Aya M. Productions

Note: I received a free e-copy of this title for my honest feedback. I was not paid to write this review.

Knock Out by Michele Mannon is a story about a former ballerina, Logan, and former marine fight instructor, Keane. Logan meets Keane at an MMA fight as an Octagon Ring Girl and ends up relying on him in order to keep her job.

I enjoyed the characters and the overall plot. I felt sympathetic for Logan, who was scammed by her ex-fiance and ended up losing her career over it. Plus her ex-fiance and the media just couldn’t seem to leave her alone. She’s a strong woman, although it may seem that she’s not that intelligent or simply too trusting for falling for her dreaded ex. As she goes over her situation and how she got there, it seems that there were many signs that her ex-fiance did not have her interests in mind at all. It was great to see her grow and come to terms with her new situation in life.

Similarly, Keane has his own demons to fight especially regarding his best friend’s death. Readers are treated to seeing him fall for Logan against his judgement. However, he continues to push her away, refusing to fight his demons, choosing to be alone. It was fun to watch his push and pull with Logan, but I think audiences are a bit left out. The story never delves into his eventual coming to terms with his situation. Instead the ending is neatly tied up with Logan and Keane having their happy ending. I expected a bit more conflict, but the ending still worked.

There were mainly two things that didn’t quite satisfy me. Firstly, I didn’t get the satisfaction of Logan or Keane putting her ex-fiance in his place, so to speak. I guess they did the more adult thing, but I so wanted to see him humiliated or at least actually paying Logan back. Secondly, the way the POV was set up totally confused me. I was thrown off at times by who’s POV it was. The POV would switch, and I’d have to adjust before moving on. It was a bit frustrating.

Overall, I’d give Knock Out by Michele Mannon 3.5 stars. The story was fun and the characters had great chemistry. However, the ending for me wasn’t fully satisfying, and the way the POV is set up could be fixed a bit, I think.