My rating
A perfect way to end this series, Fighting Solitude made me swoon for the youngest Page brother!
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.
Author : Aly Martinez
Title : Fighting Solitude
Series : On the Ropes #3
Number of pages : –
Publisher :
Release Date : February 2nd, 2016
Genre : Contemporary.
What a perfect ending for this series! Not the winner I thought it would be, but definitely worth reading, as it ended on a sweet note.
I was anxious to read Quarry’s story. See, I loved the first book in this series, Fighting Silence, but couldn’t get into the second one, Fighting Shadows… So it’s with doubts and high expectations that I started Fighting Solitude, the third and last book of the On the Ropes series.
This probably will be a spoiler-ish review, so if you haven’t read the previous books, it’s better you stop right there.
After reading Flint’ story, I truly bet all my gold on Quarry. And with how things were left at the end of book 2, I was anxiously waiting for his book.
Only to discover that the main trope of this book is a friends to lovers one. Exit Mia, the dying in secret girlfriend, enters Liv, the old best friend from way back.
This isn’t exactly a pet peeve of mine, but despite the building being very slow between Quarry and Liv, —which I could appreciate— I thought the Mia’s part in their story felt… manufactured.
Don’t get me wrong. It was a beautiful thing what she did for her 2 best friends, but it also felt fake, too much…
Now, disregarding this aspect, I truly loved how the author built the story between Quarry and Liv. I loved reading about their first meeting, as children and I hated seeing them part! This was good angst but damn it made me angry.
Because I barely knew about Mia with the tidbit at the end of book 2, to me, she became the character that HAD TO die to give Quarry and Liv their HEA. It caused me to feel at times that Liv was the consolation prize. The story could have stood by itself without adding an ex-dead girlfriend in to the mix. That’s how good Quarry and Liv relationship was.
So, I have mixed feelings about the plot because of this.
The chemistry between Liv and Quarry was obvious and tangible but the ghost of Mia constantly around put a damper on my feelings for this love story. Liv was running around in circle with her guilt and I more than once yelled at her to please move past this already.
When Liv wasn’t internalizing about stealing Quarry from Mia, she was a great character. I truly loved her sass, her strong will and charm.
The banter between her and Quarry was delicious and Quarry banter with his brothers as golden as ever.
Sexy times were enjoyable and got me squirming a little, you cannot fault the Page brothers in that department, they know how to sex up a woman!
Overall a nice read and good conclusion to this series, which proved to me that Aly Martinez is an author to follow.
“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.
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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