From my blog: Always With a Book:

This is the third book in Lori Foster's Ultimate series and I'm so glad I am catching up in series...it really is quite enjoyable. As I mentioned in my review of the previous book in this series, I had read the discovered this series when it was first released and then went on a requesting spree via Netgalley, but then got sidetracked and forgot about them with all the other books I had to read, so one of my goals this year is to try and clean out some of my older Netgalley books...and I am starting with this series.

Having just read the second book in this series, Holding Strong, not too long ago, it was much easier to get back into the swing of things with this next book, though I will say I really do find that each of these books do hold their own if you do decide to pick up any of them to read independently. I think authors now are writing their series book to stand alone just in case readers haven't read the entire series, but give you that option of having connecting stories so that if you are like me, you might want to read all the books.

One thing I love about this series is it jumps right into the romance between the main couple. We know right off the bat that this is Vanity and Stack's story and things get hot and heavy between them right in the first chapter. But, what I also love is that this book doesn't just focus on their romance. There is so much more to this story. Stack's family is a huge part of this book and I loved that we get to see how he deals with them. He doesn't just push them aside to be with Vanity, and because she has lost her family, she comes with him and then ends up developing a relationship, a true relationship with his family. I loved that and felt that this was real and authentic.

Of course, this book isn't without some conflict and this is where we see the other fighters come into the fray. I love that these guys have each other's backs. They even have their own bat signal - a special phone that they only use when there is trouble. This just speaks volumes on the friendship that these guys have.

This was an enjoyable read with fun, dynamic characters. I've got one more book in this series and I'm actually quite bummed about that...I really like this series and wish there were a few more books to go! But on the other hand...I am glad that I got these books cleared up on my Netgalley queue!

SO we are back with book 3 in the Ultimate series by Lori Foster which is her second MMA series, and one full of deliciousness and oh my goodness HOLY HOTNESS! that's right, the series that has brought us Colter and Denver now has brought us Stack "The Wolf" Hannigan and of course the glimpse of Armie *fans oneself* but anyway, on with the review (and quite frankly, enough of my fangirling)!

Vanity wanted Stack from the first moment she met him, and she makes no bones about it! (ohhh I like her), but Stack has learned that it's always best to be free of commitments of any kind, and to be blunt, it seems at times that he wanted his cake and eat it too! To be frank, I would have loved it if Stack could have been less of a tool at times, there were some serious head-desk moments in this book.

While Tough Love was not my favorite book of the series, it is still a good book, and written in the most perfect Lori Foster style! and of course, that moment in Rowdy's I will never forget!

I liked this but I did not love it. I'm not sure what it is with this series but I can't stop reading even though they're only okay for me. I started skimming this one around 40% because it was so wordy and I wanted to get to the good stuff. Here are my quick thoughts -

The good: I liked the overall story enough to finish. There's a nice amount of heat happening that I enjoyed. There were a lot of fun scenes that had me smiling.

The not so good: It felt so drawn out. Sometimes Stack and Vanity seemed really immature and I just wanted to shake them. I felt there was a lot of telling not showing happening. It went on and on and on.

This was just okay for me.

The first book in the series never really clicked for me, but I thought I'd try this one to see if there were any changes - nope. Heroine was waaaay too annoying and downright disrespectful of her partner, and he was incredibly closed up and alpha. Not for me, but others may enjoy.