Novel Review: Simon Says (SBC Fighters, #2) by Lori Foster

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance (with steamy sex)

Rating (Out of 5): ~3-3.5

Publisher: Penguin (Berkley)

Spoilers?: No/Very vague or minor

Buy it here: Amazon.

Goodreads Synopsis:

With his perfectly chiseled, lava-hot body, Simon Evans, an ex-fighter, also has a perfect life—great job, great girl, and more than enough dough. All that changes, though, when he catches his girlfriend cheating. To shake things up, Simon goes full force back into the ring, ready to take his rage out on his opponents.

To make matters worse, the father who walked out on Simon and his mom eons ago wants to be back in the picture. He's hired his stepdaughter, Dakota, to find Simon. Hot on Simon's heels, the gutsy Dakota puts love on the back burner. But when attempts are made on her life, Simon steps in to protect her, putting both of their hearts on the line.

Review:

I’ve been kind of in-between books lately, not sure what to start, wanting to read a lot but not really getting into anything, and for some reason ended up picking up some Lori Foster books. I’ve had four of her books on my TBR shelf at home for a while, and in the last week-ish went through two and started a third in rapid succession. I’ve read a couple of her books before and liked them (mostly) , the first in this series (Causing Havoc)[which I have not reviewed…yet] being one of my first smutty romances. This was the second one I read over the week, the first one’s review is here, and was not as good as that one, but still generally a good read.

The SBC Fighters series focuses on the love stories of a group of martial artists/boxers? Or something like that? I thought they were boxers, but I guess they’re a little bit different from that? Either way, they’re fighters. They’re big, tough, protective men, some crude and some sweet, or a mix of both. Each book focuses on a different fighter and his love story, sometimes with a little subplot for another character’s story.

This book focused on Simon “Sublime” Evans, who is sweet and tough and protective. His girl is Dakota Dream, who is trying to get him to meet his biological father, only because the guy is holding something against her, but Simon wants nothing to do with him.

I thought that the fact she was trying to get him to meet his bio father would take a while to get out, but it didn’t, and I was glad for it. There was a much deeper plot going on with Dakota’s ex-husband, and her mother, and Simon’s bio father, and it was rather interesting. There was a moment near the end where Dakota got her revenge, which was needed, even if it seemed a bit showy and too well planned.

I liked Simon enough, but he wasn’t my favorite. I liked Dakota real well, too, probably more than Simon. We got to see the other fighters a lot, which I didn’t remember much of them from the first book, since it has been a quite a while since I read the first book, but I did like seeing them and reading their interactions. I liked Dean “Havoc” from the first book, even if I didn’t really remember him much. I liked all of the guys, really, and am looking forward to reading more about them in future books.

Foster, as I’m sure you know if you’ve read any of her books, is really good at writing romance and sexy scenes. They sometimes get a bit of a ritual to them, but usually have enough of a difference to where that’s okay. And the characters, at least for the most part, are very different from each other, with their own quirks and personality and reasons, that it’s always fun to read her books. And the sex, which there is always some of, is always good. The general attraction between the characters, even if their chemistry starts off at first sight, is very good. Foster knows how to write a good romance, and I’d forgotten that; I was very happy to be reminded of it.

This was not my favorite book in the series, but I still really liked it, and am really looking forward to reading more.