Get a blanket and maybe a glass of wine, you’re going to need it, because my story isn’t a happy one, well no, I take that back. It can be happy, I can be happy; I just have to get there. I have to fight for it. So sit back and let me explain how the fight was woken inside me.
It starts and ends with Tucker McCloud.


Let it Be Me is very dark, emotional, & gritty this is not your everyday type of read that is for sure. This story is about domestic abuse and violence and Toni holds nothing back while writing this story.

As a former abused person, I had a hard time with this story, I wanted to many times to just stop reading it and not look back, but I could not do that, something told me I had to read this story and find out whether or not Violet came out on top of her abuse. I needed to know that someone else made it out alive.

When you start this story you instantly hate Rob, I don’t blame you I hated him in the first 2 pages. You’re going to ask yourself what the hell is wrong with her? Why isn’t she just leaving, getting out while she has the chance? Toni takes you on a journey with Violet that shows you the answers to these questions and many more. Some people think it is easy to just walk away from an abusive relationship and not look back, but what people don’t understand is there is a major fear placed inside a victim of abuse by their abuser and sometimes it is not easy to just walk away when you want to.

I watched and cringe while I read what Violet goes through, thinking jesus just get the strength to get out, I wanted to reach into the story and help her so many times. I thought so many times she is never going to get out of this alive. He is going to kill her.

Then the light at the end of the tunnel comes into focus and we meet the Mc Clouds…….

Violet starts a new job and she is working as an office manager in a doctor’s office. This is where she meets Tucker. His dad owns the practice and is retiring and turning it all over to him. There is an instant attraction between Violet and Tucker, but Violet knows it can never be anything she wants until she gets completely away from Rob.

I didn’t know it then, but the McClouds were going to change my life.

And they did change her life, want to know how Buy this amazing book and read it for yourself.

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In this book written in the first person, although fictional, we can see the struggle and the pain that a victim of domestic violence suffers... I really don't know what to say about it.
It's a message for all the women out there that suffers from this, a message of hope and courage that can help them.
I'm going to stick with the Assassins Series, this book was to heavy for me...

Toni Aleo’s LET IT BE ME is different from her Assassins series. It’s dark and will leave you physically ill.

You might be asking why a three rating. First of all, Aleo has written about an abused woman before. In EMPTY NET, Audrey leaves an abusive relationship, but unlike LET IT BE ME, the abuse in EMPTY NET for the most part takes place in the background. I believe something like less than 15% of the novel actually depicts it. It was difficult to read LET IT BE ME where the abuse does make up over 70% of the plot.

Character development is weak. I believe it’s because Let it be Me is told via Violet’s perspective and we aren’t given much back-story to either Rob or herself. My heart broke for Violet because I could see aspects of the girl she use to be before Rob. I know people react to situations differently, but at times, she felt lost. By that I mean, her voice disconnected a few times from the character we are presented. I’m not sure if that was intentionally done by Aleo or not. As for Rob, wow he’s a piece of work and wished Violet had run him over a few times. I liked Tucker, but I couldn’t get a good grasp as to what made him different from Rob other than his declaration he would never treat her the way Rob does. She spends her time working with Tucker, but then again she worked with Rob! If there is a difference between the two, especially when she began to date Rob, etc, then I would have liked a little more history there.

I had a few issues with LET IT BE ME. First of all, Violet insists she could never leave Rob because no one would believe her. Rob had a history of violent behavior! The man was charged with assault and battery and had upcoming court date. There’s also a particular incident involving Rob and she keeps that information from Tucker. At this point, they’d been intimate and he was willing to help her get out of the marriage, so why not tell him? Why keep it a secret? I can’t imagine keeping something so important from him. Furthermore, while some may argue that Violet’s affair with Tucker is okay because her marriage to Rob was over, I can’t agree. I’m not going to discuss my views on being unfaithful (hey, I understand the whole being on a break concept), but for me, it’s more of, how can a woman who is told over and over that no one would want her and that she’s worthless just happily jump into the arms of a man who smiles at her? I just couldn’t get over that mindset. Again, I know people react differently, but I would have assumed Violet would have wanted to be free 100% from Rob, etc before moving on.

In the end, LET IT BE ME a bit too dark for my liking. I know women live this nightmare daily and I feel for them, but when you pick up a book you want to escape the reality of the real world. I dreaded the chapters because you knew things were going to get worse for Violet. When she finally escapes Rob, I wasn’t too surprised with the outcome. It was bit clichéd and there was only one way this was going to end.

I commend Aleo for tackling a difficult subject matter and giving a voice to the women who live this. If anything, I hope women who read and suspect a friend is going through abuse or maybe it’s you, I hope it gives you the courage to seek help or have a heart to heart with a friend. Leaving an abusive relationship isn’t easy, but there are resources and people willing to help. Aleo is giving 10% of the profits of LET IT BE ME to the Joyful Heart Foundation during the month of October. ( )

Let it be Me is not your normal contemporary romance story. It's also very different from Toni Aleo's other books. Let it be Me is a more of a message conveying one woman's story of survival, of overcoming fear and abuse, of making the journey from the pit of hopeless and despair to the place of finding safety, happiness, and love as it is meant to be, and it' a message that needs to be heard. Violet Moore met her husband Rob while in RN school. Rob was also a RN. She quickly fell in love with him, and he became the center of her world. She married him when she was only 20. She quickly also found that Rob was anything but the man she thought she married. The abuse started suddenly. Of course, he was sorry....he was always sorry....and she believed him, at least for a while. When it started to get to the point that her mom was questioning some of the injuries she was experiencing, Rob quickly moved her from Colorado to his home town in Tennessee, where things only got worse. You may be wondering why she didn't tell someone. When you read Violet's story, you will understand from the viewpoint and the mindset of a victim of abuse. Things may seem black and white to us, but they are far from that in the victim's mind.

Thankfully, Violet went to work at doctor's office where she met Tucker McLeod, and she began to slowly see a flicker of light and hope in the tunnel of darkness that was her life. She began to experience those feeling of love once again that she never thought she would. The journey she goes through to get there is hard, it's scary, it's dangerous, and it will break your heart, but it is well worth reading. My heart broke for Violet. I can't imagine going through some of the things she did. I hated Rob, just hated him. He was truly a monster. Then there is Tucker McLeod, the knight in shining armor who supports and loves Violet, doing anything and everything he can do, that Violet will let him do, to help her get free from her current situation. Their's isn't a relationship where Tucker comes in a just sweeps her off her feet. They both have to go through a lot of hurt and pain to get there, but love finds a way...it always finds a way. Let it be Me is a wonderful story that not only chronicles the life of a beautiful young woman as she overcomes abuse, but it is a message that will bring a new level awareness to those who read it that have never experienced abuse, and it will bring hope to those that have and/or are in the middle of a similar situation. ( )