Reviews

From the Embers by Aly Martinez

reverieain's review against another edition

4.0

I love this book. Love the banters, love the romance, love the heartwarming moments between them and the kids. A pretty decent plot. Eason and Bree are so cute!!!

kirbryan's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

(Not a spoiler, although it may seem like it. This is basically what you go into the book already knowing from the blurb).

Eason and Bree are friends, but only because they are both best friends with the other persons partner. They tolerate each other. Then one games night, an awful explosion rips through the house leaving Eason the only one conscious and having to attempt to save everyone. Eason locates his wife first and on the way out of the house stumbles upon an unconscious Bree, with a promise to come back for her, he leaves the house with his wife in his arms only to discover, she's not in fact his wife. And just as another explosion occurs inside the house, Eason soon realises he has carried a soot covered Bree out and left his wife with a broken promise that he will return. With no way back into the burning house, Eason and Bree are left to navigate their loss and grief together. 

I did not envision myself enjoying this at much as I did. This book was something completely different to what I would normally read, I'm not even sure why I had originally picked it up as the cover doesn't exactly jump out to me either. But I am so glad I did. It was such a lovely heartwarming story, there were parts that were obviously sad but without being too depressing, if that makes sense? 

I was content with just reading about them moving on together after their losses. But, there were a few twists and turns throughout the book and when the big random twist at the end happened, I wasn't too sure if it had ruined the love story that had been melting me. But I guess, what's a book without something dramatic happening!? And at under 300 pages, it's going to be hard to make big events not feel so random without pages and pages of build up. 

Regardless, I would definitely recommend this book. Eason and Bree were 👌🏼 and the emotions within the plot felt so well written. 

sarahndipity9's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

ninafbooks's review against another edition

5.0

This book was flipped on its head. It had me crying my eyes out within the first five chapters. SO. MUCH. ANGST! I absolutely loved it. Funny thing, the angst started disappearing in the second half, and it felt like the author just threw a little bit of everything in there--rockstar, suspense, etc. It shouldn't have worked by all logic, but it somehow still did.

Bree was an absolute powerhouse and has instantly become one of my all-time favorite heroines. Eason was everything. Simple as that. And I do have to praise the author because the relationship she created between the two is one of the most healthy ones I've ever witnessed, in real life or books.

This was an amazing, in-depth slow burn, too filled with all kinds of tropes, but it wouldn't have worked as well without them all. It was a tad predictable with its twists and turns (some I saw coming from a mile away), but the writing was so good that it didn't matter because it all still seamlessly blended together.

Definitely recommend!

beth_48's review against another edition

emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Really enjoyed most of the twists and turns! Fast paced and I really liked the characters and the unique storyline 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Sexual content

cwelch021's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

m_fin16's review against another edition

2.75

This started great I had high hopes. I don't know why there needed to be so many twists thought this was going to be a grief focused emotional slow burn but it turned into something completely different that was disappointing. There was very little time actually spent showing the two characters love developing and went from 10-100 after the first big twist. And big twist 2 was just ridiculous imo.

emlol55's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

ataysoares1087's review against another edition

emotional inspiring medium-paced

3.75

kbabe429's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0