Below the Belt

Below the Belt by Jeanette Murray is the first book in her First To Fight series. It is based on a marine boxing team and their coaches and athletic trainers that are part of that team. Being on the Marine Corps boxing team is all Brad Costa can ever remember wanting. He wants to honor his fathers memory and this is how he plans to do it. When an injury happens on the second day of tryouts/training he decides to keep it to himself and struggle through rather than show weakness and get booted off the team. This means keeping it hidden from not only his potential teammates and fellow trainees and the coaches, but also from the gorgeous athletic trainer with eagle eyes. Marianne Cook wants a healthy team - the macho factor of the Marine Corps boxing team makes this nearly impossible to get them to open up about injuries and pain. She detects something going on with Brad's knee but he keeps deflecting. In fact, he deflects so much they end up having dinner together. What he didn't expect was to fall for her and what she didn't expect was to put her career at risk because feelings got in the way. Loved this story - it was well-paced, steamy, and painted a great picture of the boxing world on base and all that goes into it before any matches even begin.

Loved the interaction of the main characters. I couldn't stop reading. Can't wait to read the rest of the series.