{"id":38966,"date":"2018-12-06T08:55:44","date_gmt":"2018-12-06T13:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=38966"},"modified":"2018-12-06T04:37:25","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T09:37:25","slug":"release-blitz-arc-review-excerpt-across-the-horizon-by-aly-martinez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=38966","title":{"rendered":"Release Blitz, ARC Review & Excerpt: Across the Horizon by Aly Martinez"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amazon US<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon UK<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon AU<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 <\/strong>Amazon CA<\/strong><\/a><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\r\n <\/div><\/div>\n
\n

Synopsis<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cSometimes love happens when you least expect it.\u201d That was what my husband\u2019s mistress told me the day I found out about their affair.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t believe it until five minutes later when mouth-watering celebrity chef Tanner Reese walked up, tossed his arm around my shoulders, and told my cheating husband to take a hike.<\/p>\n

Tanner and I couldn\u2019t have been more different. He spent his weekends at clubs, rubbing elbows with fellow A-listers. I spent mine in yoga pants with cheese boards and a glass of wine\u2014or six.<\/p>\n

Our relationship shouldn\u2019t have worked, but it did. That is until Tanner proved to me that even though love happens when you least expect it…<\/p>\n

So does heartbreak.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Add to Goodreads<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Review<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cSometimes fate brings you to a place in life for a reason. It\u2019s not up to you to figure out what that reason is. It\u2019s only up to you to decide what you\u2019re going to make of it.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

4 stars<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another great read from Aly Martinez! A romantic comedy with lots of heart, and a hilariously charming hero that you cannot help but completely fall for!<\/p>\n

Tanner and Rita\u2019s love story originally played out in the background of The Darkest Sunrise Duet<\/a> (Tanner is Porter\u2019s brother, Rita is Charlotte\u2019s best friend). To be honest, when I first heard that Aly was writing a book for them, I didn\u2019t actually think their story needed to be told since we\u2019d already seen them together, but it\u2019s Aly Martinez, and there\u2019s no way I was not going to read this one, and I loved what she did with this story! She\u2019s written it in a way that although it connects with the duet, it can be read as a complete standalone and it doesn\u2019t give away any spoilers for the original story. It\u2019s really cleverly done, so you can read this on its own, and if you have already read the duet, this will be a great bonus!<\/p>\n

Tanner Reese is a celebrity chef with two restaurants that he owns with his brother, and his own TV show where he is forced to go shirtless for at least part of it so that he can show of his abs to his admiring fans. He doesn\u2019t love that part of his job, but it\u2019s created his fortune and made him a household name \u2013 though that also isn\u2019t always a great thing as women only seem to want him for either the notoriety or what he can buy for them. He\u2019s jaded, and yearning for something real.<\/p>\n

Rita has just discovered that her husband has been having an affair. She\u2019s hurt and angry and in the beginning stages of what could be a messy divorce seeing as though her husband wants her back, and they work together, and his affair was with a colleague. Ouch! So when her husband approaches her at a work function demanding a second chance, what\u2019s a girl to do to but throw herself at the nearest available man and pretend that she\u2019s already moved on.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you married?\u201d
\n\u201cNot that I know of.\u201d
\nHer nose scrunched adorably. \u201cFiancee? Girlfriend? Friends with benefits?\u201d
\nMy gaze fell to her plump lips. \u201cYou offering or asking?\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tanner and Rita\u2019s first meeting is one of those moments that has romance book lovers like me squeeing with delight at the fun and intensity of it all. Tanner is all over playing his part as the besotted lover, but both of them are taken back by the very real spark of attraction between them. And when their scene is over, Tanner has no intention of letting Rita go \u2013 though the timing couldn\u2019t be worse for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not ready to date yet,\u201d I confessed.
\n\u201cDon\u2019t say that,\u201d he grumbled. \u201cCome on, Rita. There\u2019s something here. I know you feel it \u2026 Maybe it\u2019s nothing and it will all fizzle over the next few weeks. But dammit, I want to try.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s something awesome about a man who openly and eagerly pursues the woman of his dreams. Tanner has never fallen for a woman like he does for Rita, it doesn\u2019t matter how fast it is, he knows his heart, and he knows that she is his. His determination to be with her is sweet, heartfelt and so much fun, and every text, phone call, and moment with them together is full of fantastic flirting and banter. I laughed out loud at the witty back-and-forth between them and I loved their playfulness.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you ever a dick?\u201d I asked.
\nHis eyebrows furrowed. \u201cI\u2026um, I\u2019m pretty sure it happens on occasion. Why?\u201d
\n\u201cBecause it\u2019s going to be really annoying if you\u2019re this great all the time. I\u2019m warning you. I\u2019ve been known to get a tad bitchy sometimes, and it\u2019s going to be no fun at all to take it out on you if you always say the right thing.\u201d
\nA Tanner Reese masterpiece split his mouth. \u201cI will definitely keep that in mind and do everything I can to step up my dick game.\u201d He paused, twisting his lips. \u201cWow, that did not come out right at all.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But it\u2019s Tanner\u2019s openness that I love the most, the man wears his heart on his sleeve and the way he puts himself out there for Rita is just gorgeous!<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s the right woman \u2026 I feel it in my bones every time she looks at me. But the timing? It\u2019s like fate\u2019s cruel joke. She\u2019s got so much to deal with over the next few months. Hell, I do too. But I don\u2019t want to let her go.\u201d <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But Rita\u2019s life is so complicated. She knows she\u2019s not ready for all that Tanner is offering, but she can\u2019t resist him, and who could blame her? But she finds herself falling hard and fast, even though she knows she has a mountain of issues to overcome.<\/p>\n

What I wouldn\u2019t have given to be free to fall in love with this man. He was pretty perfect for me.
\nBut right then, I was <\/i>not perfect for him.
\nMaybe one day though.
\nAnd maybe, if I was really lucky, I wouldn\u2019t ruin us both trying to get there.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tanner and Rita both have soul searching to do, and it\u2019s a beautiful, functional ride as they figure it all out. I thought the way they handled everything was sensible, I love how honest they are with each other throughout, and the way it all plays out brings a nice amount of emotion to the story. It all leads to a beautiful ending with a fantastic epilogue, and I finished the book with a big grin on my face.<\/p>\n

This is such a gorgeous read! Funny and emotional with some profound messages and a gorgeous love story, I loved it!<\/p>\n

4 stars!<\/p>\n

An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Darkest Sunrise Duet<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\"\u00a0 \"\"<\/p>\n

The Darkest Sunrise (#1)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Buy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

The Brightest Sunset (#2)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Across the Horizon
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon US<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon UK<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon AU<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon CA<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Excerpt<\/strong><\/h4>\n

I shifted the phone to my other ear and asked her, \u201cDid you just get in bed?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf, by bed, you mean carrying a glass of wine out back to swing in the hammock, maybe.\u201d<\/p>\n

I bit my bottom lip, my head falling back against the headrest. For most men, this would have been an
\ninnocuous statement. But for a hammock connoisseur like myself, this was the normal guy equivalent of
\nher saying that she liked to give blowjobs during halftime.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a hammock out back?\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a delay in her response, which was followed by a subtle kiss of her lips on what I assumed
\nwas a wine glass. \u201cDon\u2019t knock it until you try it. It\u2019s one of the most underrated luxuries in outdoor
\nfurniture.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I\u2019m not knocking anything. Rope or quilted?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMayan, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, sweet heavenly baby Jesus, she\u2019s beautiful and knows her hammocks. I\u2019ve never been so turned on
\nin my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

She giggled, pausing for another sip. \u201cYou know, if you leaked this hammock fetish to the press, you
\ncould probably increase demand by five million percent and singlehandedly lower the country\u2019s
\nunemployment rate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Okay, so at some point during the day, she\u2019d figured out who I was.<\/p>\n

But! Even with this knowledge, she was trying to avoid<\/em> a date with me and was not elbow-
\ndeep in planning our televised wedding. This was a definite plus in my book.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, but then, when I talked to beautiful women like yourself, I\u2019d have no idea if the hammock was
\nyour idea or a ploy to impress me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJeez, that\u2019s sad, Tanner,\u201d she said, her sweet Southern accent like a wave rolling over my name.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d meant it as a joke, but it was the absolute truth when it came to dating. Early on in my career, I\u2019d
\ndone a rapid-fire interview about my personal life. One of the questions had been: What would your
\nideal woman order on the first date? Truth be told, the only thing I hoped my ideal woman would order
\nwas something she<\/em> wanted. I didn\u2019t factor into that. But I\u2019d been on my last question in my
\nlast interview of the last day of a month-long press tour. My face had hurt from fake smiling, I\u2019d been in
\ndesperate need of a shower, a smoke, and sleep, and my mind had been mush, so I\u2019d prattled off the
\nfirst thing that had come to mind: shrimp and grits.<\/p>\n

That one little answer somehow made it onto my Wiki page, and after that, every woman I\u2019d taken out
\nordered shrimp and grits. One of them even had a shellfish allergy and nearly ended up in the hospital.
\nAnd this insanity was not limited to women outside of the spotlight.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d once gone on a date with America\u2019s princess of pop, Levee Williams. We\u2019d hit it off at a charity event.
\nFor one of the most famous women in the world, she was a surprisingly nice girl, gorgeous, and funny as
\nall get out. But the first time I took her out? One guess what she ordered.<\/p>\n

I was at the end of my rope with dating and lost my freaking mind before storming out like an asshole.
\nThat night, as I was reporting shrimp and fucking grits as an error to Wiki, I noticed that her page listed it
\nas her favorite food. I\u2019d never had the balls to contact her again, and I once hid behind a palm tree on
\nRodeo Drive when I heard the clamoring of paparazzi calling her name. But that\u2019s neither here nor there.<\/p>\n

In short, while finding a woman was all too easy, dating was hard.<\/p>\n

But that wasn\u2019t about to stop me from trying with Rita.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

About\u00a0the Author<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Originally from Savannah, Georgia, USA Today bestselling author Aly Martinez now lives in South Carolina with her four young children.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

WEBSITE<\/a>\u00a0|<\/b>\u00a0FACEBOOK<\/b><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/b>TWITTER<\/b><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0 INSTAGRAM\u00a0<\/a> | NEWSLETTER<\/a> | <\/b>GOODREADS<\/b><\/a>\u00a0 | AMAZON<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For more amazing reads, check out our Aly Martinez Author Spotlight<\/a>.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Amazon US\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon UK\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon AU\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon CA   Synopsis \u201cSometimes love happens when you least expect it.\u201d That was what my husband\u2019s mistress told me the day I found out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":4,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"Product","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,65,9,29],"tags":[194,59,48,76],"class_list":["post-38966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","category-lol-funny","category-romance","category-steamy","tag-aly-martinez","tag-arc","tag-review","tag-standalone"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Across-the-Horizon.jpg?fit=150%2C225&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-a8u","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}