STACKED UP (Worth the Fight #6) by Sidney Halston-a review

Stacked Up

About the book-RELEASE DATE: May 31, 2016

Working two jobs to support her infant daughter is harder than anything Penny Richards has ever done, but it sure beats living under the rules of her stepfather, a television preacher who demands a picture-perfect family. And if Penny hadn’t struck out on her own, she never would have met Travis Calhoun. The intensely physical heavyweight brawler has a way of drawing out her wild side. But Travis lives fast, with no responsibilities—and that just isn’t for Penny.

Most of the women in Travis’s circle wear tight clothes, high heels, and tons of makeup—not pearls or plaid headbands. But once he works past Penny’s inhibitions, Travis discovers a kindred spirit who longs to trust someone with her body, and her secrets. Still, Travis can’t help but wonder if this rich girl is just slumming it before she returns to her privileged life. Now it’s up to Penny to prove that she wants her hard-edged, hard-loving fighter just the way he is.

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REVIEW: STACKED UP is the sixth and final installment in Sidney Halston’s contemporary, adult WORTH THE FIGHT MMA romance series. This is bar tender /single mother Penny Richards, and MMA fighter Travis ‘Texas’ Calhoun’s story. STACKED UP can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from previous story lines is revealed where necessary. Travis is JL’s sister (Fighting Dirty #5).

Told from dual third person perspectives (Penny and Travis) STACKED UP follows the building relationship between Penny and Travis, and Travis’s preparations for a championship fight. Penny is a struggling, single mother and currently in hiding from her wealthy televangelist step father, and the father of her child who have made it clear she is an embarrassment to the family and the family business.

Travis Calhoun is in training for a championship fight. For one year Travis has found himself at the local bar where Penny is employed, but has not been able to cross the invisible line into something more. When Penny finally agrees to one date, pictures of the couple kissing begin to flood the internet, and Penny’s whereabouts are finally found by her past.. What ensues is the struggle to stay one step ahead of her family, and to not lose her heart to a man who wants nothing to do with children or anything long term.

The relationship between Penny and Travis is a slow build-one year of acquaintance and friendship-that evolves into lovers and more. Penny claims to like it a little rough in the bedroom, although her lack of experience would say something else. Herein lies a bit of a problem because the ‘rough’ aspect of the story line is so vanilla that a couple of slaps against the behind is barely a scratch towards the erotic, and yet it is oft mention by the hero that the heroine likes it rough. The $ex scenes are intimate, seductive and hot.

STACKED UP has a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including most of the previous story lines couples as we say goodbye in championship style. We are introduced to Penny’s step father-a television preacher more concerned about appearances than his daughter, and her ex boyfriend Lawrence –both of whom have plans for Penny and her child.

STACKED UP continues to focus on the MMA fighting-their training, their diets, their lives and their loves. Sidney Halston grants the reader a behind the scenes look at the making of a champion. The premise is entertaining and inviting; the characters are passionate and intense; the romance is a slow build towards a happily ever after.

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy