Slick's review posted on Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews 
 4 STARS 
 Review copy provided for an honest review 
 Hard Knocks is one of those books that's hard for me to review because it's not a typical Lori Foster book, it's a prequel and because it's a prequel it's much shorter than her usual and without her normal fantastic character development. That being said, Hard Knocks is the perfect prequel to introduce readers who might not have read her Love Undercover series to the characters and the premise behind this series. I am so excited Ms. Foster is writing another MMA series, I'm not a fan of MMA but absolutely loved her first MMA series and judging from Hard Knocks I'm going to love the Ultimate series as well. 
 Harper Gates and Gage "Savage" Ringer have known each other for years and prior to Gage getting a call up for a big fight they had been seeing each other and leading up to so much more. Gage is injured and sent home and he's trying to figure out why Harper is ignoring him when all he really wants it to pick up right where they left off. I really loved these two together and most of all I loved that Harper figured out exactly how to handle Gage and that Gage, while a little clueless about her intentions, figured out his feelings quite quickly after some not so subtle hints from his fellow fighters. 
 The community center and fighter training center is a project of Cannon (whom we met in the Love Undercover series) and it's thrilling to know he's made it big in the fighting world but also that he continues to give back to the community in which he lives. We meet several other fighters all of whom have very distinct and interesting personalities letting the readers know we are in for some really entertaining books to come. 
 To me this prequel is a great introduction to what readers can expect from what promises to be another sexy and exciting series from author Lori Foster.