Fighting Solitude is Book Three in the On The Ropes Series by Aly Martinez and is Quarry’s highly anticipated story.
Now Available!
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1HToXGM
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1OgAs7R
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iBooks: http://apple.co/1Qu2XTZ
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1lsjHQt
**Each book in the series can be read as a standalone**
Blurb
I was born a fighter. Abandoned by my parents, I spent my life forging my own path—one guided by my fists and paved with pain.
Untouchable in the ring, I destroyed everyone who faced me, but that’s where my victories ended. Outside the ropes, I repeatedly failed the few people who loved me. Including my best friend, Liv James—the one person I’d die to protect.
Even though I didn’t deserve her, Liv never stopped believing in me. Never gave up. Never let go. After all, she understood what I’d lost, because she’d lost it too.
Liv was everything to me, but she was never truly mine.
That was going to change.
I lost my first love, but I refused to lose my soulmate.
Now, I’m on the ropes during the toughest battles of my life.
Fighting to be the man she deserves.
Fighting the solitude of our pasts.
Fighting for her.
Excerpt
Fighting Solitude
Prologue
“Mia!” I shouted.
It was worthless. She’d been deaf since the day I met her.
She’d never once heard my voice.
She’d never heard the deep rumble of my laugh when she was excited, signing so fast I could barely keep up.
She’d never heard my content sigh when she barged into the locker room after a fight—just her presence soothed the lingering madness brewing within me.
She’d never heard me whispering my deepest fears into her ear as she fell asleep on top of me.
She’d never heard the reverence in which I cried her name each and every time I took her body.
And she’d never once heard the ease in which the words I love you tumbled from my lips as I stared into her deep, jade green eyes.
But as I screamed her name while watching her petite body seizing in the passenger seat beside me, I’d never needed her to hear me more.
“Mia. Oh God. I’ve got you, baby.”
She was still thrashing violently as I made my way around to her door, yanking it open while pleading with whatever god was willing to help.
When she stilled, a whole new level of silence filled the air around us. It wasn’t the absence of sound.
It was the absence of life.
“Mia, breathe!” I roared as her chest remained agonizingly still. “Help me!” I screamed at the closed emergency room doors, but no medical savior rushed out with the miracle I so desperately needed.
My hands shook wildly as I released her lifeless body from the seatbelt.
“I’ve got you, just hang on. Please just hang on, Mia,” I whispered lifting her into my arms and sprinting through the sliding doors. “I need a doctor! She’s not breathing!”
Nurses rushed towards me in slow motion as the seconds without air in her lungs passed at a terrifying speed.
Breathe.
A doctor appeared with a gurney and quickly took her from my arms.
The immediate loss was staggering.
Hope became my only solace.
She needed help that I wasn’t capable of giving her, but that didn’t stop me from following close behind as they rolled her away. I was on the verge of self-destructing; letting her out of my sight wasn’t an option.
I stood motionless in the doorway while doctors and nurses swarmed around her. Their mouths moved frantically, but without my hearing aids I was worthless to make out the words their faint voices carried.
I never wore my hearing aids when I was with Mia. There was no point. She rarely spoke with her voice.
We’d spent four years building a relationship with our hands.
Those hands had told me animated stories that made me laugh until my face hurt from smiling.
They’d fought with me relentlessly, but always ended the night raking down my back in silent ecstasy.
Her fingers had fluidly signed I love you more times than I could ever count—or forget.
But as I felt the nurse attempting to physically remove me from the room, my eyes became fixated on her limp hand dangling off the side of the bed. It was the only sight more frightening than watching her flail mid-seizure.
It ripped the heart straight from my chest.
That hand was supposed to be full of life.
It was the very essence of Mia.
Pale.
White.
Still.
Oh God.
Sucking in a deep breath, I held it until the room began to spin.
It provided me no relief even as it forced me to my knees.
There would be no distraction from this.
I was going to lose her.
Yet another woman I couldn’t save.
MY REVIEW
I am
fairly new to Aly Martinez, but Fighting Solitude will definitely not be
the last book I read from her. Quarry and Liv’s story was poignant and
beautiful, and I loved the story. Quarry is the cocky and successful youngest
Page brother who has moved up the professional boxing ranks whose only issue is
that he secretly wants his best friend, Liv. Those two have a long history,
having been friends for years, and she manages his life so effectively he
wouldn’t know what to do without her. I truly loved watching these two get
their happy ending, and the writing was phenomenal. Liv was quirky and fun
while Quarry was a bit of a loose cannon who loved his family and Liv to distraction.
Even though you don’t have to read the other two books to understand the story
I would highly recommend it because they are great books and it gives you depth
and allows you to see the growth in Quarry.
So
why the 4 stars if I loved the book, can’t say enough, had to go buy the other
two books? The dead ex-girlfriend. Now I am not one that necessarily cares
about the absolutely perfect, do no wrong, dead ex-girlfriend (sigh) but in
this case I felt like it threw off the story. If you take the part with Mia
out, there wouldn’t have been a lot of difference in the story, making it feel
like an extra appendage that doesn’t add anything to the core of the plot. It
created tension because Mia was mentioned often, taking away from Liv and
Quarry’s epic love story as opposed to adding to it. By making it out that Liv
was not the consolation prize because as Quarry said he always loved Liv (even
before Mia was even part of the picture) it made Mia seem like she was
unnecessary. She wasn’t the person/reason he straightened out after Vegas, she
wasn’t his soulmate (Quarry’s words, not mine), and in the end it felt like she
took away from Quarry and Liv’s story. I will say that even though it ended up
knocking down my rating I would still highly recommend this whole series
because I loved it- and I can’t wait to see what else Mrs. Martinez has in
store for us.
Fighting Silence (Book One) On the Ropes
ONLY $0.99
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1UKZbWJ
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1Lhhn62
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1A2cSnr
iBooks: http://bit.ly/1zbJT0u
Fighting Shadows (Book Two) On The Ropes
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1HE3kt8
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1faAHHy
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1LKEurE
iBooks: http://apple.co/1TcpHIa
About the Author
Born and raised in Savannah, Georgia, Aly Martinez is a stay-at-home mom to four crazy kids under the age of five, including a set of twins. Currently living in South Carolina, she passes what little free time she has reading anything and everything she can get her hands on, preferably with a glass of wine at her side.
After some encouragement from her friends, Aly decided to add “Author” to her ever-growing list of job titles. Five books later, she shows no signs of slowing. So grab a glass of Chardonnay, or a bottle if you’re hanging out with Aly, and join her aboard the crazy train she calls life.
GIVEAWAY
$50 (Winners Choice) Book Retailer Gift Card
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