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.… 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.
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Thrive is so good!
I instantly stopped reading my current TBR when I got my hands on it. Thrive is “sort of” a second chance romance that has a lot going on between all the characters, action, drama and romance. Mira and Jeremy (Lark) might have never been an official couple but the love they have is deep and like Mira says to Jeremy ” In another life, we would have been soulmates”
Mira and Lark learn the hard way that the choices they make when young have major consequences in their future especially when it comes to happiness. I love that we get Lark and Mira’s POV. It allows us to feel all the bitterness resentment yearning and passion happening between these two.
I especially love that after 17 years apart Mira calls Lark, and even though it was for help it opened the door for these two to get their HAE despite all the trouble that is around them.
The emotion this book brings out will keep you glued to the pages and so will the boys at Guardian Protection. Lots of testosterone in this Guardian Protection series and I loved it!!
With each book of Aly Martinez’s that I partake in, I am in total awe of this woman and her writing. She not only gives us brilliant storylines with excellent characters, she gives us a sense of wonderment of the emotional journey that her stories take us on.
Thrive is the second book in the Guardian Protection series and just like the first book in this series; the story is innovative and memorizing. With some twist and turns that you don’t see coming, it is a thoroughly enjoyable story.
The characters, Jeremy and Lark, are complex with a background story that will have you wondering about the outcome of their most recent encounter.
I enjoyed this book in audio version and Andi Arndt and Jason Carpenter did a fantastic job in bringing Jeremy and Lark to life.
I don’t have the words to express how much I loved this story, the narration and the overall feeling of satisfaction I had when it was over. I do know that I do and will continue to recommend Ms. Martinez books to any and everyone.
Thrive is exactly why Aly Martinez remains one of my favorite writers! I was under her spell from the first page of the book.
Mira and Jeremy Lark were destined to be together, except they weren’t. Mira belonged to Jeremy’s best friend, Kurt. Now, that didn’t stop the two of them from falling in love. Yes, it involves a love triangle, but in Aly’s talented hands, it is by far not the typical one. Jeremy spends a lot of time being there for Mira when Kurt is out with other women. The two began as friends but ended in a lot more. They should have had their HEA, but they didn’t. It ended in pain and anger.
Seventeen-years later, Jeremy and Mira are living very different lives. Jeremy is successful in his career, and despite being divorced, has a cordial relationship with his ex as they co-parent their twin girls. Mira’s life is quite different than Jeremy’s. She is divorced and saving her pennies to open up her own bar, finally realizing a dream of having something all her own and that can’t be tainted by her ex, Kurt. Mira and Jeremy are living but definitely not “thriving.” One phone call from a desperate and scared Mina will bring these two together again…for better or for worse. You’ll have to read the book to find out which one.
What make Jeremy and Mira so special is the spark between these two. They had it seventeen years ago, but with all the anger and pain, it’s liable to burn these two up. As a reader, it’s very entertaining to watch the snark between them. Along with the spark is the deep love the two still hold for one another. Martinez did a phenomenal job of showing her readers that with the flashbacks of the two of them in the bed of his pickup truck. Those were so sweet! To round out the perfect combination that is Jeremy and Mira is the steam. Yes, these two definitely have it! As with all of her books, those scenes are just the perfect balance of sweet and sexy…their deep feelings and emotions are very evident.
Jeremy and Mira are well-developed characters, and with each chapter, another layer is revealed. Both had some insecurities and trust issues, that just made them more realistic. Each had obstacles to conquer to realize their dreams. But as Jeremy says, “as long as we’re together…we thrive.” And, they certainly do!
*******As an added note: Readers, you will love the epilogue!*******
Bloody hell you guys, I want to wrap all these Guardian Protection men up and carry them around with me forever because they are this absolutely perfect blend of surly alpha hot shots and adorably hysterical goofs. I absolutely adore this merry band of testosterone rich deliciousness and let’s just move Lark right to the top of my list of favorites (I mean, for now, since it’s his time to shine after all).
I feel like if there’s one thing Aly Martinez excels at, it’s finding a nearly perfect balance. Here we have a second chance romantic suspense and it is jam packed with angst, hilarity, edge-of-your-seat suspense, drama, and sizzling heat. And all of those things are balanced perfectly – no one thing ever feeling like “too much” – in this completely compelling story. There are things in this book that are usually considered dealbreakers for me, but because of how the story is told and the way things unfold, those things didn’t bother me so much. They didn’t keep me from attaching my heart to Lark and Mira, and allowing it the sweet suffering of all the bangs and bruises Ms. Martinez delivered over the course of this book.
GAH, you guys. This book was just exactly what I needed. It made me laugh, it held me in thrall while Lark and Mira’s chemistry sparked all over my kindle, and it kept my breath bated while waiting to see how their story would shake out. I swooned, I cried a little bit. It was beautiful, sexy, raw and entertaining, and honestly – the whole package. Also? Bromance. It wasn’t a central fixture in this story, but it’s there. And I am powerless against any kind of bromantic secondary storyline.
This series is shaping up to be one of my favorites, and there are at least half a dozen more stories that I am going to need before moving on from it. I’m invested. I’m hooked. I’m madly in love. Keep ‘em coming! ~ 4.5 Stars
4.25 stars– THRIVE is the second instalment in Aly Martinez’s contemporary, adult GUARDIAN PROTECTION romantic, suspense series focusing on the men and women of the Guardian Protection Security Agency. This is forty year old, Guardian security specialist Jeremy Lark, and thirty-seven year old Mira York’s story line. THRIVE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.
Told from dual first person perspectives (Jeremy and Mira) using present day and memories from the past, THRIVE follows the rekindling relationship between security speciality Jeremy Lark, and Mira York. Seventeen years earlier Jeremy lost the only woman he would ever love to his best friend Kurt Benton. Hoping Mira would see through the man that would eventually destroy her life, Jeremy walked away losing his heart and his soul, along with the woman he would never forget. Fast forward to present day wherein, out of the blue, Jeremy gets a call from the last person he would ever expect-Mira York-a woman who is battling for her life, and the life of a friend who has been caught up in Kurt’s illegal dealings. What ensues is the rebuilding friendship and second chance romance between Mira and Jeremy, and the potential fall out as they discover that the past seventeen years have all been a lie placing our heroine in a life and death situation, until debts owed are paid.
Jeremy Lark’s love / hate relationship with Mira York cannot be easily overlooked. Mira is the woman that destroyed all semblance of goodness in his life until the birth of his daughters a few years ago. Unable to forgive or forget, Mira’s return to Jeremy’s life is fraught with accusations, hatred and a palpable sexual energy only seen between two people who could never let go. A second chance at love will be tested time and again as the Guardian Protection Security Agency must uncover the who, what and why of the attacks and threats against our story line heroine. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
We are introduced to Mira’s roommate and best friend Whitney; local drug kingpin Mateo Rodriguez, Mira’s ex-husband Kurt Benton, and Jeremy’s ex-wife Melissa Lark; as well as the return of several security specialists at Guardian Protection: Jude Levitt and Rhion Park (Singe #1), Leo James, Devon Grant, Braydon Hughes, Alex Pearson, Aidan Johnson, and Rhion’s struggling brother Apollo Park. There is a story developing between Braydon Hughes and Mira’s bestie Whitney.
THRIVE is a story of betrayal and revenge; forgiveness and love; moving forward and letting go. The premise is emotional, heartbreaking and intense; the romance is seductive and healing; the characters are colorful, dynamic and broken.