I read some of the bad reviews of this book and sympathize. A lot of what they say is true, but I have to add that this book is *different*. This author has a real voice of her own and the setting and characters are her own: a group of loyal Irish fighters and the girl they sort of adopt, who has a traumatic past. The trauma I could have lived without -- it was too grim for my taste and the flashbacks came too close to glamorizing the violence the character endured. Just TOO MUCH DETAIL and too extreme (for me). But the hero and heroine's romance is unexpectedly sweet and strangely plausible. They both seem emotionally sort of immature (calling each other "baby" and emphasizing his "little boy" expressions and her inexperience). Their backgrounds may be unrealistic but Prescott keeps them consistent and makes their devotion to each other (under the circumstances) believable. They both seem genuinely special, which isn't easy to pull off in romances. And the English boxing world is well drawn and new (to me): this couple worries about money and enjoys their small luxuries, which is sort of charming. I didn't mind that there was a bit of an open ending. They had made their commitment to each other and the romance part felt "finished" even if there were plot threads still hanging. 
 Overall, I'd say this was a first book with some first book problems (like Emily's exaggerated back story and some weird editing-- like places where the dialogue isn't clearly assigned to the right person) but with a lot of promise. An author to watch--