Below the Belt by Sidney Halston (Worth the Fight #3)
Released: February 10, 2015
Contemporary Romance
Loveswept

Reviewed by Mandi

I had a hard time with this book and it took me awhile to figure out why I didn’t like it after I finished reading. Sometimes when I finish a book, I know exactly why or why it didn’t work for me but with this one, I was a little more perplexed. I wanted to write a review that said, “this book didn’t work for me but I’m not sure why” and be done with it. But – I suppose my readers would want a little more explanation – jeez the work I have to do *wink*

What I’ve come up with is I never felt this book was genuine. What I mean by that is – I never felt Tony and Francesca have a genuine love for one another. I never felt the two of them have genuine lust for one another. And this really bothered me.

Tony is a big time MMA fighter who is losing his edge as he ages. He is a womanizer, partier, boozer, who recently signed on with a new gym, owned by our heroine Francesca. A skilled fighter herself, Francesca is ALL business at the gym. Business suits, heels, no-nonsense attitude. When Tony loses a fight, he doesn’t take it too well. Francesca jumps in to get him in line and to make him stop acting like a baby. Her feisty turns Tony on, and he wants her. Francesca has a huge fear of committment due to past relationship problems, so as Tony puts the moves on, she pushes him away.

Francesca not only pushes him away, but she does it again, and again and again. There is a pattern that develops – Tony woos Francesca into kisses and other hanky panky, Francesca gives in because she just can’t resist, then afterwards she freaks out and pushes him away. And calls him such horrible names over and over. I get her pushing him away at first, but it’s so repetitive and she says such horrible things to him, I got tired of it.

I had a hard time figuring Tony out too. Instead of coming across as a sexy, bad-ass fighter which I think he is supposed to be, his flirting and sex scenes seemed crass to me. It’s probably because I didn’t feel the chemistry between him and Francesca. And like I mentioned before, I didn’t find their relationship genuine. When Tony tells Francesca he loved her, I was confused.

I didn’t like this hero or heroine. Maybe another couple in this series would work better for me.

Rating: C-

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