A review by missdevo
Sucker Punch by Alta Hensley

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated

3.5

If you like it hot and basically non stop, Sucker Punch is a great place to start. It's a smorgasbord of sexy times with a little plot to tie it all together.
I enjoyed the read, and how gritty the story is. Set in a world of MMA/boxing gyms and underground cage fighting, Ari runs her family gym "Smiley's" with the help of her...Frankie. Enter Bones and Lotto, a fighter and his friend/manager trying to get back in the game and overcome past mistakes. This is more of a polyamorous love story (swords cross in multiple configurations) than a why choose/3 musketeers style (all for one and one for all). I actually liked seeing all their dynamics develop together and separately. There are some D/S elements to the relationships, and some situations that I would definitely recommend checking TW/CW before diving in if you have concerns in that area.
For me this book is really about how this crew must somehow form a family (I'm almost embarrassed I typed that, but not enough to take it out). Plot feels a distant second to spice in this case, but as it seems to be the launching pad for more to follow around this universe, I don't feel as robbed by that as I usually do. There's some grace for world building, and the challenge of giving backstory and development to 4 leads instead of the usual two.