Review: Ryan's Backstory - an emotional and heartbreaking read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 4, 2014
I’m so glad that Marissa Carmel gave readers Strip Me Bare before Ryan Pierce’s backstory in Stripped From Me. If I would have read the prequel first, I would have been a blubbering mess waiting to see how Ryan and Alana’s story ended. But, I did want to understand how it all went to hell between them and what Ryan was thinking as he watched everything he worked so hard for fall apart.Through Ryan’s point of view, readers learn about his home life with his alcoholic mother and bi-polar twin brother. He’s the only thing keeping them together, and each time he cleans up their messes and bails them out with money, the cycle only continues. Ryan feels bound to his family; he’ll never turn his back on them, which is exactly what causes his life to turn to s***.Alana Remington came into Ryan’s life when he needed her most. She took care of him, and no one had ever done that for him before. What started out as causal turned into love quickly, and Ryan thought that his life was finally turning around, but in an instant, it was all stripped away. He gave up his girl, his freedom, and his future because his “bleeding heart” couldn’t tell his mother no.Fast forward three years and Ryan’s a free man again – but only in the physical sense. His heart and his mind are still with Alana, but prison changes a man, and Ryan has definitely felt prison’s effects. He’s angry, bitter, and tortured, and so he turns to a life that gives him the physical relief that he needs, but still, nothing changes…no matter what he does, he can’t forget Alana and what he could have had with her. But being Jack the Stripper might end up getting him everything he wants and needs…readers will have to check out Strip Me Bare to see how it all plays out.Ryan’s story is not an easy one to read. He’s this amazing person who goes out of his way to help those he loves, and they do nothing in return. I wanted to grab both his mother and brother and throat punch them. Ryan’s mom always made him feel inferior, but he tried to never hold that against her. He fought like hell to make a better life for all of them, and they just wasted his hard work on alcohol and drugs.  When Ryan makes the choice to protect his brother and leaves the love of his life without as much as a word, I couldn’t wrap my brain around that, but the more I thought about it, it made sense to me because that’s the kind of man he is. He doesn’t know how to do anything else but love. It definitely doesn’t work out the way he wants it to, but if given the choice again, I’m not sure if he would choose differently because that’s what makes him who he is.Stripped From You is an emotional journey through the beginning of Ryan and Alana’s love story as well as the actions and choices that occurred to separate them. In his point of view, Ryan is stripped down to his rawest form – all of his fears, worries, and insecurities are revealed, and readers can’t help but empathize with him and wish his circumstances were different.A complimentary copy of the book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.4 poison apples (The Fairest of All Book Reviews)