Letting go is all Ronan's ever known.
Will he realize a life with Keely is something
he should hold onto at any cost?
Find out in All That’s Left to Hold Onto by Ella Fox!
AVAILABLE NOW!
Amazon US:
Blurb
When Ronan Sharpe unexpectedly left Colorado for parts unknown, he took a piece of Keely Carmichael's heart with him.
After leaving his hellish roots behind him, Ronan found contentment when he started over. Thoughts of the past had been pushed down for so long; he hardly thought about it at all.
He intended to keep it that way.
When unexpected circumstances force Ronan to return to Colorado, the Keely he finds is no longer the adolescent girl he remembered. Torn between desire and fear, Ronan struggles with his feelings for Keely and his need to escape the town that scarred him so deeply years ago.
Letting go is all Ronan's ever known. Will he realize a life with Keely is something he should hold onto at any cost?
REVIEW - 4.5 Stars!
All That's left To
Hold onto is a gripping tale that conquered my heart from the
beginning to the end. I've loved everything that I have read by Ella
Fox and this novel did not disappoint!
Keely has had a crush
on Ronan for as long as she can remember. Her family treats her like dirt and
she is pretty much invisible to everyone else in town. How could she not
fall in love with the one guy who is nice to her? He is the one person who
makes her happy... Until he leaves with no plans on ever returning.
Ronan hates his family
and the things that they put him through. When he has finally had
enough he packs his bags, hops in his Mustang and never looks back... Until he
gets the news that his brother has passed away and Keely and his
niece are in critical condition. Worried about the young girl who used to
follow him around he gets on the first plane to his hometown. It doesn't take
log for him to discover that she is not so little anymore.
What happens when death
and unexpected responsibility force two people to spend their days and nights
together?
Keely didn't have a
good relationship with her half sister Izzy. However when Izzie and her husband
pass away and leave behind an infant, Keely gladly takes the baby in as her
own.
Ronan is hesitant to
meet his niece. Anything left behind by his brother can't be good.
Only she is good and the most precious thing that he has ever seen.
He refuses to let injured Keely take on the responsibility as of a new born by
herself. The pair soon find them self in the same small space, sleeping
in the same bed and taking care of a new born together.
How long will it take
before they both give in to temptation?
This story is about two
people who never received loved from their families. They are on two different
paths until death and life brings them back together. Ronan and Keely are both
genuinely good people so it was not hard for me to love them. Watching them
grow and fall in love was an experience that I won't be forgetting
anytime soon.
*4.5 All That's Left Stars!*
PROLOGUE
There were nasty
looking bruises on his cheek and jaw, his lip was swollen and his knuckles were
scraped and bloody. The instant I got a good look at his face I knew
something was horribly wrong. It only went downhill from there.
My attempts to contain
my panic weren’t working. Choking back a sob I blubbered, “Why do you
have to go?”
The anger was all but
pouring off of him. Not toward me—he’d never once been angry with me. I
knew anger though, and it was more than obvious he was furious about something.
A permanent grimace seemed to have set up camp on his face. For him, it
was highly unusual. Even in the toughest of times, he kept his cool.
Suddenly, he wasn't
calm at all. He was angrier than I’d ever seen him. It was obvious
he’d been in a fight, but it didn’t change his status as the most attractive
guy alive, in my opinion.
I saw his jaw clenching
and unclenching which I figured meant he was trying to control himself.
“Because this piece of
shit town is like a fucking cancer,” he spat. “I’m so done with the crazy
assholes around here. People like us aren’t normal—we’re the freaks for trying
to be good people.”
I didn’t know how to
argue with his words. He wasn’t wrong—there was a lot wrong with many of
the people in our town. Most of the crazy people were either my family members
or his. I knew it and so did he. There wasn’t a response to erase
the reality of the kind of people we dealt with.
“Are you going alone?”
His hands clenched into
fists at his sides as he nodded stiffly. “Yes.”
“Even though you live
with—”
His hand shot up into a
stop gesture to keep me from finishing the sentence.
“Don’t say her fucking
name. If I never hear it again, it’ll be too soon. I don’t live with that crazy
bitch anymore.”
I couldn’t stand her so
it wasn’t like I was going to push. She was an evil troll. If he had to go, I
was glad he wasn’t taking her with him. It would’ve made me ill. She
pretended to be sweetness and light when he was around but it was nothing but a
charade. She was terrible. I was glad he wasn’t taking her, but the
fact he wouldn’t say her name told me his leaving was somehow her
responsibility. I hated her more than ever.
“Where will you go?”
He gestured back over
his shoulder toward the street with his thumb.
“Wherever my car takes
me once I pull out,” he said.
I couldn’t imagine life
without him, nor did I want to. Not only had he been my crush for as long as I
could remember, he was the only person who ever really listened to me.
“Will you ever visit?”
I asked hopefully.
He was shaking his head
in the negative before I’d even fully finished asking the question. I knew he
wouldn’t. The bone-deep hatred he had for everything about where we lived was
stamped all over his face. I wanted so badly to know what, exactly, had
sent him over the edge, but when I asked, he’d refused to tell me.
It sucked being
fourteen because he treated me like a kid. My age said I was a child, but
I was so different than any of my peers it wasn’t even funny. Because of
this, they teased me often, referring to me as Granny Carmichael. I hated
it. It wasn’t as though I’d had a choice. My childhood was over the
moment my mother got sick.
His expression softened
when he looked me over. “You need to get back inside before you get pneumonia.”
The frigid Colorado air
wasn’t even making an impression on me until he pointed it out. I realized my
tears were leaving cold trails on my face, but I couldn’t walk away. All I
cared about was how much I didn’t want him to leave.
“I don’t care about the
cold or getting pneumonia. I don’t want you to go!” I cried anxiously.
He hugged me then, his
strong arms wrapping around me to give comfort. I hadn’t hugged him since
I’d been much younger—probably five or six. Those hugs had mostly
involved me wrapping myself around one of his legs. This was different. I
wrapped my arms tight around him and cried against his chest, holding on for as
long as he allowed me to.
“I’m sorry,” he said as
he ended the embrace and stepped back. “I have to leave.”
Knowing my denial and
resistance weren’t going to make any difference, I swiped at my tears as I
nodded.
“I’ll miss you,” I said
on a choked sob. “Take care of yourself.”
“I’ll miss you too,” he
replied softly. “You’re one of the few good people here.”
My heart galloped in my
chest. I loved him for saying what he did—but hated that it came at such a
horrible price. Losing him was unbearable.
He turned as if to
leave, then stopped. Spinning back my way, he stared at me intently for a
few moments before he spoke again.
“You’re so much better
than any of these people. Don’t ever let them change who you are. The world
needs a lot more you and a lot less them. No matter what anyone tells
you—you’re perfect. Got it?”
I nodded as I wiped at
the tears running unchecked down my face.
He hugged me again,
very briefly. My heart skipped a few beats when he dropped a kiss on top of my
head.
“Don’t ever forget your
worth—not even for a minute,” he murmured.
When he let go, he said
nothing else. He just turned and walked to his car. As he went, the
chill in the air suddenly took hold of me. Hugging my arms around myself,
I watched as he got into the car, turned it on and then pulled out of my
driveway. He looked at me one last time before putting his hand up in a
goodbye gesture. I did the same. A few seconds passed before he put
the car in drive then sped off into the night.
I stayed outside for
two or three minutes, hoping against hope he would change his mind and come
back.
He didn’t.
Hours later when I got
into bed, I prayed fate would bring him back one day. I said the same
prayer most nights for a long, long time. Eventually I had no choice but to
accept reality.
Hell would freeze over before he returned.
Ella Fox writes like a woman possessed whenever she gets the chance! She is the author of The Hart Family Series, The Renegade Saints Series and The Catch Series.
When she’s not writing, Ella indulges the gypsy in her blood and travels the country. Ella loves reading, movies, music, buying make-up, reading Tmz, Twitter and pedicures… not necessarily in that order. She has a wild sense of humor and loves to laugh. Her favorite thing in the world is hanging out with her family and watching comedy movies.
No comments:
Post a Comment