Review: Fighting Solitude (On the Ropes, #3) by Aly Martinez

Fighting Solitude

Buy: Kindle Ebook  | Paperback



Review

“Every. Single. Day.
Forever.”

5 stars! Loved it, loved it, loved it!

This is the final book of the On the Ropes series, a wonderful friends-to-lovers romance with lots of heart, lots of feels and lots of laughs. After falling in love with all of the Page brothers in the amazing Fighting Silence, book 2 didn’t quite hit the mark for me but Quarry’s story is everything I wanted it to be, and he has now become my favourite of the brothers! I devoured every single page of this book, rereading favourite parts over and over again and losing myself in this gorgeous love story.

Quarry Page is the youngest of the Page boys. Abandoned by their parents they have struggled to survive and have faced so much heartache, trauma, and life-changing devastation, but they have triumphed together and have gone on to become hugely successful and wealthy beyond anything they could ever have imagined. Quarry was always such a sweetheart, but also a jokester with a foul mouth who, at a young age, faced the prospect of progressively losing his hearing, but he has dealt with it and doesn’t let his deafness affect his life and now he’s all grown up and pursuing a professional boxing career.

At the end of the last book, Quarry’s whole world was ripped out from underneath him, and the prologue of this book takes us back to that horrific moment, and all of the heartache that I felt for him came right back. But then the book goes back to the past to show us how Quarry got to this point, and it tells us another story – the story of Quarry and Liv.

She entered my life during a brief period when all the stars had momentarily aligned.
It wasn’t until it all exploded, throwing my entire world out of orbit, that I realized she was the greatest gift I’d ever been given.

Quarry and Liv met when he was 10 and she was 9 and quickly became best friends. In a wonderful twist, Liv is the daughter of Leo James from the Wrecked & Ruined series, and with the close links between the two families they were always going to be in each other’s lives. From the age of 12, Liv knew that she loved him, but it never went past friendship. Their friendship has had a lot of ups and downs, but the strength of their bond has seen them through it all and now, as adults they are sharing an apartment, Liv is working as Quarry’s assistant, and they are still the best of friends, soulmates, really, all over each other’s lives in every way. Liv still loves Quarry, but has resigned herself to the fact that nothing will happen between them and she is content just to have him as her best friend. But Quarry is about to have an epiphany that will change everything.

Liv James was absolutely everything to me.
Well, almost.
She wasn’t mine.
Yet.

Quarry’s realization of his feelings for Liv is so freaking funny and I was laughing out loud as it all unfolded.

“Welcome home.” Taking both of her hands, I tugged them around my hips and then placed them on my ass. “Where ass-grabbing is now a requirement.”

He wants her, and he knows he has to have her as more than his best friend but Liv has had a difficult past, and she’s learned the hard way that trust doesn’t come easy. Quarry knows better than anyone how she feels, and even though he’s alpha all the way, he’s also an absolute sweetheart about it and his gentle determinedness with her was absolutely beautiful!

I lifted her hand to my chest, settling it over my heart. “This doesn’t change. It’s you and me to the core. I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you. If it happens to you, it happens to me, remember. And this is definitely happening to us. Please don’t fight it.”

I love this relationship. They already know each other inside and out, so their progression to ‘more’ seemed so natural. Sure there are some fears and freak outs, and Liv’s initial reluctance is angsty yet completely understandable (and honestly it just provides an opportunity for Quarry to be even more incredible as he pours his heart out to her), but they are so in love and so obviously belong together, it’s just a matter of watching them address their concerns and follow their hearts.

“This…Being here with you…I’m scared.”
“Don’t be. Please, God, don’t be scared … We’ll figure this out, I swear.”

“I refuse to let you fight me on this. I refuse to deny the way I feel about you. And I absolutely refuse to let you deny what you feel for me. You want this. I get that you’re scared, but trust me, I will make this work for us.”

And, of course, their chemistry is off the freaking charts – passionate and emotional, and holy hell they are smoking hot together!

“Tell me you don’t want me … Don’t love me … Tell me this doesn’t feel like the rest of your life.”

It’s an absolutely beautiful love story, happily with no stupid behaviour or unnecessary relationship drama. There is conflict (possibly a little OTT?), but it’s external to the two of them, and watching them be together and develop together as a couple as they deal with everything around them was gorgeous to see and I was completely swept up in their teasing and fun, yet deeply emotional and sexy-as-all-hell romance (my favourite!).

“I don’t know why you and I had to suffer to get here, but this right here is how it was always supposed to be.”

Till and Eliza, Flint and Ash are all very involved in the story, as are Slate and Erica and Leo and Sarah. I loved the chance to catch up with these characters, and loved the dynamics between them as a group as they watched (and involved themselves in) the drama as it all unfolded – Leo as the protective father was particularly sensational. And through everything, I love how close they all are and, and how they have each other’s backs completely and unquestionably.

OK, that’s enough gushing. Obviously I loved this book, and highly recommend it. It’s a fantastic ending to a series that I have loved and though I’m not ready to say goodbye, I’m looking forward to many rereads in the future.

5 stars.

 

The On The Ropes series

Fighting Silence  Fighting Shadows  Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000038_00069]

Fighting Silence (#1) (Till & Eliza)
Review
Buy:  Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CAAmazon AUPaperback

Fighting Shadows (#2) (Flint & Ash)
Review
Buy:  Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon AU Paperback

Fighting Solitude (#3) (Quarry & Liv)
Review
Buy:  Amazon US | Amazon UKAmazon CA | Amazon AU | Paperback

 

 

 

 

 

One thought on “Review: Fighting Solitude (On the Ropes, #3) by Aly Martinez

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *