A+ once again!
Written as a series, but can easily be read as a stand- alone.
Isla is daughter of world renowned boxer Graham Slade. She has witnessed the worst of the worst fights and now sees her father hiding his Parkinson’s disease as a result from his boxing trauma.
Eric, Aka Brick Smash. as he’s known to the adoring fans is a smart, poetic, brainiac beneath all those muscles.
But when Isla shows up to be his new physio therapist before his big fight- they both fall head over heels for one another- unbeknownst the other.
Isla has sworn off boxers and Eric can’t have anything stand in the way of helping his family financially for this win.
Will love win all or is boxing above all?

The Knockout Rule is part of the Showmen series by Kelly Siskind, but can easily be read as a standalone. There are like three sentences in each book connecting them to the others, so it is easy to jump into the series with any book. Isla is a physical therapist and daughter of a legendary boxer. After seeing what the sport did to her father, she vows not to work with boxers in her therapy practice. That all changes when she agrees to her father's request to train his new client, Brick Kramarov - the hulky, hunky, and apparently dimwitted underdog competing for a heavyweight title in Las Vegas.

I enjoyed this book, but I thought it needed more to drive the plot. The characters were very likable and they have great chemistry. I thought the plot with Preston was dragged out, and then the ending wrapped up too quickly. Some changes to the pacing of the story would have made this work better for me. Overall, I have really enjoyed this series and still recommend it. Content warnings include anxiety/panic attacks and parental abandonment.

Thanks to NetGalley and CD Books for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Well I’m thankful to have the opportunity to read this book, was perfect for February. Good story and I just forgot about life for a few hours so it’s always a good thing when you start a book :) will definitely look forward for more from this author

i wasn't aware this was the fourth book in a series when i picked it up. however, i didn't feel lost at all. kelly siskind's style really surprised me for good. i enjoyed the story, the characters. they were very interesting and quirky, but not in a cringe way. the romance was believable, and i was hoping for the moment they'd finally get together. i'm gonna check out the other books in this series, 'cause it was a very fun read.

I liked this more than I thought I would. I admit I have no knowledge of boxing so I really didn’t know anything going into the book and didn’t know what to expect. I really liked the main characters and their conflicts with each other and all the other characters made sense and never seemed too melodramatic.

The Knockout Rule by Kelly Siskind is currently scheduled for release on February 24 2021. Growing up with an adoring father for a boxing legend isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. It looks more like hospital visits, bloody noses, and cracked ribs. Isla Slade now works as a physiotherapist, helping athletes heal their bodies. Except for boxers. She has no interest in reliving the stress of her teen years. Dating someone in the boxing world? She’d rather snort wasabi powder. Until she meets Preston Church. Preston manages heavyweight boxing darling Brick Kramarov. A brute who’s built tougher than his name, with a cocky attitude to boot. She wants nothing to do with either man, but her father begs her to help them prepare for a huge fight. She doesn’t expect Preston to recite romantic poems and slowly break her resolve. His fascinating mind gets under her skin, even if his star athlete reminds her how much she hates boxing. Too bad it’s Brick coaching Preston how to woo Isla, falling for her from the sidelines. Once she finds out, she’ll have to decide if she can risk loving another man who puts it all on the line for the knockout.

The Knockout Rule has a lot less of the date coaching than the teaser implies, but it is used to good effect. I really liked Isla as a character, and her relationships with her father and best friend were well done, adding depth to the story. Eric (aka Brick) is similarly layered and complex as a character, and I honestly enjoyed getting to know them and the secondary characters. I thought the conflicts were very real, as were the fears, anxiety, and mental health complexities that challenged Isla and Eric. I do not know anything about boxing, but I do have to say that it felt like the characters were in Vegas forever before the fight. Do they really hang out that long before a fight? I just thought that some of that could have been condensed and spent more of the story in the heat of the conflict with details or character feelings, actions, and growth at that point. That being said, I really did enjoy the read and how even though there were secrets- Isla and Eric seemed to be honest with each other about their feelings and where they stand pretty quickly. It was a solid read, and I came to care about the characters and their families.

The Knockout Rule is a good contemporary romance, with some twists but plenty of feels.

A nice take on the athlete/trainer romance that tackles the real world consequences of dangerous sports and the aspersions we cast on professional athletes.

In this story we follow Isla, a smart and strong physiotherapist who is the daughter of a famous former boxer. She went through major stress dealing with her father's career, so much so she developed panic attacks. Clearly dating a boxer is off limits for her, until she meets Preston, <i>The Brick</i>. He has a very arrogant persona, but he is much more than that, as Isla finds out.
As always, I deeply conected to the characters. Kelly Siskind has a way to carve out very realistic characters in such a way we feel like they are real people we could get to meet, so we have no choice but to care for them. The vibe was a bit different than the previous ones in the series, but I enjoyed the discussion on boxing and the consequences it has to the athlet's health and to their family's relationships.
Yet again, I loved a Kelly Siskind book! Hopefully we will have more installments in this companion-series.

If anyone out there is surprised to find me reading a book about boxing, I would plead "Kelly Siskind made me do it," which is a reasonable defense in any court of public opinion, obviously. She writes such touching love stories with careful plotting and natural characters. This one features not only boxing but poetry and linguistics, family and duty, anxiety and obstinance. These seemingly disparate ingredients come together to tell the story of Isla, who grew up shouldering the burden of a father in boxing with all the accompanying major injuries and scary moments in the ring. So she has one rule: no boxers in her professional life as a physiotherapist that might trigger a panic attack. Unfortunately, when her father unloads a major secret, boxing is about to reenter her life, both professional and personal, in a major way. A romantic way, one might even suspect based on the genre of this book.

I think fans of sports romance will definitely fall head-over-heels for this one. I personally enjoyed the author's original poems sprinkled throughout, often summing up Isla's swirling feelings. I'm always here for Siskind's devotion to consent and healthy boundaries when necessary, healthy communication at all times. My only complaint is from a personal standpoint. Tender, whirlwind romances with swift exchange of loving declarations are a bit too saccharine for my tastes. So while I enjoyed the book, it wasn't my favorite in the series (a high bar, to be fair). It's still a worthy installment that left me wishing the characters all the best. I recommend it to romance readers looking for something tranquil (outside the ring, that is) and full of heart.

This is the 4th book in The Showmen series, and it comes out next week on 2/24. I was lucky enough to get an ARC from @netgalley.

Isla is a PT who does not work on boxers because her dad is a former heavyweight champion. After finding out her dad is diagnosed with Parkinson’s, she agrees to go to Las Vegas to help her dad and be Brick’s PT. Surprise, surprise Isla gets to know Brick (who is really Eric and loves linguistics) and falls in love.

I liked Isla and Eric’s story, and I think you will too. It was a quick, cute read. However, one thing that I didn’t like about this book was that it is set in Chicago/Las Vegas, and Isla is American. However, some of the terminology used in the book was not clearly not the American terms - for example, we would call Isla a physical therapist or a PT not a physiotherapist. It was fine, but I annoyed me. If you’re gonna set your book in the US, you should use the American words OR make Isla and her dad Canadian, I’m totally on board for that.

I really enjoyed the end of this book, but I struggled to keep reading for parts in the middle and ended up putting the book down for a few days. However, I'm glad I picked this back up because the end really packs a punch (pardon the boxing expression!). I loved Eric's character; I found him to be a complex character but still containing all the perfect physical characteristics that make that classic sexy romance love interest. I also really appreciated the way Isla's panic disorder was treated, and the frank discussions of her therapy sessions. I would have loved more Heather, she was such a fun character to meet and I would read a whole book about her! The romance itself was a bit of where I faltered towards the middle, it felt like a VERY slow burn that was taking just a bit too long to bloom, I felt like the dates with Preston dragged just one date too far. But in all, this was an enjoyable and light romance read for fans of slow-burn steaminess!

Isla grew up with a boxer father and now has one rule as a dating adult: no dating boxers. That is, until she meets Brick.
Brick is a boxer who no longer loves boxing but needs to win an upcoming fight to support his family.

I was so pleasantly surprised with this book. I loved the slow build and how sweet Brick was. I loved the realistic friendships and how, sometimes, when it rains, it pours.
I was also SO happy to see a female lead who is take charge and just considered awesome instead of bossy. And who did not yield what she wanted for a significant other.

This is the first book I’ve read from this author, but it won’t be the last.

Thanks so much to Netgalley for this ARC!

The cover, description, and title REALLY pulled me into this book. It is everything I would want to buy in a book when I spot one on the shelves at my local bookstore.

And wow was I ever happy with this book! Being one of the first books I read this year, the rest seriously have a big act to follow! The characters in this book are so original and quirky, its a great slow burn that isn't your oh-so typical romcom.

Loved! Can't wait to read more by this author!

I really enjoyed this book. There was an amazing mixture of comedy, heat, romance and drama to keep me hooked the entire book. Kelly Siskind did an amazing job and I have become a huge fan. Her books will be automatic reads when I'm looking for something light with a good mix of emotion. I would definitely recommend this book to other romance readers who enjoy some terrible jokes mixed in. Eric is 100% my kind of book boyfriend.

The Knockout Rule is yet another fabulous romance from Siskind, Isla and Eric 'Brick' are such likeable characters that you cheer for them through the whole story!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so much more than I expected. I enjoyed the Cyrano quality to it early on, but was glad that was resolved (and without a huge blowup between Isla and Eric) early on. It was refreshing to see two characters behave like the adults that they are. For that reason I wish Isla had been able to be completely honest about why she didn't want to get involved with a boxer rather than having to keep her father's secret then he really could have understood the full consequences of remaining a boxer. I think one of my absolute favorite parts of the novel was Eric's conversation with his sister when she basically told him what an idiot he had been - it's such an authentic moment between two siblings. That being said, I thought the medical money problems of Eric's family was the only part that didn't completely ring true for me - how did no one have medical insurance?

Nothing better than a story to show us that some rules are made to be broken. Isla is a physiotherapist who agrees to help a boxer that her father trains as a favor to her father. Which should be no big deal as she works with athletes all the time for her job, except she hates boxing. She has a rule that she doesn't treat or date boxers. After meeting Eric, the boxer she will be working with that changes as she starts to feel differently about him.

A grumpy sunshine lovers trope. A fun and steamy read. Fast paced and perfectly paced. The story never drags. The chemistry between the main characters was fantastic and believable. Lovers of bad boy romance will devour The Knockout Rule

Cyrano De Bergerac Boxer. Brick Smasher or an intelligent, cunning linguist?

Thank you #Netgalley and #Xpressobooktours #CDBooks for this E-ARC.

TW deteriorating affects of physical sports. Parkinson's disease.

Writing Style ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Plot ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Character Likability ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Smut ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Isla Slade is the daughter of the legendary boxer Swinging Graham Slade. A physiotherapist building her new business, she knows all the ugly that came with physically demanding sports. And she want to help players feel strong and comfortable despite.
Eric Kramarovsky is Brick "Smash" Kramarov. The brute boxer known on media as a dimwitted neanderthal. But behind the cameras, he is an intelligent, hungry for knowledge linguist.
Isla's dad is Eric's trainer and Isla ends up going on a trip with her father to get Eric ready for his upcoming match. There's misunderstandings, then friendship, then a manager, who Eric feels indebted to, asking if he can help him get a date with Isla. So Eric helps Preston(manager) win Isla over only to fall for her on the sidelines.

Writing style 5 Stars
This book was so easy to read. So fast to get through because it was witty and fun and whole hearted and sexy, and yes, everything. The author did wonders on this book.

Plot 5 Stars
A Cyrano de Bergerac plot line but in Las Vegas Boxing arena! The boxing sport world is so interesting. Also, you get to see all the things that happens around the players. The money is good, but at what cost to their bodies and health. To me, this story was about love. Love of oneself to better yourself and to be better FOR yourself. Also, Love for another person. The deep connection that you cannot believe you can share and feel for another person. There's also another kind of love. Love for what you do. To know the consequences and still living your life to the fullest because you love being in it so much! There was a lot in this book.

Character Likability 5 Stars
Isla is so strong. She was traumatized with her childhood but she is so strong and continues to be better.
Eric is a cinnamon roll who is smart and funny and sexy. He has his media persona but you can see in the book how his intellect is just bursting. The secondary characters were all so good too. The blunt carefree best friend and the seemingly shallow manager who is actually a really great guy. All of the characters were so easy to root for! ahhh.

Smut 5 stars
WOW. Eric is such a turn on. Someone who would whisper sweet everythings to you in different languages?? That's ultimate for me. It was a little bit of a slow burn but when it clicks into it. It was hot! DUDE! super satisfied with the smut!

Overall 5 Stars
This has become my favorite Contemporary Romance so far! It was so satisfying. Everything worked. The conflict and the resolution. I'm so happy!

The basic premise of this book is Isla is a physiotherapist treating athletes, but not boxers. After growing up the daughter of a boxing champion she can barely stand to talk to a boxer much less love one. When her father tells her one too many blows during his career landed him with Parkinson's and he needs her help to hide it from his bigshot client she's angry. After she agrees and goes to Las Vegas with her father and the notoriously idiotic Brick 'Eric' Smash she realizes her issue isn't entirely to blame on boxing. Eric isn't all he seems and as he and Isla find they have more and more in common their friendship turns more to romance. Isla has to decide if she can love Eric enough despite his career

The plot of this story was interesting enough to stick around. The pacing was great and I never felt rushed to get through the book or like it was dragging.