What happens when a former champion’s greatest match isn’t against an opponent, but against himself?
Wade “Viper” Donovan is facing the hardest match of his career, and it isn’t in the ring. He’s facing an unwanted retirement, haunted by self-doubt from a heartbreaking setback. He’s all but decided to hang up his boots.
Monty “Romeo” Hill has admired Wade from afar for years, and he’s over the moon when they’re chosen to work together. As their chemistry blooms in and out of the ring, so do Monty’s feelings.
Monty offers Wade a glimpse of the love he’s been denying himself, and it seems like their relationship could be something special. But when a devastating crisis threatens everything they’ve built, Wade will have to choose between taking a chance on love, or letting it slip through the ropes.
Headlocks and Heartbreak is a book with professional wrestlers navigating love, a baby opossum playing matchmaker, and scripted violence between friends. It contains explicit themes, hurt/comfort, a bit of angst, a bit of humor, and a guaranteed HEA.
I GOT THE BOOK ON KU.
Review:
Dear Val Simmons,
One of my Goodreads book buddies liked the positive review for this book. I decided to take a chance on it. I have to admit that I did not read the blurb carefully, because while I used to like watching wrestling growing up, I did not realized that the book features American wrestlers and the American version of wrestling confused me a lot. I watched it on TV two or three times. I truly thought that I will be watching a competitive sport. I was disappointed because what I saw did not look as a competitive sport to me, so I asked people who grew up here in the US and they explained to me that this is a show which is all scripted and choreographed and I promptly lost interest.
I mean I could see that people who make a living as American style wrestlers are all very fit, but I decided to think of it more like them doing dance moves for the audience. I get that this is all hugely popular but as I said I was not interested in ever watching it again even if I saw that the jumps and other moves could be very dangerous.
I apologize for inserting too much of *myself* in this review so to speak, but I feel that it was needed to explain that I was not exactly thrilled about the setting of the book before I started. I am mostly very happy about giving this book a chance though. No, I did not fall in love with American wrestling, but the story was engaging and fun and the wrestlers are all trying to make a living in some activity that they love and even though the outcomes are predetermined, they are still entertaining the public with some fun and dangerous “dancing”.
As the blurb tells you, Wade is a wrestler who is wondering whether his next season in the Titan ring will be his last one. Owner Mike is very fond of Wade and gives him work even though last couple of years Wade was not in the best professional form in big part due to him experiencing some personal heartbreaks. Several young wrestlers start working in the Titan and one of the newcomers, Monty, just happened to have a crash on Wade since he was a teenager (Monty is 24 when the story begins. Wade is 32). Wade and Monty are paired together for the matches and their partnership brings them closer and closer.
Of course eventually they are in the territory of a developing romance. I liked them both, I thought the story was very engaging and well written. I thought their hang ups were very well done, especially Wade’s. You know how sometimes in a romance story you keep waiting for the mandatory break up? Well in this book I thought that it would have been weird if some clash between them would NOT have happened and I very rarely experience that feeling. Wade’s past baggage sort of forced that (and a little bit of Monty not thinking clearly, but mostly Wade’s). Again, more often than not when the character starts thinking something along the lines oh “he is too good for me, he is going to leave me anyway so I am going to leave him first” it makes me want to slap the character and tell him to snap out of it, but here Wade’s anxiety made perfect sense, because he already experienced something along those lines in the past, so of course “once burned and all of that”.
I have read a couple of reviews which state that Monty was written too young. Not sure if I agree. I think he was written as a little bit of a naïve young man, far away from his home for the first time, but I would not hesitate to place him in the early twenties group at least.
Juliette the opossum was very adorable.
Grade: B/B+
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Sirius
Sirius started reading books when she was four and reading and discussing books is still her favorite hobby. One of her very favorite gay romances is Tamara Allen’s Whistling in the Dark. In fact, she loves every book written by Tamara Allen. Amongst her other favorite romance writers are Ginn Hale, Nicole Kimberling, Josephine Myles, Taylor V. Donovan and many others. Sirius’ other favorite genres are scifi, mystery and Russian classics. Sirius also loves travelling, watching movies and long slow walks.
