The Bargain: Sports Boxing Young Adult Romance Short Story

Caidence and Noah, Book 1

By: Layla Antalya

Narrated by: Alex Thompson

A few bad choices can ruin someone’s life, but what if the choices weren’t yours to make?

In the blink of an eye, life can change for the better or the worst. Future ER surgeon and grief-stricken Caidence Tucker learned that the hard way. Caidence has her life on track, but after a night out with her best friend, she is forced on the run with the protective boxer Noah Park. Dragging someone else into her battle is the last thing she wants to do, but with no knowledge of who is after her or why, Caidence is forced to rely on Noah’s unique skills and killer instincts.

Caidence is in danger because of someone else’s choices, but it will be her own that decide her fate.

©2018 Layla Antalya (P)2019 Layla Antalya

Satisfied with this!

I’m always hesitant going into short stories, but I was satisfied with this one! I don’t have the time to get into a novel and thoroughly enjoy it with kids running around at all hours, but short stories, though they take a while to finish, are always a welcomed distraction. This story was the exception to my busy life. I finished it in ONE DAY! I haven’t found a book so hard to put down for the better part of a year, so leaving an impeccable review on this is a must!

A lot of good detail.

There was a lot of really good detail, which helped me get immersed in the book immediately. But outside of the detail, the characters had really interesting backstories that connected and made them important to one another. Noah’s profession is another thing I love about this story. Being able to protect her because of his occupation is also really parallel to her ability to help him because of her medical training.

I had a hard time putting this down.

I can say that I never lost my interest and I had such a hard time putting the book down. I didn’t like how Caidence was an uptight and snobby seeming girl. She seemed like she was better than everyone around her, but as the story progressed, I realized it was a way for her to cope with her loss. I wish the reason behind her personality would have been explained earlier, because it would have been much easier to ship a relationship between them.

Layla has added a new dynamic to the story.

It’s wonderful finding a book about a young woman who has her priorities in line. Being that she aspires to be a doctor, the entire story is not only a life-threatening danger, but she is also aware that a mishap could be career threatening. I love how this adds an entirely new dynamic to the story beyond the initial threat. There are so many parts of this story that ring true with many people but are commonly overlooked in fiction writing—such as career repercussions.

Everything worked out in the end.

Noah made this entire book worth reading. He was fiercely protective, hot and an utter badass. Caidence, on the other hand, is the most uptight and sniveling girl I have ever read about in a book. Because it was her perspective, the book didn’t have the ability to be amazing. I’m happy that everything worked out in the end, but Caidence could have been a much better character from the start.