Review : Breathe Into Me by Sara Fawkes (NA)

---

Book Blurb

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 transfixed 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?

Amazon

Goodreads

---

Toot's Review by Stacy Sabala

Lacey St. James’ life has fallen apart. Her step father died five years ago and she moved in with her grandmother, her mother and little brother. Her grandmother is hateful to her resulting from an experience with her real father. Her mother has turned to alcohol and retreated into herself. She a boyfriend, Macon, who comes to her rescue but isn’t very nice to her. She doesn’t know how things got so bad and what she needs to do to make it better. Lacey can’t wait to get out of this small, horrible town.

One night, while out with a friend, Lacey meets Everett Ward. He is staying with a friend house sitting. He steps in to help when Macon gets physical. He rescues Lacey when she needs it and doesn’t ask for anything in return. In fact, he is attracted to Lacey but knows he has to go slow. She holds herself back and he has his own secrets. So he gives her the space she needs.

Of course when secrets are involved, they always come out. Lacey’s secrets devastate her. She knows that when Everett finds out he will run the other way. When Everett’s secrets come out, Lacey is shocked. Her world is turned upside down.

The characters are tortured souls in this story which tend to be my favorite kind. Lacey’s story is heartbreaking and I wanted her to pull through it from the very beginning. She deserved to be happy. When Everett entered the picture he was exactly what she needed.

The author created a storyline full of drama, guilt, abuse, and redemption. The reader was hit from both directions by tortured pasts that come back for both characters. It was a great romance with likable and real characters. It was fun to read as Lacey took her life back. I give it 4 out of 5.