What it’s about:
Interpol cop, Anna Leyton, spirals down into a hopeless vortex of sexual and emotional passion
as she fights to keep her professional cool. Who is deceiving who in this fast moving ride across continents?
What motivates her art loving prize-bull of a lover Freddie La Salle? The power of love and trust stands against greed and crime as conflicting forces grapple for that knockout punch.
Review:
This was my May read for Love a Happy Ending Magazine and as I’ve previously read Emma’s new novel ‘Shannon’s Law’ and loved the crap out of it, I was eager to start Knockout! When Anna Leyton, Interpol cop meets Freddie La Salle, world champion boxer, it’s love at first sight but they are both hiding huge secrets from one another. With the fight of his life coming up, Freddie is the suspect in a case that Anna is investigating but the problem is, he doesn’t know she’s a police officer. When a chance meeting turns into a passionate love affair, can Anna keep a clear head to get to the bottom of this case without her love for Freddie over-shadowing her integrity?
As with all of Emma’s books, I read this one very quickly. I love that the themes in her book focus on the police force as I was quite interested in joining it at one time so it’s a profession and world that has always fascinated me – the ins and outs and the way it all works. The story-line was very compelling and a bit different and I liked the insight into Freddie’s world of boxing which isn’t something I would usually read about. Emma gives nothing away throughout the book. I desperately wanted to know more about Freddie but I was getting nothing – just like Anna. He was such an endearing character who’s description was second to none. I had such a clear picture of this strong, muscly, powerful man in my head. Another thing that resonates well with me about Emma’s books is her strong, independent female protagonists. It’s always refreshing to read about a woman in an otherwise dangerous profession who can hold her own, like Anna. There’s a nice mix of different genres in this book but the last third which focuses on the case rather than Anna and Freddie’s relationship really picked up for me and I couldn’t put it down. There was surprise after surprise and every few pages I was stunned at another revelation that had come to surface.
The connection between the two main characters was strong, maybe a bit too strong for the amount of time they had known each other and I did feel the romance side of the story was a bit too over the top. Not being a particularly big romance fan myself, this did throw me off and I couldn’t really get to grips with the Shakespearian language the two of them were using with each other compared to normal every day English with everyone else. Their relationship just moved too quickly but I don’t believe in love at first sight and clearly these two characters do so maybe it’s more about my beliefs that were dislodging me from the romantic side of the story rather than theirs. Despite all that, I love the sex scenes in Emma’s books. Aside from all the lovey-dovey romance, Emma knows how to write a cracking sex scene! Every emotion and sensation is brought into consideration which leaves you feeling just as fired up as the characters. Knockout! had an incredible back-story into worlds which the average person would never step foot in. A story of deceit, secrets, risk-taking and lots and lots of passion.
You can find Emma and Knockout! on the following links:
Interesting debate about the covers. I have to say I’ve read this one and anyone considering buying will definitely not be disappointed. Adore Emma’s writing. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your great review, Jenny! 🙂 xx
There’s always going to be a covers debate I think! I agree, it was fab! Thank you 🙂 xx
I bet author Emma Calin was thrilled to read ‘knows how to write a cracking sex scene!’ – kudos to Emma! This one is on my Kindle and I’m dying to read it. Great review, as always, Jenny. I’m always keen to read your thoughts!
Hahah well she does! No need to lie 😉 Hope you enjoy it Linn! And thank you so much, that means a lot coming from you! 🙂
Looking forward to reading this one. Thanks for sharing your review, Jenny!
Hope you enjoy it Steph! 🙂
This is such a great read! I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to read Emma’s next book.
Mandy
I enjoyed it too! Read 4 of Emma’s books now, looking forward to what’s next 🙂
This isn’t usually the sort of book that I would read but it sounds quite interesting so I may have to give it a go sometime! 🙂 xx
It was good and I hope you enjoy it if you do try it! Always nice to mix up genres and storylines every now and again too! 🙂 xx
Can I make a point about book covers? Without targeting Emma at all, whom I’m sure has written a great book. I just feel that ebook covers seem to look really cheap. I mean, I know what they say about judging books by covers, but, it sure helps to make me want to buy a book if the cover doesn’t look like it was knocked up in 3 mins on a free version of Photoshop. I feel the artwork, same as movie posters and record sleeves, are a big part of the package.
Again, no offence aimed at Emma there, just in general.
No, you can’t.
Haha I’m joking. I completely understand what you mean. Tbh, I hadn’t seen this cover before reading the book and I rarely do see the covers of the books I’m sent from Loveahappyending Magazine. I just get sent the file so usually the first time I see the cover is halfway through reading it when I’m putting together my blog post about it!
I understand where you’re coming from though and covers of all sorts – books, films, music do play a bit part it the making or breaking of someone’s work. Having read this book, I understand why the cover is how it is but obviously from someone’s POV who hasn’t it might be seen a bit differently.
I try not to judge a book by it’s cover too but I think we’re all guilty of it! I’m not sure whether eBook exclusive books have a smaller budget for covers or something.
Hi – thanks so much Jenny for taking the time and trouble to read ‘Knockout!’and to write your review – I’m so glad you enjoyed the story and the action.
Interesting comment about covers, Thomas. Ouch. Regarding the cover image shown here, and hopefully without getting too defensive, I would like to flag up that this is not actually the current cover artwork for Knockout! Apologies to Jenny as she has obviously been supplied with/picked up an out of date file. Unfortunately the internet remembers all versions – a timely reminder to me that there are still out-of-date covers on Google Images, blog posts from the past etc.
If you check out the link below you’ll see the current cover image, with the correct aspect ratio and positioning of subjects and text. The subject matter is the same though (same story) so I guess if this is not to your taste you wont like the newer version either!
http://www.bookshow.me/Knockout
I find that e-book covers and for that matter print covers look strange when shown isolated from a physical book with just the artwork and no 3-D effects – as on most online retailers’ websites. I much prefer them shown on a real or CGI book. Here is ‘Knockout!’ shown in its printed book format:
http://gallo-romano.co.uk/bookshelf/#jp-carousel-660
Just for the record, the current artwork for Knockout! was created by a graphic designer on a fully paid up version of Photoshop.
Hi Emma, you are totally within your rights to be defensive about your book, after all you have invested a lot of time and energy into it. I would like to say that I’m sure the book itself is great and that, after all, is what you live and die by. I do still think artwork is important though and some of the best artwork, be it movie posters, vinyl or even book covers, could easily be framed on a wall. If I’m buying a book on Amazon say, and there are three different versions with different covers, I will pick the most aesthetically pleasing even if it costs a couple of pounds more. Just the way I am. I hope I didn’t cause offence and I’ll be sure to check out the links to the other covers 😊
I’m really sorry I didn’t use the updated cover, Emma! I got this cover from Goodreads where I tend to get all of them from because they seem reliable but obviously not as much as I originally thought! Will make sure I double check next time 🙂 Interesting debate about covers you two are having – I know this is partly my fault for not having the right one up (oops!) I agree with both of you – I like visually pleasing covers but if there were 3 copies of the same book with different covers I’d buy the cheapest not the one with the nicest cover (cos I’m a tight-arse). But since book blogging, I definitely don’t pay attention to covers as much anymore as much as the story inside! However they are still important – obviously!