NetGalley Review: The Knockout Rule by Kelly Siskind

 The Knockout Rule by Kelly Siskind

Publisher: CD Books

Release Date: February 24th 2021

Rating:   ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book.  If you apply a generous amount of “romance genre suspension of disbelief,”  this is a cute, fun and sexy read.  It was a slight twist on “enemies to lovers” with a little dose of Cyrano action.  

Eric was a likable romantic interest who served well in the swoon-worthy alpha-male role while having some actual personal dimension.  That he enters the narrative purposely leading a double life makes his story read true.  He might actually follow his plot development because it is his true nature, not just because he has to further the HEA.  Additionally the story was well written and the artful weaving in of the poetry really accelerates the reader “getting” the characters and plot development.  

On a surface level, I personally found the protagonist to be somewhat one dimensional.  I get what the author was trying to do by making her prickly as a defense mechanism.  However,  as written, it just reads as her being simultaneously unwilling to compromise for anyone and also a doormat for whatever the men around her want.  This may be a truthful representation of what her particular mental illness is like, but after all the backstory and character development in that vein, like three therapy sessions and tah dah!  Isla is ready to fall in love and draw boundaries.  It was a good start at writing a character with trauma related anxiety, but the perfect fit HEA just didn't fit (even by genre standards). 

Overall, this was a classic contemporary romance that will be an enjoyable read by fans of the genre.

Purchase at: Barnes & Noble