Release: A Standalone Friends-to-Lovers Romance
Another fantastic love story by one of my favorite authors ever, ’cause boy can she deliver, when it comes to angst, backstory and super-steam as well as romance. Though… not without working for it first. 😉
This one came highly recommended by our crew shortly after its release <— see what I did there? Supposedly there was a twist and I am ALL for those!! Delightful (or not-so-delightful) book surprises are so fun to experience and freak out over.
Harper: Just finished Release by Aly Martinez. Is a very good book, lots of angst, chemistry, a good dose of reality and an amazing love story. I recommend it!
Maryse: YAY!!!! Thank you Harper!!! I LOVE HER!
Jennifer: Release by Aly Martinez is the first book I’ve read since the baby has been born and OMGOSH! Aly is hands down one of my favorite authors!
This book had me laughing, crying and dreaming of my newest book boyfriend Ramsey !
I will definitely read this again as it was the perfect mixture of steam and store. I felt like I was setting on their couch watching everything unfold.10+ Aly has done it again …. Maryse, you HAVE to read if you you haven’t already!!
Randi: Ok I’m jumping on the band wagon. Release by Aly Martinez… Wow what a story! You guys need to read it. It has a twist you won’t even see coming….. It’s a must read. So good.
Maryse: Okay. That does it. I’m starting it now.
Susan: I loved it! My jaw dropped in the best way💜
Melissa: Read and LOVED it 📚
Jaclyn: LOVED IT!!!
YAY ME!!! It sounded like everything I love in romance books, and in the end… my fellow readers were so right!
So what’s it about?
Ramsey and Thea met as children during a difficult moment in each of their lives, and soon became absolute best friends (along with Ramsey’s little sister). The three of them were inseparable. And over time, that friendship love grew into so much more. Bonding the two together, planning for forever.
…with that first kiss, Ramsey sealed our promises. Promises that would change us for the better, for the worse, and for everything in between. Unfortunately for us, not long after that, the worse became all we knew.
Until something happened… that ruined everything.
That wasn’t the way it was supposed to have happened. We were supposed to get out of Clovert, travel the world hand in hand.
Instead, we’d been forced to wait twelve years, eight months, three weeks, four days, twelve hours, and forty-two minutes to start our lives together.
And now Thea, 12 years later, is hoping to continue where they left off, bring back what they once had, the day she picks him up from prison. Ohhhhhhh but Ramsey is a changed man, and he has no interest in Thea and their “once upon a time” love story.
It took him several beats to notice me, but like I’d been hooked up to a set of jumper cables, I felt the shock down to the core of my soul when his dark gaze landed on mine. His back shot straight and surprise robbed me of his smile. His jaw got hard, and a mixture of agony, shock, and fury mingled in his handsome features.
Oh oh…
“…Considering you were the reason I ended up in this hellhole, you got a lot of f*cking balls showing up here today.”
GASP!!!!!!!!! OUCH!!!!!!!
And then the story goes full-on from there. Lots of push pull… actually more push-push because of Ramsey, and Thea feels every single rejection, deeply.
Cat: Wow. You’re reading release, I can’t wait to know what you think. I liked the blurb but I wanna know if he treats the h well and if there’s a lot of angst.
Maryse: So far he’s pushing her as hard as he can!! Which I love… I wanna work for it. 😀
Colleen: I stayed up waaaay too late last night finishing Release (finally!). Last week’s post and everyone’s feedback finally convinced me to dig in and I’m so glad that I did!
Cat: I started reading release by Aly Martinez and joined you all, so far it’s so good. I love the heroine and if I love the heroine I’m ready to love everything else, even the angst.
But she’s not having it.
Rejection burned thick in my throat, but I refused to give him that victory.
And she gives him a run for his money, too. 😉
Time had never been my friend.
Oooooh boy that was fun!!! AND DON’T FORGET THAT TWIST!!! I didn’t even clue in until it hit me square in the head! I’m going to stop with my story-telling there, so you can go in blindly and experience all the trauma and subsequent drama for yourself. And believe me, there’s plenty of it.
My only hiccup? I just wish SO HARD that it was told completely from Thea’s POV (at least… during the “today” part) so that I could have truly felt all of that angst, and insecurity, and hurt with her, by not having a clue what he was actually thinking and what his actions meant. What he wanted and what he didn’t want, would have affected me harder, sinking me in deeper into the story, had I not known.
One of my favorite things? The steam. HOLY MOLY I tend to skim those scenes but I found myself devouring the hot stuff without even realizing I was. That’s how natural it flowed. *waggles eyebrows* I love when that happens.
4 stars <— would have been and easy 4.5 to 5 stars because of the incredible writing and because of how much I loved the heroine (and characters all around). We really get to know them well, who they are deep down inside… and why. But I knew too much, in regards to Ramsey’s feelings, which in turned numbed the pain potential for me. And while I HATE the not knowing and the pain potential (and angsty stuff and withholding love) in real life, in books… I’m all for it. 😉 That’s often what has me screaming from the rooftops.
But if you prefer dual POVs then this will likely be a 5-star for you!
➔➔➔ Looking for more of my must-read recommendations? Browse my 5 star and 4.5 star and 4 star reviews. 😀
➔➔➔ Love this author? Browse more Aly Martinez features and reviews on my blog. 😀
Great review and it was a good read for me too. I loved both h/h and same as you, 4 stars because of the parts when they were so little…she was like 10, i don’t want to read about that, then the twist, I didn’t like it.
I had a reservation about the twist… thinking backwards considering certain demeanors. Just sayin’ 😉