THE BEGINNING OF THE END
Author: R. Holmes
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: May 22nd, 2020
Ambrey
My last name was royalty in New Orleans, at least, I guess to those who mattered. But to me…my last name was a curse.
High society. Expectations. Old money. Politics. Everything I despised.
If only they could see what happened behind those high-society closed doors. The same doors my daddy paid a lot of money to keep closed.
Deceit. Destruction. Bribery. You name it, my family was guilty of it.
My father’s throne was built on lies. Our family was the epitome of faux royalty.
Then, I fell in love and oh what a fool I was. I was just a pawn in my father’s game. And to use the man who claimed to love me…
Five years ago, I walked away, and left my father to his riches.
And that man who left me in broken, jagged pieces?
Well, what goes around, comes around.
Grey
Four years in a prison cell changes a man.
I spent those four years fighting to survive.
When I emerged, I was nothing like the man who had walked through those cell doors all those years ago.
I overcame things that I never imagined I’d be faced with..
The one person who promised to never leave, did.
The life I thought I knew, gone.
The future I once thought I had, up in smoke.
Like so many things in my life, my story and my future were stolen from me.
Sure, it’s made up of the usual parts…a beginning and an end. But just like every story, there’s a hero, there’s the villain…and then there’s me.
And this is the beginning of the end.
4 ‘ My Moon, My Stars, Everything In Between’ Stars
Ahhhhh, who can resist the sweetest of single dad’s stories?! As angsty and emotional charged as expected from a second chance, The Beginning of The End really brought us all the feels in the combo of heart squeezing and steamy hot moments! A true page turner that once again made me wish I lived right there on NOLA!
Well, talk about books that have us so involved we want to jump into the pages and have words with the characters! That’s just how involved I was into Grey and Ambrey’s story.
If there ever were two halves of one soul, he’d be the other half of mine.
With the blurb announcing the heart wrenching separation, and the complicated past, I thought I had an idea going in about these two’s past and their heartbreak, but I really didn’t have a notion of just how tortured Grey was, and how much heart break Ambrey had to endure. And the fact that none of them was to blame for their separation, when they had felt they were each other’s rock and their forever, that about ruined me. I was heartbroken right there with them….
He broke my heart. He left me in pieces to pick up on my own, knowing he was the only person in the world who had ever helped me feel not so broken.
I’ve done nothing but love her with everything inside me.
And that love just destroyed me.“Loving you cost me everything.”
Sooooo much pain, such a complicated past, it is no wonder things don’t go right back to how they were before their separation. Seeing each other now, after eight years, just brought back to light all that hurt and desperation. As much as they fought their feelings though – and I did wish Grey hadn’t taken so very long with his back and forth, hot and cold, that gave me a bit of whiplash, as did to Ambrey, lol, though I did understand his hesitation, because it did steal on the thing I missed the most in the book, more couple time – we could all see it was a fruitless battle. I did wish there was more true real couple time, or perhaps it’s the fact that we did have a lot of long moments between Grey and his baby girl, by themselves, that yes showed their connection, therefore important for the trope, I just craved just as many – in this case or romance, more, lol – one on one moments between the couple, specially after their reunion. I wanted more happy moments between them, because their connection was undeniable, I just wanted witness even more. They were just too deeply connected, we could practically FEEL every time they were in each other’s presence, their souls begging to be reunited, as well as their bodies, of course. Their attraction was so raw and evident, that I was almost screaming into my kindle, for they to just get together. Yep, Grey could be pretty maddening in his resistance, but oh boy, in those moments he let go, and gave in, and in the end when he finally opened up his heart: Oh my…. Swoon worthy!
We were like two storms, constantly crashing into each other, leaving behind a wake of destruction and carnage.
I don’t know if this time I’m strong enough to survive.
The Beginning of the End marks not only the return of R. Holmes’s writing that I enjoy so very much, but an incredible and intense ‘second chance’/’single dad’ romance combo that had me on the edge of my seat and mentally cheering for Grey and Ambrey. These two – and his adorable little girl – left me with a huge smile on my face, specially considering that PERFECT epilogue! Emotionally packed, intensely sexy and endearingly adorable, this was the perfect comeback tale. I can’t wait to see what Ms. Holmes will do with Bishop and Madi, I’m both scared and curious, lol! <3 <3 <3 <3
“You were always my moon and stars, and everything in between, chère. Just like stars do, I knew you’d always guide me home. Where I was supposed to be.”
ARC kindly provided by the author for an honest review
R. Holmes is from a small town in southern Louisiana where she lives on a farm, with her husband and two little boys. Whenever she’s not chasing around the goats and her boys on the farm, she spends her time watching ridiculous amounts of Netflix and is almost always stuck with her nose in a book. She thrives on horror films, sarcasm, and reruns of Harry Potter. A perpetual night owl, you’ll find her in her office locked away until the wee hours of the morning. She loves to meet her readers and discuss her latest favorite books and her upcoming projects!