Blog Tour: Written With Regret: Aly Martinez
Written With Regret
Aly Martinez
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Buy Amazon | Amazon Worldwide
Release Date May 23, 2019
Every little girl dreams of the fairytale. The one where the white knight rushes in to save her from the clutches of evil. They fall in love, have babies, and live happily ever after.
By that definition, my life should have been a fairytale too.
When I was eight years old, Caven Hunt saved me from the worst kind of evil to walk the Earth. It didn’t matter that I was a kid. I fell in love with him all the same.
But that was where my fairytale ended.
Years later, a one-night stand during the darkest time imaginable gave us a little girl. It was nothing compared to the pitch black that consumed me when I was forced to leave her with Caven for good.
At the end of every fairytale, the happily-ever-after is the one thing that remains consistent. It wasn’t going to be mine, but there hadn’t been a night that passed where I hadn’t prayed that it would be hers.
I owed Caven my life.
However, I owed that innocent child more.
And that included ripping the heart from my chest and facing her father again.
This centers around characters that lived through Hell. Caven is a man that has tried to outrun his tragic past and was not focused on anything but his career and money. But when the most unexpected thing happens, it changes everything about his life. And years later, he is more balanced and kind of happy. Until another shock comes. When a visitor arrives, it is someone he never thought he would see again. There are things in their past that tie them, but also complicate their lives and make their situation tenuous. There are so many conflicting an shifting emotions from both of them.
Their best friends and some family are nosy and opinionated and add to the drama. And there is one precocious little girl that steals every scene she is in and adds humor and whimsy.
The prologue took me by surprise and broke my heart. I have to admit that I had a hard time with the first introductions of the characters in present day and was wondering if I was going to like this book. But then we got to start seeing their personalities and hearts, I found myself really liking them. They had great wit and banter, and plenty of sexual tension. But there are also fears, insecurities, and wariness too. There are plenty of challenges and some secrets...apparently more than I was expecting after reading that ending. I cannot wait for the rest of it to figure out what the true story really is and how they proceed. My mind is full of possibilities.
I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Whoa! Aly Martinez never fails to deliver these duets that make a strong impact and end with a cliffhanger that leaves me needing more asap! I did not see this one coming. And I am left with so many questions, guesses, and theories. Now I am totally unsure what has really happened and what will happen. My mind is kind of blown, but I am definitely hooked.
This centers around characters that lived through Hell. Caven is a man that has tried to outrun his tragic past and was not focused on anything but his career and money. But when the most unexpected thing happens, it changes everything about his life. And years later, he is more balanced and kind of happy. Until another shock comes. When a visitor arrives, it is someone he never thought he would see again. There are things in their past that tie them, but also complicate their lives and make their situation tenuous. There are so many conflicting an shifting emotions from both of them.
Their best friends and some family are nosy and opinionated and add to the drama. And there is one precocious little girl that steals every scene she is in and adds humor and whimsy.
The prologue took me by surprise and broke my heart. I have to admit that I had a hard time with the first introductions of the characters in present day and was wondering if I was going to like this book. But then we got to start seeing their personalities and hearts, I found myself really liking them. They had great wit and banter, and plenty of sexual tension. But there are also fears, insecurities, and wariness too. There are plenty of challenges and some secrets...apparently more than I was expecting after reading that ending. I cannot wait for the rest of it to figure out what the true story really is and how they proceed. My mind is full of possibilities.
I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
I am going to keep this short because I worry about saying too much and giving away spoilers if I go into too much detail. I anticipate Aly’s duets will have me questioning everything I know at the end of book one, and this was no exception.
Caven Hunt is living with guilt about his past. But he is also working in a field he loves and raising his precocious little girl, the little girl that came out of a one-night stand he never thought he’d see again. But when his baby mama shows up at his daughter’s birthday party out of the blue, all his protective instincts go up. He doesn’t trust her, and he doesn’t want her anywhere near Rosie.
Both characters are living with regret, some of their own making and some not. But what connects them is the past and a little girl. The chemistry between them is off the charts, but they have a lot of trust to build which only serves to ramp up the sexual tension between them.
Caven Hunt is living with guilt about his past. But he is also working in a field he loves and raising his precocious little girl, the little girl that came out of a one-night stand he never thought he’d see again. But when his baby mama shows up at his daughter’s birthday party out of the blue, all his protective instincts go up. He doesn’t trust her, and he doesn’t want her anywhere near Rosie.
Both characters are living with regret, some of their own making and some not. But what connects them is the past and a little girl. The chemistry between them is off the charts, but they have a lot of trust to build which only serves to ramp up the sexual tension between them.
I thought I had some idea of what was coming, but I was blown away by the ending. I expect Aly to keep me guessing, but this one really threw me for a loop. I can’t help but question so much of the story as I reflect on the characters and their experiences. I can’t wait to find the answers to my questions in Written With You!
I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Life had never been easy for me. Chaos had been following me like a dark cloud, looming and hovering, casting its shadow far and wide despite how bright the path in front of me should have appeared. After growing up the way I had, where happiness had been more of a privilege than a choice, I knew better than to believe that that moment would be anything other than fleeting.
And one second later, the universe proved me right.
I opened the door to see who had rung the bell—a cursory check revealed an empty hallway.
And that’s when I heard it: the sound that changed not only my entire life in the present, but my life for all future days to come.
At first, it was just a grunt, but as if that baby could feel my gaze, the minute my eyes made contact, it let out a sharp cry.
Confusion hit me like a lightning bolt, sending me back a step. I used the door frame for balance as I took in the yellow blanket with a hole only big enough to reveal a pale-pink face.
“What the fuck?” I breathed. Glancing around the hall, I waited for someone to jump out and start laughing. When no one spoke up to issue a punchline, I took a step closer and repeated, “What the fuck?”
I was utterly unable to process the absurdity in front of me.
Of course, I knew the facts.
It was a baby.
On my doorstep.
Alone.
But the why in that equation was glaringly absent.
“Uhhh,” Ian drawled, peering over my shoulder. “Why is there a kid at your door?”
“I have no idea,” I replied, staring down at the squirming and now-screaming bundle. “It was just there when I opened the door.”
Ian shoved me to the side so he could stand beside me. “You’re shitting me, right?”
“Does it look like I’m shitting you?”
He looked from me to the baby, then back again. “How did it get there?”
We were two incredibly smart men who had created a technology empire out of nothing. But, clearly, a baby was too big for either of us to wrap our minds around.
I swept an arm out and pointed to the kid. “I have no clue, but I’m assuming it didn’t catch a cab.”
A light of understanding hit his eyes. He moved first, stepping over the crying baby and hurrying down the hall, searching around the corner near the elevator before returning alone.
The party continued behind me, but even with the door open, the loud chatter was no match for the ear-piecing cries happening in that hallway.
Veronica suddenly appeared beside me, her body going solid as she stammered out. “Is that…a baby?”
“Back up,” I urged, throwing my arm out to block her path as though the infant were going to suddenly morph into a rabid animal. And let’s be honest, I knew nothing about babies. Anything was possible.
Ian dropped to his knees, scooping up the wailing child. Meanwhile, I stood there like a gawking idiot, paralyzed by a weight I didn’t yet understand.
“Call the pol—” He stopped abruptly and reached into the top of the child’s blanket. “Oh shit,” he whispered, his wide, panic-filled eyes flashing to mine.
“What?” I asked, stepping toward him to get a better look at the kid. Only it wasn’t that tiny baby cradled in his arms that made my heart stop and bile rise in my throat.
There, in my best friend’s hand, was a folded piece of notebook paper that had been tucked into the child’s blanket. From the looks of it, the paper was unremarkable in every sense of the word. Blue lines, white spaces, hanging remnants from where it had been haphazardly ripped from a spiral bound notebook. Even the crease was crooked. But it was my name scrawled on the outside in messy, black ink that made it the most remarkable paper in existence.
I snatched it from his hand and, with blood roaring in my ears, opened it.
Caven,
I’m sorry. I never meant for this to happen. This is our daughter Keira. I’ll love her forever. Take care of her the way I can’t.
Written with regret,
Hadley
The hall began to spin, my head feeling like every ounce of blood had been drained from my body. The thundering in my ears faded and the loud chatter of my guests, who were suddenly aware that something was happening at the door, roared to life.
And then the chaos finally found me all over again—the past playing out in my head like my life flashing before my eyes.
I sucked in a deep breath and looked at the baby in his arms. The blanket had fallen off its head just enough to reveal a patch of fine hairs, more orange than its mother’s red.
“Call the police,” I declared, turning on a toe and walking back into my apartment, leaving Ian standing in the hall with Hadley’s child.
Shoving through the crowd of concerned onlookers, I headed straight to the bottles of liquor lining the counter. I didn’t bother with ice or even a glass. I threw back that bottle of vodka, hoping like hell the burn of the alcohol could numb the panic coursing through my veins.
Through it all, that baby never stopped crying.
Written With You (#2)
When I was fifteen, a single bullet changed my life. I spent the next decade trying to outrun the devastation of my past, building an empire that would shield me from whatever life could throw at me.
But all the money in the world couldn’t help me when I found a screaming newborn abandoned on my doorstep.
I’d never wanted to be a father. Passing the sludge that ran through my veins down to an innocent child seemed like a tragedy. But there she was—pink cheeks, red hair, and mine.
Somehow, against all logic, that little girl became the best thing that ever happened to me. It was impossible to stay lost in the past when I was the only one who could protect her future.
Which is exactly why, when her mother came back four years later, I was ready for battle.
If only I could stop myself from falling in love with her during the war.
Aly Martinez
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Originally from Savannah, Georgia, USA Today bestselling author Aly Martinez now lives in South Carolina with her four young children.
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.
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.
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