Sound is an abstract concept for most people. We spend our lives blocking out the static in order to focus on what we believe is important. But what if, when the clarity fades into silence, it’s the obscure background noise that you would give anything to hold on to?I’ve always been a fighter. With parents who barely managed to stay out of jail and two little brothers who narrowly avoided foster care, I became skilled at dodging the punches life threw at me. Growing up, I didn’t have anything I could call my own, but from the moment I met Eliza Reynolds, she was always mine. I became utterly addicted to her and the escape from reality we provided each other. Throughout the years, she had boyfriends and I had girlfriends, but there wasn’t a single night that I didn’t hear her voice.
You see, meeting the love of my life at age thirteen was never part of my plan. However, neither was gradually going deaf at the age of twenty-one.
They both happened anyway.
Now, I’m on the ropes during the toughest battles of my life.
Fighting for my career.
Fighting the impending silence.
Fighting for her.
Every night, just before falling asleep, she sighs as a final conscious breath leaves her.
I think that’s the sound I’ll miss the most.
I’d never had anything I could call my own, but Eliza Reynolds would always be mine.
If ever there was a book that everyone has to add to their TBR, this is that book. This incredible, emotional, beautiful, simply unforgettable book. This is Aly Martinez’s best book to date and quite honestly one of the best books I’ve read in a while. It was also probably my favorite friends-to-lovers romance I’ve ever read. Period.
Till Page met Eliza Reynolds when they were just 13 years old, and they each became an escape for the other. An escape from their glum reality. An escape from their problems. An escape from the real world. A fantasy built from the innocence of young hearts that built into an indescribably love as they got older.
Till’s life has never been easy. Forced to raise his two younger brothers from the time he was just a child himself because their parents couldn’t care less about anyone but themselves. Till struggles to make ends meet, all the while knowing that he’s facing a future of silence. A future in which a genetic condition may cause him to lose his hearing. A future that’s he’s absolutely terrified to face. When he climbs though a window of an abandoned apartment, looking to escape his reality, he comes crashing into a pair of blue eyes that irrevocably changes his life forever.
Eliza Reynolds grew up always fending for herself and never knowing the warmth of the love of her parents. But when a scrawny boy with tears in his captivating hazel eyes comes into her life, nothing is ever the same. She knows exactly who Till is, they go to school together after all. But he’s never acknowledged her, and that doesn’t change after they meet. But under the shadow of the night, in that abandoned apartment, they became the world for each other.
As they grow older, their friendship begins to turn into something much stronger. Something that Eliza knows is love unlike any she’ll ever feel for any other man, and a love that Till is absolutely terrified to acknowledge as more than that for a friend in fear of losing Eliza.
“I love you, Eliza.”
The book spans from the time Till and Eliza are 13 until they are 21, but it’s such a perfect progression that you can’t help but fall harder for them with every chapter. The author did such an incredible job infusing their romance with just that right amount of angst and emotion. It was absolute perfection.
There was nothing, NOTHING that I didn’t like about this book, and that’s a rare thing to happen to me. You feel everything right along the characters; their struggles, their pain, their love. I was an emotional wreck reading the second half of this book. And then that last 30%? Forget about it! I down right ugly cried.
I absolutely loved how Aly Martines was able to tie in characters from her previous books (Leo, Slate and Caleb make an appearance). But she does this giving readers that have read her previous books a little bonus, but allowing new readers to get to know these characters without ever feeling lost.
This book was so much more than just a romance though. It was also more that a fighter romance. It was a story or perseverance, of strength in the truest meaning of the word. Till’s story will absolutely break your heart. His relationship with his two brothers will also melt it. And his love for Eliza? It will warm it.
Eliza was a fantastic heroine. She was the perfect match for Till. Her strength, her maturity that’s well beyond her young years was so refreshing to read. This book truly had everything. It was emotional, it was a little angsty, and of course it was oh so sexy.
God, I just loved it so much. I don’t want to give you more of the plot because I don’t want to ruin the experience of reading it for yourself. Take my advice and go into this book without reading many reviews. You’ll just enjoy it that much more.
One of the most touching and unforgettable romances I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I absolutely cannot wait for Flint’s book next. Aly Martinez has given me a fighter romance that is a not only an auto-buy, it’s a MUST buy. I simply can’t recommend it enough. If you’ve loved her previous books, you will flat out adore this one. And if you haven’t discovered this phenomenal author yet, I can pretty much guarantee you’ll become a fan after reading Fighting Silence.
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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