Hooks In (No Holds Barred Book 1)

This was a great enemies/rivals to lovers story. My first time reading this author and I am looking forward to book 2 of this duet. The story focuses on a pair of rival MMA fighters who find themselves on the same team when both fighters pick up and move from their respective small towns to the big city. It’s a huge opportunity for both of them so they must learn to work with one another for the sake of their careers. Ty and Luca feel like complete opposites from one another with Ty being quiet, hyper-focused and rarely expressing emotion. This contrasts greatly to Luca who is outgoing, friendly, and seemingly carefree. Ty believes that everything comes easily for Luca and that he doesn’t seem to take much seriously where Ty feels the need to keep everything under tight control in order to keep his life on the path he has set for himself. Even their fighting styles contrast and Max, the team owner, hopes that by putting these two together they can learn from one another and improve on their respective weaknesses. It feels like everything with these two is so intense from their fight scenes to their sharp and heated back and forth dialogue and eventually their steamy scenes. This attraction has been brewing under the surface until both characters realize there’s a reason that the other gets under the skin so quickly. I cannot wait to see what happens in book 2 for this couple. There are issues that I’m guessing both characters need to deal with along with the fate of their…

This was a new to me author and I really enjoyed this book. The spice was spicyyyy and the tension was off the charts. Ty is extremely introverted and doesn’t socialize in any way, MMA is his life. He has one goal in mind and that’s UFC. He won’t let anything stop him, especially the one person who he’s always neck and neck with Luca. The hatred between Ty and Luca is strong, they demolish each other in every fight and when out of the cage nothing changes. Until they both end up in a gym together and have to figure out how they can work together. The tension in this book was off the charts. The hatred ran deep for these two, and once they start turning that hatred sexual it’s explosive. Ty is extremely broken. He lived a tough life before he found MMA and he allowed his goals to consume him to keep himself on track. MMA is all he had left, no friends or family just the ring. Then Luca bull doses into Ty’s life and shows him what he’s been missing. Luca is a ray of sunshine. He looks at the bright side of things, always has a smile on his face and has a joke to crack. He knows how to annoy Ty and takes the opportunity at every turn. He used the tension between him and Ty to his advantage and reaped the benefits. They fought hard for their relationship. Luca had to figure out how to get under Ty’s seemingly impenetrable walls. Ty had to learn to navigate dealing with people and feelings and how to actually let people in. Luca and their other gym mates slowly broke him…

Luca is the black sheep of his family. When everyone else is a doctor, he chooses joy. A P.E. teacher by day, a UFC hopeful by night, Luca has been training for years to chase his dream becoming a fighter. One man stands in his way, Tyler Roscoe. His biggest rival. The final obstacle between being stuck at the bottom or earning a spot at one of the best facilities in the country. Ty has been fighting just to survive. Never knew his dad. His mom disappeared. He was raised by his older brother who managed to keep him out of the foster system, but couldn’t keep himself out of jail. Working as a mechanic to get by, while he trains to be a fighter by night, clawing his way toward a better future. One more fight, that’s all he needs. Win, and he secures a spot on Max Fairburn’s team. The only problem? That final fight is against the smuggest, most aggravating man he’s ever met, Luca Mitchell. When a change of plans forces them to train together, their rivalry is tested—and so is everything they thought they knew about each other. Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Eve, I’ve had this book sitting on my shelf for over a year, and now I’m mad at myself for waiting. This story delivers. Luca and Ty are the ultimate grumpy/sunshine pairing. Ty is brooding, guarded, with a wall so high no one should get in but somehow, people still do. Luca wears his heart on his sleeve, stress bakes at the drop of a hat, and has an unapologetic love for animated movies and unicorns. When the…

I’ll admit it was feeling like a pretty average story in the beginning and I do wish the enemies arc lasted a bit longer since it was over fairly quickly, but it definitely grew on me, ESPECIALLY Luca. Luca is a major golden retriever and very much Ty’s opposite, but they end up complimenting each other so well. I just adored the continuous fun facts about tigers and all the mentions of the moon and stars. They ended being so cute together. I’m also very glad there wasn’t much angst related to their sexuality, it was nice to just see it be like “oh okay so that’s happening, moving on for our regularly scheduled programming” and everyone else supporting them. I’ve also never read an MMA romance before! You can tell this author knows their stuff, and I ALWAYS love a sports romance where we actually get the meat and potatoes of the sport as part of the story. Definitely an enjoyable first book in the duet.

This book is so close to four star territory. It’s really good and I enjoyed it so much despite how intense it gets about MMA. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate an author who can write about a sport authentically and with so much detail you think you’re there watching it, but I probably would have gotten a bit more out of this book if I was a fan of MMA. Despite that, the book and the sport is still really fun to read. Ty and Luca are the ultimate Grumpy / Sunshine. Like they might actually take top spot of all the books I’ve read. Ty can be intense and kinda sad but he’s such a love bug wannabe and I can’t wait to see him come out of his shell more in the next book. Luca provides some much needed humor and lightheartedness to a kind of heavy book, but also has his own family drama that he’s working through. The two of them together make for an interesting pair but somehow it works. I can see them both helping each other though in this book it definitely leans more towards Luca helping Ty. I’m hoping the next book has more romantic moments between the two and I hope they both start to work more through their traumas. Tropes: Grumpy / Sunshine, Hurt / Comfort, Opposites Attract, Bi-Awakening, Found Family, MMA, Enemies to Lovers Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ 4/5 Relationship: MM