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Review Tour: 5 Rounds by Nikki Castle

When Remy suddenly finds herself apartmentless, she's offered a temporary place to stay, but her new roommate, Tristan, a notorious womanizer, and MMA fighter, has never been her favorite person. After one steamy encounter, the two are forced to deal with their developing feelings. Will they risk their hearts and let themselves fall in love? Fans of Kennedy Fox and Christina Lauren will love 5 ROUNDS by Nikki Castle, an enemies to lovers, forced proximity, sports romance.

Blurb
She's a feisty workaholic that hates his guts.
He's an arrogant MMA fighter that can't afford any distractions.
This isn't the kind of fight they're used to...

When Remy is suddenly evicted from her apartment, her best friend offers to let her crash at his house while he's traveling for work. The only problem is, she can't stand his roommate, Tristan. Now, they're stuck living together for 10 days. But after the tension breaks with one very steamy night, and then again, and again… they're forced to reexamine their long-standing enemy relationship.

While Remy struggles with her developing feelings for a notorious womanizer, Tristan has to decide if his feelings for Remy are worth it, or if they'll distract him from his longtime goal of becoming a world champion. To make matters worse, their deadline is looming because Remy is moving out soon.

Will they risk their hearts and let themselves fall in love? Or will they go back to hating each other before they've even had a chance to be together?

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Excerpt
Copyright 2021 @Nikki Castle

I have a lot of thoughts about Tristan, but the one thing I can't deny is that he's gorgeous. He's over six feet tall and a solid 200 pounds of muscle. I know him from the MMA gym I joined because of Jax in college—and it's an understatement to say they both look the part of a fighter. Tristan is the pretty boy of the two, with just-woke-up tousled, dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes that always feel like they're staring straight into the secrets of your soul. His jawline is defined and he’s got just enough stubble on his face to give him a rugged look, but not enough that it comes off as a scruffy beard. His skin has a warm tan, most likely from all the shirtless runs he does around the city for his cardio workouts.

I also know from my time at the gym that he's completely shredded from his training. Every pound of him has a purpose, his body built to be an efficient fighting machine with a low body fat percentage and muscles defined not by lifting weights, but by training with a real purpose and a fuck-ton of hard work. His dedication to the sport is unrivaled and it definitely shows in his appearance. I’ve never met a man as comfortable in his body as Tristan, and that fact coupled with the physical result of his workouts gives him an air of confidence and raw masculinity.

Basically, an effortless Adonis.

He's also a total ladies’ man and a shameless pig. Or maybe that's just to me, since I assume there has to be a reason why women all fall into bed with him. Either way, he and I have been at each other's throats since the first day I stepped in the gym and he gave me directions to the ballet studio down the street.

"Of all the women I know, you're easily the least ladylike," he drawls.

I glare at him and push past, heading for the bathroom. "I guess that's really saying something, huh? God knows you've been with half the women in this city," I throw over my shoulder.

By the time I come out of the bathroom, he's sprawled on the couch and back to watching whatever MMA fight he was analyzing before I pounded on his door.

"Where's Jax?" I ask as I plop onto the loveseat next to the TV.

"Still out at happy hour," Tristan responds without even looking at me. I notice he's watching a UFC title fight, most likely analyzing the champ's fighting style for his own arsenal of skills.

I glance at my phone. "Jesus, still? It's 9pm. How much do those corporate assholes drink?" I throw my head back with a groan. "Look, Remy—" I immediately growl at the condescending tone, knowing I'm not going to like what's about to come out of his mouth. "I don't mind if you hang out until Jax comes back, but could you be a doll and shut the fuck up? I'm trying to work." He smiles sweetly. "Actually, I take that back, I do mind. Can you just wait for him in the kitchen like a good woman? Maybe make me dinner while you're in there."

I glare and launch a pillow directly at his head—which he deflects easily.

"I can't believe chauvinists like you still exist in this day and age. Hasn't the women's movement stomped you out yet?" I snarl. Then I pause, thinking of something. "Actually, what surprises me the most is that you still find women to sleep with you. Although I doubt the women you fuck even know the definition of chauvinist, so maybe that's my answer."

He chuckles and gives me an exaggerated once-over. "Everybody knows your hatred for me is just a cover for how badly you want to be under me," he says with a smirk.

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MY REVIEW
Remy and Tristan becoming temporary roommates is either going to be a disaster or...the best thing to happen to either of them.

Tristan just loves to annoy Remy. He can't help it, it brings him joy to get under the skin of the woman who calls him out on all his bs, the woman he wants as much (more) as he wants to make it into the UFC. When he finds out she's becoming his new roommate, it's not long before their mutual dislike gives way to mutual lust. But is that lust more than simply physical? Are there real feelings there? Or is Tristan's womanizing going to be too much of an obstacle for Remy to get past?

This is a great debut novel. Remy and Tristan's chemistry is seriously hot, their banter and snark is funny and witty, and the scenes with the fighting felt authentic and real. As this is a a debut, I can only imagine how much better her writing is going to get with each new release, and I can't wait!


About Nikki Castle
Nikki Castle is a 29 year old wife and bulldog mom who writes steamy love stories about alpha MMA fighters and the women that melt their badass, playboy hearts. She spends her days working for a technology company and her evenings running a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) gym with her husband, who is also a retired fighter.

Nikki has been writing in one way or another since she was a teenager. She pursued an English and Philosophy degree in college, and finally decided to sit down and fulfill her longtime dream of writing an entire novel when quarantine began in 2020.

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Amazon → https://www.amazon.com/Nikki-Castle/e/B095P6M2M8

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