6 HUGE STARS AND A FAVE FOR 2020!
“I will always be here for you. There isn’t a world that exists where I’m not gonna be around for you.”
When the Time is Right, an all-new friends to lovers standalone from USA Today bestselling author Aly Martinez and M. Mabie is available now!
Amazon | Amazon Worldwide
Blurb
Fate doesn’t always happen overnight.
Hudson Bradley is the cockiest, most stubborn, hard-headed man I’ve ever known. And for fifteen years, he’s been my brother’s best friend.
But lately, what I’m feeling for him isn’t friendship at all.
Why is my heart racing every time his blue eyes lock on mine?
Why does every word he rumbles in my ear make my body come alive?
And worst of all, why did I bet him that I could find a woman he and his son would both love?
If I hadn’t given up on love altogether, Hudson would have been perfect for me. After all, he was there the day my world fell apart. He’s spent the last six years piecing me back together.
There are a million reasons why we could never work, but after a single kiss, I can’t remember any of them.
Now that the time is right, I have to make him mine—before I lose him forever.
Review
6 SHINING STARS!
OMG, this book! I adored this book! I loved every single word of this hilarious, heartbreaking story – a best-friends-to-lovers romance that is real and raw with all the feels. It’s an instant favourite.
My mind is a sappy mess, so this review is going to be gushy and quote-whorey, but please bear with me as I purge my feels. Firstly:
- I loved the first book by these two authors When the Walls Come Down, and I was hoping this one would be just as good. It was better.
- I started this book last night and read straight through until I finished it at 2am, knowing I would only get four hours of sleeping before having to get up for work. I regret nothing.
- Today, I am desperately book hungover and wondering how I’ll ever stop thinking about Hudson and Lex. It was totally worth it.
This book is very loosely linked to When the Walls Come Down. Alexis works with Maggie and Shane, and they do appear a couple of times, but it’s done without spoiling their story, and this book can absolutely standalone.
Hudson and Alexis met as teenagers. He was the best friend of her older brother, Cal, and when she joined them at high school, she became a part of their group. They grew to become best friends, and for over 15 years they have been by each other’s sides through all of life’s ups and down. Most notably, when Alexis lost the love of her life, and Hudson carried her through her grief, bringing them even closer over the six years since his death. They are as close as two people can be, and they share everything, with a fun, teasing relationship that is absolutely hilarious.
“Wait.” One of his eyebrows lifted, and I could have sworn he blushed. “You think I have big dick energy?”
I didn’t have anything to hide. “Hell yeah. You’re all buff and manly and stacked. All that swagger you toss around. Plus, I know your dick is big.” Facts were facts. Big dicks were big dicks. And I didn’t make the rules or hand out the dicks.
I refilled my glass and poured a little more in his.
“You’ve never seen my dick.”
“Oh, yes I have. I saw that monster your senior year of high school when we went skinny dipping at the Foresters’ pond.”
He scratched the back of his neck and grimaced. “Don’t look at my dick.”
“Well, I haven’t since then.” I laughed. “But I bet the damn thing is even bigger now.”
I love these characters! Hudson is a single father of a 7-year-old son, and is sweet, fun and dependable with a fantastic sense of humour – he’s exactly the kind of guy you want in your life. By contrast, Alexis is snarky and sarcastic, a bit chaotic, but she embraces who she is and gives no fucks at all. They are real and relatable, and the book is written in dual POV so we get up close and personal with them both, and just getting to know them both is so much fun.
But with all that is between them, the one thing they have never experienced is attraction. They are platonic best friends, and that is all, with never a hint of anything else. But then they make a bet to see who can set the other up with the best blind date (more hilarity), and then one drunken night and a soul-shattering kiss changes everything.
I love friends-to-lovers romance, and the thing I loved the most about this book is the way this one played out. Usually in these kinds of stories you have one character who is already feeling an attraction, but Hudson and Alexis are both equally stunned by the emergence of their feelings for each other. It’s an absolute surprise, and their reactions are so realistic – both of them freaked out at the sudden realisation, but at the same time completely accepting of it. And watching them come to terms with it all is so much fun!
“I need to find out if this, whatever’s been building between us, is something.”
Wouldn’t that be nice? Up until that very second, it had all been so one-sided and I’d racked my brain all week to understand why I’d felt the crazy things I did about him.
“How you gonna do that?”
“We’re going to kiss,” he stated very matter-of-factly, and then he closed the distance between our bodies.
True to the nature of their relationship though, they address it honestly and openly, embracing the massive shift and following their hearts, and oh, how I loved it!
“Lex, babe, please hear me when I say this. I will always be your friend, but after the last few days, there is nothing even remotely friendly about the things I want to do to you.”
They move forward with a mix of wonder, passion and excitement, but with very real expectations about what they are embarking on. It’s functional and honest, and it’s clear that they care for each other deeply, with so much emotion between them, but they still maintain that teasing playfulness that is such a fundamental part of their relationship, and it’s all just glorious.
“Kid, I’m in love with you. Right now. You hear me? Right now, I’m so Goddamned in love with you I can hardly fucking breathe. I never knew feeling like this was possible, but I’d bet everything I have that I’ve loved you for years.”
“Let me make you mine.”
“Please”.
But discovering their feelings and coming together is only the beginning of their journey, and there is so much more to this book. There is drama, and even more feels, but again, it’s realistic, it suits the story without overwhelming it, and it’s handled absolutely beautifully! I was glued to my kindle as I read, desperate to watch it all unfold – not wishing it away as you often do when there is drama and you just want to get to the HEA, but embracing it all as part of the story and loving every moment of it, even when it hurts.
“You don’t need to protect me. Especially not from you.”
He took my face in his palms and leaned down to kiss me, but before our mouths parted, he said, “Don’t you get it, Lex? I’ve had this relentless need to protect you nearly half my life. I have no plans of stopping now.”“I will always be here for you. There isn’t a world that exists where I’m not gonna be around for you.”
This book is so, so beautiful. I love the mix of fun and heartfelt, and every single word is sheer perfection, whether it made me laugh, cry, or fall in love (and everything in between). It’s one of those books where you reread scenes over and over again to fully take it in, and then you get to the end of the book and wish that you could experience it new all over again. I freaking loved everything about it, and finished this book hugging my kindle with tears in my eyes.
“You belong with me. You have always belonged with me.”
The co-writing team of Mabie and Martinez seems to be pure gold, and I’m so freaking excited for whatever they have coming next!
Absolutely sensational – 6 stars!
An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Aly Matinez & M. Mabie Co-writes
When the Walls Come Down
Review
Buy: Amazon | Amazon Worldwide
When the Time is Right
Review
Buy: Amazon | Amazon Worldwide
About Aly Martinez
Originally from Savannah, Georgia, USA Today bestselling author Aly Martinez now lives in South Carolina with her husband and four young children.
Never one to take herself too seriously, she enjoys cheap wine, mystery leggings, and baked feta. It should be known, however, that she hates pizza and ice cream, almost as much as writing her bio in the third person.
She passes what little free time she has reading anything and everything she can get her hands on, preferably with a super-sized tumbler of wine by her side.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | Amazon | Bookbub | Facebook Reader Group
Stay up to date with Aly’s newsletter by joining her mailing list
Check out our Aly Martinez Author Spotlight for more amazing reads!
About M. Mabie
M. Mabie lives in Illinois with her husband. She writes everything from steamy romantic comedies to angst-filled, pull your hair out drama. She enjoys it all. With
her unconventional love stories, she tries to embody “real-life romance.”
She cares about politics, but will not discuss them in public. She uses the same fork at every meal, watches Wayne's World while cleaning, and lets her dog
sleep on her head. She has always been a writer. In fact, she was born with a pen in her hand, which almost never happens. Almost.
M. Mabie usually doesn’t speak in third-person. She promises.
Facebook | Instagram | Bookbub | Goodreads | Twitter | Pinterest | Website
Stay up to date with M. Mabie by joining her mailing list
