Reviews

Chasing Riptides by Aly Stiles

hannas_heas47's review

5.0

Fantastic

I loved it! Fabulous book! I’m going to need this one for my shelf. Matty and Britt were amazing! Five huge stars! Congratulations to the author on another splendid read!

amor_fati's review

5.0

There are certain books you read and you just feel the emotions the instant you read the first few words, Chasing Riptides is one.

Matty Silva is an enigma. He is so much the picture of the rockstar we all dream up, but that all it is our made up dreams, behind the man is a soul, crumbing, searching for something but not knowing what. Britt Esposito has always been his friend, has always loved him for who he was and when he needs a kindness she is there for him.

This book is a journey of hitting your lowest point, finally giving in and not caring to have that one person just never give up on be there to catch you in your fall.

This book will heal. It will let you know you are not alone. It will let you are worthy. You are worthy of happiness and love and family and the art you create. Aly has a way of taking the pain we may secretly hide and pouring it out into the pages to know we are not alone.

theaccidentalromanceblogger's review

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Matty Silva has everything. He's the rockstar, the pretty boy, the one every woman (and a few men) wants and every man wants to be. But they love an "image", the part he plays for the masses in order to survive. NO one really knows him or loves him. Well, not really. His brother Alex loves him deeply and his best friend, Britt, can see through the pain and all the smoke and mirrors and love him like no one else.

Britt has loved Matt since the lost, scared kid from Brazil showed up in her second grade class. Everyone loves the image he puts out into the world, but she's always loved the sad, beautiful, lonely boy trapped in the gorgeous man. She understands his pain. She loves him unconditionally. All she needs is to make him understand. And to do that, he has to break the cycle of self-destruction he threw himself in. She will do anything to catch him when he falls.

I have been wanting to read Matty's story since we met him in Falling North. He's such a beautiful broken soul that you, like Britt, can't help fall in love with. 

It's a slow burn because Matty goes through many emotional hurdles to understand he's loved, that he deserves to be loved. To be honest, he even has to learn what love really is.

It's emotional, it's heartbreaking and you'd expect from Aly Stiles. Beautiful! 

Note: Again, kudos to Aly for portraying my Brazilian boys perfectly. No stereotypes, perfect Portuguese, everything! That's how you do it, folks! 

PT: toxic relationship with a parent, extreme low self-esteem issues, blackmail, violence

pigpink100's review

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

3.5