B+
Genre: Contemporary Romance, New Adult, Romance
Theme: Crush, Friends to Lovers, Trauma
Archetype: Athlete
This RITA® Reader Challenge 2016 review was written by Gloriamarie. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Mid-Length Contemporary category.
The summary:
She bears the scars of the past. He blames himself for things he can’t control. Their defenses are up, but in Cecy Robson’s latest Shattered Past novel—perfect for fans of Monica Murphy and J. Lynn—true love lands a knockout punch.
Sofia Tres Santos remembers a time before her life went sour, before her innocence was ripped away, before she began punishing herself with risky behaviors and unworthy men. Now, at twenty, she just hopes she’s ready to rebuild some of what she lost. One way or another, it always comes back to her childhood friend and longtime crush, Killian O’Brien.
As strong as Killian is, Sofia has always been his one weakness. He knows Sofia has suffered and wants to ensure she’s never hurt again—not like before, and definitely not under his watch. When Sofia agrees to work at his mixed martial arts gym, Killian seizes the opportunity to help and protect the sweet girl he’s always cared for. And yet, as he trains Sofia to defend herself using his hard-hitting MMA techniques, he’s drawn to the vulnerable beauty in ways he never expected.
As Sofia grows stronger, she also grows brave enough to open herself up to love. And along the way, she challenges everything Killian believes to be true, showing him that no matter how much he dominates in the ring, the real battle is fought in the heart.
Here is Gloriamarie's review:
Trigger warning: Various kinds of sexual abuse are referred to in this story.
When we were told that there were grey places the RITA spreadsheet I looked to see if there was anything I wanted to review. I went to Amazon to read the description of this book and somehow clicked on “Buy with 1 click” instead of the title. Sneaky Amazon. I was upset because the cost is above what I allow myself to spend on an unknown-to-me authors.
As it happens, this author is not completely unknown to me as I had read the first volume in the Shattered Past series. I didn’t realize this until after I finished Once Pure. Certain details made me wonder if I had read anything else in the series, but I did not bother to verify until after I finished reading Once Pure. Therefore, I consider Once Pure to be a stand-alone which I consider in its favor.
The three original books in the Shattered Past series are Once Perfect, Once Loved, and Once Pure. There is another novel, Once Kissed, which is about someone mentioned in Once Pure, but it is said to be an O’Brien Family novel but is clearly part of the same universe as the Shattered Past novels. Apparently I have read Once Perfect but I don’t remember much about it.
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have thought I would enjoy a novel about a Mixed Martial Arts athlete because (1) I’m so uninterested in any sports at all, (2) it’s New Adult, and (3) because had I given it any thought beforehand, I would have realized that I might have certain snobbish expectations of an MMA fighter being a sort of brutish, crass, and vulgar person. Ok, ok, I admit to being a snob. Although to be fair to myself, several of the guys at the gym are exactly what I expected. Including one of the hero’s brothers. But as it turns out, he has Reasons which cause him to overcompensate.
Killian might be a world-class MMA guy, but he is also affectionate, compassionate, gentle, sweet, tender, and understanding of Sofia. (Do you like how I strung all those adjectives in alphabetical order?) Which is good because Sofia has Issues.
Not sure I know how to discuss her issues without too many spoilers, so you are now forewarned. If you don’t want spoilers, please stop reading this and go read the book. If you don’t mind spoilers, please forge ahead. TRIGGER WARNING.
Our hero’s family moved in across the street from our heroine when Sofia was seven. Our hero was nine. She formed an instant crush on Killian and he good-naturedly tolerated the little kid who wanted to tag along.
The story begins with Sofia’s return to the old neighborhood in Philadelphia because she is going to develop a website for Killian’s MMA gym and also for his career as an MMA fighter. After her experiences in high school, Sofia studied computers as a way to be safe. Although she believes herself to have no idea how to talk with or be around men, she doesn’t have that problem with Kill.
She is deeply ashamed of her past. Her self-esteem is low. Kill’s brothers’ constant sexual innuendos confuse her. Killian noticed her discomfort with his innuendos and immediately ceased to make them. However, Sofia is hot for Killian and he for her and somehow, Sofia makes it through her inhibitions and there are sexy times.
In some ways, one could call this a Coming of Age story as the main plot line is Sofia’s attempts to come to grips with her past in order to move forward with Killian, which she very much wants to do.
Much of the dialogue between the two main characters is enormously funny. One example is right at the beginning. Killian is punching a bag of some description, shirtless of course, and he works up a sweat. His brother, Finn, calls to him to tell him Sofia had arrived. When he sees Sofia staring at him, he asks if she likes what she sees and, Sofia, because she has no idea how to talk to guys, blurts out that she was admiring his sweat which Killian found as unbelievable that such words would come out of her mouth. There are lots of very amusing and witty exchanges between them.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and would re-read it.
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This book sounds almost identical to Kelley R. Martin’s “Down and Out.”
I had a hard time when I read this with her reaction to the *spoiler*, but then I recalled the first two books. She has a VERY psychologically abusive father, who basically told her she was only worth one thing after *spoiler* and that she deserved it. So she did things because she was punishing herself, not because she enjoyed what she was doing.
I should mention that the father is out of the picture after the second book, but you see how terrible he is in the first two books.
I haven’t read this book, but that reaction to *spoiler* is not at all uncommon, especially in children who have grown up with that kind of thing.
Just in case you accidentally one-click again – you can return an accidental purchase by going to “Manage your content and devices” and clicking the “…” in the “Actions” column to see the options (one of which is “return a book”). I think you have like a week after purchase before that option goes away.
One-click is wayyyy too dangerous sometimes.
Responding to spoiler – skip if you avoided the spoiler.
I responded by “getting back on the horse” so to speak (I didn’t want rape to be my only sexual experience) and was very “active” until four years into marriage when I suddenly started sobbing in the middle of something with the spouse and had to go into therapy. I think everyone responds differently. I can understand withdrawing and I can also very much understand going totally the other way.
I’m a therapist and I work adjacent to the child welfare field. Sofia’s reaction is not uncommon at all, actually. I see it all the time. You also don’t need to be abused as a child to have this kind of reaction. People respond differently to things, and one way is not necessarily “more normal” than another way.
I’m having a lot of issues with this book (75% in)…will write more when I review!