Thursday, June 12, 2014

Blog Tour : Against The Cage by Sidney Halston




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.



  AGAINST THE CAGE – Excerpt from Chapter 1
       The scene: After getting pulled over and accidentally hitting the police officer in a very sensitive place, Chrissy’s discovers the cop is Jack, her older brother’s best friend that she hasn’t seen in years. She’s thrown for a loop—but so is Jack…
       He didn’t normally abuse his position of power but…
       He attempted to give her his best police officer I-mean-business-face that normally intimidated the hell out of everyone, but he couldn’t seem to hide his smirk. He hoped she didn’t notice. “Have you been drinking?”
       “What? No!” Yep, she was definitely seething.
       “Are you sure? You were driving rather erratically,” he lied.
       “No I was not. Maybe I was going slightly over the speed limit but I was not driving erratically.”
       “Why don’t you step out of the car?”
       “Are you serious?” She looked as if she was going to reach out and wring his neck. This is new! If there was one thing he didn’t remember, it was an angry Chris.
       “As a heart attack.”
       She let out an amused snort. “Did you just cliché me? Ugh! Could this day get any fucking worse?”
       “You curse a lot.”
        “Get out of my way Jack Daniels so that I can show you I’m not drunk. If I can prove it, may I go without a ticket?”
       “Yes. I’ll let the speeding ticket go if you pass the sobriety test and don’t call me Jack Daniels again.”
       “Fine. But, that is your name.”
       “Yes. But, you’re mocking me.”
       “How? I’m not the one that named you Jack Daniels. Blame your parents for that. And, don’t call me Chris. I hate it. ”
       “Fine. I won’t call you Chris, Christine.”
       “Chrissy, please. Not Christine, not Chris. Definitely not Chris the Priss. Just Chrissy. You never were capable of calling me Chrissy, for some reason.”
       “Because it was more fun to get you all riled up.”
       “Some things never change. Eleven years later and you’re still mean to me,” she said, her hands still clenched around the steering wheel.
       “Okay, fine. For the sake of fairness, I’ll stop. Chrissy it is. And, you know how I feel about my name. I don’t need your smart ass teasing me. Especially, when that smart ass should be a little worried about not passing a sobriety test and assaulting a police officer.”
       “I didn’t assault you. It was an accident. Just get out of the way so I can open the door.”
       He stood aside as she opened the door.
       One long, fair, well-defined leg in the sexiest red high heels he’d ever seen stepped out of the car. Then, the other. Jesus Christ! Was this the same goofy little Chrissy Martin? Somehow, Jack had transformed into one of those cartoon characters whose eyes popped in and out of its socket.
       Holy hot legs, Batman!
        He silently prayed that she had grown a tail or a third arm because all he’d seen so far was causing his brain to come to a complete meltdown. He didn’t think he could handle any more and all he’d seen so far were her legs. She finally got out of the car and went to take a step forward but then she hobbled, lost her balance, and stumbled towards the ground. Instinctively, he reached towards her, grabbed her waist and pulled her up before her face made contact with the street. The full length of her frame was flushed against his body. Every single little inch was pressed against him. He gulped. Actually gulped. A few beats of awkward silence later, he reached for her chin with his finger and brought her face up to meet his eyes. “You okay?”
       “Uh…yeah. I forgot I had a broken heel.”
  She brought her right foot up behind her and looked over her shoulder. He leaned in, towards her body, bringing them even closer together, if that were even possible, to look at the broken heel.
       “What a shame. Those were nice shoes,” he said, inches from her ear.
         “Tell me about it.” She moved back a little and he reached forward with his index finger and pushed her glasses back up her nose. He’d never had a reaction like this to a woman before. She straightened her black dress and ran her fingers through her long black hair. She stood up straight, shoulders back. Ready for war, it seemed. Well one thing hadn’t changed—she was still self-righteous and proud. But, Little-Miss-Push-Over was gone. And he was liking this new and improved hellcat.    “So, where do you want me?” Chrissy asked, as she took off her shoes.
       Completely naked and spread over the hood of my police cruiser with that tiny little black dress pulled up over your hips, is what he almost blurted out. “Excuse me?” is what he managed to say instead.
       “The sobriety test. I’ve never had to do one of these. What do I do?”
       “You know what, never mind. You can’t do a sobriety test in broken heels and I don’t want you walking on the side of the road barefoot.”
       “Does that mean you’re going to give me a ticket?”
       “No. Just go,” he barked.
       “What the hell is wrong with you? You’ve always been such an ass. I guess you haven’t changed.”
       “I’m sorry Chris. It’s been a long day. I don’t mean to be a jerk. Where are you staying while you’re in town?”
       “Chrissy,” she said, through gritted teeth.
       “What?”
       “You called me Chris. I was correcting you.”
       “Oh, shit. Sorry. Habit, I guess.”
  She wasn’t a Chris any longer. No sign of the nerdy little girl anywhere. She was all woman; from the tips of the sexy-as-hell high heels to the top of her long jet-black hair.
       “At Slade’s house,” she answered.
   He looked at her, confused, and she snapped her fingers at him, bringing him back to the present.
  “You asked me where I was staying. I’m answering. I’m staying at Slade’s. I kind of have to break-in.”
   She leaned into him a little and whispered, “Don’t tell the cops.” She giggled.
   He had forgotten all about her giggles. She was a giggler. It was infectious. He used to think it was annoying—what an idiot he’d been.
       “Why?”
       “I don’t have a key. You know I let him have the house after Dad passed away and it’s been years since I’ve been back. Technically, it’s half mine, so it’s not really breaking and entering.”
       “Come on. Follow me home. I have a spare key,” said Jack.
       “You do?”
       “Yeah. He’s like a brother to me, you know that. He has a spare key to my house too.”
       “Oh, okay. Where do you live?”
       “Same place.”
       “You mean you still live with your folks?” she said, incredulously.
   Her face was full of judgment and pity. That was always her thing. She was judgmental as hell. He didn’t remember caring so much about her judgments eleven years ago, but he sure as hell cared now. In fact, he was suddenly angry and he wasn’t even sure why he felt a need to correct her.
       “No, Chris. I don’t live with my folks. I bought the house from them before they retired and moved to a retirement community a few miles away.”
       She took a step forward, closing the gap between them, and poked his chest with her index finger.
  “Do. Not. Call. Me. Chris! And, it’s great that you bought the house. It was just a question, relax. I didn’t mean anything by it. You don’t have to be so moody.”
       He grabbed her finger with his big hand.
   “I’m not moody. You’re just so judgmental.”
       “I wasn’t being judgmental,” she answered.
  He looked at her in disbelief and her shoulders slumped down.
   “Okay, maybe I was being a little judgmental. Seeing you reminded me of that girl that you and Slade used to push around, and I guess it made me defensive. I’m sorry. Look, it’s been a terrible day. I just need a long hot bath and a good night’s sleep so I can go to Slade’s arraignment tomorrow morning and bail him out.”
       “Okay, let’s go. Come on. Follow me home.” He waited for her to get into her car and then walked back to his police cruiser.
       A few hours earlier, he’d been called into a bar fight, where he’d had to wrestle four guys into handcuffs. He was at the tail-end of a very long shift, and all he had wanted to do was go straight home, drink a nice a cold beer and sleep for the next twenty-four hours. Dealing with a speeding driver was the last thing he’d had in mind. But, his sense of duty had gotten the best of him, and he had stopped her—not knowing that a pair of smoldering blue eyes waited for him in the driver’s seat. He found himself adjusting his pants a few times on his way home, and it wasn’t from the punch to his balls.
       She was gorgeous. The once insecure and slightly overweight frumpy girl was now a confident, voluptuous well-put-together stunner. He was glad she still wore the glasses. On anyone else, the thick black-frames would’ve probably looked goofy, but on Chrissy, it gave her that naughty nurse look men fantasized about.
  As he drove, his mind drifted to Christine, the naughty nurse, who wore a short white dress—tight on the top, accentuating the swells of her overly-large-for-her-small-frame breasts—giving him just the teensiest preview of the garter from her stockings, and a little white hat that contrasted so severely with her pin-straight inky black hair.
  Jack could picture her bending over to check his reflexes and reaching up to his mouth to put a thermometer in and of course, she would be a good and thorough nurse and ask him in the softest shyest voice to please pull down his pants so that she could examine. . .
       Get a fucking grip Daniels! Did you just make little Chrissy a porn-nurse? What is wrong with you dude? Snap out of it!
       She wasn’t even a nurse, she was a doctor. The last he’d heard, she’d been overseas volunteering her medical services in third world countries. She was so out of his league, he couldn’t even see the field. But hell if he wasn’t completely turned-on by her unexpected attitude.
  She hadn’t been like that before. She had always been smart and goofy. But, feisty and sultry? Nope, never feisty and never ever sultry. She would do something Slade and Jack didn’t like and they’d scold her and she just took it, never rebelling. And yet, she’d still follow him and Slade around like a little puppy.
  He hated when she would hang around him and Slade’s friends. They were all hooligans and he damn well knew it. She had no business being a side-kick in their trouble-making schemes. But then the last few months before she left, she had avoided him like the plague. He had always wanted to ask her why, but she was gone before he ever had the chance.
       








I really loved this funny sexy little read from Sidney Halston. There were so many parts that I adored that I just found myself smiling or laughing and just enjoying myself throughout the whole read. 
Jack Daniels
Yep that's his name. Wow is all I can say. Like his namesake he has kick and leaves a burn behind. So totally drool worthy Jack kept me swooning the whole ride. His possessiveness at times nearly stopped my breath it was so intense. Although this book was pretty funny most of the time there were some really emotional parts and the watching these fall in love was something special .
 
A 100% loyal alpha male..total yumminess all in one package that was Jack Daniels.
 Chrissy ..shes something else. Carrying the weight of the world on he shoulders, she's just had a rough time.  She's a doctor that has spent time caring for the less fortunate while at the same time hiding from her life. Coming back to help her brother who is always in trouble it seems. But when she comes back home and finds her childhood crush is a whole lot bossier and also finds he has an extreme attraction for HER. Nope Jack doesn't see little Chrissy as the little sister type that ran behind him and Slade..no she's everything his body and heart seems to want and these two set the pages on fire! 
Jack's a dirty talker and Chrissy isn't shy which added to some really fun sexin. But here is the kicker. The star of this book isn't Jack or Chrissy.    



it's 
Drogo
 
DO NOT let his size fool you..This little firecracker not only had a temper he had a personality that stole the show. I loved every page that Drogo was on. Such a funny element added a sweet and sassy romance. 
Can't wait for more from Sidney
 
 




I really enjoyed this light, hot read.  I laughed so much just picturing Chrissy "hand" over her license and insurance to the "officer" and accidentally bringing him to his knees with that action.


Chrissy wasn't a love-struck teenager anymore.  She was a woman now, and not naive and defenseless like before.  Even if she was still totally smitten with Jack, she was not going to let him trample her heart.  She was in town to bail out her brother - get her money back and leave.  Having a fling with Jack wasn't on the agenda.

Jack wasn't going to miss this opportunity with Chrissy.  After eleven years, she had grown into a beautiful woman, and he wanted a shot at her.  He could feel the attraction between the two of them, and Jack being the smooth, dirty talker that he was - took the first opportunity to make his move and get her all flustered. Geeze, he even got me all flustered with his dirty talk!
Chrissy had so many things to work through on her trip home.  Not only did she have this whole new "relationship" with Jack happening, she had to reconcile a few issues with her brother.  Once she could work some things out - maybe things would become more clear about what decisions she should make for her future.  The problem was, she felt like running again - but Jack was not going to let her stay away again.  He knew she was definitely "worth the fight".


I loved Jack so much in this book, he was a good sport, and he definitely had a great sense of humor.  I loved how he didn't mess around with telling her how he felt about her, showed his interest right away - before she ran again.  And, how could you not love a man named Jack Daniels, with a Chihuahua for a pet that was part pit-bull.
If you're looking for a sweet, spicy romance this book is for you.






 Giveaway


Sidney Halston lives her life by one simple rule: “The secret of getting ahead is getting started” (Mark Twain). Or even simpler: “Just do it” (Nike). And that’s exactly what she did. At the age of thirty, having never written anything other than a legal brief, she picked up a pen for the first time to pursue her dream of becoming an author. That first stroke sealed the deal, and she fell in love with writing. Halston lives in South Florida with her husband and children. 
https://www.facebook.com/Sidneyhalstonhttps://twitter.com/sidneyhalston

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6916557.Sidney_Halston

http://sidneyhalston.blogspot.com/


1 comment:

  1. thank you for your review and for hosting today! tthat's one hot review

    ReplyDelete

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