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 … 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.”
more
I liked it and getting the sequel
What an emotional roller coaster ride of a story….. I absolutely love Porter and my heart feels for Charlotte. Definitely an amazing read and can NOT wait for book 2, the conclusion to this will be EPIC!
Loved this novel and it’s characters. I just had to find the sequel. Amazing story line.
Unlike any other book from this genre that you’ve read. Both deeply sad and uplifting in equal measure. Highly recommend
Loved this book! Couldn’t put it down once I started reading it. Instantly downloaded the second one.
Fair warning – if you begin, you will HAVE to read Book 2 “The Brightest Sunset’. But if you do, you will journey through tragedy, grief, loss, and baby steps toward healing. And just when you think there is a chance for closure, healing, and a future, then everything will turn upside down.
Well edited.
Charlotte Mills is existing. She is a well known and well respected pulmonologist. Nearly every day is spent treating patients at her office and then rounds at the hospital. The more work, the less time to think. She is a mother. But, 10 years ago, she answers a cry for help, and in the brief time it takes her to save a child’s life, hers is taken. She is a shell of her former self, barely existing, treating patients, and holding on to the hope that someday, somehow, Lucas will come home.
Porter Reese is doing his best. He is widowed, raising his two children, and juggling running a restaurant while trying to open a second. His family is wonderful, but they can only do so much. They certainly can’t fix the anger he has raging inside him over the death of his wife. But Porter has his children, and they are everything. Except his son, Travis, is very sick. Porter really wants to get Dr. Mills to see his son, but is told the doctor won’t treat children. Porter will do nearly anything to help his son, including trying to ambush Dr. Mills at a charity function. He meets Charlotte, and they hit it off. She has to leave, and Porter realizes he has missed his opportunity to talk to THE Dr. Mills. He goes to the hospital, intending to beg her to treat Travis, and ends up on a date instead. So begins a careful journey balancing hope for love, Travis’s health, and Charlotte’s grief.
However, secrets from the past lie festering, waiting to erupt and throw everything into chaos. When that happens, will anyone be left standing? Enjoy!
I couldn’t put it down!!
Loved it and Porter and Charlotte, such sad souls that just might be able to see the light soon:). Can’t wait to read the next book that goes with this one.
I can’t imagine the devastation of losing a child, but Aly Martinez gives us what we need to help us feel the emotional turmoil that Charlotte Mills is suffering. Words are a killer and they’ve changed her life completely. She’s closed off, terribly sad. Enter Porter Reese. A single dad whose compassion and darkness are felt too. They connect on a deep level. The dialogue and banter is amazing. Charlotte is broken but so strong and Porter is a dream. The romance so sweet. The story fluid and twisting, a real page turner. Fair warning this ends on a cliffhanger but fortunately the second book is out already and I’m jumping in feet firs
“I’ll stop with you. Right now, it’s just me and you in the dark.”
I can’t not even begin to express how much I loved The Darkest Sunrise. First and foremost, this book delivers ALL THE FEELS. I think I went through every single emotion that there is. I was so emotionally connected to both Charlotte and Porter.
Here’s the thing, I cannot do a long(ish) review because I’m terrified that I will give something away. So I’m going to keep this short and vague. However, I will tell you that Aly Martinez has a writing style that perfectly pairs with her amazing story telling and it leaves me breathless every time.
My heart ached. My heart bleed. My heart exploded. On top of that, Martinez gives us a punch to the gut that left me breathless and gasping for air. Both Charlotte and Porter are broken in their own way but they some how find light in the darkness with each other. It’s emotional yet beautiful.
Martinez delivers us a heartbreaking and profound story that will suck you in from the start. You do not want to miss out on this. I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book. I have a feeling this duet will go down as my top reads of the year!
I can’t even explain the emotions this book will stir inside you. It chilled me to the bones and have my hands shaking with unchecked emotions. This book is an emotional rollercoaster and I cried for Charlotte’s pain and grief. I couldn’t imagine having my baby boy being kidnapped and possibly never seeing him again. But Aly paints a picture of a woman’s grief so well that it breaks my heart. Charlotte is barely living, after ten years she hasn’t gotten over losing her son, feeling the guilt and torment. Its eating her up inside, until she meets Porter.
Porter is hurting much like Charlotte except in his own way. He is a single father with a sick son. Porter is Charlotte’s shining light in the darkness. He walks through it to get to her. I can’t even express how amazing his is for her and to her. I love whenever their together because he’s exactly what she needs. It had me melting to mush.
I can’t even express how amazing this book is. That fucking cliffhanger gutted me to my core. It ripped me open. A stunning novel by Aly Matinez.
This is the first book I’ve read from this author but it definitely won’t be the last! This book held me captive from each paragraph, page and chapter until the very end. I was riveted by this heartbreakingly beautiful story of two lost souls that have gone through so much tragedy but find solace in their darkness through each other. This was one of the most gripping and emotional books I’ve read and would highly recommend this amazing book but be prepared for an emotional rollercoaster ride.
I don’t even know how to begin this review…I just finished The Darkest Sunrise…it’s barely been minutes since I read the last page, and I’m struggling to put into words the impact this story…these characters…Aly Martinez’s words have had on me.
I’ve always adored Aly’s writing because she doesn’t confine herself to tried and true story lines; she puts herself out there as a writer, unwilling to put the voices in her head into one certain box; she allows them to roam free and in doing so, she provides her readers with rich storylines and dynamic characters who transform right in front of us, for better AND worse, and as we turn the pages of their story and realize the significance of their pasts and what it will take for them to be able to move on, we get lost in Aly’s words and plead for her to find a way to make her characters shine, despite their pain…despite the loss…despite life’s tendency to pull them into the darkness.
The Darkest Sunrise is such a powerful story of loss, of grief, of guilt…it’s a story that illustrates the true power of words, and how they can both save and destroy, heal and harm, set free and enslave.
Words and deeds have slayed both Charlotte Mills and Porter Reese, forcing them to merely exist…to survive a past that they can’t move on from because the numbness and emptiness are their constant companions, and while they went through separate defining moments – ones that shattered their lives and drowned them into the darkest existences possible, they’re drawn to one another because they share a mutual pain…they share a similar look behind the facades they put on for those around them. Both of them understand just how easy it is to lose the light from their lives, plummeting into the darkness and suffocating from it without the knowledge of how to crawl back out into the sunshine.
Metaphorically, the darkness that Charlotte and Porter find themselves in, since the day their lives went pitch black, is both comforting and disconcerting;
in part, the shadows serve as a protective shield…as a way to cope with incidences they couldn’t control and still manage to deal with the life they continue to live. In some ways, the blackness is where they need to be; it’s a place they feel comfortable because it numbs them enough to endure, but there are also demons there – ones trying to keep them in their clutches, never allowing them to find a way into the light because the circle of hell is where the anger, guilt, despair, and hate need them to be…it’s a place where those dark emotions can fester and grow in ways that Charlotte and Porter may not be able to come back from even if they help one another to willingly try.
Charlotte and Porter’s story has a multilayered plot; there are several story lines occurring at the same time, and it’s not until the end of the first book that all of them blend together as one and leave readers reeling for The Brightest Sunset because it seems impossible for Charlotte and Porter to procure themselves out of the darkness with what’s revealed at the end of The Darkest Sunrise…any progress into the light seems futile with the devastating knowledge of just how similar Charlotte and Porter’s pain and suffering truly is, and I have to be honest…I don’t know how they’re going to be able to remain each other’s support when questions and judgments are bound to reveal even more heartbreaking information for all those involved.
I’m truly blown away by The Darkest Sunrise…every word written…every character trait described…every theme explored is crucial to understanding the pain these characters carry EVERY DAY of their lives, and as I head into the second part of Charlotte and Porter’s duet, I pray that Aly Martinez brings them as well as readers into a sustainable light – one that will blind us in the best ways possible and remain shining when the darkness forcefully comes back to reclaim its captives and keep them from the brightness of a new day.
5 Poison Apples (The Fairest of All Book Reviews)
REVIEW: 5 GUT-WRENCHING STARS
“He’d made the darkness a beautiful place filled with understanding and acceptance.”
I am saying this now: this duet has got to be one of the most emotional reads I have read this year, if not ever. Not only do we get Aly’s signature humor, but we get real drama, with consequences that are entrenched deep in this book. The reality of the pain, the scariness of the possibilities, and the depth of the emotions I felt for these characters….my gosh. I didn’t want to put these books down!! Even though I read them both throughout the week leading up to Christmas, I had to step away repeatedly. It was awful putting these down, because not only did the ‘problems’ play on in my mind long after I stopped reading, but each time I got to squeeze in some of their story, I just had more time to think about it in between. Having read this slowly, having marinated in the drama, slowly rotating the what-ifs and the possibilities around in my mind, this duet took over my life for a week! I was so engrossed in Porter and Charlotte, I was daydreaming a lot just thinking about them. So good!
“Happiness was a state of mind, not something you had to hold on to for fear you’d never get it back.”
I wrote this on my Facebook page:
As a mommy, my mommy heart is broken.
As a woman, my logical heart is broken.
As a reader, my emotional heart is broken.
Because it’s TRUE!!! It’s SO true!!! I was so heartbroken over everything that was happening, and I was completely enraptured from the first page of the first book until the last page of the last book. This duet picked on my fear as a mommy on so many different levels, but it also made me SEE the other side. The reality of the situation was nothing short of soul scraping; I was hurting so much. I purposely don’t read books that have kids in pain in them. I can’t allow myself to accept and deal with it fictionally because I never want to put myself in the parents’ shoes, EVER. This book was going to test my comfort levels on all fronts: Love, Pain, Death, Loss. And boy did it ever. My heart ached the entire time I read it. It was beautiful….
In this book, words had a different effect. Words had a profound meaning. Words had an emotional punch. Anytime I read Aly’s words, they trip me up. I always stutter-step when I read them, and not because I can’t understand them….it’s because of the force of her words give me pause. She breathes life into her words. She makes me think. She makes me question. She makes me feel. I ‘heard’ the rasp in his voice. I ‘felt’ the searing pain from her tears. Aly doesn’t just tell a story….she makes me feel the story. Every. Single. Time. It tells me something when I’ve ‘just’ opened a book, but when I look down, I’m already at 24%. Her words, they move me.
By 35%, I was gasping and giggling. I loved the way she brought Porter and Charlotte to life. If there were ever a book, a set of characters that were so right for each other, this one would definitely be at the top of that list. I loved Porter’s strength in the way he handled things in the dark and brought them to the manageable light. I loved Charlotte’s trust in his strength for her, but I loved seeing her grow and show her resilience in the face of all that life threw at her. Porter and Charlotte were definitely an amazing team when it came to lovers in life and dreamers in love. With all that these two went through; the heart-wrenching pain, the torture and the heartache, you most definitely got to feel their happiness as well. I felt all their pain, but I felt all their joy and love as well. I loved this couple SO much!!
One thing Aly does with finesse is to not only match the perfect emotions with the storyline, but she can match the humor and the love that is necessary to make the book that much more real. The humor was tongue in cheek; Porter and Charlotte had this defense mechanism they used so well, but it just worked. It really worked. Nothing was over the top. The drama was intense and authentic, the love was strong and fathomable, and the reality was vital and true. Aly drew you into their plight while playing with your heart, only to push you away and hurt you with their sorrowful truths. The basis of this storyline will hit you in your core and it will drag you through the depths of your emotional lows to get to your unimaginable highs. This was an amazing duet, and Aly’s words were phenomenal. Amazing. Just…..amazing.
“Our situations were different, but the same shade of black painted both of our souls.”
~BEE