Title: Fighting Solitude
Series: On the Ropes #3
Author: Aly Martinez
Release Date: February 2, 2016
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.
Quarry Page and Liv James have been best friends for most of their lives. It hasn’t always been smooth sailing, but they’ve stuck by each other through the best and worst of times. They are fiercely devoted to each other, but due to life and circumstance and the whims of the world, they have always been just friends.
That is, until the day they became more than just friends. It’s arguable when that day might have been. The feelings were always there, hidden or buried or just plain unrecognized, feelings that stood as strong and stable as their devotion to each other.
Every. Single. Day.
It’s not as simple as it sounds—there are loyalties, lost loves, and big gaping heart wounds to be taken into consideration here. Watching Quarry and Liv navigate through their feelings sometimes left a few gaping wounds on my own heart, but it mostly was just…beautiful. Touching. Tender. Achingly poignant.
I don’t even know where to start with this—I’m barely controlling my flailing fangirl tendencies because I want so badly to scream at you to read this book, fast. This had to have been a tricky story to write. It could have gone so horribly wrong in so many ways. We were set up, emotionally, to resist this story—I think. And yet, I absolutely loved Every. Single. Moment.
It felt good to read this book, even though parts of it were emotional and heartbreaking. My heart ached sometimes, but most of the time it just fucking overflowed with these swoony, happy feelings. I spent the vast majority of this book with a huge dopey smile on my face, giggling out loud—forgetting I was in public—and then wanting to explain to all the people around me that I was sorry. It’s just that Quarry and Liv were so unbelievably cute together, it was impossible not to fall in love with them in the sappiest, mooniest, most joyful way possible. As though they were real people. They felt like real people. My heart attached itself to them and found itself all wrapped up in their love. That, right there? Is the sign of a really, really good book.
I adored Quarry and Liv. I loved every interaction between them. I loved the solidity and depth of their friendship. I loved that they didn’t lie to each other, didn’t hide from each other, and when one of them tried to do either of those things, they didn’t let each other get away with bullshit. They were hilarious, fun, flirty, sexy, sweet—and deeply, deeply romantic.
Good God, this was such a phenomenal series ender. My eyes are leaking and my heart is full and this book could not have been more perfect. The On the Ropes series is a “MUST READ”—and Fighting Solitude just might be my favorite of them all. The blend of heartache, humor, and two completely loveable characters with off the charts chemistry was captivating and enchanting and, in the end, “love” doesn’t feel like a big enough word to describe how I felt about this book.
~ Review by Shelly
Oh My Goodness!!! I FLOVED Quarry Page and Liv James's story!! Simply amazing!!! The prologue captured my attention and heart, and I knew I was never going to be the same after that!
When Quarry met Liv, he instantly became her best friend and they were inseparable. I loved reading about the trouble they got into, how they shared their feelings with each other, but most of all, I loved how they were there for each other no matter what!! When Quarry got some life-changing news, Liv was there to hold him and and let him know that she would always be there for him, no matter what!! That had me in tears, and I realized that she truly loved him. No. Matter. What!!
Liv and Quarry's road to happiness was filled with every type of emotion you can imagine, and I felt I was on a roller coaster with no end in sight. There were so many twists thrown that I was like, WTF just happened?! This book was Unbelievably Beautiful in so many way!!! It deserves SIX stars. All I can say is Every. Single. Day.
"He made love to me. He fucked me. He held me tenderly. He pulled my hair and bit my shoulders. He stared deep into my eyes while taking me gently. He took me hard and rough from behind. The champagne went untouched. But we eventually fell asleep, naked and sated, drunk in a different way."
~ Review by Kara
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 Chicago, 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. 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.
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