Title: Ruin

Author: Samantha Towle

Genre: Contemporary Sports Romance

Release Date: March 6, 2018

And the new heavyweight champion of the world is...

 Those are the words that Zeus Kincaid has been waiting to hear since he first put on a pair of boxing gloves. He just didn’t think they would come with a tragedy that would change how he viewed the sport forever.

Cameron Reed was in her second year at Juilliard when her childhood sweetheart, Zeus Kincaid, walked away from her. A few months later, Cam realized that she would never fulfill her dream of dancing for the New York City Ballet.

Now working as a dancer in an upscale club in Manhattan, Cam is brought face-to-face with the man she once loved. And it’s her turn to walk away from him.

After five years of missing Cam, Zeus isn’t prepared to let her go again. But when he finds himself standing on her doorstep the next morning, things don’t go quite as he expected…

‘You’ll be smitten with everything about this entertaining, steamy and feel-good romance’ USA Today’s Happy Ever After on Breaking Hollywood

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Ruin by Samantha Towle
Rosa's rating: 5 of 5 iScream Cones

"The man is my weakness. My downfall. My ruin."

I was excited to read this new sports romance by a favorite author. She won me over with a rockstar and now that I've met her sexy boxer it's official, she's achieved auto-click status with me. She's a word wizard and is able to pull my heartstrings, incite my anger, and make me laugh out loud with her powerful pen, or whatever magical medium she uses to write. Ruin was so damn good it ruined me, leaving me sighing with satisfaction and smoking a virtual cigarette after turning the last page.

What an amazing second-chance-romance this was. I was totally invested as early as the first chapter. When the author took me on a journey into the past to meet 15 yr old Cameron when she first met Zeus I think I fell for him just as hard as she did. And when he later broke her heart, he broke mine too. I shared her love/hate feelings for him, wanting to kiss/punch him depending on which memory was currently invading her headspace. The boxing world saw him as a god, but she remembered him as the boy she fell in love with before everyone knew his name.

The Prologue is told from Zeus' POV, and the remainder of the story I was in Cam's head. That tiny bit at the beginning was enough for me to get a glimpse, but not enough for me to totally understand why Zeus made the choices he did. I was right there with Cameron, being upset that he walked away from her, not knowing why he chose to end their relationship so abruptly and brutally over the phone. I felt like Ricky Ricardo telling Lucy, "You've got some splainin' to do."

And though we both had questions we wanted to ask Zeus to get some closure, I couldn't deny that her choice to walk away from him when he ran into her at the club where she worked. I was mentally cheering her on when she left him standing there, reaching out for a fist bump. But before she made it home I was concerned that she might not have another chance because neither had bothered to exchange contact info. But I need not have worried, this is fiction, and of course, they end up crossing paths again and she gets her opportunity. And it's even better the second time she lets him have it. Did I mention that she's my hero? Yup, I totally have a girl crush on Cam.

It only gets better and better from that point on. I got pulled into the drama and the emotions and fell in love with some of the support characters, and I might have committed a few mental crimes against another whose name shall remain unmentioned. After you read this amazing story we can compare notes and maybe throw darts at his likeness. And did I mention that Zeus has some sexy brothers who also have Greek names? Here's hoping that the author decides to give them their own books, along with their sister who needs one too. The line forms here...

SAMANTHA TOWLE is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. She began her first novel in 2008 while on maternity leave. She completed the manuscript five months later and hasn’t stopped writing since.

She is the author of contemporary romances, The Storm Series and The Revved Series, and stand-alones, Trouble, When I Was Yours, The Ending I Want, Unsuitable, Wardrobe Malfunction, Breaking Hollywood, Under Her and Sacking the Quarterback, which was written with James Patterson. She has also written paranormal romances, The Bringer and The Alexandra Jones Series. All of her books are penned to the tunes of The Killers, Kings of Leon, Adele, The Doors, Oasis, Fleetwood Mac, Lana Del Rey, and more of her favorite musicians.

A native of Hull and a graduate of Salford University, she lives with her husband, Craig, in East Yorkshire with their son and daughter.