Sick Heart by J.A. Huss

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

DARK MMA FIGHTER ROMANCE

Cort van Breda has won 35 death matches as a fighter in an MMA circuit so deep underground there are no rules and only the winner gets out alive. 

They call him the Sick Heart.

They say he’s a shameless monster.

They say he’s a ruthless killer.

They say he’s as twisted as the man who owns him. 
They say a lot of things about Cort van Breda.
But in our world violence is money, and money is winning, and winning is life, and life is the only thing that matters. 

Except… he wasn’t meant to win that last fight.
And I wasn’t meant to be his prize.

But he did.

And I am.

And now his sick heart owns me.

Sick Heart

Very compelling story!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙💚💜❤️💖
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌏🌎
Character development: 😟🙁😌😅😍
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Dual Narration

The Hero: Cort Van Breda (a.k.a. Sick Heart) – he is tall, handsome, has short dark hair and is covered in tattoos. He is every bit as dangerous as he looks. He is the reigning champion of underground MMA fights, undefeated in fight to the death matches for 22 years (since age 5).

The heroine: Anya – her father and his ilk are very interested in the underground MMA fight scene. Anya likes to see the underground MMA fights but is not at all interested in capturing Cort Van Breda’s eye. Any man that has survived as long as he has without having some issues in the head. He is fighting his last fight tonight, now that he is 27 years old. There are no rules and Cort isn’t favored in the fight. Anya’s father owns the opponent, Pavel, and plans to win.

The Story: The fight takes place on a ship, an oil rig that has yet to be put in place. It is serving as a hotel for the underground fight. It is owned by Anya’s father and Cort’s Father (owner). The 2.8-billion-dollar ship is not just the ring for the fight, but is also the prize, as is Anya. If Pavel wins, Cort’s Father will be knocked down from owning 81% of the shares of the ship to 49%. The ship is basically a floating city and generates an obscene amount of both legitimate and illegitimate money each year. So, this fight is the most important in all of their lives.

Pavel reveals something right before the fight. He reveals that Cort doesn’t ever talk in public, the same as Anya, she never speaks. Pavel is determined to win, and rumors say that he has a weapon hid somewhere near the ring. Right before the fight, Pavel punches Anya right in the mouth, laying her out on the ground. Then the fight begins. This is a very dark world, the crowd cheers after Pavel hits Anya. I can’t imagine that happening today, even in the underground like this. I think (or hope) the crowd would completely turn on a MMA fighter who does that.

The only reason that Anya wants Pavel to win is because she knows that he has other women, he has been fighting for women since he was 12 years old. Also, because if he wins, she doesn’t think he would give her out to other men, like she expects would happen if Cort wins. Plus, he is a known entity even if he does treat her like crap. Though just when Pavel is about to win, Anya does something that changes all their lives forever.

I have to say that this world is pretty cruel and depressing, the series name Sick World is certainly apt. Both the Hero and heroine are slaves and have been since they were children, and the lives of child slaves are about as bad as they can possibly be. Though there are secrets and mysteries which exist in the background, and they come out very slowly. Even though Cort won his freedom and only has to do one more session of training camp for his father before he and his three friends are free, there is still a huge sense of doom, especially for Anya since she doesn’t really belong to Cort, but to his father. The story does drag you in and keeps your attention. I hated it and loved it.

The audiobook was told in multiple points of view via dual narration. It was narrated by Lessa Lamb and Troy Duran. I really like both of these narrators. Troy Duran is my favorite with a deep and sexy voice that is absolutely perfect for Cort who is a dark character. Lessa has a clear, intelligent sounding voice that works well for Anya.

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