“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.
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I shifted the phone to my other ear and asked her, “Did you just get in bed?”
“If, by bed, you mean carrying a glass of wine out back to swing in the hammock, maybe.”
I bit my bottom lip, my head falling back against the headrest. For most men, this would have been an innocuous statement. But for a hammock connoisseur like myself, this was the normal guy equivalent of her saying that she liked to give blowjobs during halftime.
“You have a hammock out back?”
There was a delay in her response, which was followed by a subtle kiss of her lips on what I assumed was a wine glass. “Don’t knock it until you try it. It’s one of the most underrated luxuries in outdoor furniture.”
“Oh, I’m not knocking anything. Rope or quilted?”
“Mayan, actually.”
“Oh, sweet heavenly baby Jesus, she’s beautiful and knows her hammocks. I’ve never been so turned on in my life.”
She giggled, pausing for another sip. “You know, if you leaked this hammock fetish to the press, you could probably increase demand by five million percent and singlehandedly lower the country’s unemployment rate.”
Okay, so at some point during the day, she’d figured out who I was.
But! Even with this knowledge, she was trying to avoid a date with me and was not elbow-deep in planning our televised wedding. This was a definite plus in my book.
“Yeah, but then, when I talked to beautiful women like yourself, I’d have no idea if the hammock was your idea or a ploy to impress me.”
“Jeez, that’s sad, Tanner,” she said, her sweet Southern accent like a wave rolling over my name.
I’d meant it as a joke, but it was the absolute truth when it came to dating. Early on in my career, I’d done a rapid-fire interview about my personal life. One of the questions had been: What would your ideal woman order on the first date? Truth be told, the only thing I hoped my ideal woman would order was something she wanted. I didn’t factor into that. But I’d been on my last question in my last interview of the last day of a month-long press tour. My face had hurt from fake smiling, I’d been in desperate need of a shower, a smoke, and sleep, and my mind had been mush, so I’d prattled off the first thing that had come to mind: shrimp and grits.
That one little answer somehow made it onto my Wiki page, and after that, every woman I’d taken out ordered shrimp and grits. One of them even had a shellfish allergy and nearly ended up in the hospital. And this insanity was not limited to women outside of the spotlight.
I’d once gone on a date with America’s princess of pop, Levee Williams. We’d hit it off at a charity event. For one of the most famous women in the world, she was a surprisingly nice girl, gorgeous, and funny as all get out. But the first time I took her out? One guess what she ordered.
I was at the end of my rope with dating and lost my freaking mind before storming out like an asshole. That night, as I was reporting shrimp and fucking grits as an error to Wiki, I noticed that her page listed it as her favorite food. I’d never had the balls to contact her again, and I once hid behind a palm tree on Rodeo Drive when I heard the clamoring of paparazzi calling her name. But that’s neither here nor there.
In short, while finding a woman was all too easy, dating was hard.
But that wasn’t about to stop me from trying with Rita.
Across the Horizon by Aly Martinez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Across the Horizon (ARC) was graciously provided to me by Inkslinger PR for an honest review. I have voluntarily read it and have provided my honest opinion.
A Beautiful and Uniquely Gripping Upcoming Release..
Across the Horizon by Aly Martinez was definitely a treat for this reader, as it was my first reading experience from this highly-acclaimed author. Having had multiple books, seemingly taking residence on my tbr list for what seems like an eternity, I may or may not have ran when presented with this opportunity to read this much-anticipated upcoming release. It certainly did not let me down. This is a hidden gem, as this somewhat slowly simmering romance, being heavily dowsed with heart-breaking and stressful, angsty moments, is a story that is infiltrated with so many different components, that it took me a while for all of them to settle for a complete and well-rounded experience. And, when they did, it was like a light bulb moment, or a freight train, I still haven’t decided which one as-of-yet. Regardless, it happened. And, it was brilliant.
Across the Horizon is an intrinsically beautiful story filled with unique and thought-provoking symbolism which languidly paves the way through plentiful emotional and soul-searching moments for two fated individuals. A story which morphs the two lives of Tanner and Rita into a fast-paced journey, which takes both of them by surprise, and, as each decides to either take the bull by the horns or watch life go by, the reader is able to run right alone with them as they unearth all of the intricacies of this quest for answers and for that ultimate sought after form-of-peace.
As this muted fork-in-the-road had contained so many twists and turns, as it was filled-to-the-brim with so many different intricate moments, it is one that both of the main characters seemingly sped down in their individual quest for their true self. Tanner, a lost yet determined wonderful young man, and Rita, a snarky, emotionally-starved, well-meaning, down-to-earth young woman, throughout this story attempt to make their way through all of the potholes, each having been seemingly cemented right over each of their slowly-developing paths.
My mind began spinning early as each of the aspects of the plot had presented itself early and consistently, and for this, I had become desperate for a smoother pace and plot for this beautiful storyline. The plot successfully interweaves various subplots of numerous secondary characters, with their unique and very different personalities, thereby allowing the reader to be present for the early stages of such individuals, many of whom are making squeal-worthy cameos, into the existing plot thereby allowing the reader to soak-in the lives of all of the characters, main as well as secondary.
As mentioned briefly, Across the Horizon contains many different characters. Each of them was excellently and realistically written enabling this reader to form immediate and solid connections with many of them. I immediately fell in love with Tanner as well as Porter. For this, I needed to read as much as I could about them, including their detailed backgrounds from previous books, as this present plot seems to actually work in conjunction with the beginnings of Porter’s story from a previous series. Even though this is Tanner’s story, the success of the immersion of multiple plots and characters, was a successful tasting of Porter’s story to absolutely break-my-heart and have me waiting anxiously for an opening to read his gripping story. I loved these two brothers immensely with their bantering, love and commitment for the other and their unique yet adorable way achieving common ground. I adored Tanner immensely and absolutely loved his personality and found his humor to be such a welcomed encounter throughout the story, and, had felt such pride in his consistent determination in the challenging aspects of his life and had welcomed the overall tranquility in the absolute success of this determination. I also had enjoyed reading about Rita’s ultimate growth and success in achieving an understanding of her true self and had collectively needed to join the secondary characters as they guided Tanner and Rita through the ups and downs to ultimately locate that something that was very much needed for both individuals.
That being said, however, there were a few things that drove me absolutely crazy that had prompted my need for smoothness. Throughout much of the story, I felt there was an overabundance of negativity, as in husband bashing, revenge, and a lack of actual adult communication. After awhile, it was exhausting to be able to read through this seemingly consistent aura of negativity that very often contained things which had already been said repeatedly. It is also in this readers opinion, that there exists a need for more character background and more development, in other areas, for that ultimate well-rounded connection.
Overall, Across the Horizon by Aly Martinez is an amazing read with its tremendously detailed storyline, realistic and plentiful characters, and, a plot that will have many spinning at its brilliance. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this beautiful story as its symbolism is a rarity that has left me speechless, and, I am eager for more..:)
*star rating: 4.40 ‘I really liked it’ stars*
Originally from Savannah, Georgia, USA Today bestselling author Aly Martinez now lives in South Carolina with her 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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