Review: Nestled in a Book's Review of Breathe
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 13, 2014
["Breathe, baby."I breathed.]It's no coincidence that the title for this book is Breathe. Just as Chace has to remind Faye to breathe, I had to remind myself. This story is breathtaking in its beauty.["Faye, honey, breathe."]Faye Goodknight is Carnal's quiet, bookworm, town librarian and she's my favorite female character ever.  She's reserved and sweet, but she's got a fierceness to her that endears her to you over and over.  You can't help but see her through Chace's eyes, and just like him, you're powerless to keep yourself from falling in love with her.["Fought the pull of you.  Lost."]Detective Chace Keaton has demons.  His wife recently murdered.  His wife a woman he didn't love.  A woman who sunk to the lowest of lows to trap him into a sham marriage for six years.  A woman who he hated but still should have protected.  A woman whose murderer still ran free.  He's seen a lot of ugly in his life, and he isn't prepared for the beauty and light that Faye brings.When the two of them unexpectedly run into each other one night, it's not under the best circumstances.  Fate seems to have a plan though because even as Faye goes out of her way to avoid Chace, they're repeatedly thrust together.Chace doesn't know that Faye has been carrying a torch for him, much less for how long, and Faye doesn't know if the town's most handsome cop even knows she exists.  When he is caught off guard one night by the beautiful librarian, he lashes out at her, and effectively shatters the image of the man she thought him to be.  It's painful for her to come to terms with and she's trying to do just that one night when fate intervenes once again, and Chace interrupts her late night walk.["You been cryin'?""No.""Honey, I got eyes."]This night is the start of something so beautiful.  After the horrible things that Chace has seen and endured, Faye is exactly what he needs.  She's so good, and pure, and sweet, and just everything.  She's beautiful all the way down to her soul.  And if anyone deserves to have that, it's him.[“For a long time, a long f*ckin’ time, Faye, nearly six years, I thought it was certain I’d never have anything as beautiful as the last three minutes. Thank you, honey, for giving that to me.”]Chace is heralded as the town's hero, but it's a title he's not only not comfortable with, but feels he's not worthy of and openly rejects.  He's consumed by an inner darkness that weighs on him heavily.  But all of that darkness is no match for the light that Faye throws on it, lighting up every dark corner of his mind and his heart.[Chace Keaton stared down at Faye Goodknight, her head against the pillows of her bed, her body under his and he wondered how in the f*ck six years of misery led him to all the promise that was her.]Faye doesn't see the darkness.  She sees a man who is beautiful and good and fierce.  A force to be reckoned with.  She sees a man who is the truest meaning of the word 'hero'.  And she's determined to make him see it too.[“Twenty-nine years, I held out for this.  I’ll take you thinking I’m your angel but you need to know you’re my hero.  Twenty-nine, honey, I held out for this.  Twenty-nine years, I held out for you.”]I'm a huge Kristen Ashley fan.  The Gamble was my first book by her, and it has and will hold a special place in my heart, and I thought it would always be the reigning champion of her books for me... but Breathe is now tied for first.  When I think back on this story, my heart is so full of Faye's light and it aches with love for Chace.  Kristen Ashley books always reign supreme, but Breathe is on the top and it's one you absolutely have to read.[He wasn’t falling anymore for Faye Goodknight.He wasn’t halfway there.He was gone.]And when you do read this book (and you should!), do yourself a favor.  There's a particular scene where Chace and Faye are dancing to "Fade into You" by Mazzy Star.  Listen to it.  Trust me.