Title: Beat
Series: The Beat and the Pulse #1
Author: Amity Cross
Author: Amity Cross
Release Date: October 6, 2014
Renee "Ren" Miller was five when her Dad left to go to the shops and never came back.
Left to grow up with a cancer riddled mother, things have never been easy for a teenager who had to be wise beyond her years. Then one day they lose the battle and she’s all alone.
Now twenty-two, Ren reluctantly goes to find her estranged father. He owns the down and out boxing studio, Beat, and Ren finds herself drawn to the ring. She thrives on learning a new way of fighting a life that kept kicking her down…instead of struggling against the current, she kicks it right between the legs.
Then one day, Ash Fuller, her Dad's star fighter comes back to town. Mysterious, handsome… Dangerous… Everything Ren doesn't need.
But he's got other ideas…
…and so does she.
Left to grow up with a cancer riddled mother, things have never been easy for a teenager who had to be wise beyond her years. Then one day they lose the battle and she’s all alone.
Now twenty-two, Ren reluctantly goes to find her estranged father. He owns the down and out boxing studio, Beat, and Ren finds herself drawn to the ring. She thrives on learning a new way of fighting a life that kept kicking her down…instead of struggling against the current, she kicks it right between the legs.
Then one day, Ash Fuller, her Dad's star fighter comes back to town. Mysterious, handsome… Dangerous… Everything Ren doesn't need.
But he's got other ideas…
…and so does she.
My fist slammed into the heavy leather bag, the impact jolting up my arm and absorbing into my torso.
The only light was from the back row of fluorescents I’d switched on over the ring. It was dark, murky and helped me pretend I was someplace else. The drama from the daylight hours was gone and it was just me and the darkness.
Exactly the way I liked it.
I began another set of punches, hair sticking to the sweat beading across the back of my neck. Structure. This was the only thing that was predictable in my life and I needed predictable.
Stance. Guard. Punch. Guard. Repeat.
There was a loud cough behind me and I spun on my heel, heart thumping in my chest, and my gaze collided with Ash’s.
“Fuck,” I exclaimed, holding a hand over my heart. “Don’t fucking do that, Ash.”
Typical. The creeper was being all creeper again.
“What are you doing?” He stared at me, his gaze hovering a little too long on my bare midriff.
I steadied the bag with one hand, taking deep breaths. “What does it look like?”
“I’ve never seen…” He trailed off and I wondered if I’d finally made the Golden Boy lost for words.
I turned my back so I didn’t have to look at him. “What? A woman in a sports bra? Highly doubt it.” I rolled my eyes and wiped my forehead with the back of my arm. Even though I couldn’t see, I felt his gaze burning into my skin and I suppressed the urge to squeeze my thighs together. Infuriating, self-absorbed, arrogant…
The only light was from the back row of fluorescents I’d switched on over the ring. It was dark, murky and helped me pretend I was someplace else. The drama from the daylight hours was gone and it was just me and the darkness.
Exactly the way I liked it.
I began another set of punches, hair sticking to the sweat beading across the back of my neck. Structure. This was the only thing that was predictable in my life and I needed predictable.
Stance. Guard. Punch. Guard. Repeat.
There was a loud cough behind me and I spun on my heel, heart thumping in my chest, and my gaze collided with Ash’s.
“Fuck,” I exclaimed, holding a hand over my heart. “Don’t fucking do that, Ash.”
Typical. The creeper was being all creeper again.
“What are you doing?” He stared at me, his gaze hovering a little too long on my bare midriff.
I steadied the bag with one hand, taking deep breaths. “What does it look like?”
“I’ve never seen…” He trailed off and I wondered if I’d finally made the Golden Boy lost for words.
I turned my back so I didn’t have to look at him. “What? A woman in a sports bra? Highly doubt it.” I rolled my eyes and wiped my forehead with the back of my arm. Even though I couldn’t see, I felt his gaze burning into my skin and I suppressed the urge to squeeze my thighs together. Infuriating, self-absorbed, arrogant…
Hot alpha male. Check. Strong female lead. Check. Characters
broken and in need of mending. Check. MMA fighters. Check.
I have to say, I really quite enjoyed this. Read it in one
sitting. Get out the tissues, sleeves or hands because you're going to need
them, particularly for the beginning of this one. Or maybe not. I tend to cry
at anything. But also be dazzled at a kick ass female lead who maybe hard on
the outside, but is definitely soft and broken on the inside.
Set in Melbourne, Australia (yay! An Aussie book!), Beat is
the story of Renee "Ren" Miller and Ashley "Ash" Fuller. I
truly felt for Ren - queue tissues, who had to grow up fast, to love and support
the only and most important person in her world, her mother.
My
dad left us when I was five years old. Like a cliché he went to the shops and
never came back. When I was six, the divorce papers turned up in the mail. Mum
just signed them and that was it. Apart from one photo I had of us three
together, the man may as well have never existed.
He
left a five year old kid to look after his terminally ill wife all on her own.
What a fucking asshole.
After years of fighting, her mother finally loses the battle
and Ren's mothers final words was instructing Renee to look for her father.
What's a girl to do who has no money, no place to live and not a soul in the
world you cares for you? So, she does, finding her deadbeat dad owns a boxing
studio in inner city Melbourne.
As
soon as he was gone, I let a few tears escape before wiping my eyes on the back
of my sleeve. Before I came, I'd made a promise to myself. I'd never cry over
the man who'd abandoned me and I sure as hell would never let him see.
My heart bleed for Ren. She just kept being dealt with blow
after blow and she kept picking herself up. Drawn to the ring, she starts
learning to fight and I loved that Ms Cross used this as an outlet for Ren - a
way for her to deal with the constant beating that life was giving her, an
outlet to let all that frustration and pain that Ren carried with her, and here
in her father's boxing studio is where she meet the sexy, brooding, alpha
ex-MMA fighter Ash.
No
shirt, just a pair of shorts. Every time he took a swing, the muscles in his
back rippled and I could instantly picture how firm his ass was.
I will warn you, in case it's not your thing, but there are
some dark themes that run through beat. It's not really a heart and flowers
type of book. Gritty, hard and dirty is more how I would describe it.
Now, one thing I didn't realise is that this is not a
standalone. Now, don't get me wrong, I like a good series, but ARGH, I usually
will hold out until the last book is released because I'm one of those
impatient people who can't stand the wait in-between books, so I'm a little
annoyed about that one. Thankfully, it's not a doosey of a cliff hanger and I
will just have to put on my big girl panties, take a teaspoon of concrete and
harden the f*^k up and just wait it out. Hopefully the wait isn't long ;)
Overall, a great read. Great writing style. Hot, strong and page turning. This
is my first book I've read from this author and I'll be waiting for Pulse to
see how she completes Ren and Ash's story.
**I
received a copy of the book for an honest review**
COMING SOON #2 Pulse
Amity Cross isn’t my real name. That’s no secret.
I didn’t want my Mum and my workplace to find out I wrote about doodles and tongue-in-cheek sexual innuendo.
I live in a leafy suburb of Melbourne writing about screwed up relationships and kick ass female leads that don’t take s**t lying down.
Insert more pretentious c**p here.
I didn’t want my Mum and my workplace to find out I wrote about doodles and tongue-in-cheek sexual innuendo.
I live in a leafy suburb of Melbourne writing about screwed up relationships and kick ass female leads that don’t take s**t lying down.
Insert more pretentious c**p here.
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