Winning Love by Abby Niles

Title:  Winning Love

Series:  Love to the Extreme Book #3

Author:  Abby Niles

Genre:  Romance

Blurb:  Mac “The Snake” Hannon has spent years throwing himself into cage fighting as a way to lash back at the natural disaster that destroyed his future. A call for help has Mac returning to the one place he swore never to return: Kansas—in the height of tornado season.  There he meets free-spirited Gayle Matthews. At first he wants nothing to do with the infuriatingly persistent woman, but the crazy challenges she tosses his way are impossible to resist. As she thaws years of bitterness, bringing back the Mac he believed long gone, he starts to make peace with the past and see the future again. Until he learns she chases his worst nightmare—then he can’t get away fast enough.

Meteorologist and storm chaser, Gayle Matthews is no stranger to being left behind and now believes in living in the moment. She wants to do just that with the handsome extreme fighter with the achingly sad eyes. As she works to replace the sorrow with desire, she finds herself breaking her one rule: have fun but don’t fall in love. When he suddenly pushes her away and she discovers the horrifying reason why, she issues one more challenge: face his fear and come on a chase with her.

Will squaring off with the past lead to a victory for heartache or love?

Thoughts:  T. K.O. – Total Knock Out!  This book was an amazing addition to the Love to the Extreme series!  I have been a fine of Abby’s ever since I read the first book in this series, Extreme Love, and quickly devoured every other book of hers.  I will say, however, that upon starting this one I was having a few doubts – I didn’t really care to much for either character (at least at the very first) – but I reminded myself that this was an Abby Niles book and I had to have faith that it would get better.  And did it ever!  These characters did a complete 180, and had me quickly spellbound into the lives and emotions of these characters.  Once you begin figuring out some of their past, it really begins to come together – and to pull at your heartstrings.

While they seem so completely different at first, they each have more in common than either of them realize.  They have both suffered through tragedy.  The question is will they let their fears run their whole lives, too afraid to take a chance on love?  Abby was a quirky character, but she was fun and exactly what Mac needed to bring him back to the land of the living.  Their interactions were so amusing and brought so much life to the story – it left me with this amazing urge to go sign up for a mud race!…LOL

The plus side is that this is easily read as a stand alone.  The down side?  This one doesn’t feature the MMA aspect very heavily in the storyline.  Out of the three titles in the series, this one falls right in the middle for me.

Rate:  A