*ARC* Breathe Into Me - Review

Breathe Into Me

By: Sara Fawkes

Published: April 8, 2014 by St. Martin's Press

288 pages

Source: ARC from Netgalley (Thanks!)

(Goodreads / Amazon)

Summary:

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? 

MY REVIEW:
This story starts off with Lacey being in an abusive relationship with a serious douche bag. I'm not so sure she views it that way, or anything more than a "rough" relationship. But she heavily depends on this guy as an escape from her life at a home. A life of more abuse by her grandmother and her alcoholic mother and her innocent 4 year old brother. She had a good life once, until her Dad died and her Mom moved them all to southern Mississippi to live with her grandmother.

Finally breaking ties with the boyfriend, she works hard and decides there has to be more to life than the circle she's been on lately. Then she meets Everett. Extremely handsome, she feels he will only want her for one thing, the same thing most guys seem to want from her. But he surprises her by just being her friend. He starts to help her study for her GED test and really just to do things friends would do for each other. It's not long before she realizes he has deeper feelings for her, and if she's willing to admit it, she for him.

As with any great New Adult contemporary book, there are secrets bubbling under the surface and when they come out things explode.

I really liked Lacey. She is a strong, hard working, woman. She sees the wheel to nowhere she is on and decides to try to escape that lifestyle. A lucky break earning her a job playing piano at a country club, a passion of hers that she left behind when her Dad died, helps to steer her in a new direction. Until she learns the secrets of Everett which send her spiraling backward. With nowhere to go and no one to save her she feels lost and very alone.

This story deals with a subject that is passionate among many today, bullying.

Two small dislikes: the too close similarity of the country club setting as in the Too Far series by Abbi Glines and the annoyance that Lacey chooses to run away AGAIN without giving Everett the courtesy of hearing him out. They've been down this road once before and she saw there was more to the story than what she perceived. She owed it to him to listen first and then make whatever decision she can live with.

This is a fast read. Fans of New Adult books will enjoy the connection between Everett and Lacey.

Favorite Quotes:
"Trust me, I like it down here a whole lot better. You always know exactly where you stand with a Southerner."

"Never be ashamed to go your own path...it makes life worth living."

"You have too much pride. Learn to take some help when it's offered."

"Sometimes you just know that person is for you, that they fit. You love even the rough edges, mistakes and all, because you just know they're for you."

Final Rating - 3.5 stars

This post is part of the ARC Thursday feature on Words Fueled by Love.