SYNOPSIS:
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.
Each book in this series can be read as a standalone.
MY THOUGHTS:
5 out of 5 stars
I first became a fan of this author with her Wrecked and Ruined series and when I saw the sign ups for this book, I jumped on the chance to read it. The books I have read (and reviewed) were all 5 star reads. I loved the plots, the characters, the way the story flowed off the pages. I had no doubt that I would enjoy Fighting Silence, but I had no idea that "enjoy" would be a total understatement.
Y'all...my love for this book knows no limits.
Let me put it to you this way...after I finished reading Fighting Silence, I proposed to Aly Martinez.
She said yes. And I have the tweets to prove it.
I'm not even sure where to start when it comes to Fighting Silence. As I've said from the very beginning of my blogging days, I am an emotionally driven reader. Aly has never let me down in that department, but what I got from Fighting Silence was so much more than I was expecting. The vulnerability in her characters...it added a depth to this story that knocked my socks off.
Till and Eliza. Maybe it was that their story starts when they are thirteen. Maybe it is their "apartment". Maybe it was the fact that they were friends first and foremost. I don't know how to describe it, but I absolutely fell in love with them as individuals and as a couple. They make sense, they complement each other, they just work in a way that I celebrated and cried and laughed and fist pumped and unf'd and felt all the feels for them.
I made a comment to another blogger today about how I wasn't sure how to write this review. How to translate "puffy heart eyes and stupid grins" into coherent thoughts and reasons. What I should have done was take live actions shots of my face as I read and posted them in chronological order because there were so many cheesy grins and flails and tears...and all of them were integral to the story. There wasn't a single part of the story that didn't make sense. It all worked. It all fit together like this perfect emotional puzzle.
I cannot wait to see where she takes this series. Till and Eliza...their story ends where it should and I'm content. But Flint and Quarry - Till's brothers -- they have so much to give and I know Aly will do wonderful things.
I've struggled recently with this blog, not really wanting to read or write reviews and I have seriously considered riding off into the bookish sunset -- but Fighting Silence has reminded me just how much fun it is to get excited about a book and how much fun it is to talk about it.
Thank you, Aly. I look forward to starting our life together :)
EXCERPT:
"That wasn't yours to take away," he exploded into the otherwise silent night. His words echoed off the surrounding buildings, each wave slicing me to the quick all over again. "That was our place. Not yours." His voice cracked right alongside my heart.
"Yeah, well, there was a lot of stuff that wasn't yours to take either." I held his gaze, desperately trying to be strong, but as his eyes grew wide, I whimpered.
His long legs strode forward, stopping only inches away from me. He was crowding me, but he still leaned in closer to my face. "There is nothing in this world that was ever more mine than you," he stated. Though it was the absolute truth, I wished with all my heart that it were a lie.
"Till," I cried, swiping the tears from my eyes.
"Why!" he shouted, causing his muscles to tense under the force. "Goddamn it! I needed that place."
Porch lights flashed on from the surrounding apartments, illuminating not only the dark but also my rage.
I shoved my hands into his chest. "What about what I needed? You left! I waited in that fucking apartment for weeks."
He didn't budge, but my bare feet slipped, sending me toward the ground. Impossibly fast, Till's hand snaked out and caught my arm. I didn't let his chivalrous gesture douse my fire. I had six months’ worth of words to say to the man I was irrevocably in love with.
"You took what you wanted. Then you left me."
"Doodle," he whispered.
I had been perilously close to the edge of insanity, and with one single word, he’d pushed me over.
I lost it completely.
Pounding my fists against his chest, I screamed at the top of my lungs, "It's Eliza! My name is fucking Eliza! Not Doodle!" I spun to march away, but Till's arms folded around me, lifting me off my feet to restrain me.
I was miniscule compared to him. There was no use in fighting, but I still kicked my legs, irrationally desperate to get away from him—but only because I knew I couldn't keep him for forever.
"Stop it!" he growled into my ear. "I know your Goddamn name—probably better than I know my own."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
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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