Review: A good story, just needed more.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 21, 2014
*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*Jennifer Stewart moved to Gunnison for a fresh start. Little did she know in four short weeks her life would be turned upside down, for better and for worse. Jenn wanted the quiet life, to work at the local newspaper and make new friends. Attracting a serial killer, the local Sheriff and just about every man in the county was not on her agenda but her smart mouth and sharp wit had everyone sitting up and paying attention. I immediately liked Jenn's character she was tenacious and witty, a girl after my own heart.Now Jack Gunnison was a sexy, older Alpha character, being the Sheriff was an added bonus. He connected with Jenn right away. Her stubbornness paired with his bossiness made for some fun scenes. I loved the way in which he was so protective of Jenn, and although the independent woman in me should have been cursing him, I couldn't help but melt every time he took control of the situation and tried his very best to control Jenn, which he soon realised was an impossible feat.Jack and Jenn were great together. I loved their banter and even though their personalities clashed, they were perfect for each other. I really liked that they were both two strong characters. Their arguments due to both of their stubbornness were comical at times. My only issue of their relationship was the quickness of it. I'm not a great fan of instalove and Jack and Jenn moved at breakneck speed. The bulk of the story spanned over four weeks and that wasn't a lot of time for all that went down. With that being said, I did love Jack and Jenn so I could get over this niggle ;-)I did guess who the killer was not long before he was revealed, but that didn't ruin my enjoyment of the story, it just wasn't shrouded in mystery like I thought it would have been. I did like the investigation side and Jenn's journalism shenanigans. The climax happened at 70% so I did worry what would fill the last 30% and to be honest the story lulled until 90% when the action picked up again so I felt the story could have been streamlined better to keep my interest to the end.I felt the book could have been more refined; it needed polished around the edges in terms of writing and editing. A few times the narrator would 'speak' to me as the reader and I felt that pulled me from the story. The changes in POV was labelled during a chapter, yet not at the beginning of most and therefore it was quite confusing if one chapter ended on Jenn's POV and switched to Jack's at the beginning of the next. It was small details but enough to make me focus on them when I should have been immersed in the story.I do love my epilogues, the longer the better in most cases but I felt this epilogue didn't read well as it was broken down into small chunks and it disrupted the flow of the story. If one time frame was focused on and Jenn had recalled the last year, I felt that would have worked better. I did question a few of the medical facts (can't help the midwife in me ;-)) some seemed a little far-fetched but for the story and Jenn and Jack's luck it was to be expected.Overall, A Reason to Breathe was an enjoyable story. I really liked the beginning and loved both Jenn and Jack as characters. I enjoyed the mix of mystery, romance and humour. It made a nice change from my usual New Adult reads. ~Ava