This fight club has one rule: You must be a veteran…Loving her is the biggest fight of his life…Home from the Marines, Noah Cortez has a secret he doesn’t want his oldest friend, Kristina Moore, to know. It kills him to push her away, especially when he’s noticing just how sexy and confident she’s become in his absence. But, angry and full of fight, he’s not the same man anymore either. … same man anymore either. Which is why Warrior Fight Club sounds so good.
Kristina loves teaching, but she wants more out of life. She wants Noah–the boy she’s crushed on and waited for. Except Noah is all man now–in ways both oh so good and troubling, too. Still, she wants who he’s become–every war-hardened inch. And when they finally stop fighting their attraction, it’s everything Kristina never dared hope for.
But Noah is secretly spiraling, and when he lashes out, it threatens what he and Kristina have found. The brotherhood of the fight club helps him confront his demons, but only Noah can convince the woman he loves that he’s finally ready to fight for everything.
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The first in a series of books about military men and women struggling to return to a normal civilian life. For life-long friends Noah and Kristina, Noah’s medical discharge from the Marines did not mean a return to “business as usual.” As Kristina realizes that she loves Noah as more than a best friend, Noah realizes his feelings for Kristina also go beyond friendship. These feelings tangle up the relationship between the two to the point where Noah reaches rock bottom. A series of well orchestrated circumstances bring Noah into groups of other struggling veterans and back to Kristina. This book does not delve as deeply as some I’ve read into the medical and mental health problems of returned vets. For instance, the time-line of Noah’s return and partial acceptance of his circumstances is considerably shorter than what happen’s in real life. This novel is well-written with some sex bits to move the action along. Overall, this is a satisfying read, and a good introduction to what faces returning vets, their loved ones, friends, and communities.
This story stuck with me. People are broken by many things – it was beautiful to read about the healing.
Fighting for Everything is about a Marine, Noah Cortez, who returned from duty injured by a roadside IED; due to a traumatic brain injury, he is medically discharged. Noah lost his hearing and peripheral vision on one side of his body and suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome on top of other things. Noah is keeping all this a secret from his family and his best friend, Kristina Moore. He doesn’t want her pity, but he notices how Kristina has changed since he has been gone; she’s more sexy and confident. However, his anger and injuries keep him from acting upon his desires, that is until he connects with the fight club.
Laura Kaye takes her readers on an emotional journey following Noah and Kristina as they work through their love and friendship while Noah heals and recovers from his country’s service.
“Fighting for Everything” (Warrior Fight Club book #1) is a standalone sexy romantic adventure that is classic Laura Kaye. Laura is a new to me author (in 2020) and everything I’ve read from her has been beyond well-written and masterfully-crafted. “Fighting for Everything” is no exception. Kristina and Noah’s tale is absolutely beautiful; steamy, heart-warming, and heart-wrenching too. It’s a standalone with a believable and properly paced HEA.
I highly recommend reading!
Book one in the Warrior Fight Club series. Can be read and enjoyed as stand-alone. Told in dual POV with HEA. The Warrior Fight Club is a place where active military or veterans can use MMA as a form of therapy and camaraderie. Noah and Kristina have been neighbors and best friends for over 20 years. Very emotional story about Noah’s struggle to adjust to civilian life after his injuries and discharge from the Marines 7 months ago. Kristina wants more than friendship and to help Noah any way she can. I loved their story, it was heartbreaking and sad but so realistic and well written!
Ohhh, I really liked this one. It was a bit different, and a good best friends to lovers storyline. Andi did a great job narrating
5 Stars for “Fighting for Everything”
I loved this introduction to the “Warrior Fight Club” series. My emotions were all over the place while reading this book. I laughed, I cried, I was frustrated and so much more. I would highly recommend this read to everyone.
Fighting for Everything in its core is a story about PTSD, traumatic brain injury and about the re-acclimatization of a soldier into the civil life after experiencing the battlefield.
Ms Kaye actually does a beautiful job taking us in the mind of Noah and everything he feels – what he thinks are his shortcomings, both his physical and mental pain and his struggle to picture what he thinks others think of him. Noah is angry – at the world, at himself and he is struggling to find a positive outlet for it. He is tired of talking about what he went through with his shrink, he doesn’t want to burden his family with his mental anguish and that is creating a strain in his family life. The only time he finds a resemblance of normalcy is when he’s with Kristina. Kristina knows him inside and out, they have been best friends since both were little. But even then, Noah struggles with his attraction towards Kristina thinking he can’t be her everything.
Kristina has dealt with taking care of a mentally ill family member all her life. Her father suffers from schizophrenia, so she knows the suffering one goes through. She wants to help Noah, not only as a friend but also his lover. But even their long friendship is not enough to break the wall the Noah has created around his mind.
The writing is flawless, and Ms Kennedy has delved into the mind a trauma victim. Through Kristina, Ms Kennedy has shows us alternative methods that are available in society for these souls to find outlets of their anguish.
The story was almost perfect, but he only drawback to me was his introduction to the fight club. As I kept getting towards the end of the book, I kept thinking to myself: Is there a book to this? This can’t end this abruptly! Noah’s recovery though fighting at the club could have been explored a lot more than in the few last chapters. Also, his reconnecting with Kristina needed a few more chapters, and what happened after they reconnect would have made the story better.
But overall, this is a really good read, and I would completely recommend reading this. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the standalone of this series.
Laura has done it again!! I could not put this story down!! Every feeling bled through the page and hit me square in the heart! I smiled and laughed, and ached and cried. I lived every moment right with Noah and Kristina. Another great start to a new series! Can’t wait for more.
4 stars – It was really good
Noah Cortez is struggling to return to civilian life. He is angry and struggling to cope with his loss of hearing, sight, and other issues caused by a TBI. He doesn’t want his best friend, Kristina Moore, to know how bad things are for him, especially since he can’t stop thinking about how attracted he is to her.
This was a wonderful and emotional start for the series. Noah’s struggle with his physical and mental illnesses were so emotional and heartbreaking. Laura Kaye did an amazing job portraying how PTSD and mental illness can affect someone, especially a veteran. Noah doesn’t want to push his best friend away but he feels too broken and unworthy of her. His struggle to overcome his newfound feelings for Kristina, and deal with his illnesses and injuries was so emotionally powerful.
Krisitina was a great friend. She tries to always be there for Noah,, even after he keeps pushing her away. They have been friends since childhood but the military has changed Noah. She finds herself attracted to him for the first time and struggles to deal with her new feelings, and the fear of ruining her friendship. I adored the struggles these two faced to make their relationship work. It was heartbreaking, and at times felt like it wasn’t going to happen, but it just made the whole story more believable and emotional.
My favorite part of this book is that it shows alternative therapies and how important seeking help is. I loved how supportive all the people in the Warrior Fight Club were and how they didn’t let Noah get too lost in his head. They stuck with him and made sure he would survive and not be one of the 22 veterans who suicide every day.
This was a great book and I can’t wait to read the rest, especially since Laura Kaye writes very emotional and hard hitting stories, especially the ones about veterans.
Trigger Warnings:
– PTSD
– Depression
– Violent and aggressive episodes
– Reference to veterans suicide
– Kristinia does go on a date with another man
Sexy and emotional; had me in tears, had my heart clenching. Wonderful job touching on the issues war veterans deal with, and some of the therapies that help.
There were powerful lessons presented in Fighting for Everything, and Noah fought hard to save himself by recognizing how crucial to his survival these lessons were. The push and pull between he and Kristina was heartbreaking, but Kristina was the light to help guide Noah to see his (their) bright future. (I love this aspect of reading romance, don’t you?)
Laura Kaye sure has a knack for writing damaged and redeemable heroes worthy of admiration and swooning. She really does.
“I don’t want perfect, Noah. I just want my best friend. I just want you.”
Sweet, sexy, poignant best friends-to-lovers romance. Noah and Kristina’s romance is beautifully written and so true to real life. I think LK is one of the best military-themed contemporary romance writers (her Hard Ink series is one of my favorites) and once again she delivers sexy, sweet, humor, tears, hope, healing, and fantastic characters in Fighting for Everything. Looking forward to more in the series!
“This tattoo is about me, because I had to fix myself before I could do or have or be anything else. But this tattoo is also about you, because you were my reason, my inspiration, my hope against hope.”
3.5 stars
* 4.5 emotional & steamy stars *
Fighting for Everything (Warrior Fight Club, #1) by Laura Kaye is a contemporary, friends to lovers, military romance told in dual POV. As the first book I’ve read by this author, I was not disappointed at all. The story was both touching and compelling as it drew me into what was happening with the characters right from the very beginning.
Both characters were strong and very likeable. Noah, a marine corp vet with PTSD and a TBI, is struggling with several issues while adjusting to life after being medically discharged. Kristina, his best friend since childhood, is striving to reconnect and support this man who seems so broken, changed, and detached. After 20 years of platonic friendship, both are wrestling with the confusion of their newfound chemistry and rising sexual tension.
The book explores some very difficult and true to life struggles that military veterans face when reacclimating into civilian life. It also presents various resources and therapies available. The alternating points of view are a vital element providing depth and emotional connection. Through Noah, we experience the turmoil of battling the haunting demons of war; and through Kristina, we gain insight into the helplessness of loving someone through these struggles.
A touching story about pain, healing, transition, lifelong friendship and love.
I look forward to reading more in this series.
* I voluntarily read an ARC and provided my honest review. *
Great start to a new series, I’m not surprised because I really enjoyed the author’s Hard Ink and Raven Rider series. Noah, the hero, reminds me of some of the characters in the Hard Ink series, not so much his back story but the way he talks and carries himself. Kris is a great heroine, tender and kind but strong and so honest with herself and Noah. Noah suffers from PTSD and a TBI, and the author does an excellent job depicting how hard it is to live with and be in relationship with someone with both conditions. I felt so bad for Noah but as he struggles with his feelings for Kris, who has been his best friend for 20 years I was also getting really pissed at him and felt like yelling: GET SOME HELP!!! Fortunately he finally sees the light when he participates in an art therapy class for wounded vets and joins a fight club for vets.
I loved the chemistry between Noah and Kris and there are some real tender moments when you’ll need some tissue. Great secondary characters too, I already preordered the next book but I hope her friend Kate gets her own book as well as Mo!
This story was truly everything. It takes us into a part of the disabled veterans world and what they are going through. Nothing was sugar coated as Kristina and Noah fought long and hard for each other. This story touched me.
Fighting for Everything is the first book in Laura Kaye’s new Warrior Fight Club series! Noah and Kristen were a fabulous way to start! This novel was heartbreaking, intense, and fulfilling. Noah and Kristen are best friends that are trying to find there footing in their friendship once Noah comes home from surviving our country. Noah is dealing with some PTSD as well as physical health limitations due to his time in the Marines. While Kristen is just trying to be there for the closes person in her life. When lines are crossed from friendship to more then friends, they have to figure out how to navigate these new grounds they’ve stumble into. With the help of Kristen, Noah begins to fight for finding a new normal as he rediscovers civilian life. As he fights for himself, the girl he left behind becomes vital to his well-being and he’ll have to figure out how to fight to get everything he never knew he needed but had all along. I loved reading Fighting for Everything and can’t wait to read more from this series as soon as it’s released! I would give it 5 stars!
I love this book so much. Friends to lovers is a story that I find myself drawn to. Laura Kaye tells the story of Kristina and Noah. Best friends growing up with an underlying of attraction until they come together after Noah returns from his deployment injured and feeling broken. The minute Kristina walked into the picnic and sees Noah the sparks flew. The attraction was there and there could be no doubt that something had changed. While they jumped right into exploring the attraction there wasn’t an insta-relationship. They fought it, they pushed it away, and they worked hard to figure out how they could come together without losing what was so important to them.
Fighting for Everything is a romance book but it is also the story of a soldier coming home from deployment different from how he left. It is the story of PTSD and how it affects not only the soldier but those who love him. It is also a story of people, strangers, coming together and pushing each other to find themselves again. The story of other retired military who have gone through what Noah is going through and helping others.
This is a heart breaking, heart warming, wonderful, eye-opening story. I am excited for more from the Warrior Fight Club.
Wow. Sometimes all I can start with is Wow.
Laura Kaye has a pulse on the wounded soldier, as first evidenced by her Hard Ink Series and now with WFC. A deep, passionate understanding for not only our veterans, but also still currently active military, that bleeds off the pages is what makes her writing rise above.
Everything Laura Kaye writes is magic.
Noah Cortez is a broken man. Physically and mentally.
He’s returned from active duty a shell of his former self, partially blind, deaf, and with a brain injury to round out his winning list of traits. Why is that in the winning list? He’s so full of resentment, guilt, anger, bitterness, self-loathing, the list goes on so long that Noah can’t see past his deep depression to even begin digging out of his hole.
Unfortunately for him, the one bright spot in his life happens to be his best friend, Kristina Moore, and she is the one person who seems to be the salve to his wrecked body. The girl he’s known for twenty years and happily friend zoned. He can’t cross that zone. He shouldn’t cross that zone. He wants to cross that zone. He knows crossing that zone will wreck them both. He’s not good enough for her, he needs to keep her at arms length, but it’s so hard to fight when he’s so tired of fighting.
“Noah was well on his way to actually becoming nothing.”
Kristina Moore has known Noah almost her entire life. He’s been there for every major event in her life and knew all about the troubles with her own family’s mental illness. When she saw Noah for the first time upon his return home, she can tell he’s still not 100%, but she had no idea the reaction she’d experience once Noah held her close. No longer were his touches friendly. Gone was the boy she knew and replaced with a hard chiseled body of a man. A man who touched her like a woman and Kristina suddenly found herself lusting after her friend in not so friendly ways.
“No other man had ever driven her to such great distraction, and no man ever had invaded her dreams this way.”
Noah and Kristina have a devastating path to climb before they can reach a HEA. Kristina wants to fix Noah. Noah doesn’t believe he can be fixed. Yes, you would think it’s the typical cycle, but not in a case where someone is suffering like Noah is suffering. This story is truly heartbreaking on both sides to read knowing they are both fighting for what their version of right is. Sometimes you have to walk away and lose it all before you can get back up and fight for everything.
This is the first book in the WFC series and after meeting some of the other characters, this series is going to be AMAZING!!!
Books are supposed to destroy your soul, right? Well Fighting for Everything certainly did that to me. This book wrecked my heart and then slowly put the pieces back together. I’m a huge fan of friends to lovers plot and this book had that on steroids. Noah and Kristina have been friends for years but Noah’s time in the military has left him with demons. As they reunite, their relationship changes from friendship to much more. However, Noah’s PTSD and demons desperately need to be faced. While Kristina supports and loves him, Noah is forced to face his issues on his own. This is a love story between Noah and Kristina and I adore that but it is mostly a story of Noah learning to love himself and that is even more beautiful. Laura Kaye addresses issues facing veterans today in a heartrendingly accurate and sensitive manner. If you read only one book this month, I hope that it is Fighting for Everything.