review || PAXTON'S PROMISE { blog tour }

Paxton's Promise by L.P. Dover

Publisher: Books by L.P. Dover, LLC (12/29/2014)

Series: Gloves Off, book 3

Genre: Sport Romance

Source: InkSlinger

Buy It From || amazon | b&n | iTunes || goodreads

My Rating: ★★★★1/2

She hates him, yet she can’t get him out of her mind.

Female Bantamweight fighter, Gabriella Reynolds, has a bad habit of falling for forbidden fighters. Enter Paxton Emerson. He’s tall, tattooed, and the current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Everyone wants a piece of him, and he only has eyes for her. Through no choice of her own, she’s fallen in his debt and he’s now demanding payment. Too bad it doesn’t involve currency. Gabby’s decision to fulfill her promise to him ultimately brings out her true feelings, but also spurs the unwanted attention of another. 

Rage’s fixation on his newest obsession reaches dangerous levels. Unfortunately, Paxton Emerson has become a roadblock to his end goal and needs to be removed from the equation—by any means necessary.

Gabby will do anything to save Pax, but what happens when she’s the one who needs saving?

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USA Today Bestselling author, L.P. Dover, is a southern belle residing in North Carolina along with her husband and two beautiful girls. Before she even began her literary journey she worked in Periodontics enjoying the wonderment of dental surgeries.

Not only does she love to write, but she loves to play tennis, go on mountain hikes, white water rafting, and you can’t forget the passion for singing. Her two number one fans expect a concert each and every night before bedtime and those songs usually consist of Christmas carols.

Aside from being a wife and mother, L.P. Dover has written over nine novels including her Forever Fae series, the Second Chances series, and her standalone novel, Love, Lies, and Deception. Her favorite genre to read is romantic suspense and she also loves writing it. However, if she had to choose a setting to live in it would have to be with her faeries in the Land of the Fae.

 connect with L.P. Dover || FACEBOOK | GOODREADS | WEBSITE | TWITTER | PINTEREST

spotify username: authorlpdover for book playlists!

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check out blurbs & other fun stuff from the GLOVES OFF series over on the double cover reveal post!

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{ review } .

As stated in my RYLEY'S REVENGE blog tour post.... "one does not simply get the opportunity to do cover reveals for this series and not want to read the books. I mean... go look at the covers again and say you don't have any desire to read the books".

And while I didn't give it a 5...

I liked it better than RYLEY'S REVENGE. Don't get me wrong -- I loved Ryley and Ashleigh, and loved seeing them again in this book, but there's just something about Gabby and Paxton that just got to me. I knew right away in RR that I was going to love watching Gabby and Paxton give in to one another, and I was right.

Now, rewind just a tad.

When I reviewed RR, I didn't find it 100% necessary to have read the previous books. You could get the gist of their history from the book you were reading. That wasn't entirely the case with PAXTON'S PROMISE. There were parts of the whole Kyle/Kacey/Tyler & Gabby 'affair' thing that would have been nice to have some background on it. Don't get me wrong -- I was able to follow through with the story fine without them, I just feel that of RR and PP -- I would have benefited more from reading TYLER'S UNDOING... 

So. 

PAXTON'S PROMISE.

If you haven't read any of the books and met the characters already, both Paxton and Gabby are in the fighting industry. Both are on the up-and-up. Paxton, however, does have a brief history with illegal fighting, but he's clean now.

In RYLEY'S REVENGE, Paxton takes Gabby and Ashleigh to the illegal underground ring to, in a round about way, 'save' Ryley. However, by doing so, Gabby promises Paxton to do whatever for him. When all was said and done, Paxton gives her a few weeks to get back to basics before taking her up and making her 'pay her dues'.

Pax has had a major thing for Gabby for a long time. In payment for the fight club, he wants Gabby to move in with him for a month. 

"...I'm going to extend the month."

"Don't you think this is a bit extreme? Wouldn't a week suffice?"

His expression grew serious. "You obviously have no idea how far out I put my neck on the line for you. I think a month is being very generous."

...and as an outsider? Let me tell you... with how scary and dark and straight up dangerous that illegal fight ring is? I think a month is pretty generous too. Granted... moving in with a person as payment, but with the thought you won't touch them... 'eh, Pax, I think you're the one missing out. 

He says he doesn't expect anything, and eventually he even begins to ignore her -- he realizes that maybe Gabby doesn't have an ounce of feelings for him afterall.

In the midst of this, Gabby manages to change her 'sentence' to half the time; however, also during this time, she starts to experience a stalker.

Now.

I called the stalker right away. The words said person says, the way said person acts... it just was roll-your-eyes-worthy. 

Now. (...again).

I did think, about halfway through, that perhaps I was wrong. I wasn't, but LP definitely made me doubt myself.

Regardless of 'calling the stalker' and finding the notes corny yet still creepy, I enjoyed watching Pax and Gabby's relationship blossom. Pax is a guy of promises -- throughout the book, he's throwing out promises to Gabby.

...but, true to his word, he keeps every single one. Major props to you, Paxton. I also appreciated that he was always honest with Gabby, even from the get-go. When she asked if he made more money legally or illegally, he doesn't hesitate -- he tells her the truth and backs it up.

At some point, I need to go back and read the novellas and TYLER'S UNDOING, just to get a better understanding of the books. Hopefully I get to it before Cam's story but it may not happen. I am, though, without a doubt, excited to watch Cam fall and come full circle in CAMDEN'S REDEMPTION. He was a cold-hearted asshat of a bastard in RYLEY'S REVENGE, but you could already see in PAXTON'S PROMISE that he was starting to have a change of heart. He doesn't think that life will ever go back the way it was; he feels he has nothing, will never have anything, and will be alone.

I can't wait to see the female who mends him back together again...!