Book Review for Stand Your Ground by Kandi Steiner

 

Kings of the Ice #5

Stand Your Ground by Kandi Steiner

Published:  October 24, 2025 by Kandi Steiner, LLC

Genre:  Spicy Sports Romance

Taken from Goodreads:  I wrote up the contract myself.
Legally binding. Crystal clear.
No strings. No feelings.
Just sex — and two million dollars in exchange for my time and expertise.

Carter Fabri may be Tampa Bay’s newest rising star, but off the ice, he’s all Bambi eyes and inexperience. He’s a virgin in desperate need of lessons in dominance, seduction, and everything in between.

And I happen to be just the woman to teach him.

I don’t need his money.
But I do need what it can give me.

I’m thirty-two, cut off from my family, and one bill away from drowning in student debt. The fantasy I’ve built around my lifestyle is getting harder to maintain. This pay day would secure the lifestyle I’ve worked too hard to let slip through my fingers and finally give me the chance to save for something I’ve always wanted — something I’ve never told anyone about.

So, I take Carter on as my student. I lay out every rule, every boundary, every carefully controlled term of our arrangement.

What I don’t plan for is how quickly he’d catch on — or how much I’d enjoy letting him take the reins.

This was supposed to be a lesson in power.
But somewhere along the way, I stopped being the one in charge.

I thought I could keep my heart out of it.
I thought I’d accounted for every risk.
But some consequences you can’t predict — no matter how carefully you draft the terms.

My Thoughts:  Wow!  Stand Your Ground is a step up in the spicy scale than my usual sports romance books.  I am sure I blushed while reading some of the scenes, I may have skimmed a few of the spicier paragraphs, but I enjoyed every word that I read.  I could not wait to find time to read another chapter or two.  I love Carter and Livia’s story.  

I liked that there was a spicy warning at the front of this book.  It prepared me for what was coming.   But this book is not all about the spice.   There is a very real relationship in the story.   Carter and Livia both have real-life reasons for why they are who they are.   I liked getting to know their story, the reasons, and seeing them realize that if they open their hearts to each other, they can heal together.   

Thank you Valentine PR for a copy of the book as part of a book tour in exchange for my honest review.

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Meet the Author (taken from her website):  Kandi Steiner is a USA Today and #1 Amazon Bestselling Author living in Tennessee. Best known for writing “emotional rollercoaster” stories, she loves bringing flawed characters to life and writing about real, raw romance — in all its forms. No two Kandi Steiner books are the same, and if you’re a lover of angsty, emotional, and inspirational reads, she’s your gal.

An alumna of the University of Central Florida, Kandi graduated with a double major in Creative Writing and Advertising/PR with a minor in Women’s Studies. Her love for writing started at the ripe age of 10, and in 6th grade, she wrote and edited her own newspaper and distributed to her classmates. Eventually, the principal caught on and the newspaper was quickly halted, though Kandi tried fighting for her “freedom of press.”

She took particular interest in writing romance after college, as she has always been a hopeless romantic and found herself bursting at the seams with love stories she was eager to tell.

When Kandi isn’t writing, you can find her reading books of all kinds, planning her next adventure, or pole dancing (yes, you read that right). She enjoys live music, traveling, hiking, yoga, spending quality time with her family (fur babies included) and soaking up the sweetness of life.

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