Book Review – Fighting Silence by Aly Martinez

Fighting Silence (On The Ropes Book 1)
This is the other book that was getting RAVE reviews a week or so ago that had me flip-flopping as to which one of the two I wanted to start first.

I mean… how could I resist a book about an up and coming bad-ass boxer, surviving despite his bad childhood, and despite the fact that he’s slowly going deaf?!

“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.”

*Gah!!!*  That part GOT ME! And to top it all off, it was from one of my FAVORITE authors. YES PLEASE!!!

Alas, I chose it second, since I had just read a “fighter romance” and was ready for a little something different before I dove back into another one. Even though SO many insisted this was a MUST-READ NOW love story:

Renata: Fighting Silence was ahhhhmazing! This is Aly Martinez best book yet. A different twist to the usual MMA fighters genre. Till is a true hero in every sense of the word.

Lauren: I read Fighting Silence last night….then got up this morning & reread my favorite parts.

Melissa: You MUST read Fighting Silence….such a beautiful (and often times HOT) story. Plus its Aly Martinez…girlfriend puts words into poetry on the page!!!!!

Ashley: Fighting Silence is great. I highly recommend it. Aly’s books get better and better and FS does NOT disappoint. You will fall in love with Till Page and all of the Page brothers for that matter.

Shell: Girls I just finished both ‘Fighting Silence ‘ and ”The Deal’ both awesome read in a different way and I loved them both. You all have to read both so does’t matter which one you all pick first.

Jean: I’m at 80% of Fighting Silence and oh I just love it! I don’t want this book to end! Loved the friendship, the buildup, the angst, the fun, the tears, the love…. Oh I just love everything!

 <— Sure enough, this one was so very good and beautifully written! Lots of push and pull, angsty drama (namely… romance angst between the two main characters as adults), but both starting with horrible childhoods, being raised – or should I say… raising themselves in absolute poverty, and carving themselves out a little slice of life to make it all better.

It’s a sweet coming of age story, at least for the first half.

She burst out laughing. God, I loved that sound so much. I knew I’d never be the same when I lost it to the silence. I’d happily give up every noise in the world if I could just keep her laugh . But my life didn’t work that way.

Depicting the lives of two beautiful, responsible souls becoming best friends despite their circumstances. Because of their circumstances. “Living” together as much as they possible could get away with. Having their secret hangouts, confiding in each other, even helping feed each other.

One day they were going to knock down that building and snatch that life away from us. But with a half boy half man snoring loudly beside me, I was blissfully blinded by the present.

Lots to experience in that whole build-up, and his two younger brothers are just as fascinated by her!

“Is she magic too?” he breathed with wide eyes.

I thought about it for a minute before answering. Was Eliza magic? She is to me.

“Absolutely.”

Pure sweetness but not overly so. Just enough to satisfy my sweet-read tooth.

And as they grew, so did their love. Changing into inevitable attraction and devotion to each other. Except as all of our angsty love stories go, there was one of ‘em resisting the heck out of “more”. Because becoming more could mean they lose it all.

Even at seventeen I knew I loved Till Page, but I didn’t have grand dreams of how perfect our lives would be together. Maybe it was because I didn’t want to set myself up for disappointment. But I think it was more because I didn’t want to face the fact that there was a future at all— one that may or may not have included him. I just wanted to live with Till in the present where there was no pressure to pretend to be anyone else. A present where I kept his stomach full of canned foods, and he kept me warm and needed. I scratched his head, and he healed my heart.

And OMG a few times I was just furious with a few specific events… reactions if you will. And all the while, my heart was being tugged on incessantly. Didn’t matter how mad I was!

“I can’t have you without claiming you for forever.”

“Then claim me. I’ll claim you too.”

“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of, Eliza.”

*clutching my heart* I LOVE that kind of stuff!! Hard times never leave them, and it’s this story of love and survival, both for themselves, for each other, and for their loved ones that will have absolutely your heart.

So good!

However I suspect that maybe I should have read it before the “other” book that blew my mind, that came out that same week (it ended up being my favorite of the year so far…), ’cause I just wasn’t over it yet. And despite that, I jumped right into this one. And while both have that awesome friendship/crush feel, with a great cast of supporting characters, I just couldn’t shake the feel of the other read, wanting that specific feel and detail, again, and therefore… I was able to put this one down periodically. *sigh*

Maybe it’s ’cause it would skip over months… and at times, years? Sometimes, a big devastating “thing” would happen, and we’d only find out about it… after the fact… you know? One thing in particular that was a big game-changer in the book, that I would have loved to properly cry over, and yet… the way it moved… the way the story jumped, I missed out on truly feeling it. And that happened at least twice for me. Yes, I knew it, I sort of felt it, but I didn’t get to drown in it, and for a story like this? When they are drowning… I want to be, too.

No worries though, she drowns us a little later. 

And it’s not all bad, and angsty. There are some true comedic moments too. ‘Cause it doesn’t matter how much he thinks he deserves, or doesn’t deserve… he’s a true guy where it counts. The MINE moments, the bad-ass moments, the stand-up guy moments, and even the “corny-guy” moments.

“…It was a real blow to the ego.”

“Oh, God, no! Not your fragile ego!” I slapped my hands to my cheeks and feigned horror, earning me one of Till’s one-sided grins.

“I know. I took it hard. I had to flex in front of the mirror for a full five minutes before I was able to come down here.”

*snort!!*  What a goof!! 

He’s fun AND fearless. Well… mostly.

So if you’re in the mood for a great hard-luck love story between two best friends that just keep trying despite everything life throws at them, this is a great choice! Plenty of “feels”, lots of drama, lots of hope and hurt and then back again.

Our goodbye was bound to happen. People like us didn’t get handed happiness on a silver platter. We had to work for it.

And work for it, they did. Does it all work out in the end? Ah ah ahhhhh…. you know I’m not tellin’.

3.5 to 4 stars! (4 stars for a few of the angsty parts that the author hits us with and allows us to wallow in. 4 stars for the amazing cast of characters and a heartwarming story that encompasses all sorts of different kinds of love! 3.5 stars for a few *big* parts – at least to me – that I felt weren’t detailed enough, and therefore, didn’t overwhelm me the way I anticipated it would).

P.S. Aly confirms (and teases) that:

Aly Martinez: You do NOT need to read ANY of the Wrecked and Ruined series to read Fighting Silence. It is ALL new characters. Slate is from another of my books (Among The Echoes), but he only has a father figure role in Fighting Silence, so you don’t need to know how he likes it in bed to appreciate him. HAHAHA! The others just make cameos. It’s a small treat for my avid readers, but not necessary in ANY way.

Fabi: omg Aly, that comment about slate is hilarious. lmao

Amy: Well okay then…looks like my TBR list is shifting yet again to make room for Fighting Silence!  But you know, how they like it in bed is *what* we appreciate about ‘em. Just sayin’. 

Maryse: *snort*

Aly: BAHAHAHA! Amy! Slate is a talker in bed….imagine that while he dishing out life lessons in Fighting Silence! 

MichelleS: ….. eating popcorn laughing my butt off here….. how he likes it in bed, indeed!!! now I have to add Fighting Silence to my Kindle ASAP, just to meet this Slate hottie!!!! (have I mentioned how super hot it is when the guy is a talker in bed? that gets me so much more worked up then graphic details)

Cheryl: “Dishing out life lessons in bed” -love it!! *eating cotton candy oreos while adjusting tbr for Fighting Silence next*

LOL!! She rocks!

Tagged as: 4 stars, Aly Martinez, contemporary romance