Fighting Shadows

by Aly Martinez

[Cocktails and Books]

This review was originally posted on Cocktails and Books

I have yet to read an Aly Martinez book that I don't absolutely fall in love with, but FIGHTING SHADOWS was a book I was dying to read. I wanted to know what happened to Flynn after everything that happened in FIGHTING SILENCE. Would he find his HEA. Well, we get a side to Flynn I wasn't expecting, but his story was so worth it.

If you haven't read FIGHTING SILENCE, Flynn was shot in the back leaving him paralyzed. And as FIGHTING SHADOWS open, we're introduced to a sullen, broody Flynn. Of course, who wouldn't be after all that he'd been through. But I wasn't expecting a guy who would basically abandon his family in his attempt to gain control over his life. For some odd reason, Flynn needed to go back to some semblance of the life he and his brothers lived in order to find some semblance of life. The other was the smart mouth daughter of his mother's husband, who shook Flynn up and showed him he was more than his injury.

I really liked Ash. She somehow managed to make the most out of the crappy life she was forced to live. She always had a smile. She was instantly drawn to Flynn. Not because of his injury or his glowing personality. She managed to see beneath his bluster and wheelchair to the guy he used to be. And she wanted to do whatever she could to help him find that guy again. She was pretty amazing for a seventeen year old girl, but as she grew up she become even more amazing. She made something of herself, despite herself. And it wasn't very hard to understand why Flynn would do whatever he needed to do to make sure she was in his life.

I truly did like Flynn and Ash together, but there were plenty of times when I had to wonder why Ash would waste time on a guy who didn't treat her very well. And later, why she would even contemplate being with someone who talked to her the way he did as he professed his feelings for her. But I understood that Ash really did see something in Flynn that wasn't immediately apparent to others. Even when he spoke harshly to her, deep down she knew he spoke like that out of fear, mostly the fear of losing her.

Aly Martinez knocked this one out of the gym. She managed to take a character I loved, make me question everything about him, only to fall for him again when he finally got his act together. This was another great entry into the "On the Ropes" series. If you haven't pick this series up, it's a must read.

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