My ideal fantasy read has changed much over the years. I no longer seek out books about pirates and fair maidens with heaving bosoms (I still read them, of course, I just don't seek them out); instead I've turned to books about survivors. I dig most stories about any type of female survivor but I'll cop to being one the readers who eagerly buys the books assuming popular status now: heroine who survived long-term captivity. One Kick is definitely of that category and I've been book-hoarding it for almost two years now. I decided to break into it now because I saw that the second book is due out in a week* and I prefer to read series in chunks (think Netflix binge-watching but for books--my preferred way to go about life, honestly). 
 Kick Lannigan is a badass, but a young badass who doesn't have much field experience. She's just turned 21 during the current timeline and she's aching to help right her perceived wrong and help find kids who were abducted like she was when she was six. Kick gets this opportunity in the form of Bishop, a Roarke-like character who is gorgeous and has access to seemingly unlimited funds that allow him to control crime scenes and opt out of police paperwork. Bishop and Kick go on an adventure to find two kidnapped children and eventually find the sadist who buys the children who don't "adjust" to the pedophile "family philosophy." Action happens, lots of cool fight scenes and then there is an excellent realism to Kick's relationship to her mother and sister, her feelings about her abductor, and Kick's relationship with James, which is my favorite thing in the entire story. Kick is woman who is scarred but not beaten; she's handy with a Glock but she also carries around a worry notebook where she writes down all of the stuff that she will be anxious about during the hour she allows herself to feel her anxieties. 
 The first two-thirds of One Kick is strong and entertaining. I loved reading about Kick's various training sessions and her philosophies for how she goes about her life. The scenes with she and James are solid gold and I wish there had been more of them. The scenes with Monster were not as effective, perhaps because they seemed to scream "be sad here! alert: this is a touching scene!" Although Kick has a poor relationship with her mother, due to Paula's need to be in the spotlight as the mama to a kidnap survivor, I loved their scenes because they are earned. The reader sees why Kick wants a life out of the spotlight, to be known as herself and not as Mel Riley's victim or the star of the Beth movies, and we also see how Paula has created her own identity out being the mother to Mel Riley's victim and the star of the Beth movies. It's fraught, sad and so very believable. Compare this well-written relationship with Kick's growing attachment to Bishop and the romance is watered down and fantastical. I don't really get why Kick sleeps with Bishop beyond physical attraction, and maybe that is all I am supposed to get from it--Kick wants casual, meaningless sex to be like other young women who don' have a traumatic experience with sexual abuse. I can buy that but I can't buy that she want it with Bishop or that he'd want it with her. I can't wrap my head around why Kick would want to be with a guy 15 years older than herself. It skeeves me out and the whole situation made me dislike Bishop more than I already had at that point. The romance just didn't have the layers of say the prison visitation scene, which was crushing and probably one of the best in the book even though it made me want to vomit. 
 The ending sequences are expected but well-written. Kick thinks she has everything under control but she does not due to lack of experience outside the dojo and shooting range. Bishop becomes a bit more of a real character but by that point I couldn't warm up to him. Kick's surgery was in-character and I understand her reasons; I do not so much understand her reasons about the (view spoiler)[money! For once I want a character to be happy about an ill-gotten windfall--take it and do some good with it! 30 million sitting in an account is going to send more people after her to get to it versus taking it and creating a foundation to help get survivors on their feet and financially stable (hide spoiler)]. Maybe Kick will come to that conclusion as she grows up. 
 The sum-up: Survivors gonna survive in a story that is both very real and too glossy at the same time. First in a series so it comes with those limitations but it's also a strong first-in-a-series novel and I will continue to read. 
 * According to her Facebook page, Cain did not submit Kick Back to the publishers so who knows what is going on with it.