I really liked this book, but I felt that there were lulls in the story that needed some help.. However I found this to be really enjoyable and entertaining and would recommend.

I was so excited to get a copy of The Knockout Rule! Even though it's taken me awhile to get to reading it, I'm so glad I finally did. This is a classic slow-burn romance, focused on physiotherapy, Isla, and a boxing coach, Preston Church. All the characters are really well developed, and this doesn't feel at all like a cheesy romance. Definitely recommend!

I really enjoyed The Knockout Rule! The characters were really likable and the storyline sucked me in quickly. . It was fun to read about Isla & Bricks connection and watch their romance grow. If you’re looking for a quick & fun read, the Knockout Rule is a great choice!

Did not click with the heroine who was so snobbish, judgemental, and at times utterly unlikeable. Felt like it was a punishment for such a nice guy like Eric to have to put up with such a harsh person as Isla. It did not feel like a romance, sadly, with way too much emphasis on their families (and what was it with mentioning her father's name as his stage name every single time?)

I really wanted to love this story but I think hopping into the middle of this authors series was definitely not my best idea. I am also not the biggest fan of slow burn romances. There was a little bit too move POV of Islas inner dialog and not enough interaction between Isla and Eric

I thought the premise of the book was great, and I love a good sports romance, but I have mixed feelings about boxing. The writing was good but I felt that the characters only scratched the surface. It was a quick read, 3 stars. I liked it but wouldn’t reread it.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book is part of a series, which I didn't know upon requesting it. I didn't immediately feel I had missed out on anything from not having read the preceeding volumes.

I've never read a book featuring a boxer but I enjoyed this portrayal. There was amazing chemistry between Isla and Preston and I would definitely read on further about them.

I found this to be an enjoyable read, keeping me on my toes throughout. The storyline was written well and flowed seamlessly. I look forward to reading more by this author!

I enjoyed this book. Loved how much Eric loved his family and that he would risk it all just to make their lives easier. This one was definitely my favourite in the series

Isla and Brick story Otis neve heartwarming funny classic love story nicely written and mostly catching
Ilsa after a difficult beginning became. Better and better and got feeling with her
Brick agent with his coaching wooing lessons is something else
The third person telling and the too too too much poetry made me struggle
3.26 stars
I just reviewed The Knockout Rule by Kelly Siskind. #TheKnockoutRule #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

This one is part of a series or can be read as a standalone. The story covers Isla who has grown up with a famous boxer as a father now wants nothing to do with the sport, until a handome boxer enters her life. This one was OK but I would not read again.

If you are looking out for a book that will stir your heart and leave you sleepless, then definitely this is a great choice. Emotional and witty, The Knockout Rule will nail you down to the pages from beginning to end...
Isla and Eric story will definitely stay with me for a long while...
The writing is so perfectly balanced, with the right amount of details and all the feels, not to mention seamlessly paced. Both the main and secondary characters are greatly built and likeable.
All in all, a perfect choice for every romance reader.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. Sports romance is nee for me, and I did enjoy this as a light breezy read for a change. The lead characters are charmingly written, and I love how they work through their own issues and come to terms with their feelings. Its cute, and great for readers looking to dive into a character driven romantic story.

Kelly Siskind's books are FUN!!

Loved Eric and Isla's story. I shipped them so bad. The characters are all so lovely, which was refreshing. The father-daughter relationship is beautiful. And the poems...just...wow. So many emotions. But most of all, I liked how this novel shows what it's like to live with anxiety.

Also, I really really hope we'll read more about Preston and Heather. I think they would be a perfect fit

Thanks to NetGalley for this Arc. This story had a *tonne* of emotional weight, and possibly the most legit baggage behind "we can't be together" that I've ever read. Plus, while the major conflict was relatively easily resolved in a bit of a "duh" moment, the mental hurdles and depth of conversation needed to get there rang very human and true.

I'm not a huge fan of sports romances, but while boxing was pretty much ever-present in various ways, the way it was handled it was part of the fabric of the story, and it wasn't a *sports* story. In good part that is because of both Isla and Eric's perspectives on the sport.

Both main characters had a tonne of depth and were interesting people on their own, and great chemistry together. I would have liked to see more of best friend Heather, but who knows, maybe she'll get a future story. Could make for a great foodie romance. And while she is the wacky bestie, I don't think she was SO extra that she couldn't work as a main character. Same with Preston, actually... or Rosa...

Aaaaaanyway, I appreciated how the story developed so that the MCs' relationship development was very much an escape and falling into each other. And while both were living through things and doing things they didn't want to, they had such good, sacrificial motivations that you got it, even while you wanted to grab and shake them, Eric especially. While the story was largely from Isla's perspective, I find Eric to be the more three-dimensional character. These are very much characters who are the sum of their (life) parts.

The bogeyman of Eric's big match pops in and out of the story, but I admit the way it was used told me exactly how it was going to go. I think Isla's dad should have had more to do with his own story, so to speak, at the end, but it was also pretty clear why things were handled the way they were. And I respect that some HEAs just can't tie up every problem, cuz that's life.

The Knockout Rule was a fun sports romance to read. I found some of Isla's expectations for her relationship to be a little one sided, but this was still a great book. Lots of steam too.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of this book!

This one really surprised me. I have not seen it much on Bookstagram, and I had no idea what to expect. I was so pleasantly surprised! This book is super sweet, funny, and heartbreaking. The MC suffers from panic attacks, stemmed from the abandonment of her mother as well as her father’s dangerous career as a boxer. Her career is focused around the rehabilitation of athletes, but she swears she won’t ever work with boxers, because it’s so triggering for her.

Then her dad calls her and asks her to leave the practice she is just about to open to travel to Vegas to help one of his athletes, a famous boxer with a big fight ahead of him, for six weeks. This changes everything!

I liked this story. It wasn't a totally typical Romance. I loved that the situation the characters were in wasn't the norm. You don't usually think of boxing and Romance but the author Knocked it out!

The synopsis of this book pulled me in and definitely lived up to expectations. I love sports romances but have never read a boxing romance so it was nice to finally check off that box! This also had a really interesting twist on the sub-genre that I really enjoyed.

We follow our main character Isla, who is the daughter of a profound ex-boxer. After seeing how boxing not only destroyed her family but also the physical impacts it had on her dad, she made one rule for herself — no dating or working with a boxer. She works as a physiotherapist to help other athletes with the brutality put on their body and opened her own practice to make sure she never had any clients that were boxers.

When her dad reveals to her that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, cause by his career in boxing he asks her to help as a cover up and physiotherapist on a six weeks trip to Vegas. He will be training the lightweight championship contender Brick and she feels compelled to go. What she didn't know was that behind the public persona of a grunting, barbarian brute lives a poetry loving and highly intellectual man.

I loved Isla and Eric in this so much and how Kelly Siskind was able to create such complex characters. Boxing is what Eric needs to survive. Not because he loves it but because he has to take care of his family and boxing provides money without a degree. The same sports is Isla's bane of existence and causes her immense anxiety. They stood at an impossible crossroads, but their chemistry was just too intense to pass up.

The mental health journey that was explored in here was so amazing, and I didn't know it would dive into such serious topics like immigration, supporting a family, divorce, panic attacks, and Parkinson's, but I think they were all handled so well without making the book too deep. Kelley Siskind achieved a lighthearted book that explored serious topics.

I did have a couple issues that made me knock the book down a star. I didn't like the whole plot line with Preston just because I think it made the book too long. It was a bit repetitive and the whole mid-section could have been cut down by 50ish pages. I also felt like at times this book tried a little too hard to be poetic but other times it really hit perfectly.

I love how the characters both changed their perspectives on live because of the other, and the came to a compromise. Their love wasn't easy, and they really had to work for it. Their love was extremely beautiful, and the writing was extremely brilliant.

What a beautiful read with original characters! Isla is a physiotherapist whose intimate history with boxing (her father was a heavy weight champion) left her with debilitating anxiety attacks. Eric is an up-and-coming boxing contender in need of a physiotherapist for an anticipated fight. The fact he has brains as well as brawn is so sexy! I appreciated the way the author handled mental illness with compassion. I enjoyed reading the interplay between these characters as they went from antagonists to friends to lovers. Prepare for some steam! While I’m not typically a fan of poetry, Ramona Estle has just changed that for me. Too bad she is fiction. I’m hoping Isla’s friend, Heather gets a story.