From the Embers by Aly Martinez-Review & Excerpt Tour
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date April 28, 2021
In the aftermath of tragedy, it’s strange the things you remember.
The deafening boom as the house exploded.
The paralyzing fear as I searched for my wife.
The blinding smoke burning my eyes as I carried her out.
But carved into my soul for the rest of my days would be the earth-shattering realization that the woman in my arms wasn’t my wife.
Bree and I were the only survivors—not that either of us were truly living after that night. As a single dad with nowhere else to go, I moved into her guest house. And somehow, through the guilt and grief, we forged an unlikely team.
It took years, but I watched the gradual return of her smile—slow and life-altering.
The two of us could sit outside for hours, talking about nothing, and it filled the massive hole in my chest with new life.
I may have carried her out of that fire, but the truth was, Bree saved me.
As we healed, the secrets and lies of the past smoldered in the ashes, threatening to ignite again.
Our love was born from the embers, and together we would go up in flames
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REVIEW:FROM THE EMBERS by Aly Martinez is a contemporary, adult, stand alone, romance story line focusing on struggling musician Eason Maxwell , and stay at home mother Bree Winters’ story line.
Told from dual first person perspectives (Eason and Bree) FROM THE EMBERS follows in the aftermath of an explosion that took the life of Eason’s wife Jessica, and Bree’s husband Rob. Rob and Eason had been best friends since college, and along with their significant others had formed a friendship that they thought would last forever but a house explosion killed Eason’s wife Jessica Maxwell, and Bree’s husband Rob Winters, and in the ensuing year, Eason would become the stay at home dad while Bree went back to work, as owner and CEO of the family owned company Prism Bedding. As Bree and Eason settled into a domestic routine, feelings and emotions would give way to a mutual attraction that would be destroyed once again, when betrayal forces our couple to take a closer look at what was, and what will never be. But…all is not well at Prism Bedding, and Bree finds herself and the company facing a government audit, and the realization that another betrayal is to be added to a long list of secrets and lies. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Eason and Bree, and the potential fall-out as the past comes back demanding everything and more.
Eason Maxwell is struggling musician having had a successful career in the early 90s but fame is a fickle thing, and Eason had to make a change in his path, going forward. Falling in love with his best friend’s widow was never in the cards but Eason soon discovered that a shared mutual grief is the starting point for a chance at another happily ever after. The possibility of reinvigorating his music career lands Eason on the fast climb to fame, taking his new found family along for the ride. Bree Winters had only ever loved one man but in the months following his death, Bree would discover that not everything was as it had appeared to be with the man she once loved. With Eason by her side, our couple would have to come to terms with the deceit and lies that reveal the potential for more heart break and grief.
The relationship between Bree and Eason begins reluctantly as friends, then the mutually shared grief of losing their spouses and best friends. Eason, with no place to live, accepts Bree’s invitation to live, along with his young daughter, in her backyard pool house, an invitation that finds Eason playing Mr. Mom while Bree went back to work, in an effort to keep the family owned business, afloat. A secret revealed would threaten their building romance, a secret where years of lies were about to implode. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
We are introduced to Bree’s husband Rob Winters; Eason’s wife Jessica; Rob/Bree’s assistant Jillian; neighbour/ part time sitter Evelyn, Bree’s children Asher and Madison, and Eason’s daughter Luna.
FROM THE EMBERS is a story of family, friendships, relationships and love; a story of secrets, lies, betrayal and revenge. The premise is heart breaking, tragic, raw and haunting; the romance captivating and tender; the characters are broken, spirited and wounded. Aly Martinez writes a richly dramatic and impassioned tale of betrayal and second chances.
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
Once I got Jessica safe, I’d go back for Bree. They’d find Rob. Everyone would be okay.
“Eason,” she croaked in my arms.
My feet were still moving as I sprinted away, but time stopped as her voice permeated my senses.
It wasn’t possible.
She was covered in soot, and my eyes were caked with ash and what I would later learn to be blood, but I could still make out the large flowers on her yellow—
“Uh, no. It’s my dress that your wife borrowed and I had to do an entire Tom Cruise Mission Impossible thing to get it back last week.”
Oh, God.
I kept running until the wind changed direction, clearing the smoke. With my heart in my throat, I prayed that my still ringing ears had deceived me. I set her down and used the inside of my shirt to clear my face.
“Eason,” she croaked.
But once again, she wasn’t my wife.
“Oh, God,” I breathed, watching as she rose on unsteady legs. Tears carved twin riverbeds through the ash on her cheeks.
“What happened?” Bree asked, her green eyes focused on the blazing inferno behind me.
Acrid guilt devoured me. “I…”
I saved the wrong woman.
I left the mother of my child in a burning building.
My final broken promise to the woman I’d vowed forever to was, “I’ll be right back.”
Bile crawled up my throat. “I don’t know.”
I glanced back at the house, the heat of the roaring fire scorching me even from yards away. Overwhelming grief hit me as I realized there was no way I could get back through those flames.
Oh, God. Jessica.
In the middle of tragedy, it’s strange the things that become engrained into your memories. Years later, I wouldn’t be able to tell you how long it took the firetrucks to get there. I couldn’t tell you what time it was or what I had been wearing. But I would never be able to forget the absolute devastation on Bree’s face when she realized we were the only two standing outside the burning house.
“Where’s Rob?” she rasped, her voice sounding like it had traveled over a mile of gravel before exiting her throat. “And Jessica. Where are they?” She took an urgent stride toward me.
“I tried…” I doubled over into a fit of coughing. It was probably for the best. There was no way I could have finished that thought.
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 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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