Review: Winning Love by Abby Niles

Title: Winning Love
By: Abby Niles
Series: Love to the Extreme #3
My Copy: Netgalley.com
Book Whisperer's Rating: 

Mac “The Snake” Hannon has spent years throwing himself into cage fighting as a way to lash back at the natural disaster that destroyed his future. A call for help has Mac returning to the one place he swore never to return: Kansas—in the height of tornado season.

There he meets free-spirited Gayle Andrews. At first he wants nothing to do with the infuriatingly, persistent woman, but the crazy challenges she tosses his way are impossible to resist. As she thaws years of bitterness, bringing back the Mac he believed long gone, he starts to make peace with the past and see the future again. Until he learns she chases his worst nightmare, then he can’t get away fast enough.

Meteorologist and storm chaser, Gayle Andrews is no stranger to being left behind and now believes in living in the moment. She wants to do just that with the handsome extreme fighter with the achingly sad eyes. As she works to replace the sorrow with desire, she finds herself breaking her one rule: have fun, but don’t fall in love. When he suddenly pushes her away and she discovers the horrifying reason why, she issues one more challenge: face his fear and come on a chase with her.

Will squaring off with the past lead to a victory for heartache or love?

Oh, Mac.  Your snarly attitude had me loving you from the first page.  And then for Niles to pair you up with an upbeat, positive, fun-loving, full of life girl made it even better.

Mac, having lost his wife and unborn child in a tornado, left Kansas and became a fighter.  While returning to Kansas years after he left to help a friend out, he meets bubbly Gayle.   The interactions between these two characters, in the beginning, are so comical.  Mac just snarls while Gayle giggles and flirts; this is totally something that could go wrong if written by the wrong kind of author but Niles pulled it off wonderfully.

I would say my favorite part was peeling these characters apart throughout the entire book.  It was almost the majority of the book that Niles really let both Mac and Gayle slowly show who they are, what has hurt them, and what they fear.  Slowly they open up and start to understand why Mac has a bad attitude all the time and why Gayle is free-spirited and living life so abundantly.  How Gayle starts healing Mac was one of the best chapters.  Mac started facing his fears, with help, and slowly started to live a little more. 

What a fantastic third installment…I can’t wait for the next.