Title: Breathe into Me
Author: Sara Fawkes
Publisher/Year: St Martin’s Press 7/29/14
Length: 288 Pages
Overview
How did my life get so broken? It’s a question Lacey St. James asks herself every day. Stuck raising her little brother in a trailer park while she works a dead end job at a grocery store, she has a stalker exboyfriend, a bad reputation, and no way out.
And then she meets Everett, who changes her entire existence.
Everett is an outsider who’s housesitting his family’s mansion off the coast, and for reasons Lacey can’t understand, he’s completely captivated by her. He seems determined to show her that life can offer more than she’d ever hoped for, if only she believes in herself. She desperately yearns to trust him, but what happens when she finds out that everything he’s told her is a lie?
My Thoughts
I’m a bit torn here, and let me explain why. From my vast experience with Ms. Fawkes, she’s become one of my favorites, because we get really intense stories between characters that have tainted paths, and all the while we get a LOT of passion and heat that really keeps the story together. What happened here though, i’m still trying to figure out.
We got the first part – the really complicated complex story of Lacey and Everett – so that’s really consistent, but i think i spent the entire time wondering when we’d get what i’ve come to expect as the trademark Fawkes, and really get into some great scening.
So, to get back to what i enjoyed for a bit – Lacey is a really dynamic leading lady – she’s got just about nothing going for her, meaning that she’s had a troubled past, and her present isn’t that great either. There were a few things that happened in high school that put her life on a downward spiral not just in the sense that she doesn’t trust people anymore, but that she has reason to. Even with that, her family continues to let her down as well. it’s the hope that there’s something worth salvaging that keeps her going, but even she knows that it’s not possible to keep that much hope.
We meet Everett one night when Lacey isn’t at her best, and some how he manages to get a foot in the door. He’s there in the way that she needs, not pushing for something that she’ll never trust, and continues to instill the idea that there’s something great and honest out there. Of course though, what she doesn’t know is what we don’t know – that there’s darkness in his past, and it’ll most likely come out at the most inopportune time. I have to say that I had a feeling that there was something big that he was hiding the entire time, and i wasn’t wrong.
So…to get to the other point that i made, given what we’ve gotten in all of the other series that Sara has given us, there’s so much passion that we often don’t last but a few chapters without getting into it. While i understand why we needed the build up here since it’s a trust thing, i was waiting and waiting….and waiting. At least when we got there, it was hot, and stereotypical Fawkes. So, i guess i’ll continue to be a fan. 🙂
Anyhow, the epilogue teased at something interesting with one of the supporting characters, and while this is touted as a stand alone, i wonder what’s next on the horizon. I’m guessing that there will be a book 2 in the series – with something happening for Clare – but that’s just me wanting to continue with characters that i’ve come to enjoy. Anyhow, i hope you guys get a chance to pick this one up – don’t dismiss it because it wasn’t true love for me, it’s still a pretty good read
*note – clicking the cover will take you to BN.com to buy!