Review of Fighting to Forgive by J.B. Salsbury

Synopsis: What do you do when everything you avoid, turns out to be exactly what you need?
Easy and predictable, just the way he likes it, Blake Daniels flies through life the way he burns through women: on his terms, no regrets.

With his fighting career in full swing, he's on the threshold of title contention. But when his training is compromised by injury, the stakes grow impossibly higher. The rage that fuels his punches also chips away at his focus, and he risks losing everything he cares about.

He won’t let that happen. Not again.

Layla’s through with men. After a marriage that never should’ve happened, she hopes to reclaim the pieces of the woman she lost years ago.

Emotional abuse has left her insecure and terrified. A master at faking what she’s not feeling, she masks her self-doubt in false confidence.

She’ll never let another man hurt her. Not again.

Chased by shadows of the past, Blake and Layla know what they don’t want, but their hearts have a different plan. As a web of lies and betrayal threatens to destroy them, they’re forced to make a choice.

Is love enough to heal even the deepest wounds?

Or will they be left Fighting to Forgive?

4.75 Stars!

Review: I loved Blake and Layla's story...or should I say Mouse and Snake - how appropriate was that? I have to start by saying that I had no clue for about 60% of the book what Blake's secret could be, based on the prologue for this book. His story starts everything off very well, though, because you see a young boy that is torn away from his family and forced, in many ways, to become the man that he is today - a fighter, very much detached from his emotions and only about the physical aspects of life. This, of course, includes women and relationships - or the lack, thereof. 

Layla, on the other hand, has just arrived in Vegas, which is where Blake, as an MMA fighter, resides. She and her daughter, Axelle Rose, or Elle, are running from a pretty tough past of their own. Blake is captivated by Layla from the very beginning, however. He even breaks one of his own rules - no moms - to be with her. The two of them have a difficult time trusting one another, and Layla's past just does not make it easy for her to get close to someone, physically, and that is about the only way that Blake knows how to get close to someone. So, needless to say, they have their work cut out for them. Meanwhile, Layla's past isn't staying in the past, and it plays a big role in Blake's life and his fighting, as well. He begins to fear that he will become someone that he does not like if he is not able to hold onto his new feelings for Layla. 

I have to say that I appreciated this book and the topics that it touched on. It is so difficult to see women at a point when they have suffered so much abuse, as Layla has, and not even be able to put words to it or call it what it is - rape. It was also difficult to watch Layla not only come to terms with what was done to her, but to also help her daughter learn how to express what she witnessed for many years. I loved that they began going to therapy to work through these things. It showed that their relationship was just as important to the story as Layla's and Blake's. Also, Blake's birthday gift to Axelle at the end was completely heart melting! That's all I'm going to say. Loved this and can't wait for the next one!

Jessica