Fighting Solitude is Book Three in the On The Ropes Series by Aly Martinez and is Quarry’s highly anticipated story.
Book Description:
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.
Buy Links:
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1Klrr1w
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1Q6XaQz
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1NU89lo
iBooks: http://apple.co/1Qu2XTZ
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1lsjHQt
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.
Other Books in Series:
Fighting Silence (Book One) On the Ropes
ONLY $0.99
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1B4Bj9q
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1PjUwfW
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1A2cSnr
iBooks: http://bit.ly/1zbJT0u
Fighting Shadows (Book Two) On The Ropes
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1IGiI7e
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1QgmTZv
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1LKEurE
iBooks: http://apple.co/1TcpHIa
Our Review:
Reviewed by Donna ~ 4 stars
***ARC received for an honest review***
“Every. Single. Time.”
I have adored these Page brothers from the very beginning and I was reticent to start this book because I didn’t want to say goodbye. These three boys had been through so much from an early age and yet life still tries them on a daily basis, life had handed them a tough existence yet they didn’t let it define them, it only made them fight harder and no-one fights harder than a Page.
Quarry was the youngest Page, he had his brothers for support as well as his best friend Liv but he also had his “adoptive mum” being Till’s wife Eliza, who had nurtured these boys from a very young age. But after the events in Fighting Silence and Fighting Shadows you always knew that Quarry’s story was going to be a difficult read, for a boy so young he had already been through so much.
Quarry was following in his brother’s footsteps and was a prolific boxer dubbed “The Iron Fist.” Quarry had the talent to be the most successful Page in the ring and was biding his time to make his name.
Liv had been best friends with Quarry since they were little. However, for Liv it had always been more. She loved Quarry with her heart and soul but it was never reciprocated so she settled for the next best thing…being his best friend. They had had a falling out and hadn’t seen each other for a few years, but when Liv sees that Quarry has finally gone deaf, like his brothers she rushes to see him as she knows that he must be taking it hard and despite their falling out, she wanted to be there for him. However, when she gets there, Quarry has a girlfriend and her heart breaks all over again.
“I’m scared that I’ll never be her.”
However, reluctant to let her best friend go once again and with a feisty girlfriend, these three become the best of friends…the most unlikely scenario, however, it worked for them but Liv had to keep her feelings well and truly hidden, but they never went, they just got stronger and stronger the more a man Quarry became.
If you have read this series, then you know that Quarry and Mia’s relationship was no longer so for me to have Mia in this book at all did detract from what should have been Quarry and Liv’s story. Every time Mia was mentioned it left a bitter taste and you always have that “consolation prize” mentality when reading, I couldn’t help it. I know Aly Martinez cements their soul mate connection with some beautiful words and scenes but to me it felt like it was justification. However, this was a beautiful story none the less, despite my Mia heebie jeebies.
“Every. Single. Time.”
I have adored these Page brothers from the very beginning and I was reticent to start this book because I didn’t want to say goodbye. These three boys had been through so much from an early age and yet life still tries them on a daily basis, life had handed them a tough existence yet they didn’t let it define them, it only made them fight harder and no-one fights harder than a Page.
Quarry was the youngest Page, he had his brothers for support as well as his best friend Liv but he also had his “adoptive mum” being Till’s wife Eliza, who had nurtured these boys from a very young age. But after the events in Fighting Silence and Fighting Shadows you always knew that Quarry’s story was going to be a difficult read, for a boy so young he had already been through so much.
Quarry was following in his brother’s footsteps and was a prolific boxer dubbed “The Iron Fist.” Quarry had the talent to be the most successful Page in the ring and was biding his time to make his name.
Liv had been best friends with Quarry since they were little. However, for Liv it had always been more. She loved Quarry with her heart and soul but it was never reciprocated so she settled for the next best thing…being his best friend. They had had a falling out and hadn’t seen each other for a few years, but when Liv sees that Quarry has finally gone deaf, like his brothers she rushes to see him as she knows that he must be taking it hard and despite their falling out, she wanted to be there for him. However, when she gets there, Quarry has a girlfriend and her heart breaks all over again.
“I’m scared that I’ll never be her.”
However, reluctant to let her best friend go once again and with a feisty girlfriend, these three become the best of friends…the most unlikely scenario, however, it worked for them but Liv had to keep her feelings well and truly hidden, but they never went, they just got stronger and stronger the more a man Quarry became.
If you have read this series, then you know that Quarry and Mia’s relationship was no longer so for me to have Mia in this book at all did detract from what should have been Quarry and Liv’s story. Every time Mia was mentioned it left a bitter taste and you always have that “consolation prize” mentality when reading, I couldn’t help it. I know Aly Martinez cements their soul mate connection with some beautiful words and scenes but to me it felt like it was justification. However, this was a beautiful story none the less, despite my Mia heebie jeebies.
“There are no shoes to fill, Liv. And the way I know this is because, if there were, Mia would have been filling yours for years.”
Quarry and Liv have that kind of relationship whereby they know each other inside out, they settle one another, they know what the other is thinking and can literally finish each other’s sentences. Friends to lovers is one of my favourite reads and Aly Martinez really delivered with Quarry and Liv. These two had been friends for so long that their connection always felt genuine. Once they had turned that corner you felt their passion, their chemistry and it was such a sense of relief…it was a case of FINALLY!! These two were soul mates, the fact that their relationship was built on an incredible friendship really cemented them as a couple and Aly Martinez really delivered on you can love more than once. The heart is open to multiple loves, but no love is the same.
“I wanted that woman more than I wanted any title in the world, but I was losing her. And I didn’t have a clue why.”
I am sad that this series has come to an end, maybe Aly Martinez can write some more, maybe the kids of the Page’s so we can still keep up with them? Who knows. But sometimes characters leave an indelible mark on your heart and soul and the Page’s did just that, for kids that were incredibly broken they all turned out to be amazing men.
Quarry and Liv have that kind of relationship whereby they know each other inside out, they settle one another, they know what the other is thinking and can literally finish each other’s sentences. Friends to lovers is one of my favourite reads and Aly Martinez really delivered with Quarry and Liv. These two had been friends for so long that their connection always felt genuine. Once they had turned that corner you felt their passion, their chemistry and it was such a sense of relief…it was a case of FINALLY!! These two were soul mates, the fact that their relationship was built on an incredible friendship really cemented them as a couple and Aly Martinez really delivered on you can love more than once. The heart is open to multiple loves, but no love is the same.
“I wanted that woman more than I wanted any title in the world, but I was losing her. And I didn’t have a clue why.”
I am sad that this series has come to an end, maybe Aly Martinez can write some more, maybe the kids of the Page’s so we can still keep up with them? Who knows. But sometimes characters leave an indelible mark on your heart and soul and the Page’s did just that, for kids that were incredibly broken they all turned out to be amazing men.
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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