Aly Martinez

Mateo Rodriguez was something of an anomaly. The majority of the world viewed him as a ruthless criminal with no respect for life or law. However, the man I knew was gentle and caring, catering to my every desire. He would have been the perfect man, if only he would have left his life of crime behind and chosen me. So there we were—for five years—in love and at a stalemate. When three armed men dragged me out of my bed in the middle of the night, I realized just how right I’d been to fear his lifestyle. Or, maybe I’d been wrong. Because Mateo was the only man powerful enough to save me.

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.

One story. Two couples. I fell in love with a man who didn’t exist. What started out as romance ended in hell. His words turned to razor blades. His kisses converted to fists. His embrace became my cage. His body transformed into a weapon, stealing parts of me until ultimately…. I broke. I hated him. My sole job in life became to protect our daughter. I wasn’t sure I’d ever escape the prison he’d skillfully crafted from my fears. Until the day our savior arrived. This is the story of how I escaped the man who thought he owned me. The transfer of my life and my family.

One story. Two couples. I proposed on our first date. She laughed and told me I was insane. Less than a day later, she said yes. It was a whirlwind, but we were happy… Until we got greedy and wanted a family. It was a life I couldn’t give her, not for lack of trying. Fertility just wasn’t on our side. We sought out doctors and treatments. Spent money we didn’t have. Lied to our families. Smiled for our friends. Put on a brave face for a world that didn’t understand. Finally, we were successful… Until we were forced to bury our son. We were left broken, battered, and destroyed. They say love is in the details, but it was the details that ruined us. This is the story of how I took back what had always been mine. The retrieval of my wife and our family.

Every little girl dreams of the fairytale. The one where the white knight rushes in to save her from the clutches of evil. They fall in love, have babies, and live happily ever after. By that definition, my life should have been a fairytale too. When I was eight years old, Caven Hunt saved me from the worst kind of evil to walk the Earth. It didn’t matter that I was a kid. I fell in love with him all the same. But that was where my fairytale ended. Years later, a one-night stand during the darkest time imaginable gave us a little girl. It was nothing compared to the pitch black that consumed me when I was forced to leave her with Caven for good. At the end of every fairytale, the happily-ever-after is the one thing that remains consistent. It wasn’t going to be mine, but there hadn’t been a night that passed where I hadn’t prayed that it would be hers. I owed Caven my life. However, I owed that innocent child more. And that included ripping the heart from my chest and facing her father again.

Sound is an abstract concept for most people. We spend our lives blocking out the static in order to focus on what we believe is important. But what if, when the clarity fades into silence, it's the obscure background noise that you would give anything to hold on to? I've always been a fighter. With parents who barely managed to stay out of jail and two little brothers who narrowly avoided foster care, I became skilled at dodging the punches life threw at me. Growing up, I didn’t have anything I could call my own, but from the moment I met Eliza Reynolds, she was always mine. I became utterly addicted to her and the escape from reality we provided each other. Throughout the years, she had boyfriends and I had girlfriends, but there wasn't a single night that I didn’t hear her voice. You see, meeting the love of my life at age thirteen was never part of my plan. However, neither was gradually going deaf at the age of twenty-one. They both happened anyway. Now, I'm on the ropes during the toughest battles of my life. Fighting for my career. Fighting the impending silence. Fighting for her. Every night, just before falling asleep, she sighs as a final conscious breath leaves her. I think that's the sound I'll miss the most. Each book in this series can be read as a standalone.

I wanted to jump. He made me fall. As a celebrity, I lived in the public eye, but somewhere along the way, I’d lost myself in the spotlight. Until he found me. Sam Rivers was a gorgeous, tattooed stranger who saved my life with nothing more than a simple conversation. But we were both standing on that bridge for a reason the night we met. The secrets of our pasts brought us together—and then tore us apart. Could we find a reason to hold on as life constantly pulled us down? Or maybe there’s only one direction to go when two people fall in love at rock bottom—up.

From USA Today Bestselling Author Aly Martinez comes an emotional new standalone. 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.

The world owes you nothing. It took losing the woman I loved and facing the paralyzing task of moving on without her for me to truly understand that. Consumed by regret and razor-sharp memories, I’d resigned myself to a life of loneliness until a survivor from the same plane crash that took my fiancée stormed into my life. Remi Grey was chaos and sunshine, fire and freedom. With her in my arms, I began to believe that fate had other plans for me. But as secrets of the past exploded around us, it seemed the only thing fated about our relationship was that I had been destined to lose her from the start. The world owes you nothing. But for Remi, I would risk it all. No matter the cost.

When I was fifteen, a single bullet changed my life. I spent the next decade trying to outrun the devastation of my past, building an empire that would shield me from whatever life could throw at me. But all the money in the world couldn’t help me when I found a screaming newborn abandoned on my doorstep. I’d never wanted to be a father. Passing the sludge that ran through my veins down to an innocent child seemed like a tragedy. But there she was—pink cheeks, red hair, and mine. Somehow, against all logic, that little girl became the best thing that ever happened to me. It was impossible to stay lost in the past when I was the only one who could protect her future. Which is exactly why, when her mother came back four years later, I was ready for battle. If only I could stop myself from falling in love with her during the war.

The world took everything from us. As survivors of not only a plane crash, but two other impossible tragedies, we’d more than earned a life of peace. But time and time again, we were shown that fate had no intention of giving that to us. Remi and I were soulmates. Plain and simple. Our love should have died in the depths of our darkness, but the sun still exists even when it’s not shining. The secrets of our past threatened to destroy us at every turn, but for Remi, I would never stop fighting for our future. The world took everything from us. And we would stop at nothing until we took it all back—forever.

The world gave me everything. After surviving a plane crash, I was lucky to be alive. It was a harsh truth, but one that changed my perspective on how fragile life could be. So when a fellow survivor caught my eye, I owed it to myself to take a chance and follow my heart. Bowen Michaels was guarded and broody, but I saw through his well-formed armor. Much like me, he was broken and lost, but together we found our way through the darkness. For a brief moment, wrapped in his arms, it felt like maybe he was right about fate and we’d been destined to find each other all along. But when buried secrets of the past erupt, igniting us both, it was hard to believe we’d been fated for anything other than failure. The world gave me everything. And then it took it all away.

From USA Today bestselling author Aly Martinez comes a new standalone second-chance romance. When I was nineteen years old, I was faced with a choice that changed my life. Keep the safety of what I already knew or risk losing everything with the young, hotheaded soldier who stole my heart. I chose the wrong man, and for seventeen years, I paid in tears, blood, and shattered dreams for that decision. Now, there’s a man in my house, holding a gun to my head on the order of my ex-husband—given from his prison cell. That hotheaded soldier I was too afraid to choose? He’s now a six-foot-three wall of muscle who works at the country’s most premier bodyguard agency. I’ve always wanted him, but now, I’ve never needed him more. It’s the call I’m terrified to make. I’m sure he still hates me… Even though I’ve never stopped loving him.

Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me. Lies. Words destroyed me. “I’m sorry. She didn’t make it.” “Daddy, he can’t breathe!” “There’s nothing more we can do for your son.” Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me. More lies. Those syllables and letters became my executioner. I told myself that, if I didn’t acknowledge the pain and the fear, they would have no power over me. But, as the years passed, the hate and the anger left behind began to control me. Two words—that was all it took to plunge my life into darkness. “He’s gone.” In the end, it was four soft, silky words that gave me hope of another sunrise. “Hi. I’m Charlotte Mills.”

Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me. Whoever coined that phrase is a bald-faced liar. Words are often the sharpest weapon of all, triggering some of the most powerful emotions a human can experience. “You’re pregnant.” “It’s a boy.” “Your son needs a heart transplant.” Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me. Lies. Syllables and letters may not be tangible, but they can still destroy your entire life faster than a bullet from a gun. Two words—that was all it took to extinguish the sun from my sky. “He’s gone.” For ten years, the darkness consumed me. In the end, it was four deep, gravelly words that gave me hope of another sunrise. “Hi. I’m Porter Reese.”

Seven years ago, my life changed forever. One accident and the person I saw in the mirror no longer resembled the woman I used to be. I was lost and confused inside my own body. I felt alone and disconnected from the world, carrying the incredible weight of guilt and loss that wasn't even mine to harbor. Then fate led me to Leo James. He taught me that crazy could be perfectly normal and it shouldn't hurt to breathe. Don't get me wrong. Leo isn't perfect. He has his own cross to bear, and the truth is, that might be why I fell for him in the first place. But despite everything he does for me, learning to forgive myself is infinitely harder than overlooking the flaws of another. Now, the secrets and lies of our past have begun to dictate our future—threatening to ruin us before we get the chance to try. Perhaps we were cursed from the start. Or maybe, just maybe, the remnants of our fractured lives will fit together to form one whole, where love isn’t questioned and being happy is…well, easy. Can a second broken soul be enough to fill the voids of my own? Or will such scarred pasts prove too much for our love alone to overcome?

*Among The Echoes is a stand alone novel which contains material that may be offensive to some readers. Including sexual abuse, graphic language, and adult situations. Intended for readers 18+.* My name was Dr. Erica Hill. I was a victim, then a witness, and then I ceased to exist altogether. I may still be breathing, but stripped of my identity, I have long since stopped living. I am invisible, and my life depends on my ability to stay in the shadows. But he sees me. Slate Andrews is the embodiment of everything I have been taught to avoid. He’s rich and famous, and one image of him with a woman would earn millions for any paparazzi lucky enough to snap it. He has vowed to protect me with his life, yet he exposes me with his every breath. I should be stronger and walk away. I should disappear. But I’m terrified he would come after me. I’m on the run, determined not to take him down with me but absolutely unable to let him go. My name is Riley Peterson… at least for today.

**Each book in this series can be read as a stand alone.** I fell in love with Manda Baker eight years ago, and I loved her to the core of her soul. We were supposed to have that elusive happily ever after and spend a lifetime together. But that was all before she was STOLEN from me. Her best friend, Sarah Erickson, killed her. It wasn’t intentional. It was far worse. Everyone claims it was just an accident, but I can see through the lies. Even if it’s with my dying breath, I will make her pay for what she did. Fate hates me. It robbed me of my first love and left me to navigate through this world emotionless and numb. Then, one day, spiteful fate gave me a woman to fill my shattered soul and make me feel again. It gave me Emma Jane Erickson. Now I spend my days searching for the answers that will ruin Sarah and my nights falling in love with her sister—the one person who is bound and determined to save her. But what happens when everything you know to be true explodes around you? Who will be left to pick up the pieces, and who will need to be saved from the wreckage?

I met Sarah Kate Erickson when I was twenty-one years old. I was lucky enough to keep her for seven years before a tragic accident stole her from me. She didn’t die, but sometimes I think it would have been easier if she had. I lived in a haze for those four years after the accident. Catering to her every need, even though she hated the very sight of my face. I tried to hold on to her and the future that we were supposed to build together. But you can’t hold on to someone who doesn’t exist anymore. It wasn’t until I met Jesse Addison, a barista at the local coffee shop, that I realized I didn’t just lose Sarah that tragic night, I lost myself as well. Jesse taught me how to let go of the past and learn to love again. But what happens when your past haunts your present, and the woman you used to love refuses to accept the woman you can’t live without? *Intended for readers 18+. Each book in this series can be read as a standalone.*

From USA Today bestselling author Aly Martinez comes a sizzling standalone contemporary romance.“Sometimes love happens when you least expect it.” That was what my husband’s mistress told me the day I found out about their affair.I didn’t believe it until five minutes later when mouth-watering celebrity chef Tanner Reese walked up, tossed his arm around my shoulders, and told my cheating husband to take a hike.Tanner and I couldn’t have been more different. He spent his weekends at clubs, rubbing elbows with fellow A-listers. I spent mine in yoga pants with cheese boards and a glass of wine—or six.Our relationship shouldn’t have worked, but it did. That is until Tanner proved to me that even though love happens when you least expect it... So does heartbreak.

From USA Today bestselling author Aly Martinez comes a hot-new series of alpha bodyguards. She was my nightmare. Every time I closed my eyes, I watched her fall into that inferno. Over and over, I failed to save her. I hadn’t been able to reach her, and the guilt only burned hotter over time. Four years later, I was the unreachable one. Heroes aren’t always saints. Sometimes, we’re nothing more than jaded sinners driven by sleepless nights and hearts full of darkness. And then I met her. She was a dreamer who managed to soothe my scars and heal my wounds. But, as the flames closed in around us, I feared I wasn’t the right man to save her. That is until I realized she was the one woman I’d burn the world down to protect.

For the first time, The Wrecked and Ruined Series is now available as a box set. One accident. Four lives. Forever changed. "It was only a single moment, but it destroyed us all." Changing Course After a tragic accident robs him of a future with his wife, Brett Sharp must let go of the past and learn to love again. But what happens when the woman he used to love refuses to accept the woman he can’t live without? Stolen Course After the loss of his fiancée, Caleb Jones is angry and numb. His only goal is to make the woman who killed her pay. But what happens when everything he knows to be true explodes around him? Who will be left to pick up the pieces, and who will need to be saved from the wreckage? Among The Echoes After being stripped of her identity, Dr. Erica Hill had long since stopped living. The day she meets celebrity boxer, Slate Andrews, her life drastically changes for the better...and the worse. She's on the run, determined not to take him down with her, but absolutely unable to let him go. Broken Course After the fated accident that killed her best friend, Sarah Erickson is left consumed by guilt and self-loathing. But can a second broken soul be enough to fill the voids of her own? Or will such scarred pasts prove too much for love alone to overcome?

Pain trapped me in this house. Can love set me free?Death had been chasing me my entire life. I survived the horrors of war, but it was the aftermath that truly destroyed me.People called me a recluse, but the only time I didn’t feel like I was suffocating was inside that house.For my daughter, I kept some semblance of normalcy by implementing a rigid routine. Once a week, I forced myself to walk to the diner at the end of the block—a ritual I despised but relied on as my last anchor to the real world.Until the day a “Closed” sign on the door shattered my fragile existence. Worse, the new owner was the most haunting ghost from my past.It had been years since I’d laid eyes on Gwendolyn Pierce. She hated me—and rightly so. But when a film crew arrived in town to dig into my past, she became my only ally.With my secrets threatened, I leaned on Gwen, forging a connection neither of us could deny. But with a past as dark as ours, I feared it would eclipse any hope for a future.I always said that when Death finally came for me, I would be ready, eager, and alone.Always alone.But for Gwen, maybe I could face the world again as long as it meant I could be alone—with her.

From over a thousand miles away, I watched on the screen of my phone as two men murdered my wife. And I was helpless to save her. Consumed by hate and rage, I spent four years running from my memories. Until a shattered woman gave me a reason to stop. Cora lived in a nightmare, but through sheer force of will, she’d turned it into something beautiful. She had a smile that could pierce the darkest soul. And with one glance, she shredded mine. I was only there for a fresh start. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. There was nothing I could do to save her, either. But that’s the thing about lies—you never know who to believe.

Standalone M/M romance. I was afraid to fly. He made me soar. After years of climbing the ladder of success in the music industry, I finally had everything I could want. Yet I still found myself wandering through life alone. Captain Evan Roth was the one man I never saw coming. Tall, dark, mysterious… Straight. We were both damaged beyond repair and searching for something so elusive we weren’t sure it even existed. But, when two broken souls collide in midair, falling is a given. I just never expected to crave the spiral down.