I liked it but didn't love it. For some reason it didn't grab me like I thought it would--parts of it were well balanced and perfectly angsty and parts of it fell flat.

"Breathe into Me" is an extremely emotional story about Lacey, a young woman who feels like her life is at a dead end, and Everett, the outrageously gorgeous, small-town outsider who is in town for the summer and saves her from a bad situation one night.

I expected to be completely swept up in this – I assumed it would be a whirlwind with a heart-wrenching twist along the way. I feel like "Breathe into Me" had the potential to be extremely gripping and emotional, but it never quite reached the pitch I expected from it. I often found myself frustrated with or puzzled by Lacey, whose decision-making was sometimes inconsistent, and sometimes felt that the story became bogged down with too many story elements. If these had been pared down and the emotion dialed up a bit more, I think I would have fully been swept away by "Breathe into Me."

Ultimately, though, I enjoyed that this was a stand-alone with a strong HEA!

This book was really good. It was a little slow at first and, though it didn't blow me away, was great once it started going.

I was unable to finish this book
it was a DNF for me
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This book will pull you in from the very first page.

Read 2014

Gave 3 stars on Goodreads.
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Breathe Into Me is a story of a broken girls in need of a fresh start meeting a boy who makes all the difference until she realizes he's broken, too. Can they move beyond their pasts and make a future together?

Lacey is that girl. You know the one? The one everyone whispers about, spreads rumors about because of where she lives and what they think they know about her. But no one takes the time to get to know her. She's not the girl everyone thinks she is. She's loyal, hard-working, smart... She's looking to make a fresh start but it's hard when you live in a small town. And she feels like she can't leave her little brother because her mom is a drunk and her grandmother is abusive. Then she meets Everett. A boy more than willing to lend a helping hand with whatever she needs whether it's study help or rebuilding an engine. But can she trust his intentions? Everett seems like sweet guy and his intentions are above-board. He's smart and kind but he's a city boy only in town for the summer.

Breathe Into Me had a lot of potential but didn't deliver on all of it, in my opinion. I think the writing could have been tighter - more focused - because the story meandered at times. Also there were some consistency issues - which may have been corrected in final edits - that bothered me. For instance, it's Sunday and Lacey and Everett are studying. He asks about her plans for later and she says she has to pick up her little brother from daycare. Um, it's Sunday. I also got frustrated with Lacey at times because although she wasn't necessarily one to whine about her situation, she made questionable decisions - ones that didn't help her situation. Of course, I do give her a little leeway because of her age, but still. One last gripe is that I didn't like one of the plot devices used to create extra angst. I didn't feel it was necessary with everything else these two had going on.

All that makes it sound like I didn't like the book but I did. Fawkes created characters I rooted for, wanted the best for. Lacey and Everett were surrounded by a realistic cast, both good and bad. And the overall story was good. I felt for both Lacey and Everett, understood what they were going through. I liked watching them become friends and the becoming more. It just felt like too many plot threads though and I think fewer would have made a tighter story.