“Change is an understatement. Tame is more like it. To you, I’m a wild bull that needs taming. That’s what you’ve been doing all along.”
 
Blurb:
Work Out
No sex for almost a year could kill a guy, but when you’re the boxer known as the Juggernaut, it’s the price you pay for turning pro. Tommy’s fully dedicated to his craft, until he meets the incredibly gorgeous Dr. Siena Carr. Now he’s looking forward to taking on this prim and proper lady in a wet and wild work-out…

Knock Out
Siena has seen many patients come through the ER, but none as sexy as Tommy Raines. With a nasty cut over his eye, she knows he needs stitches, but after he takes off his shirt, she needs some air. With rock-hard abs and taut biceps, it’s clear this man takes care of his body. And all Siena can think about is letting him take care of hers…

From the beginning, the sexual tension between the two characters is clear. The only thing we are more sure of than them being attracted to one another is that they are complete opposites.  Can the macho guy and the sweet girl from two completely different backgrounds make it work?

Honestly, I kept waiting for what I like to call, a turning point. The point where the characters finally realize or do the right thing about their problem. I feel as if the Book only gave me that when it was nearing the end. It was apparent that their problems rooted from their differences and their inability to understand each other. I know this is no easy feat, but clearly, the solution wouldn’t be to break up with one another or have sex, even if the sex is mind blowing. It took them almost 2/3 of the book before at least one of them realized that sex wasn’t fixing anything.

“I guess he thought sex would take care of that.”
“We have to talk about this. We have to find a way to make things work.”

They were either thinking about how the other person was too good for the other, or they were thinking of how they could change the other person, may this be intentional or not. You won’t always agree with the person you love. If you’re lucky you’ll have things in common with them. If you end up like the characters of this book, it will be hard, because you will constantly try to adapt to each other’s lives.

“‘I feel so lucky.’ That came as a surprise. It was he who had hit the dating lottery jackpot.”
“I don’t want you to censor yourself. If you stop listening to Nina Simone, or this dude, Verdi, you wouldn’t be Siena Carr. If you stop telling me when to wear a two-button suit as opposed to a three-button suit… then you’re not the same girl I love.”

When they finally started talking about things they finally realized what they needed to do to stay together. Only when they stopped thinking of themselves did they learn to understand each other.This just emphasizes how important communication in a relationship is. It may be hard to talk about some things, but it’s what you need to overcome challenges.

“So, just as he’d felt compelled to drink tea, she’d also felt obligated to drink his favorite beer. That hadn’t occurred to him before.”
“They were starting again the futile cycle of doing things only to please each other.”
“At best, we’re very different from each other. We have to agree that we won’t let that stop us from being together.”

They accepted each other. They learned to support one another. This is beautiful. Love is growing together. It’s difficult, but it’s choosing to continue.

“It was mutual taming. They were transforming each other. What was love but a continuous tide of change? What mattered was that it made them closer and stronger.”

I like how the growth of the characters in the book is very slow, and how at the end of the book we are left speculating if they will continue to grow so that their relationship can work. Life is like this, it takes a lot of time before you grow, sometimes you relapse, but what’s important is you keep moving forward.

I would like to thank the author of this book for the complimentary copy.