REVIEW: A Fighting Chance by Shannon Stacey

In A Fighting Chance by Shannon Stacey, Adeline arrives at a casino to celebrate her best friend’s bachelorette weekend. What she doesn’t expect to see if a giant poster of her ex, Brendan, hanging up promoting a MMA fight.

When Brendan first sees Adeline again, she’s flipping off his picture on the poster. All he wants to know is if she’s happy. He had broken up with her several years earlier because her father hinted that he wouldn’t be able to make her happy, so he’s desperate to know if it was worth losing the love of his life.

“Are you happy, Del?” he asked. Besides not wanting to miss the unexpected opportunity to see her again, he was there to finally learn the answer to the question that had been haunting him for years.

Given the fact that this is a novella, everything happens quickly. One minute Adeline’s friends are discouraging them renewing their relationship, then they seem ok with it. Adeline’s father, who had convinced Brendan that he wasn’t good enough for Adeline, suddenly decides that he is because Adeline confronted him and acknowledged how she felt about Brendan all those years ago, yet all the reasons he didn’t like him to begin with still existed. If the differences hadn’t been resolved, it didn’t seem plausible for Adeline’s father to change his opinion.

I didn’t feel overly connected to the characters, mainly because it felt like there was so little information about them. We get that Brendan’s a MMA fighter on the side, along with helping his father run his company. Adeline’s job is briefly mentioned, but only once in passing. We get brief mentions of their families, but nothing substantial. In fact, I didn’t even realize that Adeline had a brother until the last couple pages of the story. At times it felt like the pair knew each other and the reader was left with missing pieces because the characters knew something that readers aren’t privy to.

I’ve read and enjoyed other works by Shannon Stacey before, but this one fell flat for me. It works alright if you’re looking for a quick read, but if you’re looking for something more substantial where you can connect with the characters, you might want to try one of Shannon’s full-length novels.

Book Info:

Publication: February 1, 2016 | Carina Press |

All work and no play makes Adeline Kendrick a dull girl, so when she heads to a casino resort for a friend’s bachelorette weekend, she’s ready to have a good time. Until she runs into Brendan Quinn, professional fighter and the one who got away—the one her family drove away—and things take a turn for the interesting.

Running into his ex won’t shake Brendan. Even if it brings up the old pain of loving her when she was only slumming. Even if she looks really good. In fact, what better way to get over the past than to take advantage of the still-sizzling chemistry running hot between them? He’s there to win an MMA fight, but he won’t say no to a little physical relief of a different kind.

But when the weekend is over, Adeline isn’t ready to give up her second chance that easily. Brendan is still the one for her, no matter what her family thinks. Now, if only she can convince him of that…