When a feud is the start, what will the endgame be like?

Synopsis

A high-intensity personal trainer

The secret to Brooks’s success as a Manhattan gym owner? Being motivated to disprove everyone who ever doubted him. So he’s not about to let a perky newcomer like Izzy tarnish his reputation. Even if watching her lead a salsa class on his premises gets his own heartbeat raised…

His beautiful British rival

Every time influencer Izzy slams Brooks in her fitness blog, her book sales soar. But when their escalating media feud forces them to be up-close-and-personal for two weeks, she realizes there’s much more to Brooks than that lean and muscled body.

And a competition that’s got their hearts racing…

Soon Izzy and Brooks are finding all kinds of creative ways to work up a sweat. A passionate workout is easy, but can their rivalry give way to a lasting partnership?

My review

British influencer Izzy has a lot of blog followers. That brought her to the States to promote her book. But when in an interview she expresses her doubts about Manhattan gym owner Brooks, she isn’t aware of what she has started.
Because Brooks won’t allow anyone to tarnish his reputation and slander what he has built. Yet they both cannot deny the effect of each new blog has on Izzy’s sales and Brooks’ customers.
And so they have a real competition going on, where they both adapt to each other’s way of life, swapping regimes, to prove who is right and who is wrong.
But with Brooks seeing Izzy leading a salsa class, and Izzy seeing that Brooks is more than just a bunch of muscles, their rivalry changes into something more passionate.
However, with Brooks not being completely honest about his past, and Izzy’s imminent return to London, where will they stand after their two weeks together? 

I love reading books where the main characters start off badly, only to realize afterwards that perhaps their first impressions of each other were wrong.
And this book was exactly that, but with the addition of lovely yet also frustrating characters, not only finding each other but also themselves. 

Both Brooks and Izzy were lovely characters, but also with their own baggage. 

Izzy has to live up to her family’s high standards, but does not have the support from them to chase her own dreams. It saddened me to see how especially her mother easily crushed Izzy’s dreams, and wanted Izzy to act lady-like and just do what needed to become ‘a good wife’. As if that would ever be enough for a young woman, especially a woman like Izzy. 

It’s clear to see that Izzy is still in search of who the real Izzy is, as while she is passionate about what she is doing, but it doesn’t bring her complete joy.
Even while promoting her book, it isn’t something she sees herself doing fulltime. 

But while we see Izzy starting the feud, we also learn that in fact, that isn’t really in Izzy’s character to act that way. It’s clear that Izzy is a kind character, not someone who talks behind someone’s back. However, she is ‘forced’ in acting in a way that just isn’t her. 

Concerning Brooks, I had a very clear imagine of him in my mind. Take the cliché of a gym – owner, add a heart of gold, but also a broken heart, and that is exactly what Brooks is. 

Getting to know his background gave me mixed feelings.
On one hand, I was proud of him, seeing what he has built on his own. He built an empire by sheer force, wanting to show “some” people that he isn’t a ‘good for nothing’.
But on the other hand, it saddened me to see how he still holds on to the past. He still holds a torch for the woman that one loved him. And seeing how this bulky man has been treated so wrong, it broke my heart.
Yet that doesn’t hold him back to be the best kind of father he can be in his circumstances. 

Reading how Izzy and Brooks initially clash, was just too funny to read about. Their bickering about meat versus shake or vegetables, the difference of the definition of ‘working out’, just a delight to read about!

But the best bits were when Brooks and Izzy realize that despite their differences, they match…
And giving into those positive feelings make them realize that even if they don’t have all the answers yet, and even if they don’t know who they exactly are yet, they can perhaps figure it all out together.

The moments where things heat up between them, and not because of the exercises they are doing, for sure were *something*. But for me, this wasn’t only a romance with steamy moments, but a story where the main characters have to let go of the past, allow new sparkles in their lives, and figure out who they truly are and what they want from life.
And even when love enters the equation, it’s okay to not having all the answers yet. Because with the right person beside you, how ‘wrong’ they may seem, will turn your solitary journey to self – discovery into a wonderful and exciting one…