TRANSLATION OF LOVE
BY ALICE MONTALVO-TRIBUE
SYNOPSIS:
Ellie Brooks has spent the past two years of her life building barriers around herself that are guaranteed to keep people out and her demons in. She doesn't want to get close to anyone for fear of being hurt again. When she meets Latin superstar Victor Garza, she is shocked at how quickly he is able to penetrate her armor. She doesn't want to let him in but can't deny the chemistry they have. He has the potential to heal her wounds and open her heart but she isn't sure she can let him. Will love be enough to keep them together or will Ellie's past prove to be too much for the pair to overcome?
MY REVIEW
So I have been hearing talk about this book a little bit now. Why am I just now reading it? That's a simple answer. I finally had the time. Have you ever had those moments that you just keep putting shit off because it's new and then when you finally give in and do it or try it you kick yourself in the butt afterward??? That is what happened with me and reading this book. I kept telling myself afterward that I could have met Victor before this and here I am just now meeting him. LOL
This story is from Elisabeth's (Elle or Ellie as Victor calls her) point of view. I would like to hope that MAYBE just MAYBE we might get a book from Victor's point of view. A girl can dream, can't she? Okay let's meet the Heroine and Hero, shall we?
MEET ELLIE
She has been living life just existing after some horrible events in her life (and I do mean horrible). She has picked up the pieces of her life enough to make it from day to day, but she shut out the one thing that makes life complete...love. No matter the amount of encouragement she gets from her father (Joe), her brother (Gavin) and her best friend (Jordan) she only exists. For two years, she has lived like this until one fateful day she runs into a mystery man.....
MEET VICTOR
Victor has not had life easy either. He had kind of shut himself off, but was still open to the idea that there was someone out there for him. Someone that would see past his fame and his money and see him...the real him. One day, fate finally intervenes when he is at a crossroads in his career. He knew what he wanted to do before he met Ellie, but it was cemented in stone when he did.
Okay I need to pause for a second and say just how freaking dreamy Victor is!! Oh he is total swoonworthy material and then some. There is not a damn thing I would change about him. He knows what he wants and he goes for it, but always making sure that Ellie's comfort is before his wants/needs.
"You know I like you, right? I wanna see where this can go between us and I'm okay with talking things as slow as you need them to go...." ~Victor~
"I like waking up with you here in my arms," he says with a lazy smile. ~Victor~
But it's not just the way he talks but it's in his actions as well. He is so respectful of Ellie and her past issues that she has (which for most of the book he only knows that it whatever it was has turned her off relationships completely). As they move forward and their connection grows, he makes sure that Ellie is comfortable with anything he does, plans or says. In the words of another one of my favorite authors.....*Le Sigh*
Just as life is not easy for any of us, things are not easy for them. Actually there are points where things are pretty much against them. Ellie, because of her past, has an instinct to run and flee when things are too hard to handle. The thing is Victor told her....He wasn't letting her get away easily. He proved it too.
One of my favorite parts that is not said by the main characters is when Ellie's family meets Victor for the first time. It's a part from her 13 year old niece, Gemma.
"Auntie Elle!" I hear Gemma before I see her bounding into the foyer. She stops dead in her tracks, looks at Victor, then back to me with a huge grin on her face. "Nice!" ~Gemma~
That part cracked me up. I personally have a niece that is that age and would have done the same thing. LOL
They take things slowly after first. He lives in NYC the majority of the time and she lives in NJ. So they get weekends together. It wasn't until her first trip to his NYC apartment that things really became hard for them. Between his ex and his mother, it really became hard to focus on them. Oh but they tried and Victor made sure he tried to let her know he was different whenever he could.
"I'm not most guys. I know a good thing when I see it." ~Victor~
Ellie isn't without her moments either. When she finally starts to open her eyes and realize that things are not what they were in the past and Victor is different. She took a risk...She was able to start enjoying their relationship and see where they go.
"...Sometimes I can't believe that I found you. I never thought it would happen for me and then you came along and changed everything..." ~Ellie~
This story was amazing. It pulls you in and holds you through to the end. There was one part in particular (I won't say because I don't want to spoil anything for the next reader) that I wanted to grab Ellie and beat some sense into her, BUT in a way I kind of understand her reaction.
Victor knew right away she was different and she was too scared to try, but Victor didn't give up. This story has up's and down's, but so does life. The way these two are together is amazing and when they are apart they long for the other.
Ellie is strong, struggling to adjust to the new feelings she is feeling, but throws caution to the wind and tries.
This story is a MUST READ if you like the turnaround love is found kind of books. ( I do ) Go and pick up your copy today.