Review: Just breathe
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 21, 2013
This is a light, entertaining but detailed romance.Dee tears off her stilettos (borrowed from her sister) at a Sydney society ball and flings them out a window, declaring them to be instruments of torture. An unseen man nearby observes that he doesn't throw stilettos except in the privacy of his own room. Ethan's escaping from his sister Lucy who wants to introduce him to her yoga teacher, he confesses unguardedly. Dee finds this awkward - she's the yoga teacher, dressed up for once. Then Lucy arrives and announces grandly that Dee should star in a Health Life Insurance ad campaign. That's the last thing she wants however!Dee's had a serious accident and still carries back pain. Yoga has helped her but when her flat mate moves in with the man of his dreams, Dee needs to pay the bills. Maybe she'll take up that commercial offer after all... it might convince her bossy mother that she's able to run her own life. Lucy meanwhile has had to fire a model for being stoned and falling out of a stationary helicopter. She arranges a photo shoot for Dee. Taking a spot catering job, Dee keeps running into Ethan, who assumes she's a guest, and the glossy people he mixes with don't make her life any simpler.I liked the number of absolutely normal women, from a perfectionist mother to a yoga student dealing with serious illness. Dee is petrified doing yoga on a beach in front of cameras, but focusing on her breathing helps to calm her and after a productive day Dee realises that this is the most assertive thing she's done in a decade. Confidence building, from here on Dee's scattered life begins to improve, without the need for a man to prop her up. She may feel like a traitor to her own social ethics, but Ethan is definitely interested, and he's a consummate gentleman, introducing her to people who might help her get work.I did think that Dee spills, trips, and falls too many times for a balanced fit woman, and it got tiring rather than funny. But we learn that many people store stress in their shoulders, how to refloat a capsized boat, and how to frame a business plan and budget for a mortgage. Janette Paul puts interesting people in lively situations and shows clearly that people who never plan for the future are not helping themselves. Readers should note that in Australian 'thongs' are sandals as a few scenes could read really strangely!