ACROSS THE HORIZON by ALY MARTINEZ

‘…with my heart in my throat and tears streaming down my face, I walked away.’

We absolutely love Aly Martinez’s writing style and her stories always keep us reading as the romance slowly builds and we fall in love just as the characters do. There’s something very special about her characters that takes us back to the books we fell in love with years ago. And if you too are a huge fan of old school Kristen Ashley you’ll know what we mean. Across the Horizon elicited those same feelings and we loved it. This book is an addictive, sexy and angsty read.

“Sometimes fate brings you to a place in life for a reason. It’s not up to you to figure out what that reason is. It’s only up to you to decide what you’re going to make of it.”

Across the Horizon is a second chance love story for Tanner and Rita who’ve both been victims of deception, heartbreak and internal struggles in their lives, albeit taking different shapes. Neither is where they want to be but both trying their best to find their happy and live their best life. The life they really want to live together, but first they must put their own individual struggles to bed before they can join each other there ….pun intended!

‘She wasn’t ready for what I wanted from her. But I’d wait. For Rita…I. Would. Wait.’

When we read a book there almost always comes a point in the story where the scales move to become more weighted to one character. For us, that was Tanner in this case which somewhat seemed at odds with the storyline which was mostly centred round Rita. We remember Tanner fondly from The Darkest Sunrise and The Brightest Sunset duet which was his brother, Porter’s story.

Tanner is a highly acclaimed TV celebrity chef known for his cheeky smile and those chiselled abs. Think naked chef. We loved him and we loved how much he loved Rita. He was funny, cheeky and so wonderful with that attractive vulnerability which we always fall for. His voice was so strong in this story and we fell hook line and sinker.

‘If I’d had seven years, you can bet your ass she would not be sitting in another man’s car in my driveway. She’d be in my arms. In my fucking hammock. Laughing and smiling up at me while I frantically thought of ways to keep that smile aimed at me for another fucking seven years. Fuck this guy.’

Rita’s marriage falls victim to that dreaded seven year itch when she catches her hubby having an affair.  Whilst she’s in for a tough ride emotionally as well as facing an identity crisis, she has a silver lining which fate throws at her when she needs it most. Turning to Tanner, whom she meets under stressful circumstances, eases the path but she’s conscious of losing herself in the process. We really liked Rita and understood her worries. Having never had a safety net growing up made her grab it when offered. Also, when trust is broken it’s hard to relearn.

‘Together, we’d rule the world. Or at the very least, sit on the couch, holding hands and laughing as it burned down around us.’

Whilst we connected with both Tanner and Rita we would’ve loved more detailed background in order to truly feel emotionally connected to their present and that intense love they felt for one another. This also had an impact on trying up all the loose ends as the mood of the story is quite morose and chock full of that much loved angst. To experience rather than just being told adds so much weight to the story and its words. We have to applaud Aly Martinez for the brilliant job of not spoiling her previous duet which runs in the same timeline. We laughed and swooned as we enjoyed this emotional and angsty second chance romance.