Ramblings From This Chick: Guest Post with Author Sidney Halston and Giveaway

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Guest Post with Author Sidney Halston and Giveaway

Meet Sidney Halston, author of Below the Belt.

Sidney Halston lives her life with 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. 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.

When she’s not writing or reading her life is complete and utter chaos trying to balance family life with work, and writing (and reading). But she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Bromance

What originally inspired me to write Against the Cage and the Worth the Fight Series in general, was watching the men at my husband’s academy interact (my husband does MMA). I love how these big huge tough fighters can be in a cage ready to kill one another one moment and then the next, having drinks at a bar as if they didn’t just kick one another in the face an hour before. On a side note: I don’t know if women are capable of such disconnect. I have tried to incorporate this kind of friendship in all the novels.

In AGAINST THE CAGE and FULL CONTACT it was with Slade and Jack. One of my favorite scenes of all the books is toward the end of AGAINST THE CAGE where Jack loses control of his emotions with Slade at the hospital. In BELOW THE BELT and then again later in book four, LAID OUT, it’s Tony and Cain.

Tony and Cain couldn’t be any more different. Tony is charismatic and chatty. He’s loud and says the first thing that pops in his head. On the other hand, Cain is quiet and reserved. He tends to keep his opinions to himself and when he speaks it’s concise and to the point. At the end, they are great friends and understand each other’s quirks.

Here is an excerpt from a scene from BELOW THE BELT with Cain and Tony that I love.

Cain stood in the kitchen of Tony’s house the next day waiting for Tony, who wasn’t home. About to dial his number, he heard the door opening and closing, and then Tony stumbled in.

“F***. You’re drunk,” Cain said. It had been the first time Tony had gotten drunk since Francesca left, and obviously he’d over done it.

“I’m not f****ing drunk and I’m no f*****g idiot.” His voice was hoarse and he looked green.

“Who said anything about an idiot?” Cain asked as he filled a large glass with water and handed it to Tony with some aspirin. “Be ready in ten minutes,” he said with a scowl.

“Ready? I can’t train like this.”

“Ten minutes.”

“F*** you. I’m not training.”

“No skin off my back, brother,” Cain added as he calmly chewed on his cereal. “You already lost once. Maybe this time you’ll have to tap out.”

In Sidney Halston’s latest sizzling MMA romance, a former title contender turns the tables on his knockout trainer with a lesson in seduction.

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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