Below The Belt

Worth The Fight Series – Book 3

By Sidney Halston

Synopsis

Once one of the most sought-after names on the mixed martial arts circuit, Antonio “Scarface” Marino watched his career go down for the count as he chased skirts and made tabloid headlines. Now he’s finally making a comeback, and it’s all thanks to Francesca Silva, a Brazilian bombshell as tough as any of her fighters. But who’s the real Francesca: the trash-talking trainer who rides him hard, or the vulnerable woman who blushes at his touch?

Francesca went to the mat to sign Tony because she believes he still has the potential to bring big success to her gym—if she can keep his head in the cage and out of her personal life. After a short-lived marriage soured her on love, a one-night stand is all she can handle. Now Tony’s kisses are stirring up complicated feelings—especially when he agrees to face her ex in the ring. Francesca’s used to freezing guys out. But Tony’s tempting her to give in to the heat.

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Michel’s Review

I love the Worth the Fight series by Sidney Halston.  Each book has been fantastic.  They all have very different types of characters,interesting plots, a strong foundation of friendships, a feisty menacing chihuahua that intimidates big tough men, and sizzling red hot romance.

I was really looking forward to the release of Below The Belt.  We met Antonio “Scarface” Marino in the the previous book Full Contact.  He is a top billed MMA fighter with a very bad reputation.  He is a prima donna in the MMA world.  He likes to play hard and work as little as possible.  He has a tendency of being an out of control hothead.  His manager is on the brink of dropping him, he’s losing sponsors left and right, and aging fast.  His career is on a downward spiral when WTF Gym takes him on.  For WTF it’s all about gaining the publicity and notoriety as a professional class gym.

Francesca Silva is hard as nails.  She can hold her own in the professional world of fighting.  She rules WTF with an iron fist.  She doesn’t ever socially mingle with any of her fighters.  In fact she doesn’t date period.  She has a few close friends but she doesn’t let them get too close.  Being brought up in the MMA world and a gym brat, she knows the score.  She’s been there, done that, been destroyed, made herself stronger, moved on, and started a complete new book.  She is in total control at all times.  Or should I say she thinks she is until Antonio Marino starts pushing all the buttons she thought she had destroyed.  He is making her feel things that she thought she buried ten years earlier.

When the red hot Cuban turns on the charm he is a force to be reckoned with.  You know what they say about Latino lovers.  Tony has it all in spades.  He also has the Latino hot head tendencies that lead him to making the wrong assumptions, petty jealousy, and verbal diarrhea .  But with Francesca he has found a woman that will stand up to him, call him out, and give it back tenfold.

Put one sexy Cuban male and one spicy Brazilian woman in a relationship and the fireworks are going to explode.  It won’t take a hurricane to bring their world down, their own stubborn hot heads are doing a fine job at it.

Both have insecurities, anxieties, and vulnerabilities they hide from the world.  But when these two are together the walls come down and their personal baggage starts spilling out.  The funny thing is they help each other pick up the pieces and make their baggage much lighter.

Some readers may struggle with the back and forth verbal sparring and the domineering attitudes.  What they must understand is that this is a part of their cultural upbringing.  This is the norm for relationships.  I think Sidney Halston nailed this aspect of these characters on the head.

I loved how realistic this book felt in terms of graphic locations.  I am from south Florida and this book made me homesick.  I loved the easy feel of Tarpon Springs to the spirited feel of Miami Beach.

I loved the resolution in the end and was quite surprised at the direction this book took the series.  Sidney threw in some new blips for Dragos.  He now has three princess kittens and one snooty male cat to contend with.  I bet Slade and Jack are out celebrating and buying kitty treats.  Antonio is buying tissues and Francesca is buying catnip.

I can’t wait for the next book in this series.  I am a fan of WTF fight team!

Tina’s Review

This is a hard one for me to rate and review. It is quite obviously a later book in a series, as evidenced by most of the characters already having a history with one another, including our two main characters. It CAN stand alone and the author DOES do a pretty good job at trying to fill in some of the back stories, but it would have been greatly beneficial to read the previous books prior to this, I think. Antonio is a testosterone-laden hothead who has a few redeeming moments here and there, but I had a hard time really liking him, let alone falling for him. Francesca seems to wall herself off from others while portraying herself to be completely independent and strong, seemingly incapable of feeling emotion. The secondary characters are an interesting mixture, including the stereotypical hyper-aggressive Chihuahua. The dialogue and interaction is mostly good, but there are times that I just want to smack both of them for the crap that comes out of their mouths. It’s a bit frustrating. The flow of writing is smooth, but the plot is a bit flat. While the cover caught my eye and plot initially grabbed me, compelling me to read it, the overall journey was not as dynamic as I’d hoped it would be. The conflicts that the plot is ridden with are usually resolved in mature and timely manners. There was little predictability and the hero and heroine get a solidly concluded ending. There is a slight opening / lead-in for Cain and Violet’s story to pick up next.

The Worth The Fight Series

Against The Cage – Book 1

In her Loveswept debut, Sidney Halston turns up the heat as a sexy cage fighter shows a former bookworm how delicious a few rounds between the sheets can be.

For Chrissy Martin, returning to her Florida hometown always seems to bring bad luck. The day starts with a breakup text, followed by a jailhouse phone call from her troublemaker brother. Now a routine traffic stop has ended with her accidentally punching an officer . . . in a delicate place. Then Chrissy realizes that the hot cop on the receiving end of her right hook is none other than the man from her teenage fantasies.

Jack Daniels knows how to take a hit. After all, when he’s not chasing reckless drivers, he’s kicking ass in a mixed martial arts ring. So what takes his breath away isn’t the low blow, but the woman who dealt it: a gorgeous knockout with legs Jack wouldn’t mind being pinned under—who just so happens to be his best friend’s nerdy little sister, all grown up. Soon their instant chemistry leads to a sizzling affair, but Jack and Chrissy are fighting an uphill battle if they want to make love last beyond the final bell.

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Full Contact – Book 2

Sidney Halston returns to steamy Tarpon Springs, Florida, where a hell-raising bad boy prepares to get down and dirty for the woman he loves.

How could she have been so stupid? When Jessica Cross decides to give her violently jealous boyfriend—the otherwise influential and charming Dennis Stavros—a second chance, she very nearly becomes a statistic. After weeks of healing from a broken rib and collapsed lung, and with Dennis behind bars, Jessica finally feels ready to come out of hiding. But will she ever be able to take a chance on love again with someone new?

Mixed martial arts fighter Slade Martin knows he has a bad reputation. Hell, he’s probably earned it. So it won’t be easy to convince beautiful, vulnerable Jessica that she can trust him—that from the moment she walked into his life, she’s been the only one he’s wanted. Powerful and confident, Slade knows he can honor his vow to protect Jessica body and soul. Winning her heart will be another matter . . . but a woman like Jessica is worth the fight.

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USA Today bestselling author, Sidney Halston lives her life with one simple rule: “Just Do It” Nike, and that’s exactly what she did. After working hard as an attorney, Sidney picked up a pen for the first time at thirty years old to begin her dream of writing. Having never written anything other than very exciting legal briefs, she found an outlet for her imaginative romantic side and wrote Seeing Red, among four other novels currently in the works, including the sequel to Seeing Red. That first pen stroke sealed the deal and she fell in love with writing.

Sidney lives in South Florida with her husband and children. She loves her family above all else, and reading follows a close second. When she’s not writing you can find her reading and reading and reading… She’s a reader first and a writer second.

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