Review: Love Tap by M.N. Forgy

Note: This ARC was provided by TRSoR Promotions in exchange for an honest review.

Love Tap is the latest release from author M.N. Forgy and her first one not set in the world of motorcycle clubs. This second chance love story is about Tatum Davis and Camden Steel, who met after the Steels moved into the house beside that of the Davises as seven-year-olds with Tate cementing that first meeting with a punch into Camden's face. As the years passed, they became the best of friends and then fell in love, to no one's surprise, especially since it could be debated that they had already begun falling from the moment they had met as children. The future was supposed to have the two of them creating a home and life together, but tragedy has Tate losing a part of herself and at the insistence of her father, she agrees to leave Chicago for New York to go to college, a decision to ultimately ends things with Camden, cutting of all ties and breaking both their hearts in the process. Four years later, Tate returns home. She knows it's time to embrace the fighter that she's always been. But will Camden welcome her back with open arms or will he turn his back on her and force her to face the very same rejection that she threw his way four years prior. They say all is fair in love and war...but sometimes, to win the ultimate prize, you need to fight dirty.

This was different from the other M.N. Forgy books I've read and I mean that in a good way because this is an opportunity to see how the author does outside of the MC world. Well, after finishing with the book, I would say that she did rather nicely, coming up with the story of a twenty-one-year-old Tate leaving college to pursue her dream of becoming a professional mixed martial arts fighter and her ex-boyfriend, ex-best friend, first love, and first everything in between, Camden, who was an MMA fighter on the rise before his career fell to the wayside due to antics outside the ring. This may sound weird and kinda perverse, but one of the things I liked best about the story was the fact that Camden made it abundantly clear how much he did not like having Tate back in their hometown of Chicago and that her presence alone made him angry. But as hard as he tried to hold to the supposed hatred he had for her, in stories like this, you always look forward to that love that once was and possibly still remains to win out in the end. The fact that Tate is so desperate to enter the ring while Camden has done everything he can to stay out of it makes for an interesting dilemma of sorts, added onto by Tate's family issues and Camden's dark demons.

I felt that there was a good balance between the romance aspect and the MMA training and actual fighting that both Camden and Tate have to go through. I've read many books where stories are set in a specific arena or against a particular backdrop, but you only get a smidgen of it, so the stories lose their authenticity. Here, M.N. Forgy did a good job providing details to make me believe enough that this was as much about the rekindling of a first love and making it a forever one as it was about MMA. Camden was a far more complex main character compared to Tate and unearthing the one secret that he kept buried deep within his soul explained why he was as hesitant as he was about going back to cage fighting. Then there were a few supporting characters who were memorable enough for me to wonder if they could be in spin-offs and/or if this was the beginning of a still unnamed series. I certainly wouldn't mind reading more about Tate's sister Journey or Camden's assistant Kaley or even Chase, who clearly has his own issues. All in all, I enjoyed the book and except for the last ten percent of it that felt a tad rushed, this was  a second chance romance with an MMA slant that worked out pretty well. I'm giving Love Tap four out of five stars. ♥

Date Read: 07 July 2016

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