Flint’s highly anticipated emotional story is FINALLY here!
NOW AVAILABLE
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1HE3kt8
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1faAHHy
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1LKEurE
itunes: http://apple.co/1TcpHIa
**Each book in the series can be read as a standalone**
Blurb
I come from a family of fighters. I always thought I’d follow in their shadows, becoming unstoppable in the ring. That changed the day I saved the life of a woman I loved, but could never have.
My brother hailed me as a hero, and my reward was a wheelchair.
Paralyzed, my life became an inescapable nightmare.
Until I met her.
Ash Mabie had a heart-stopping smile and a laugh that numbed the rage and resentment brewing inside of me. She showed me that even the darkest night still had stars, and it didn’t matter one bit that you had to lie in the weeds to see them.
I was a jaded asshole who fell for a girl with a knack for running away. I couldn’t even walk but I would have spent a lifetime chasing her.
Now, I’m on the ropes during the toughest battles of my life.
Fighting the shadows of our past.
Fighting to reclaim my future.
Fighting for her.
Review
“Don’t get so caught up on the shadow that you forget the man who casts it.”
Fighting shadows is an endless and fruitless fight; nothing can come from it because you are simply combating yourself…making yourself feel miserable, weak, and bitter.
Flint Page has tried not to wallow about his circumstances since he was a young boy…understanding that it gets him nowhere and that he has to fight for everything he gets. But somewhere along the way, due to his inability to walk and his love for a woman he can’t have, Flint has lost his way and turned into a “miserable asshole in a wheelchair.”
Ash Mabie may have to steal to appease her father, but at her core, she’s a good person who simply wants to belong to someone…to feel like she matters. She wants someone to see beyond her thievery and see the girl who is full of life and understands how to live fully, even when things aren’t that easy to do so. When she meets Flint, Ash does what she needs to in order to bring Flint out of his pity party and back into the land of the living. Ash allows all of Flint’s rage and bitterness to wash away, but if Flint can’t see beyond the shadows…beyond who he used to be and what he used to want, he’ll be fighting a losing battle and missing out on the girl who can uncage his heart.
Aly Martinez continues to amaze me with her writing and character development in her newest release, Fighting Shadows. Martinez allows her readers inside her characters’ heads, providing them with an up close view of their emotions and the thoughts that force them to act out and hurt those closest to them. Flint’s anger, frustration, and pain is palpable right from the beginning of the text, and as Flint begins to change and adjust, readers witness his transformation and cheer him on as he gets his act together and becomes part of his family again, moving forward not looking back.
Ash Mabie is a quirky, sassy, and glorious young woman who has been dealt a shit hand in life, but she refuses to let it take her down. She carries herself in a way that everyone around her can’t help but want to be in her light. She breathes life into Flint again, and even though he causes her immense pain and forces her to doubt herself and her worth, she continues to work hard to be more than how people perceive her.
Ash and Flint’s journey isn’t easy; when things get tough, one of them runs and the other lashes out, spitting venomous words to inflict pain. Because of their past actions, Ash and Flint both have to fight like hell to get the other one to understand how much they mean to them when words and truths are left unsaid. The Page brothers have had to work for everything they’ve gotten in life, and Flint’s battle to claim the woman who allowed him to live again may be difficult, but he’s determined to fight against the hurt and mistrust and make Ash see that they belong to each other and no one else.
Each book in Aly Martinez’s On the Ropes series is full of angst and emotion, and with Quarry’s book up next and the situation Martinez leaves him in at the end of Fighting Shadows, I can only imagine the emotional distress she’s going to cause readers with his story. But I, for one, can’t wait!
A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
5 poison apples
Excerpt
Flint and Ash
“Hey, Flint? What time is it?” Quarry asked.
Ash’s smile actually slipped completely. For the briefest of seconds, she appeared almost ashamed.
I dragged my eyes away from her in order to answer his question, but as I looked at my wrist, I had no answer at all.
“Here,” she said as she pulled my watch from her pocket.
What. The. Fuck?
Quarry howled with laughter, and Ash chewed on her bottom lip.
“Explain,” I demanded, wrapping my watch back around my wrist and shoving my wallet in the front pocket of my hoodie.
Quarry filled in the blank. “She’s a pickpocket, dude. You should have seen her when she fell on your lap. It was so fucking fast. She straight-up stole that shit from you, and you had no fucking clue.”
“I didn’t steal it! I was gonna give it back,” she amended uncomfortably. “It was just a joke.”
A joke.
A. Fucking. Joke.
And just like that, I remembered why I didn’t laugh anymore.
“Was it funny? Stealing from the cripple? You get a good laugh out of that?” I snapped, spinning and rolling myself away. “You know, maybe my judgment of you wasn’t all that off to begin with. Like father, like daughter, I guess.” It was a low blow, but I felt completely betrayed by a woman I didn’t even know.
“Flint, wait. I wasn’t picking on the cripple!”
I fully realized that I had just used the term, but it enraged me that she’d had the audacity to repeat it back to me. Who the hell was this chick? I pushed a hand into my pocket, searching for my keys. Fuck the food. I’d leave her ass there. Hell, Quarry too if he didn’t get his ass to the car.
“Get in the car, Q!” I yelled, only to close my eyes and drop my chin to my chest when my hand never made contact on the keys. “Son of a bitch,” I said as I spun back around.
Quarry was laughing next to her, but Ash’s cheeks were bright red.
“Keys.” I snapped my fingers and opened my hand, palm up.
“Stop being a dick,” Quarry said, casually tossing an arm around Ash’s shoulders.
She didn’t budge as she held my glare.
“Keys,” I repeated, but she remained still.
“It was a joke.” Her chin began to quiver.
For fuck’s sake, I wasn’t in any kind of mood to deal with bullshit from some girl I didn’t even know and was quickly discovering I didn’t care to know, either.
Quarry’s eyes grew wide as she turned to him and buried her cries in his chest.
What the fuck, asshole! Q signed before rubbing his hands over her back.
Her shoulders shook as she let out a loud sob that shocked us both.
“Come on. Let’s sit down.” Q tried to guide her over to an empty table.
Ash refused to look up and tripped over one of the chairs.
“Shit,” Q said, catching her around the waist.
I was just about to roll my eyes when she glanced my way. He was still trying to get her back on her feet and over to a table when her tear-free, bright-blue eyes pointedly glanced in my direction. My head snapped back in surprise, but a smile grew on her face.
Ash was about to put on a show, and with that one look, she had invited me to have a front-row seat.
As she floundered all over Quarry, her hands slid between his pockets and her own. Every noise she made and each time she flailed covered up a jarring movement. She was keeping his mind too busy for it to process all the places she was touching him. Hell, I was only watching her and I could barely keep up.
There was no denying that it was entertaining, but I wasn’t willing to show her that. However, as she accidentally lifted her knee, catching Q in the balls, a laugh erupted from my throat. He cupped his crotch while she apologized profusely and pushed him toward the same chair he’d been dragging her to only seconds before. Just before he sat, Ash swung her arm out, unwinding Q’s belt from around his body before tossing it at me.
“Oh God. I’m so sorry!” she said as Quarry held a finger up to ask for a second to recover. She didn’t wait at all though. Instead, she walked over in my direction; her prideful smile grew with every step.
She pulled my keys out of her pocket and dropped them into my lap. They were quickly followed by Quarry’s phone, wallet, and house keys. Then she snagged his belt off the floor and tossed it over her shoulder.
“It had absolutely nothing to do with you being in a wheelchair. It was a joke and it wasn’t supposed to piss you off.”
“Hey!” Quarry yelled. “That was messed up. You did not have to knee me in the balls to prove a point to him.”
“Oh, that wasn’t to prove a point. That was for bullshitting me. You knew good and damn well that he wouldn’t find it funny,” she said without ever tearing her gaze from mine. “Look, I’m sorry. I don’t have a lot of friends. And I’ve mentally noted that pickpocketing might not be the best way to make new ones.” She shrugged. “Consider it a lesson learned.”
“Three burgers all the way, onion rings, and a shake?” the guy at the counter called out.
Ash arched an eyebrow. “You want it to go, or are we good?”
I didn’t have to drop my attitude. Sure, she’d apologized, but while I might have had a short fuse, I also had a hell of a long burn. However, as she stood in front of me with her arms crossed over her chest and her blue eyes pleading for forgiveness, it magically fell away.
I swallowed hard. “No. We’re good.”
“You sure?” She leaned in, eyeing me warily, but her smile began to grow.
I swear to God it pulled at my lips as well. I fought it. But the harder I tried to keep it restrained, the bigger Ash’s grew. She was stealing my smile. The chick was good! Finally, with an eye roll, I let out a quiet chuckle, which seemed to appease her.
“Good. Now, help your brother get redressed and I’ll make the fancy sauce.” She waggled her eyebrows.
Haven’t read this series yet? Meet Flint Quarry, Till & Eliza in Fighting Silence
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1CF0YEq
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1Lhhn62
B&N: http://bit.ly/FightingSilenceBN
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1A2cSnr
iBooks: http://bit.ly/1zbJT0u
About the Author
Aly Martinez
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.
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