Review: Breathe – Kristen Ashley

There's nothing like the first time . . .
In Carnal, Colorado, Faye Goodknight is the town's quiet, shy librarian. She may also be Carnal's last remaining virgin. For years, Faye has had a crush on Chace Keaton, but the gorgeous cop has always been unattainable. She's resigned to live contentedly with only her books for company-until Faye suddenly meets Chace alone in the woods . . .
Chace doesn't think he's the good guy everyone believes him to be. He's made a lot of choices he regrets, including denying his feelings for Faye. Through his choices, he's come to believe the pretty librarian is too good for him, but after their time in the woods, Chace realizes that she may be his last chance for redemption. Soon, their long simmering desires grow to a burning passion. Yet always casting a shadow over their happiness is Chace's dark past . . .

Breathe was amazing! I think it’s the Colorado Mountain story that played with my feels the most! I cried. I laughed. And it was righteous!

Not only did I stay up until after 3 am to finish Breathe, I had to message Brandee while I was reading because there was so much going on, and I knew she’d know straight away what I was talking about! Good thing we live in different time zones – at least this once it made me happy. For someone who usually rolls her eyes at ‘older’ virgins in her romance novels, I fell hard and quick for Faye! And she may have seemed very shy and reserved on the outside, but on the inside, she was a true firecracker! And she knew how to take care of herself… in more ways than one 😉

Another thing that worked very well for me with Breathe was Chace! I didn’t really like him very much in the earlier instalments, but here, I got to know him better. And he sure was worth getting to know. What an intricate and complex character. His background hadn’t prepared him to become a policeman, but that’s what he wanted. And he worked himself through school before he managed to find work in a small town. As you may have already gathered, a lot of very bad things have happened both in Gnaw Bone and in Carnal. And in Breathe, things were brought up a notch.

Faye was such a good character, she had been lusting after Chace since he first arrived in Carnal, but because she was shy, she had always stayed away from him. He had found her intriguing, but he had been lured into a loveless marriage, and after what happened with his wife, he felt like he didn’t really deserve happiness now. Finding Faye poking around in the forest where his wife had been murdered made him think differently about her. And seeing how Faye and her online friends were trying to figure out what the police hadn’t ben able to was a hoot!

There are some pretty good crossover characters in Breathe, too. If you’ve read the Rock Chick series, you will recognize more than one character, and I have to say that made me fist pump. Written in first person point of view from Faye’s perspective, and third person point of view from Chace’s perspective, I felt very involved with the story. And I definitely got to know the main characters very well. With the length of the novel, I was surprised at how quickly I managed to read it – I think this had to do both with the fairly fast pace, and the fact that Ashley’s writing just does it for me. Turning the pages became second nature.

Although I didn’t like them together (as in, really), either “together” or together in the married way, it didn’t faze me. Everyone knew the hero in any good romance had to have his fair share of experience. If he didn’t, how was he going to be a good teacher, showing his lad love how to give him pleasure at the same time giving her more than she’d ever dreamed?

Chace’s body was shaking, his mouth was grinning and his voice held a deep tremor of humor when he remarked, “That’s quite a description” 
“I read, so I have a vivid imagination,” I explained.

“Are you nuts? Krystal hissed, leaning into Twyla. “Do I look nuts?” Twyla returned, and unfortunately, the answer to that was yes, she did. 

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• COYER Blackout

About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.

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