Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me.

Bullshit.

Words destroyed me.

“I’m sorry. She didn’t make it.”

“Daddy, he can’t breathe!”

“There’s nothing more we can do for your son.”

Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me.

Lies.

Those syllables and letters became my executioner. I told myself that, if I didn’t acknowledge the pain and the fear, they would have no power over me. But, as the years passed, the hate and the anger left behind began to control me.

Two words—that was all it took to plunge my life into darkness.

“He’s gone.”

In the end, it was four soft, silky words that gave me hope of another sunrise.

“Hi. I’m Charlotte Mills.”

*****5 Unforgettable and Amazing Stars*****

Let me start this review by saying that I am a proud emotional masochist when it comes to reading. I absolutely LOVE it when a book makes me feel it all, when it literally takes my breath away with the level of raw and authentic emotion it has to give me, and when that book breaks me, breaks all of my emotions and feels, and physically hurts my heart. Because let me tell you, when you experience a book with that exceptional level of emotion, it hurts in the most unforgettable way. In a way that is tangible. In a way that is wholly real. And in a way that hurts so damn good.

So. Damn. Good.

I sometimes like to joke that I like to be emotionally murdered by the books I read, and honestly that is beyond true because I do love me some highly emotional and heartbreaking feels. I want to live and breathe and feel and be consumed by those emotions and feels. I want them to be tangible. I want them to shake me to my core. I want them to blow me away with all they have. And yes, I want them to murder my emotional masochistic heart to pieces because I want to feel it ALL, and getting and experiencing that level of emotion is what truly shows me how completely consumed I am in what I’m reading.

Let me tell you, The Darkest Sunrise the first book in this amazing duet murdered all of my emotions…and I LOVED every amazing and all-feeling moment of that. And just when I thought all of my feels and emotions were sufficiently murdered in a way that gave my emotional masochist heart what it wanted, Aly Martinez went and murdered them again in The Brightest Sunset….and you know what? I LOVED every moment of that even more than I did in The Darkest Sunrise because that’s how truly exceptional those feels, the level of varied and deep emotion, and everything I got with these characters was.

The Brightest Sunset was the absolute PERFECT conclusion to this duet.

It was emotional. It was real. It was exactly what I needed, and even more of what I didn’t even know I needed from these characters. It was superbly written and crafted. It blew me away through every page, and that is honestly just a fraction of what made this one of the best books I have EVER read.

This book wowed me on every level. It had me feeling and experiencing every part of this book, this story, and these characters as it all unfolded in front of my eyes and heart. This story had me crying like a baby at times (read: in every single chapter of this book), and physically feeling the emotional toll and affect this story’s events had on its characters through every single page. It had me laughing my ass off and smirking like a fool with the banter and spark of these characters, all while loving the connection and fire they shared through it all.

I feel as if I could go on and on about how much I loved The Brightest Sunset, how much it made me feel and experience, how much it gave me while I read this story, and I wouldn’t even come close to capturing what it was like to read this conclusion to this unforgettable duet and to live and breathe this story with Porter and Charlotte.

I could not have asked for a more fitting continuation and ending to these characters’ journeys, or a more emotionally gripping and satisfying conclusion to what they shared together.

To put it simply, The Brightest Sunset was a book that captured every phenomenal aspect of this duet into a spectacular conclusion that delivered on every level.

As I sit here writing this review, all I can truly think about is how much I loved this book, and how much I really don’t want to tell you much of anything that happens in it because I would never want to spoil this story for you. The conclusion that Aly Martinez so thoughtfully crafted in The Brightest Sunset is so epic, so fitting, and just so damn good that me revealing even just a little bit of what actually happens in this ending would take away from the literal amazingness of this ending and what it’s like to experience it.

What I will say though is that The Brightest Sunset continues everything I loved and felt for these characters through every word, sentence, paragraph, page and chapter in the most incredible, all-feeling, and distinctive way. This book invested me more in Porter and Charlotte and what they shared together. It had my heart in it even more than I thought was humanly possible with what those two share and go through as they try to figure out what they hell they are doing. This book pushed them both, and me right along with them, to their emotional limits. It pushed them to places they never thought they’d be.

Places they feared and dreamed of, places they thought were always going to be out of reach for them, places that scared them in the best way possible. Places that showed them who they really are, who they truly wanted to be, and who they were ready to fight like hell with all that they had to find.

What I got with both Porter and Charlotte deepened the connection I had with their characters and their intertwined journeys. This book made me love them more, it allowed me to feel for them more, hurt and break for them more, hope for them with all that I had, all while basking in every breathtaking moment I got with them as this story unfolded. The depth I got with their characters, and the exceptional level of understanding I had with what they were going through, what they feared, and what was literally taking over every part of their lives and heads and hearts, seared me to them completely.

Those two took ahold of my heart, my emotions, and my very soul, and I honestly don’t want those three things back yet because that’s how much I loved every breath of what I got with Porter and Charlotte in this book.

I have to say that one of my favorite aspects of this book was getting more of Porter’s emotional journey and fight to heal. The Darkest Sunrise gave me all of that and more with Charlotte, with Porter right there with her every step of the way in the exact way she needed. This book flipped that dynamic in a way, putting Charlotte in a place to be there for Porter as he found that way through the darkness, through the pain and anger and anguish, and through the literal heartbreak to find the light he needed and so deserved. Both of the books in this duet give you the exceptionally interwoven journeys of these characters and what they share and are trying to build together, but I can’t say enough how truly incredible it was to get those different dynamics in each book.

To experience him helping her try to heal, to then experience her helping him try to heal, to experience all of the phenomenal supporting characters along the way supporting them in the exact way they needed, and in the end experiencing what it was like for Charlotte and Porter to continue that push and pull towards healing and light was EVERYTHING.

The way that Aly Martinez creates that dynamic in both of these books, through every page of this unforgettable story, and how that continues to show what these characters are sharing and trying to build with one another was perfection.

It was so real. So heartfelt. So genuine. So beautiful. So raw and intense and heart squeezing. It was so Porter. So Charlotte. And so them.

I know I have probably spent most of this review rambling about emotional murdering and talking around what happens in this story to avoid spoilers, but let me just say that if there are two books that you NEED in your life, it is The Darkest Sunrise and The Brightest Sunset. I could say that a million times over, and I would still need to say it again because that is how truly incredible these books are.

What Porter and Charlotte so authentically, so viscerally, and so honestly give you in both of these books, and especially in this conclusion, will wow you, move you, break you, make you, heal you, and in the end will have you knowing that every heartbreak, every ounce of pain and emotion, and every breath of what they went through was damn worth it.

This book deserves more than 5 stars. It deserves them all. And then some. It deserves the highest praises because that is how phenomenal it is. What Aly Martinez gives you in this book with these characters as they fight that good fight, as they try to wade through the emotional superstorm that is their lives and their “normal”, and as they attempt to put the pieces of themselves back together again is everything.

E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.

As I sit here writing this review I find myself not wanting to end it all because that’s how much I completely love these characters and what I got with them in this book and this duet. Even though those two made me cry in EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER for one reason or another, even though they pushed my heart and soul to its emotional limit, and even though they broke me and shattered me again and again, I will be forever grateful for all of that because all of that gave me them.

All of that gave me their powerful and meaningful story. All of that gave me the most unadulterated and perfect level of emotion and connection as it all came to be. All of that gave me Porter. All of that gave me Charlotte. All of that gave me Travis and Hannah and Sloth and Rita and Brady and Tom.

All of that gave me one of the most exceptional stories that I have EVER read, a story that I know will stay embedded in my heart and soul forever because that is how damn good it is, and that is how much it permanently pulled me to these characters.

What can I say about The Brightest Sunset?

It made me laugh at times to the point that my cheeks hurt. It made me smile in the most heartfelt and genuine way. It made me cry and feel. Everything. It made me blush something fierce, and allowed me to experience the most incredible fire burning between Charlotte and Porter. It gave me one of the most meaningful stories and character journeys I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

And in the end it gave me Porter and Charlotte. Their lightness. Their darkness. Their hearts. Their love. Their passion. Their flaws. Their highs and lows and everything in between.

It gave me every part of them, every part of what they shared, and every part of their unforgettable story, and it truly doesn’t get better than that.

Trust. Me.

So just do yourself a favor and read these incredible books. Fall in love with Porter and Charlotte. Feel every word and syllable of their story. Live every moment that Aly Martinez so exceptionally creates.

Read this book. Live it. Feel it. Love it. Let it emotionally murder you, and put you back together again and again. Take in and experience every single second of The Darkest Sunrise and The Brightest Sunset.

It would be wrong not to.

 

 

 

The Brightest Sunset–Book Two in the Darkest Sunrise Duet by Aly Martinez

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2sX0Yo9
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2tG4oJ9
Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/2u9VhU1
Amazon AU: http://amzn.to/22u0aVAI