Review Tour: Reclaim: Aly Martinez
Reclaim
Aly Martinez
Release Date November 12, 20202
Choices. Everyone makes them. From mundane to unimaginable, one choice can change the trajectory of your entire life.
My mother’s choice was to abandon us with our abusive father.
My brother’s choice was to go to prison for killing the boy who assaulted his soulmate.
Camden Cole’s choice was to fall in love with a shattered girl who had absolutely nothing to offer him but heartbreak.
It was one summer beneath the trees, but with Camden, I had a place where I belonged.
A friend who was always waiting for me.
A boy who I caught staring at me more often than not.
He was mine, but when the world closed in and secrets exploded all around us, it was my choice to let him go.
Choices. Everyone makes them.
My mother’s choice was to abandon us with our abusive father.
My brother’s choice was to go to prison for killing the boy who assaulted his soulmate.
Camden Cole’s choice was to fall in love with a shattered girl who had absolutely nothing to offer him but heartbreak.
It was one summer beneath the trees, but with Camden, I had a place where I belonged.
A friend who was always waiting for me.
A boy who I caught staring at me more often than not.
He was mine, but when the world closed in and secrets exploded all around us, it was my choice to let him go.
Choices. Everyone makes them.
teasers from Author's Facebook page
This story. These two. Oh my. My heart broke for them over and over. We met Nora Stewart and her older brother in Ramsey's book, Release so we knew some of the story. How an already broken young girl lost her innocence and her protector and lives with the guilt of her choices every day. But Nora's full account is a hard-fought journey to find self-worth and happiness.
Choices. Everyone makes them. From mundane to unimaginable, one choice can change the trajectory of your entire life.
Choices. Everyone makes them. From mundane to unimaginable, one choice can change the trajectory of your entire life.
Nora's life was never easy. Her home life is a wreck. She has abandonment and trust issues. But one summer her life is changed with the arrival of an awkward, clumsy, nerdy boy named Camden Cole. They spend one magical summer at the creek as best friends. But nothing in her life is ever easy and real life always seems to get in the way of her being happy. And in a series of unfortunate events, things managed to get unbelievably worse.
Cam lost his heart to Nora that first summer. He had his own issues at home that brought him to town to his grandparent's home for the summer. And in some ways, his life was as out of his control as Nora's was. Just because a family has money or prestige, does not make them any more functional.
These two spend so many years flitting in and out of each other's lives when needed most. Nora is constantly on a mission to heal and become what she perceives is good enough for him. While all he wants is to protect her and to have her let down all her walls and finally become his. But they go through so much in the process and my heart broke as much as theirs did at every goodbye. They seriously had issues with timing. And there were other deeper family issues and serious situations at play.
Nora's story is one of survival, finding self-worth, empowerment, and acceptance. But Cam also grows and matures throughout as well. The pain and traumas are harsh. The choices and repercussions have ripple effects. No one should have to go through what Nora, Cam, Ramsey, and Thea had to go through in their young lives. But it helps when there are good people wanting to be there to help. Cam totally stole my heart with every little thing he did to try to make Nora feel cared for and accepted. And I was rooting for Nora to claw her way out of the darkness and accept that she deserved happiness. I enjoyed some surprise cameos, as well as more with Ramsey, Thea, and Joe.
This is a beautiful, heartfelt, angsty story of true friendship, support, young love, soul mates, and second chances spanning twenty-five years. The time lost, the longing, the pain, and the frustration just about did me in. It brings all the feels, good and bad. Camden was always willing to be her knight in shining armor, but Nora also had a find it in herself to fight too because she never wanted to just accept help from him. They always had a give-and-take relationship, but they had to conquer their demons and then figure out how to compromise and find that elusive sweet spot where they could finally find peace and contentment.
"All the pain. All the devastation. All the heartache. Something good has to come out of this."
We met Nora in Release, her brother’s story, but this story from her perspective felt like an entirely different story, even though some of the events were parallel and overlapping. Nora had a rough childhood. An abusive father and an absent mother, her guidance and protection came from her older brother. She loses that guidance at a young age, and has to deal with that loss and the guilt surrounding her before she can stand up again. She has a huge amount of inner strength, even in her lowest points, even when she feels so lost and alone. She won’t drag Camden down into her mess until she has figured out how to stand on her own two feet - something she needs for herself as much as she needs to be able to do to not feel like a burden to Camden.
Camden comes into her life at one such low point, and though they are separated for long periods of time, his love for her is true and pure. He is such the perfect hero for this story. Even as a child, he is patient and understanding of Nora’s needs. He is a little geeky (especially as he ages and comes into his own) but he grows into a fierce, but quiet warrior.
The intensity of the feelings between Camden and Nora was huge, and though they were children when they met, the bond they formed during one summer working together would guide their actions for years to come.
This was an intense story spanning Nora and Camden’s childhood and adulthood. The passage of time is huge. There were times when the time notation at the beginning of the chapter hurt my heart as I realized how much time had passed with no real resolution or movement forward for them. But I also love the way the passage of time cemented the feelings between them. Nora had a lot to figure out, and though I wish she could have let Camden back in earlier, I also loved that she didn’t let him in until she was sure she could stand on her own, or at least until she had tried to stand on her own first.
This story was full of little details that turned into huge moments. Small foreshadowing led to huge character shifts, and events that would change the course of the characters’ lives in huge ways. I was shaken by several of the moments in this story. Part of that was because enough time had passed since I read Release that I had forgotten some of the shared details of the stories, but the bigger part was that these characters were just that epic. My biggest reason for taking down a half star was the middle. I wished they didn’t have to go so long between interactions (I get it based on her brother’s timeline and her healing, but oh it hurt that so many years passed.)
He wedged his large body beside me in the bed. On his side, he draped one arm across my middle, curling his other under his head.
I watched him out of the corner of my eye, completely unsure if I was supposed to cuddle into him or what the hell we were doing.
“This okay?” he asked. “You comfortable?”
I was a lot of things. Confused. Lost. Overwhelmed by guilt.
But because it was Camden, comfortable was one of those things too.
As an answer, I rolled toward him and buried my face in his broad chest.
His whole body sagged as he began stroking the back of my hair. “Nora. Nora. Nora.”
In a way, Camden and I were strangers, but as his heart played in my ear, I felt two puzzle pieces clicking into place. A calm washed over me. The dark cloud of my betrayals still existed outside of Camden’s embrace; it just didn’t seem so ominous anymore. He knew all the dirty and broken parts of me and still came back, holding me as though he could keep me together.
Sliding an arm around his back, I curled in close, shifting to tangle my legs with his. “I’m tired, Cam.”
“I know,” he whispered, hugging me tight.
“No, you don’t. Nobody understands. I’m a disease who infects everyone who gets close to me.” My breathing shuddered. “It hurts. Everything hurts.”
“Do you remember our first summer together when a grasshopper got into the container where we held the extra worms? You screamed so loud when you opened that thing and it came flying out like a bat out of hell. It got on your shirt and then hung on for dear life. With all the racket you were making, the damn thing had to have been terrified, but he never jumped off. I had to peel it off your shirt, one leg at a time.”
I gagged at the memory. “Thanks for reminding me of that. Awesome timing.”
He chuckled and pressed his lips to the top of my head. “I’m the grasshopper clinging to your shirt, Nora.”
Now, if that wasn’t some good old classic Camden Cole rambling, I had no idea what was.
I tilted my head back, resting my chin on his pec, and peered up at him. “You do realize I have no idea what you’re talking about, right?”
My cold, hollow chest filled with a warmth I hadn’t felt in years when he grinned down at me.
“I genuinely thought you’d find your way back to me. A phone call. A visit. Anything. But as time passed and I got older, I realized I fell in love with a girl who had no idea how to be loved.”
My stomach wrenched, and emotion made my vision swim. “Camden, I—”
“No, just let me talk. Hear me out.” He tucked a stray hair behind my ear and let his thumb linger at my cheek, sweeping back and forth. “I know you love me, Nora. It’s flashed in your eyes every time you’ve seen me since we were kids. It’s like every light in the house suddenly comes on, but it terrifies you, so you spend the whole time we’re together running around, turning them all off, convincing yourself that you don’t deserve for people to love you back. But we still do it. Joe loves you. Thea loves you. Ramsey loves you. I’ll always love you.”
Release
Aly Martinez
Add to Goodreads
Our 5 star reviews
Growing up, Ramsey Stewart branded my soul in ways time could never heal.
At twelve, he asked me to be his girlfriend.
At thirteen, he gave me my first kiss.
By sixteen, we’d fallen in love, planned a future together, and had our eyes set on the horizon.
Love never fails, right?
But for Ramsey, it did.
Love failed him.
I failed him.
The entire world failed him.
At seventeen, Ramsey was convicted of killing the boy who assaulted me.
Move on, he wrote in his first and only letter from prison.
Start a new life, he urged.
I don’t love you anymore, he lied.
There was no such thing as giving up on Ramsey. Love may have been our curse, but he was mine—then, now, and forever.
So here I am, twelve long years later, waiting for a man I don't even know to emerge from between the chain link gates.
Aly MartinezWebsite | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | Amazon | BookBub | Facebook Reader Group | Aly's Newsletter
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.
0 comments