryce to do this after fiercely stating that he is exclusive was so shitty. Zeke and his cheating ways and back and forth/hot and cold routine really just ruined any connection that had built up in the first part of the book.
Overall, I was so disappointed with the way the story played out. The blurb doesn't cover cheating and really took away from what the relationship between the MCs could have been.
I did like the writing style of this author and would be open to giving book 2 a chance as long as there is no cheating...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I received a ARC of this book from the author and this is an honest review. Wow....just wow....M/M is a favourite genre of mine so I was totally excited to read this and also very curious as it's quite a diversion from T.A. Mckay's usual writing style and genre. Zeke....a known womaniser really...a prized MMA fighter meets his new coach Bryce....Bryce is gay and although doesn't broadcast it he certainly doesn't hide it either, here starts a slow build relationship of sorts...slow build because Zeke is a little confused about his thoughts and his feelings for Bryce. Here starts what I can only describe as an emotional roller coaster....I was happy.....I was excited( yes I totally went there!)....I was anxious at times and then I was devastated....I literally could not put this book down. Bryce was an amazing character, strong and decisive in what he wanted but also totally sweet. Zeke was harder to figure out for me but I think that was the right thing for him because of his upbringing it was hard for him to accept his feelings and you felt his constant struggle in this book. I do not want to give any of the compelling storyline away here so I urge you to buy this as soon as it's released because it's a stunner of a book.... Ooh and watch out for Trey....a sweetheart! So 5 fabulous stars to you for another fabulous book
Worth the Fight is the story of Zeke and Bryce. Zeke is an up and coming MMA fighter about to get his big break. Part way into the book, Bryce comes into his life. From the beginning their connection is electric and filled with passion. I love this story, the emotion, the heat, and the plot twists.
TA McKay has done it again with Worth the Fight! This book is a little different than her previous ones but it's an amazing read! If you like m/m romance, I highly recommend this book! 4.5 stars from me! I received a copy of this book for an honest review.
OMG! OMG! OMG! I LOVED this book! I'm a huge fan of the M/M genre and this book did not disappoint! It's such a roller coaster of emotions and I couldn't put it down! Zeke and Bryce are my new favorite men. With their hilarious back and forth banter that had me laughing out loud and the heart wrenching moments I felt their pain right along with them!
Have you ever read a book and when you've finished you've just looked around and wondered how it all wasn't real? It was just a book? Well this is one of those books! I can't wait for more stories from you T.A. McKay! 5* all the way!
WOW !! Zeke and Bryce !! This book was absolutely AMAZING !! It had me fighting my emotions so many times. I wanted to get in the book and punch Zeke myself on numerous occasions at the way he treated Bryce and those around him. My heart did break for Zeke though, at what his own father put him through to make him, in his fathers eyes "a man". Such a brilliantly written book that had me cheering for "Team Bryce" from the first bell, right up until the final round !! Absolutely amazing !!! Loved it !!!
I'll just come right out and say this first.. I absolutely loved Bryce and Zeke!! I was lucky enough to be given an ARC of this. Like i literally wanted to scream with joy when i got asked. I love reading a M/M book it always seems so much hotter with two men and this wasn't any different. Zeke and Bryce have so much chemistry and passion I'm pretty sure they steamed up my kindle! Thank you so much T.A. Mckay for letting me read this early!! I can't wait for more M/M from you!!!!
I loved the first half of this book but then it sort of went off the rails for me. My biggest beefs were the way Bryce's voice changed into a CWD feeling and, worse, the other relationships (!!!). I get how that was used as a plot element to move the story along but it jars me right out of a love story. And this is nitpicky, but the editing issues with missing words or the wrong words used were common enough to be notable.
*** I read and reviewed a personal copy for wicked reads review team***
I really enjoyed this book, i am not gonna lie a really didn't like Zeke for most of this book. i thought he was pretty arrogant and just generally not nice. Bryce on the other hand i loved from the very start. Thought they worked well together and they had pretty hot chemistry. It was a good story that kept me interested all the way through. Well done Ta McKay on your first M/M book.
First off let me say.... I'm very snobby when it comes to m/m romance novels. But this one was well written and I LOVED it! The characters are well developed and their back story's were great to read about. Each character has his own struggle to over come and fight to pull through. The sex scenes are hot and will leave you fanning yourself! This is a must read!!
I love the MMA fighter storyline. Lots of drama. Almost too much. There is cheating and a female. Some mm readers hate having a female anywhere near. Most romance readers hate cheaters. I'm for a good story so I don't mind either. There is a few obvious editing issues. It's got a HEA. The epilogue is about book 2. This one starts off very interesting. I'm off to read it.
Yes shit hit the fan after my last update but it was worth all the angst to get to the end!!!! I found I fell in love with a new character as well Trey and I can't wait to read about him in the next book!
I often think why do I love reading mm so much. I think it's because of the emotional aspect of it. Watching someone struggle with real life issues and finally facing them head on and learning to accept love. I think this book totally amplifies this point with Zeke a father who put him down and made him feel wrong and thank goodness for Bryce who refused to be left in the dark. Great story can't wait to read more.
Avrebbe potuto essere un bel 4+ ma in questo libro ci sono troppe cose che non sopporto nelle storie che amo leggere. Prima cosa odio gli indecisi, quelli che non sanno cosa vogliono o hanno paura ad affrontare le loro emozioni. Secondo odio quando i miei due eroi se la spassano con altri. Terzo odio i tradimenti, e qui ce ne sono diversi. Quindi il libro in fin della fiera mi ha delusa molto.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.