Book Review: Breaking a Legend by Sarah Robinson

Book Description
As one of the big names at his family's gym, Legends, MMA star Rory Kavanagh is used to being in the spotlight—until a gruesome leg injury knocks him out of the cage. Rory is left feeling sidelined in more ways than one, battling the inner demons that come with losing the one shot at his dreams. Then Clare walks into his life and gives him a new dream: winning her heart. There aren't many new faces in Woodlawn these days, but this tough, beautiful stranger makes Rory want to get his life back into fighting shape.

Clare Ivers doesn't think she'll be able to tell anyone what really brought her to the close-knit Bronx neighborhood where she just started bartending. But her life's on pause and her past is catching up fast, try as she might to move on—with new friends, steady work, and a chiseled alpha male trying to get her attention. Even though Rory's more than a little intense, she can't deny that her heart beats faster when he looks at her with those soulful silver eyes. Clare thought she was done with love, but Rory might just be man enough to show her she thought wrong.
AVAILABLE: September 29, 2015 **I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**
Breaking a Legend (Book 1) - Available September 29, 2015 Saving a Legend (Book 2) - Available March, 2016
Breaking a Legend by Sarah Robinson is the first book in her new Kavanagh Legends series.  This series holds a lot of promise as we get to know the Kavanagh family.  They are a close knit family (with some loose ties to the Irish mob) that owns the Legends Training Gym in Woodlawn, New York.
Breaking a Legend focuses on Rory Kavanagh, the oldest of the Kavanagh clan, and Clare Ivers, a new resident to Woodland.  
Rory is known as a famous MMA fighter but was injured about a year ago in a fight and since then he has been fighting another opponent: himself.  He has been using pain pills, alcohol, and women to mask the pain of his injury and his inability to get back into the octagon.  He meets Clare at a local bar shortly after she moved to town and started bartending.  He is instantly attracted to the new girl, but feels that he isn't good enough for her.
Clare is also running from demons in the form of an abusive ex and has her own set secrets.  She starts going to Legend Training Gym to take self-defense classes in order to feel more in control and safe.  As a result, Clare and Rory begin to spend more time together, and become friends.  Rory is a good guy under all the pain of feeling like a failure to his family.  Clare helps him realize that there are other things in life worth fighting for and he starts depending less and less on alcohol and prescription pain pills to dull the pain (but it is still a struggle).  
I highly recommend Breaking a Legend to anyone that enjoys a good romance, not just a FIGHTER romance.  Rory and Clare really grow and better themselves as individuals and are better for it as a couple.  This was my first book by Sarah Robinson and it definitely won't be my last and I look forward to reading about the rest of the Kavanagh clan! =] 
Rating: 4.5 out of 5