STRONG HOLD (Redemption #5) by Sarah Castille-Review, Excerpt & Giveaway
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ABOUT HE BOOK: Release Date July 3, 3018
“Shayla?”
For the longest moment Zack’s brain couldn’t process the sight in front of him.
Seven years, ten months and twenty-seven days. That was how long it had been since he’d seen her. That was how long it had been since he’d lived a life without regret.
Fight promoter Zack Grayson is on the prowl for a rising star. As the top recruiter of a prestigious MMA promotion company, he wants to take someone where he will never be able to go again: the top of the professional league. He didn’t expect that someone to be the woman he loved…and left.
Top-ranked MMA amateur fighter Shayla “Shilla the Killa” Tanner built walls around her heart when Zack left her seven years ago–and again when her husband turned violent. Now, seeing Zack is nearly enough to send those walls crumbling. But she can’t risk the exposure of the limelight, and she definitely can’t risk another heartbreak.
As Shayla and Zack grow closer, though, business turns personal. And once their passion unleashes, there’s no going back…
•••••••
REVIEW: STRONG HOLD is the fifth instalment in Sarah Castille’s contemporary, adult REDEMPTION erotic, MMA, romance series focusing on the men and women of the MMA Club Redemption. This is thirty-year old MMA fighter and promoter Zack ‘Slayer’ Grayson, and twenty-five year old, former ballerina turned MMA fighter Shayla Tanner’s story line. STRONG HOLD can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.
Told from first person point of view (Shayla), and third person perspective (Zack) STRONG HOLD follows the second chance romance between MMA fighter and promoter Zack ‘Slayer’ Grayson, and former ballerina turned MMA fighter Shayla Tanner. Zack and Shayla were childhood best friends, and high school sweethearts but on the night Shayla gave Zack her most prized possession, Zack walked away without a second glance. Fast forward to present day, wherein Shayla will come face to face with the man that broke her heart, and destroyed her soul. Enter MMA fighter and promoter Zack ‘Slayer’ Grayson, and the man with whom Shayla was still in love. What ensues is the rekindling romance between Zack and Shayla, as Zack takes control of Shayla’s training, in an effort to get closer to the woman he loves.
Zack had no idea that Shayla Tanner, his Shayla Tanner, was on the amateur circuit of the MMA. Heading into Redemption to recruit possible new talent, Zack will have to face the wrath of the woman from whom he walked away but a woman who has lost and suffered more than Jake could ever have imagined. Shayla struggled in the years following Zack’s ill-timed escape but none more so than into the arms of an abusive man who all but destroyed what was left of our heroine’s life.
The relationship between Zack and Shayla is one of second chances; a rekindling romance between former best friends, and sweethearts but a romance that suffers with too many memories from the past. Zack is determined to prove himself worthy of Shayla’s trust and respect even if it means protecting her from herself. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense but, once again, I take issue with a certain four-letter word that I find unnecessary in a romance story line. Used only once, I felt it was more for shock value than descriptive narration.
Most of the previous story line couples and characters play secondary and supporting roles, some byway of mention or cameo appearance: Blade Saw, Renegade, Rampage, Torment, Homicide Hank, Fuzzy and Doctor Death (all of the nick names must be used in the arena and at the gym), as well as the only other female fighter at Redemption Sandy, and Shayla’s nemesis in the ring Carla Gordon.
STRONG HOLD is a dramatic, intense and captivating story. The premise is energetic and impassioned; the characters are dynamic and vigorous; the romance is provocative and fated. Sarah Castille writes tantalizing romances, strong heroes, and sassy heroines.
Reading Order and previous reviews
Against the Ropes
In Your Corner
Full Contact
Fighting Attraction
Copy supplied by Netgalley
Reviewed by Sandy
Zack’s star power keeps him occupied and away from our table for the next hour. He signs napkins, arms, cheeks, and even the curve of one woman’s ass. Before long, he is steered to the wall bearing the Protein Palace logo to pose for pictures with his fans. I don’t want to watch him, but I do. I’ve never loved anyone the way I loved Zack. I opened myself fully to him. I gave him everything, and he filled me so completely, I never wanted more. Every time I see him, the memories come flooding back. Ten years of happiness destroyed by one night of pain.
“He’s been checking you out,” Doctor Death says, a scowl marring the perfection of his handsome face as he stares at Zack, posing with two eager fangirls.
Zack looks devastatingly gorgeous tonight in his tight, black skull-print T-shirt, stretched deliciously over his muscular chest, and a pair of well-worn jeans, snug in all the right places. From the way the fangirls have latched on to his biceps, I’m not the only one to notice.
“I heard a rumor you had a history together,” Doctor Death continues.
“We’re just friends.”
Zack catches me watching him, and in that second when our gazes connect, I remember every reason why I loved him. The way the gold flecks sparkled in his dark eyes when he was happy, the way he watched over me, his easy laughter, the feel of his body against mine, his lips on my lips, his breath on my skin, his hands—God, the things he could do with his hands—the steady beat of his heart as we lay together making dreams for a future we would never have.
After Zack finishes posing for pictures, Fred “Bulldog” Jenner, a heavyweight fighter from a rival gym and one of Sadist’s fiercest competitors, challenges Zack to an arm wrestle. Such is how fighters entertain themselves when they’re training. No fights in case of injury, no excessive drinking because of calories. But when fighters are pumped, as they usually are at this time of day, they need an outlet, and the Protein Palace has a special table set aside for the occasion.
Zack graciously accepts the challenge. Although he and Bulldog are evenly matched in height—two or three inches over six feet—Bulldog is actively training and must outweigh Zack by at least fifty pounds of solid muscle. Still, Zack clearly hasn’t let himself go as many retired fighters do. There isn’t an inch of fat on his toned body. And God, those biceps…
Not wanting to be left out, I join the crowd around their table. Although this is just for fun, there is more at stake than just a friendly arm wrestle. Zack was a big, big name in the sport, and Bulldog is shooting for the pros. A win over Zack sends a message that Bulldog is the man to beat. Out with the old and in with the new.
My heart thuds in my chest when Bulldog clasps Zack’s hand. Although it makes no sense, I want Zack to win. He started from nothing and worked hard to get to where he is, and no one knows that better than I do. Despite what happened between us, I am a secret Slayer fangirl, too.
Biceps flex. Hands grip. A hum of excitement winds its way through the crowd. Bulldog grunts, and his arm shakes. Sweat beads on his forehead. He shifts in his seat, and his chair scrapes over the tile floor. The air thickens with the primal scent of testosterone. I’m surprised I don’t suddenly grow a beard.
Someone turns up the music, and the Black Keys’ “Everlasting Light” plays through the speakers. Zack’s lips turn up at the corners. He lifts his gaze and smiles at me.
Because this was our song. We had both loved this band with its steady beats, old-time sound, and meaningful lyrics. “Everlasting Light” was the song Zack had strummed on his bass while I practiced at the studio late into the night. It was the song he had asked the band to play when he had danced with me at my grad. It was the song he had sung softly to me after we had made love. And I had believed the lyrics as if they were his words. I had believed he wanted to be my sun in the darkness and my everlasting light. They were the last words I had heard him say. They are the last words I want to hear now.
A sigh escapes my lips, and although there is no possible way he could have heard me over the music or the chant of the crowd, his face tightens, and the gold in his eyes fades to black.
Wham. Bulldog’s hand goes down. Sandy lifts Zack’s arm in a victory salute. The crowd cheers, and people surge forward to congratulate the victor.
“Who’s next?” someone shouts.
The crowd hoots and hollers, and names get bandied about. The noise makes my headache worse, and I turn back to the Redemption corner, looking for Doctor Death. Maybe I will take that ride.
A chair scrapes over the floor. And then a table. People shift to the side as if to give way.
My pulse kicks up a notch, and I know, without being able to see through the crowd, that he’s coming for me.
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New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author, Sarah Castille, graduated with a B.A Honors degree in History and an LL.B. (law degree) and practiced law on the West Coast for several years before succumbing to the lure of foreign travel. She obtained a Masters Degree in Law from the University of Edinburgh and then practiced at one of the world’s largest law firms in London, England during which time she traveled extensively, wrote moderately, and developed a taste for tea, European footwear and Greek cuisine.
She traded in her life of European glamor for the comforts of the frozen North and the excitement of home renovation, during which time she wrote extensively, never traveled, and developed a taste for beef jerky, Tim Horton’s coffee and Sorels.
After her first book, Legal Heat, won prizes in nine Romance Writers’ Association chapter contests, including the Grand Prize in the Valley of the Sun Hot Prospects Contest, Sarah decided to take a break from high heels and legal practice to write about red-hot alpha males and the women who tame them. Her second book, Against the Ropes, was named as one of Publishers Weekly’s Top Ten Picks for Romance & Erotica for fall 2013, and her third book, Unraveled, hit the New York Times Bestseller’s list. Sarah’s current release, Barely Undercover, was named as the “Must Read Erotic Romance of the Year” in the Sneak Peek Reader’s Choice Awards (2013). She hasn’t dusted off her briefcase yet!
Sarah lives with her husband, munchkins and a family of owls in the shadow of Canada’s Rocky Mountains, where she is currently working on her next novel.
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Great review, Sandy. Looks like a terrific story.
Very nice review, Sandy. Sounds very good.
great review, sandy. sounds like a very good story.
Good book review, TRC/Sandy! The cover model is HOTT, too. 😉
Excellent review and excerpt, thanks.
Looks interesting thanks Sansy.
Very nice review, thanks Sandy
Thanks for the great review and exceept
Terrific review, Sandy. Looks very good.
Looks great, thanks for the excerpt and giveaway.
Great review, Sandy. Looks very good. Thanks.