Review Tour: When The Walls Come Down: M. Mabie and Aly Martinez

by - Monday, June 08, 2020

When the walls come down cover
When The Walls Come Down
M. Mabie and Aly Martinez
Add to  Goodreads
Release Date June 4, 2020

Did you ever hear the joke about the guy whose wife cheated on him with his best friend? So he quit his job, moved into his parents’ basement, and gained fifty pounds? 

No? Because that wasn’t a joke. It was my life.

Four years later, I'm back with a dream job, a killer apartment, and a set of abs that are better than ever.

So, when Maggie Light, a stunning, snarky blonde moves in next door, and we spend the hottest weekend of our lives together, I think this could be the greatest comeback story ever. 

That is until I realize Maggie has moved to town to do one thing—steal my job. 

Maybe this isn't a comeback story after all. Maybe this is war—one I intend to win. 

What I never anticipated was that maybe I’d rather win her. 

Perhaps, if I’m lucky, the universe has finally run out of jokes and I can somehow win both.

Maggie Light has started a new adventure on her own. She left all of her family in Georgia to start a new job and life in San Francisco. However, despite wanting to be adventurous, she is also kind of a cautious homebody. But she is also sassy, sarcastic, confident, and smart. 


Shane Warren's life imploded years ago and it took moving near his family in San Francisco and getting immersed in a job at their company to finally get his life back. He is a more mature,  work-a-holic, overthinker, and creature of habit. He is totally stuck in a rut. But now his family wants to kick him out of his comfort zone to find new work opportunities and a social life. 

When their paths unexpectedly crossed in a bar, Shane was surprisingly emboldened to meet her. They are both a little rusty, awkward, and unsure. But something about her sparks something in Shane he thought was lost. And Maggie cannot help to be charmed by his persistence, quirky personality, and good looks. They bring out the smarta** in each other and have quick-witted banter. And when they realize they are neighbors, perhaps it is serendipity. Their chemistry is amazing. And they share a great weekend of snappy rapport and bedroom antics. They might just be that spark of change they both needed. 

Then real life happens Monday morning. Bring on the conflict, drama, and angst when they figure out maybe the joke is on them.

I have not read M. Mabie's books before but figured out Shane is related to the characters from her Wake series and Knot duet,  and Maggie is the sister of Heath from Aly Martinez's Retrieval/Transfer duet. 

It is a sweet, witty, sexy story about life, friendship, love, and wanting to have it all. They both have walls to break down, fears to face, and to deal with change and figure out priorities. Their banter is flirty, sarcastic, and so much fun. They love to tease and taunt each other and have inside jokes. I loved that they were a bit quirky, awkward, and silly. Shane is a different kind of hero with an unsure, vulnerable, dorky side tempered by his sweet, funny, sexy side. I just adored him. And Maggie is younger, but smart, stubborn, and determined to live a full life. Together they are easy, but their situation was more complicated. This book made me laugh, but it touched my heart too. 
Shane finally has his life in order. Four years ago, he found his wife cheating with his best friend, so he picked up and moved to San Francisco to work with his brother-in-law. It took him 4 years, but he finally feels like he has put the past behind him and is comfortable with where he’s at. What he really is is a work-aholic putting all his focus into the company, but not working on moving his own self forward.

Maggie moved across the country for her first adult job. As the youngest sibling, she has been sheltered and feels like she needs to have experiences to make up for the life her mother missed out on.
I loved their meeting and the subsequent weekend they spent together. Neither is smooth, and the awkward moments were exactly what they each needed to step out of their comfort zone for a bit. The bonds that formed, their witty rapport, their teasing natures, really came out as they let down the walls between them. But what happens when Monday rolls around and it turns out that the new neighbors are also competing for the same job: Maggie has been hired to replace Shane as his family pushes him to move his life forward.
Both of these characters have a lot to figure out what it is they truly want out of life. Shane has been so focused on work, he has forgotten all his other goals. Maggie is so focused on living life for her mom, that she has lost sight of what her mom *did* have. She’s just figuring out the direction of her life, while he is rewriting the direction.

This was a relatively easy read, with a lot of fun, heart, and wit. I haven’t read the series that Shane’s family is from, though I have read the books that centers on Maggie’s brother. This was a lot lighter than I typically expect from Aly’s books, and I enjoyed the humor they built as Shane and Maggie navigated their new situation. Despite only being familiar with the backstory of half of the side characters, I didn’t miss a beat in this book -- it is a complete standalone.
Oh, for fuck’s sake. Am I a man or not?
Here goes fucking nothing.
Take a risk, my ass. I’d fucking show Casey and Blake a damn risk.
I marched down to where she was sitting. “Hi, I’m Shane.”
She looked shocked, maybe a little startled by my approach—and rightly so. I’d stalked over like the fucking Terminator, all amped up from my private pep talk.
“The bartender, Chris, said you’re new in town, and it’s your first time here.”
Her sparkling blue eyes stood out against her makeup, and now—standing close to her—I could smell her perfume. A subtle and warm scent that made me want to lean in.
What the fuck had I been thinking?
To put it mildly, she was out of my league, but hey… Risks, right?
“If you’re dining alone, would you mind if I offer a suggestion from the menu?”
“I was only looking it over out of curiosity. I really just came in for a drink or two.” She folded it and placed it on the wooden top in front of her.
Goddamn, that cleavage.
“Oh. Yeah. Okay. Well, then…uh…let me get one for you.” I might have strutted over like the Terminator, but I was fumbling over my words like Barney Fife and beginning to sweat like a Crossfitter.
Her brows bunched. “Um, you really don’t have to do that.”
“Please. After the day I’ve had, I’ll actually have one with you.” I swiped at the back of my neck. “The drinks are good here. Very cold. Wet.” Jesus fucking Christ, Shane. Wet!? “Um. Alcoholic, if that’s what you’re into.” I waved Chris—and his bigger-than-life shit-eating grin—down to us.
“Find something you’d like?” he asked her.
“I’ll just have a Titos and cranberry,” she answered. “I hear they’re very cold and wet here.”
Chris looked at me disappointedly, probably guessing at how badly I’d botched this introduction. He wasn’t wrong, but she hadn’t told me to fuck off yet.
Yet.
“And I’ll take a Honeybee Brown,” I added.
He spun on his heel, shocked. “Really?”
I shrugged and shot daggers at him. “Really. A pint, please.”
“A cold, wet one too, eh? Okay, man. Coming right up.” He made our drinks and then about a dozen more for the servers who were keeping him busy.
“Thanks for the drink,” she said, clinking our glasses together, her eyes never quite meeting mine.
“Yeah. Sure. No problem.” I followed her lead and took a sip.
“So, do you come here a lot, Shane?”
My name on her lips had me clearing my throat.
“Yes,” replied our asshole bartender before I could answer.
“I live close,” I explained, and she nodded in understanding. “So, where did you come to the Bay from?” I took another sip, realizing that counting the beer I’d had with Casey earlier and this one, I was nearing my only-a-few-drinks daily limit. So I’d be savoring the pint as long as she didn’t seem too put off by my dusty-ass small talk. Otherwise, I could chug it down and then be on my merry way, leaving her to enjoy her night without a divorced, practically fired dude bugging her.
“Atlanta,” she replied and swirled a piece of ice with the drink stirrer in her glass. Still no eye contact.
Small talk. I fumbled for more small talk.
“You have family here?”
“No, I’ve always wanted to get out of Georgia. So, when I landed a job out here, it seemed like a sign.”
Finally, her blue eyes met mine and… Fuck, if I could have just remembered to blink, I’d have been doing well. I feared if I broke the gaze for just a second, I’d never see that color again, because surely it was a mirage of some sort. Like a crystal-blue pool in a desert. The kind of trick eyes could only play on a man who hadn’t been laid in nearly half a decade.
She finished with, “I start on Monday. I guess fate is as good a time as any to take a risk.”
Originally from Savannah, Georgia, USA Today bestselling author Aly Martinez now lives in South Carolina with her husband and four young children.
Never one to take herself too seriously, she enjoys cheap wine, mystery leggings, and olives. 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.


M. Mabie

M. Mabie lives in Illinois with her husband. She writes everything from steamy romantic comedies to angst-filled, pull your hair out drama. She enjoys it all. With her unconventional love stories, she tries to embody "real-life romance."





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