Simon Says by Lori Foster

Book description:

Sexy ex-fighter Simon Evans has the perfect life—until he catches his girlfriend cheating. To work off his rage, he goes back into the ring full-force. But a gutsy and gorgeous P.I. is about to send him reeling with a secret about his family—and one about her heart.

I've had this edit window open since 10:40am yesterday morning. These morons actually expect me to work or something. WTF?

I love Lori Foster's books. She is light without being fluffy. She is intense without being dark. Her books make for a good combination of fun and passion.

Simon Evans was vaguely introduced in Causing Havoc. He is a trainer for fighters that are in the UFC. Foster called it the SBC, but every time I read that I thought about the SBC Ballpark in San Francisco. Or SBC which was formerly AT&T in Northern CA. So UFC it is in this review.

Being the nice guy he is, Simon decides to surprise his live-in girlfriend of five years with a new mattress. Yes, folks, a mattress. When a book opens up like this, you just know that the shit is going to hit the fan. I mean, what kind of guy would want to "surprise" his girlfriend with a mattress? Yeah, that's what I thought. You'll be shocked to find out that Simon finds pictures of his girlfriend doing some other guy. He doesn't know who the guy is, but he definitely recognizes his gf. So he enlists the help of his friends to get all his shit out. He's surprised that he's not more upset. Five years is five years, after all. It's more of a prick to his pride. To salvage said pride, he decides that he's going to go back to fighting in the UFC rather than training.

Dakota Dream is not a porn star. So get that out of your head right now. I'm not sure exactly what she does for a living, but in her spare time she helps find missing people. When she was 17, Dakota ran away from home to marry Marvin Dream. Obviously she didn't know that at 17, mothers are always right and Dakota's mom didn't like Marvin at all. They parted on very bad terms. Marvin ended up being abusive, but Dakota stuck around b/c she didn't want to go crawling back to her mom. A few days after Marvin almost killed her, Dakota sucked it up and went home...only to find out her mom had an accident and was in a coma. Her stepfather, Barnaby Jailer (we'll get to that name in a moment) kindly let her stay even though they never had the best of relationships.

Okay, seriously people. Barnaby Jailer? Dakota Dream? These names seem to be a cross between a Disney character and a porn star. Every time I read the name Barnaby Jailer, I vomited a little in my mouth.

So BJ tells Dakota that she owes him for letting her come back home. Not only that, but the asshole has three letters that Dakota's mom wrote her before she went into the coma. Dakota wants those letters. Bad. She only has to do one thing. Find BJ's son and bring him home. You've already guessed who is son is, I'm assuming? Simon Evans.

Dakota finds Simon and befriends him. Simon is fascinated by Dakota b/c she knows a lot about the UFC, but she's not a groupie. He wants her. Bad. Then he finds out why she wants him. The problem here is that Simon has never been interested in finding the man that deserted him and his mom. His stepfather is his father in every way that is important. So he tells Dakota to get lost. Oh but he doesn't know how determined Dakota is to get those three letters.

Eventually Dakota gives up on getting the letters. She decides that she wants nothing more to do w/ 'ol BJ. She just wants Simon. It's too bad that nothing is ever easy for Dakota. See, Simon's ex wants him back and she'll play dirty to get him. Not only that, but someone is trying to hurt Dakota and she's sure it's her ex-husband. She's right and Marvin is one messed up f'er. Dakota is the only woman who ever stood up to him and he wants her back. Very dysfunctional.

When Simon and Dakota eventually get their HEA, you will really feel that they deserve it. Oh, just make sure you read Causing Havoc first. There are recurring characters that you'll appreciate much more if you read them in order.

4 out of 5 stars