Tulsa, Oklahoma, 2000.Fernando “Ox” Sanchez spent more than two decades as an enforcer in the Brazen Bulls MC before he was named to take the Vice President flash from a brother lost in club turmoil. In the time since, as Ox has settled into his place at their president’s side, the club has cleaned out festering wounds and begun to heal.The Bulls are strong and growing, their work is expanding, … work is expanding, and Ox’s life with his old lady is perfect. Their love has never wavered in fifteen years, their lust for each other still burns hot, and together, they’ve made a home that is a sanctuary from their past and their present.
Life is good. But Ox came from nothing, and scraped for years just to get by. He’s lived long enough to know better than to take the good times for granted.
Madonna “Maddie” Donne met Ox when she was at her lowest, and with him at her side, she’s climbed to heights of success and power matched only by the Bulls. After spending her whole life fighting for survival, she built herself up from that nothing, and Ox offered his shoulders for her to climb on when she couldn’t reach alone.
Together, they’ve built a beautiful life. But that beauty won’t protect them from the fight they’re about to face.
When Ox, named for his size and brute power, takes ill, he and Maddie will need every ounce of strength and resolve, every moment of love and trust, to fight the battle before them now.
Note: explicit sex and violence.
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I rarely shed a tear in real life, this story though took me on a roller coaster of emotions. Ms Fanetti brought me to tears, left me with a lump in my throat, made me smile and most importantly showed me the beauty of love and how precious it is.
Susan does it every time this book will tear your heart out but it also shows you the tender side of a MC series.
Ox and Maddie are perfect together. To be able to see into their hearts is a precious gift. I just re-read this book and ugly cried. I wouldn’t call it a HEA and both main characters will just get into your soul.
And during everything that is going on you still get to see the o ther Bulls which I love. A must read. One of my all time favorites.
Not the beginning but the end of an unforgettable love story
*contains some spoilers*
Susan Fanetti is one of those authors who can write anything and I know I’m gonna love it, regardless of the genre or the trope. I’ve had Fight on my Kindle since the day it released, but after I read the author’s note I just couldn’t read it, but I had to get myself into the right frame of mind to tackle it. Don’t misunderstand me, it’s beautiful, but at the same time so heart-wrenchingly sad that I about cried my way halfway thru it. It’s an epic love story of two people who in different ways both had a difficult start in life but through grit and will managed to carve out a place for themselves in this world that is hostile to people who are different. They meet when they are adults, both in their thirties and having already experienced more than their fair share of the dark side of life. It’s essentially love at first sight. When we get to meet them, they are already middle aged and their love story and early live is told in flashback, because this book is not about the beginning of their story, but about the end.
Fernando “Ox” Sanchez, a mountain of a man and the scary enforcer of the Brazen Bulls MC has never been ill a day in his life when all of a sudden he is beset by steadily growing pains. Macho man that he is he thinks it’s just an ulcer and proceeds to ignore it until the night he collapses and is diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. After having witnessed firsthand the slow and torturous death of his father from liver cancer that turned him from a vital man into a grumpy shadow of his former self Ox swore to himself that he would never go thru the same thing. But Maddie is not ready to let go of the love of her life and makes him fight. Ox is also not ready to let go and so agrees to try chemo but the aggressive treatment is worse than he thought, but he endures it stoically, until it almost kills him. Then they try radiation, with much the same results, and they come to the conclusion that they don’t want to spend the remaining time of Ox’ life with him suffering. So he stops treatment and they pack up and go to the place in Mexico on the beach where they were carefree and happy at the beginning of their love, enjoying haggling at the market, cooking, observing beautiful sunrises and making slow languorous love.
Although both Ox and Maddie appeared as secondary characters in previous installments of the series they never struck me as particularly likable and Ox behaved once or twice in a way that made me rather dislike him. But whereas before he was just part of the fabric of the club now we learn about his humble origins and the way he fought his way out of poverty and turned himself into the man we have come to know. I think his relationship with Mads is one of the most poignant love stories Susan Fanetti has ever written, how this strong, stoic man deferred his own needs and wishes to give Maddie everything she wanted and needed. I loved how they and their love was enough unto itself. After seeing all the club women pop out babies left and right it was so refreshing to for once meet a woman (and a man) who didn’t feel the need to procreate.
As much as this book is about death and the end of life, it is also about living every moment and experiencing joy, sadness, tragedy and love to the fullest of one’s ability till the end. An unforgettable tale of love and struggle: 5+++ stars.
Fight is the perfect title for Ox and Maddie’s story. This is a difficult and emotional story to read mainly because of the subject matter and knowing the outcome won’t have a happy ending. Ox and Maddie’s love story is a wonderful and beautiful one and that’s also why it was so hard to read Fight. Their love is irrevocable and despite what the future has in store for them that will never change. These two characters changed each other’s lives for the better. The Brazen Bulls also shows what their club stands for. It’s a family and they’re loyal and supportive especially in their most darkest times.
I can easily feel in the words and the story that this is a subject that hit close to home for the author. She depicts the good and the bad equally and doesn’t hold back which is also why the emotional impact is so intense. I don’t read these kind of book because of the subject but I’m a huge fan of this series and knew the author would give Ox and Maddie a worthy send off and she delivered.
4 Forever and Ever Stars
One of the best books I’ve ever read; you really need to read the whole Brazen Bull series to really appreciate the book. I read the preface to the book so I knew the story was about dealing with a serious illness with a loved one but I was still not prepared for the depth of both the love and anguish in the story. I am so glad I read the story and I absolutely loved Maddie and Ox’s story but I also cried thru the last third of the book. As always, Susan paints an honest picture of what it’s like to go thru a devastating illness with a loved one.
Yet, while there is sorrow in this story, there’s also great joy as Ox and Maddie’s love weathers every storm, where they are clearly loved and cherished by members of the Bulls MC and as we see a changing of the guard beginning to occur between the original members of the MC and the younger generation who will one day take their place as leaders of the club. I was also really proud of the way Susan handled the racism that comes up in the story, it wasn’t the main focus of the book but it was realistic and what I thought was an accurate portrayal of how some MC’s feel about people from racial ethnic backgrounds.
This book is riveting and will keep you up until the wee hours, once I started it I couldn’t stop until I finished it. I will never forget this book and I will never forget the love that Maddie and Ox have for each other, it’s one of the most beautiful love stories I’ve ever read.
I’m an emotional reader. I want the hard feelings. The dark parts of human nature. There’s something I stay away from though, usually. Because of personal feelings I find easier to keep buried. A no-go topic if you will. Five years ago however, when Susan Fanetti’s writing first changed my life, I vowed I’d read the phone book if she re-wrote it. I have never been more proud to keep that vow.
Fight encompasses what true love looks like when faced with the most dangerous, degrading, awful battle of one’s life. How do we survive it? What does this battle look like for us, for our partner? Where do we go from here? This book is a warm blanket wrapped around the intense fight for life and how true love should still shine despite the constant uphill haul to some kind of freedom from the heart break. It’s the beautifully passionate fight of this couples life. It’s a vital chapter to the Brazen Bulls story in so many unique ways.
This book gave me strength to dig back into old wounds I didn’t even realize I had, to uncover those buried feelings. To take something that impacted me so much, changed my whole life and see it through someone else’s eyes. To look at things in a different light. To remember more fondly. To cry tears I never knew I needed to shed. It refreshed me to see some of my own thoughts reflected back through Ox and Maddie’s love. It made me strive to be a better partner. And to re-avow that my partnership has the strength, should we ever need it, to be this full of love even in despair. My faith in the intangible became a little stronger.
And my unwavering belief in this author’s gift has never been stronger. Thank you, Susan Fanetti, as always for giving the world your stories and these characters, all of your cool, all of your unfiltered emotions, and all of your steadfast honesty even when it hurts.