Reclaim, an all-new extremely raw and moving second chance romance from USA Today bestselling author Aly Martinez is available now!
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Blurb
Choices. Everyone makes them. From mundane to unimaginable, one choice can change the trajectory of your entire life.
My mother’s choice was to abandon us with our abusive father.
My brother’s choice was to go to prison for killing the boy who assaulted his soulmate.
Camden Cole’s choice was to fall in love with a shattered girl who had absolutely nothing to offer him but heartbreak.
It was one summer beneath the trees, but with Camden, I had a place where I belonged.
A friend who was always waiting for me.
A boy who I caught staring at me more often than not.
He was mine, but when the world closed in and secrets exploded all around us, it was my choice to let him go.
Choices. Everyone makes them.
But mine would ruin us all.
Review
4.5 heartachingly beautiful stars
Oh, Aly Martinez, you certainly know how to pull on the heartstrings! Both heartbreakingly devastating and beautifully romantic, this book owned me from start to finish. I felt everything while reading, and though my heart ached, it was absolutely worth it for the beautifully swoony best-friends-to-lovers story that completely captured my heart.
Please note that this book follows on from Release. This book can standalone, but note that there is storyline crossover and this book contains spoilers for Release, so if you’re planning on reading them both (which you should, because they’re fantastic reads – and Ramsay and Thea both appear in this book), make sure you read them in order.
This is the story of Nora Stewart. Nora is the sister of Ramsay, and best friend of Thea (hero and heroine from Release. The book begins showing us a defining moment in all three of their lives, and then takes us back to meet Nora as a feisty 11-year-old living in near poverty and hellish conditions, with only her big brother to protect and care for her. Young Nora is just beginning her summer vacation when she meets Camden Cole. Camden is 12 and is in Nora’s small home town for the summer to stay with his grandparents. Though they don’t get off to the greatest of beginnings, they soon become best friends, spending all day every day together, and providing each other with respite from the harsh realities of their lives. As years pass Camden comes back again to the creek they claimed as their own, and their friendship only grows… as do their feelings for each other as they grow older. Devastating secrets will tear them apart, but their bond brings them back together over and over again.
Our chemistry would always be there. Nora and I had a dynamic most people couldn’t possibly understand. Playful and physical. Cool and natural. The feel of her skin against mine was as familiar as my own. For most of our lives, we were each other’s only source of attention and affection. So, even if it had started innocently in our youth, as we got older, our touches had become something else entirely.
Something more mature – an attraction and desire neither of us could deny.
As time pass, their lives change, but they remain true to each other, even if their circumstances don’t make things easy.
“I fell in love with a girl who had no idea how to be loved.”
It’s dramatic, angsty and heartbreaking, but I was there for it, because those moments when they find their way back to each other are just incredible, and enough to keep my romantic heart enthralled.
“With you, I breathe and I laugh and…and I feel, Camden. Good things. And I don’t even have to try. It just happens when I’m with you.”
I love these characters! Though their decisions may be frustrating and angst-inducing, I could empathise with them, and I knew why they did what they did. It hurt, don’t get me wrong, but it allowed for incredible character growth, and made those happy times even better. And the connection between them is everything. I could feel it. Though their situation isn’t easy, everything between them is. They laugh, they tease, they open up and are completely honest with each other, and I loved seeing them functional and in love and moving forward together.
“You know I love you, right,” she rushed out.
My chest got tight. “I know.”
“No, Cam. I mean, I really, really love you. I always have.”
“I know that too, babe. And I love you too. Always.”
“Then show me.” Her mouth claimed mine. “Show me what love feels like.”
Special shout-out to Camden, because he is just amazing. From childhood, through adolescence and into adulthood, he absolutely captured my heart, and I swooned for him the whole way through this book. He is loyal, protective, caring and honest, and I adored him as a romantic hero, pouring his heart out and being just what Nora needed.
“Nora, you have been enough for me every single day of my life. Timing is everything and we’re not there yet. But don’t you ever fucking let me go. Do you hear me? Never.”
Ramsay and Thea appear, and I loved the way the two stories wound together. The emotion is beautifully written, and so many times while reading I wanted to scream at the unfairness of all that all of these characters are faced with, but from all of that pain, a beautiful love story emerges, and though it’s not the story that I wanted for these two, it ends beautifully, and I finished this one with a huge smile on my face.
“I’ve always belonged to you, the same way you belong to me.”
I loved it – 4.5 stars!
An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Reclaim follows on from Release, but can standalone (beware Release spoilers)
Release
Review
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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.
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