Becoming a Legend by Sarah Robinson: Review

Posted December 15, 2016 in review Tags: 4 stars, fighter

Becoming a Legend by Sarah Robinson
Pages: 224

Series: Kavanagh Legends #3
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Source: ARC, NetGalley
Also in this series: Breaking a Legend (Kavanagh Legends, #1), Saving a Legend
Also by this author: Breaking a Legend (Kavanagh Legends, #1), Saving a Legend, Not a Hero

Goodreads

From the author of Saving a Legend (“A deep and moving story about family, acceptance, and love.”—Katy Evans) comes another smoldering MMA romance featuring the Kavanagh brothers, the chiseled alpha males whose real legacy is love.
Kane Kavanagh has always had one goal: being the best mixed martial arts fighter alive. With the MMA National Championships in Las Vegas fast approaching, the man they call “Killer” has no intention of letting anyone or anything get in his way. Somehow, though, a feisty opponent has slipped beneath his guard—and stolen his heart. Fiery and passionate, Nora Hannigan is harder to pin down than any rival Kane has faced in the ring. And she isn’t afraid to tell Kane that she wants nothing to do with him.
With her best friend about to marry into the Kavanagh family, Nora has been resisting Kane’s shameless attempts at flirting for months. But after their undeniable chemistry finally takes over, leading to the hottest night of Nora’s life, she’s running scared. There’s a lot about her life Kane doesn’t know, and she won’t be responsible for ending his career. Now Kane’s out to prove that he’s ready for commitment by winning her heart—and he’s never lost a fight.

Becoming a Legend is book 3 of the Kavanagh brothers series. Kane is one of the twins and, quite honestly, not one of the characters I was dying to know more about. He was kind of arrogant (okay, a lot arrogant) and really self centered. He was the only Kavanagh left that had a shot at winning an MMA title and his family was devoted to helping. Did Kane see this? No. He felt like the child everyone overlooked and it kind of pissed me off. It was a really immature view of his amazing life. His older brother Rory gave up everything to train him, his younger brother Quinn is his manager, and his dad built the gym he trains in!

Nora, on the other hand, I did want to know. She is trying to finish her doctorate in psychology so she can work with underprivileged youth. She is on a scholarship and spends her clinical time at the young center. Then, you find out she has had to pick up a second job because her mom is a total loser. Nora, even though she is studying to be a psychologist, would do anything to get her mom to love her, including giving her every dime she has even when it could cost her everything. Nora’s grades have plummeted and her school prohibits her from having an additional job, but Nora endures it all to try and win her mother’s love. How can you not adore her?

She and Kane have that kindergarten type relationship. You know, the ‘he pulls your pig tales because he likes you’ kind of thing. Kane, being selfish, wants Nora, but he doesn’t want Nora to be a hinderance to everything he has worked for. His back and forth affections gave me a headache at times. Overall, I did enjoy the story, but mostly because of Nora. I also liked getting glimpses into Rory/Clare and Kieran/Fiona because I really enjoyed their stories.

POV: 3rd
Tears: no
Trope: fighter, dysfunctional family
Triggers: none
Series/Standalone: stand alone within an interconnected series.
Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »no « Hide Spoiler
HEA: View Spoiler »

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Fighting Solitude by Aly Martinez, Laid Out by Sidney Halston, Nico by Sarah Castille…then you will probably like Becoming a Legend!

Becoming a Legend

About Sarah Robinson

Aside from being a Top 10 Barnes & Noble and Amazon Bestseller, Sarah Robinson is a native of the Washington, DC area and has both her Bachelors and Masters Degrees in criminal psychology. She is newly married to a wonderful man who is just as much of an animal rescue enthusiasts as she is. Together, they own a zoo of rescues including everything from mammals to reptiles to marsupials, as well as volunteering and fostering for multiple animal shelters.

Sarah Robinson first started her writing career as a published poet in high school, and then college, winning several poetry awards and being published in local literary journals.

Never expecting to make a career of it, a freelancing Craigslist job accidentally introduced her to the world of book publishing. Lengthening her writing from poetry to novels, Robinson published her first book through a small press publisher, before moving into self-publishing, and then finally was picked up by Penguin Random House two years later.

She is currently contracted with Loveswept for a contemporary romance series, KAVANAGH LEGENDS, that surrounds a tight knit Irish family of MMA fighters in the Bronx. She is also exploring the arena of women’s fiction and has a lot of exciting things planned for the next few years!

Some of Sarah’s biggest accomplishments as an author include reaching #9 in the entire Barnes & Noble store and #25 in the Amazon Kindle store for The Photographer Trilogy Boxset in February 2015. For the first book in the Kavanagh Legends series, Breaking a Legend, she reached #1 in Sports Fiction on Amazon.