In the fifth book in the 5th Street series, boxing heavyweight champion Felix Sanchez hits rock bottom when he loses his title due to drugs, alcohol, women, and his massive ego. After court-ordered probation, he returns home to the 5th Street Gym in LA where he got his start. He co-owns the gym with his four friends. Though he knows he needs to get his life straightened out, Felix doesn’t really care to until he meets the women’s self-defense instructor.
Ella Castellano started up the self-defense program after disaster struck her brother and his girlfriend. Though she’s secretly thrilled with Felix’s attention, she’s careful and doesn’t trust a man with his reputation.
Both the H/h are strong, well-developed, emotionally-damaged characters. They’ve experienced the loss of loved ones and bonded over their shared grief.
I really liked this book, but their ages surprised me. Ella is only 21 years old. Felix’s age is never mentioned, but you’re led to believe he’s about four or five years older than her. Even at age 26, I found it hard to believe he was that high up the boxing ladder, but then again, I don’t know anything about boxing. I wish the sport would’ve played a stronger role in the story, but Ms. Reyes focused more on the characters and their romance, with Felix’s boxing career in the background.
Even though the book is a standalone, I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if I’d read the previous books in this series. Felix’s friends—Noah, Gio, Hector, and Abel—were all there with their wives and children, but I couldn’t really connect with them. There were a lot of side characters, including friends and family members, and I couldn’t keep track of which woman was married to which man.
Ella’s ex, Grayson, grated on my nerves. I understand why she wanted to stay friends with him—he really did care about her—but he was manipulative and controlling. He treated her and Felix horribly, always trying to break them up, but she continued to forgive him because he was “worried” for her. I lost all respect for her when she refused to cut ties with Grayson after a certain embarrassing incident that plastered her face all over the media.
The story could use an edit to fix some punctuation errors/typos and repetition, but I still enjoyed it. For anyone who wants to read a NA sports romance that’s not too heavy on sports, this is a good book to try.
4 Stars
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Felix was a bad boy, a fighter, and a downright ass. He was a champion and had it all. That is until he lost his belt and things began to spiral out of control. Booze, women, and bad mouths were about to cause him to lose it all. So he went back to his roots. 5th street gym where he meets Ella. Sassy little miss Ella who looks like a doll and has a heart of gold. Ella has seen a lot of heartache in her life, but she's strong and that is what attracts Felix to her. Through jealousy, rage and pain, the love between the two has no bounds and the short road may not always be the right road. ( )