Tap Out

BTU Alumni, Book 2

By: Alley Ciz

Narrated by: Zara Knight, Eric Umstott

Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

What would you do if you came face-to-face with your celebrity crush?

Rocky Steele is surrounded by professional athletes.

It’s her job. As a physical therapist in a world renowned gym, she works with the best of the best, from hockey players to MMA fighters. Celebrity status does not impress her. Nor do big, strong men in peak physical condition. Nope. When it comes to her job, she’s 100 percent professional.

Enter Gage James. Her celebrity crush. And the newest fighter to train in her gym. Where it will be her job to put her hands on every inch of the six foot seven, 260 pounds of utter Alpha male perfection. She’s got this.... Maybe. Gage "The Kraken" James is the reigning MMA Heavyweight Champion.

When he walks into The Steele Maker for the first time, it’s like he’s hit with a one-two punch to the chest in the form of a certain raven haired firecracker. His coach’s daughter. His physical therapist. His every waking thought.

He’s in for the fight of his life. The stakes are higher...outside the octagon.

Time to release The Kraken.

Game on.

Tap Out is the second book in the BTU Alumni Series and can be listened to as a stand-alone. All your favourites return as a new cast of characters joins in on the fun. Prepare for major #squadgoals as you get your first peek inside The Coven. This book features a hella sexy UFC champ, feisty besties, the most awesome coffee house ever, and a heroine who can fight her own battles, thank you very much. Time to touch gloves, HEA guaranteed.

©2019 Alley Ciz (P)2020 Alley Ciz

Enjoyable

A great narration done on this one. I enjoyed. And the narrators did a great job with all of the different people talking.

Spicy Sports Romance

There is nothing I love more than a bad ass, take no bull, strong FMC and Rocky is just that! She can hold her own against scumbag men and that's exactly what she's doing when she catches the eye of MMA fighter Gage, aka The Kraken (I mean c'mon, I'm swooning already!) Add in an incredible community of supportive women in the Coven, hilarious side characters, and a little family drama because her dad is his new trainer...Alley had me HOOKED!

Loved it

I loved this book. I think fighter love stories are my new favorite. It’s so worth the credit!

A wonderful surprise

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. I usually read dark romances with tons of dramatic issues between meeting and the happy ending. I didn't realize how much anxiety those books gave me! Because I kept expecting misunderstandings and lack of communication that would lead to issues. But this was an honest, easy, amazing, love story. I loved this story it was honestly a breath of fresh air. Plus the interactions between all the characters were hilarious.

Gage and Rocky

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and these characters. Both main characters had strength and integrity. Rocky's dad irked me with some of his stupid rules, but at least he was smart enough to say yes to Gage. I didn't want this to end. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator did a great job bringing it to life.

this book was great

the story was very well written and the characters were super well developed. the author made a very rich world that had a lot of distinct personalities in this full cast book. I mean there were a lot of characters as a lot of interactions happened with a group of friends. and the author gave each character an unique voice where just by the dialogue I knew who was speaking. so that made the narrator's performance that much better because they were able to pick up the nuances of these different characters. I think that right there in its self is proof to a great author narrator combo. as for the couple I like them together. they were very cute and I didn't have any like reservations about them getting together. I really did want them to get together.

the only thing I did not like is this author wanted to do a slow burn, but because these characters were around each other all the time and they lived in the same building, there's really no reason why intimacy shouldn't have happened between them a lot sooner.

it seemed a little too obvious as a reader that the author was gone for a slow-burn but they made stupid Interrupters or stupid things that kept it at bay. it was just a little too thin. it would have been more believable if they didn't live in the same building. or even though they lived in the same building the character should have had more Hang-Ups on hooking up.

the H new sleeping with her could complicate things but he didn't really seem to care because he pursued her openly and didn't try to be discreet in the least bit. but the h had a big hang up on not getting involved with Fighters but then she decided she's going to do a one time with him. which is great but then the author made all these weird dances between them that should have resulted in somebody getting laid.

don't get me wrong I love a good slow burn but this was not done well in that particular area. that's my only negative about this book but I still recommend it.

Favorite of this series!

I absolutely loved technically book 3 (if you read/listen to Sammy’s story before this) of this BTU series. I was a little sad to move away from the hockey main theme in the beginning BUT I was so wrong. I loved the characters in this story, especially getting to know more of the side characters from the previous books. I was very overwhelmed after the epilogue in book 1 with all the newbies mentioned but this helped cement them in my head and I cannot wait to jump into the next book!

We get to meet Rocky’s fighter crush right off the bat at the bar when she stood up for herself and her bestie and the chemistry from the get-go was fabulous. I loved how strong Rocky was but underneath it all she had imposter syndrome and not feeling like she was ever good enough/being put first by someone. I loved how once Gage was committed he didnt look back. I was worried there was going to be a 3rd act break-up when things went down with Rocky’s dad but Gage was amazing and I want one of him for myself haha. He is probably my favorite of the guys so far and I know I am going to need to get the physical book for this one. I loved getting to know Rocky’s bestie and her brother, seeing Gage’s family and adding more to this expanding found family. I laughed and smirked so much with this one. I usually don’t finish audiobooks of this length so quickly, and I was super sad to see the time tick down, not gonna lie. I wanted to stay in their love story forever ❤️

I highly recommend this series and I would definitely not treat these as standalones because you get a better pictures of the coven and all the characters if you start from the beginning. I also loved all the cameos in this one and the younger siblings are growing up!!! I was happy we got some explanations about Ryan and Maddie, and our Rocky and Jace. I was confused in previous books about that. I loved the book clubs, the rituals with the fights, how much of sports romance this one felt, I could go on and on. So good!!!

Narration was great from these 2 narrators I havent heard of before. I listened to them at 1.5-1.6x speed and it was perfect for me. I felt the emotion when Rocky doubted herself, when her dad felt small and not significant enough to treat her with respect when decision making, when Gage was dealing with his feelings and being showing up for Rockey. Oh and the IG post and declaring her his gf was so swoonworthy, butterflies in my stomach. Also all the animosity with the bad fighter who was upset he lost the title. The way we all wanted him to get some karmic justice and for Gage to knock him out was done well. And the way Rocky called out Vince on his take downs was so funny, the way the performances were done with those scenes elevated this audiobook and I couldnt give it less than 5 stars 😍

sweet contemporary MMA romance

I really enjoyed this one. There is a rich story here full of interesting characters. The business side of MMA is very involved, I love when books delve into the subjects there characters are interested in deeper. the secondary characters can be a little challenging to keep up with. However this is the only book I have read by this author and I have a feeling if I read some of their other books I would feel a little more connected to the secondary characters. There is so much to love in this book. It has an aspect of forbidden romance (not taboo but forbidden), great sibling banter, wonderful friends and secondary characters and lots of steamy times. I would recommend this book especially if you are looking for something with high heat and low angst. looking forward to the rest of the series. the audio production was very well done as well.

girl power !

What happens when your crush starts training at your family business and it's your job to put your hands all over him? Rocky & Gage have insta lust for eachother but they need to stick with the 'hands off ' policy... until they don't.
I enjoyed this book by a new to me author and loved the supporting characters which made this book that much more fun! I think I loved the 'coven ' the most and looking for the application to join! Their text exchanges were hysterical. Looking forward to reading more about this crew!
Narrators were new to me and although they were good, they sounded more like they were just reading the book instead of acting it out through their voices.
There was some hot scenes in this book and a HEA you'll love.

I LOVED IT!

I loved it! This book was full of drama, humor and romance! The narration was great and kept me entertained! The author did a great job with the character builds and plot! This was my first book by this author but definitely not my last! I look forward to reading more books in this series! I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.