Maybe Someone Like You by Stacy Wise

Synopsis (via Goodreads): Katie Capwell is a bright and accomplished recent law school graduate, and she has her shiny future all mapped out. It's brimming with courtroom victories and creating change. Ryan Brincatt is a tattooed and impossibly cool martial artist, and he’s mastered a fierce roundhouse kick.

Their paths never should have crossed.

But when Katie lurks outside the kickboxing gym where Ryan works as a trainer, she’s immediately drawn to his casual confidence and playful green eyes. Without making her usual list of pros and cons, she impulsively signs up to train with him.

She never imagined that one decision would change. Absolutely. Everything. 

He’s wearing the tie he wore on the night I met him, the one that’s covered with tiny foxes. I used to think it was cute, but now it only looks useful—like something I could choke him with.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Also, the quotes I used may have changed or been altered in some way, but I am quoting from what I received.

I adored this story and it called to me in an unexpected way. Katie decides to start kickboxing with a trainer, and I fell completely in love with it. The author makes it sound both elegant and fierce. I liked the idea so much that I researched local kickboxing gyms--I start next week! I hope it's as exhilarating as Stacy Wise made it sound.

I'm curious if the author has personal experience with kickboxing, or if they just did really amazing research. I could hear the ropes pounding on the floor, and Katie's gloves hitting their target. I devoured those parts of the story, and now I'm mentally addicted to the idea of doing it myself. Let's hope I enjoy it as much in practice as I do in theory.

Maybe Someone Like You is another one of those stories where a little more communication would have saved everyone a lot of heartache, but I enjoyed their journey. It was refreshing to read about things like lawyering and kickboxing, because I've had no experience with either. There were a few phrases and some terminology I was unfamiliar with, so I had to stop and do a little research. Maybe a little more clarification within the story would have helped? Having to stop and look things up did pull me away from the book.

The setting for the book was ideal, too. It was lovely and makes me want to live in a quiet, quaint town near the beach. Even though I abhor having sand on everything, Stacy Wise made me fall in love with the idea. Running along the beach with my dog, the views at night, and the smells that are associated with sand and the ocean.

Katie is far more patient with her boss that I would have been. Kenneth was such an ass. I wanted to spit in his face and knee him in the balls. He deserves worse than that, but those two things would make me feel a little better. She put up with way more than she should have, and she should have confided in someone other than Craig. Speaking of Craig, I really liked him by the end of the book, but his initial impression was wrong. I thought he was going to be an adversary, but it's like a monster apologizing and becoming a kitten. It didn't make a lot of sense how their friendship happened, especially with how their first conversation went.

The other characters within the book were nice. I felt like I knew them on the most basic level, and I wish there had been a little more depth to them. For the most part, they sounded like interesting characters, and I wish those friendships had been built upon a little more. Instead, the book mainly focuses on the boys and her job.

The character development was a little weird, and I was never too sure of someone's importance to the story. Like, they may have seemed super involved in the beginning, but then we just stop hearing about them. Others, like her mom, were prickly one minute and kind the next. I don't know how to explain it exactly, but it felt off. However, Ryan was like banana pancakes in the morning: unexpected but utterly delicious.

Maybe Someone Like You was delightful and made me smile often. It also inspired me to try kickboxing (should be an awesome and enjoyable workout), and maybe get a new tattoo...

"Thoughts are rose petals in my head, drifting and floating, but words stick like thorns in my throat."

"His muscles are so sculpted, if I knew the names of each one, I could take a Sharpie to his skin and label them. They’re that perfect."

"My head feels like there’s a cinder block jammed in the center with one of Snow White’s seven dwarfs pounding at it with his pickax. Dear God. I think I’ve swallowed the dwarf’s wooly hat."