FIGHTING SOLITUDE, On The Ropes #3 by Aly Martinez: Book Tour, Excerpt, Review & Giveaway
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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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.
MARY’S 5 STAR REVIEW
I flippin loved this book on so many levels. Fighting Solitude is one of those stories that will suck you right in from the first pages. It made you feel real emotions!! It’s the journey of not only of the Page brothers, but also the ever entwined lives of Quarry Paige and Liv James. Aly’s words are magical. They not only wove a beautiful story but they grabbed hold of your heart and never let go. I can truly say that I loved every single minute of the book!! I can hardly wait to read the other two books in the On the Ropes Series.
Quarry and Liv meet when he comes to her rescue while she is in a squabble with a couple of boys in the alley way behind her Dad’s gym. Hearing the commotion is part of what got his attention. You had to laugh because Liv was giving almost as good as she was getting from the 2 boys. Liv was a feisty, little pistol and wasn’t afraid to stand up to anyone…even two boys at the same time. Quarry would be the extra security to keep Liv safe.
Both Quarry and Liv had also had tumultuous childhoods, Quarry, with dead beat parents. His Mom had taken off with a boyfriend and his Dad had been absent for years. Quarry’s older brothers, Till and Flint, stepped up to provide and take care of him. Liv came to live with her Dad after her mother died from a life of excesses. The two of them became fast friends and were near inseparable.
Scarred from being left alone with her deceased mom, Liv’s, biggest fear was the quiet and darkness of being alone. In Quarry she found someone who was not only her kindred spirit but also her protector. There was nothing they wouldn’t do for each other. When Quarry found out that he would eventually go deaf from the same hereditary disorder that had claimed his older brother, Till’s, hearing. He accepted it and moved forward. The connection between Quarry and Liv was even further strengthened when she promised to learn sign language and always be there for him.
The true travesty of this situation, was that while Liv could not live without sound and a source of light when alone, was that Quarry was going to be the one forced into the solitude of quietness. Always feeling that Liv deserved better than him, Quarry would destroy her by doing the one thing that would push her away. For three years this silence remained. Until Liv read that Quarry was deaf.
Unprepared for the sight of Quarry when she finally saw him let old feelings begin to stir. Even after all this time it was still there! Gone was the boy she last saw and now he stood in front of her but a rock solid, sculpted, tatted, fighter training following in his brother’s footstep…. to be a belt contender. That was not the only surprise that Liv was in store for either. Quarry had a girlfriend, Mia, which he was in crazy in love with. He had moved on, while Liv had not. Seemingly okay with this…it was apparent that her time with Quarry had passed her by and she fled returning home.
What I was not prepared for was the most unconventional threesome that was forged between Quarry, Liv and Mia. Definitely not the typical threesome we are used to in romance but they became steadfast friends. It was not sexual but a very close and bonded friendship. A friendship that Mia was forcing to happen! Liv came to terms with the fact that Quarry was totally committed to Mia and was satisfied with being close friends to them both.
Then tragedy struck and Mia died. Leaving both Quarry and Liv devastated…. and angry! Angry because they never got the chance to prepare for her death. Liv was so overcome with grief that she was never able to return to the apartment that she shared with Mia. Moving in with Quarry found them assuming the inseparable friendship of their early years together. Quarry, being protective of Liv and her taking care of him. The comfort they found being around each other made their lives work.
Would Quarry and Liv ever cross the lines of their lifelong friendship?
Or could time heal old wounds?
Is there a second chance for these two kindred spirits?
Fighting Silence (Book One) On the Ropes
ONLY $0.99
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1UKZbWJ
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1Lhhn62
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Fighting Shadows (Book Two) On The Ropes
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1HE3kt8
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1faAHHy
B&N: http://bit.ly/1CaD9rN
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.
STALK HER: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
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