Review: Very good debut novel...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 13, 2013
“There is always a moment in your life when you have to break up with the past in order to move on…”Holding On To Love is the first in this series of AE Neal’s debut. This book had my attention at the prologue. First and foremost, I love her writing. Her words flow with ease and her story is intense. Like I said, reading the prologue, I was in tears. I couldn’t believe that just from the first few pages, I was hooked and I knew this was going to be an emotional rollercoaster. And connecting with her characters off the bat was another plus for me.Allyson Monroe had everything, which includes a man who loved her more than life itself. I was smitten from the start by Ally and her fiancé Andrew. I had no idea that their lives would be turned upside down and hearts would be broken. Fast forward 3 years, and we now have a completely different Ally. A girl who has not gotten over the tragedy of losing the love of her life. She’s devastated; she won’t let any man in and will not let those walls down for one second.Her crazy tattooed best friend Kennedy (Love Love Love her by the way) is her crutch; staying by her side and being her voice of reason. She is always pushing her to do more, telling her to let her walls down; encouraging Ally to go out and meet guys and date…WAKE the hell up Ally!!! Life is passing you by. But she keeps her heart guarded, until…..she literally runs into…….Brody McCabe……insert gorgeous tattooed, Channing Tatum look alike, hockey player, hot body…Oh jeez shall I go on…“He’s a pompous prick, who, as it turns out, is a real live manwhore who has no regard for anyone but himself!”He speaks and you…UM…yeah…what did he say? I was too busy staring at his amazing eyes…Yeah that kind of guy. So of course Ally is thrown by these feelings of lust. She has no choice but to lust over Brody, even though he’s an ASS!! Smart mouth, cocky ASS!!“And…and…I don’t know if I want to punch him or kiss him! He just makes me want to scream.”But Brody is just as attracted to Ally and her smart ass mouth as well, and he needs to get in her pants. Ally does not want to get involved with Brody (why not Ally?); she needs to protect her heart from this playboy.Fortunately for her, Ally finally agrees to let Brody in. They share some special moments and some very freakin hot moments!!!!!! and they start to build a connection.The electricity between them here is just unstoppable. You want to hate him but you just can’t. And you feel Ally’s struggle. She’s still so hurt, and so torn because she doesn’t want to give her heart away. Her heart belongs to one person; the love of her life. But can she let go and give her heart to another? Can she learn to start her life over, learn to live again?Ally’s struggle with her heart just gets to you. I felt for her, I wanted to literally jump in and give her a big bear hug. I don’t want to give anything away here, but just as Ally is getting more comfortable in her skin, there is always some BITCH to screw it up!! UGG! I wanted to rip her hair out of her head!!!! Yes, there are parts where I get so angry, and my heart speeds up when I read…and I literally GRRRRRRR out loud!!! But Brody never disappointed…his little fox!! I Love it!!!So glad this series continues because I need more of Brody and Ally!!!“I’m here Allyson, I’m not going anywhere,…Good, I like this.”