Review: Intriguing story but falls a bit short
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 10, 2014
Complimentary copy provided by the publisher and/or author in exchange for an honest review.Lacey is nineteen. A high school dropout, working two jobs in order to make ends meet, she lives in her grandmother’s trailer with her mother and four year old brother. She is in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend Macon, whom she just can’t seem to get rid of. She really doesn’t have anyone in the world to count on; her friends are really just acquaintances and are willing to sell her out when convenient. Will Lacey ever be able to trust again? To give her heart, as well as body willingly, given all of the drama she’s been through?Everett is in his early twenties and has come to the small town in Mississippi under the guise of housesitting with his friend Trent for the summer. Everett has gone to work for Trent’s dad working construction. He is supposed to return to New York at the end of the summer to go back to college, but when he finds the type of life he has been looking for, both in the laid back pace of the south, as well as the mystery that is Lacey, he must decide what he wants to do with his life. Will there even be a choice when Lacey finds out the secrets he’s been keeping?Everett meets Lacey one night at a bar when he rescues her from Macon’s rage. Lacey, having an exceptionally bad night at the hands of Macon and her frenemy Ashley, welcomes the kindness of the stranger. They leave each other not exchanging any info other than Everett saying, “I’ll see you around”. As luck would have it, their paths were meant to cross again…and again, and again, until it becomes obvious that they were meant to be a part of each others lives.Unfortunately my biggest issues with this book were some very glaring discrepancies in the plot. I understand that when writing a book, there is a lot going on and a lot to remember, however at no point do I think there is anyone on the planet that has had a steering wheel installed on their sofa. Another example is that the two are out on a date on a Sunday afternoon and later on Lacey claims that she needs to pick up her brother from pre-school. Several things like that left me having to go back and re-read passages to make sure I read them correctly. It was very distracting.Another problem I had with the book is that the plot seemed to be all over the place. At one point Lacey thinks that her brother is being abused and she is fretting what to do about the situation, and the very next page has her in a store with a friend buying beer for a party. The plot seemed to jump around and there were dramatic elements that were introduced yet never explained. Such as who Lacey’s father was. Her grandmother supposedly shot him for being a bad man, however at no point to we find out WHY he was a bad man, we just have to take her word for it. I am all for suspension of disbelief when it comes to fiction, however there was just too much here.The characters were interesting, Everett more so than Lacey, because she really couldn’t get over her victim mentality. Yes, many bad things have happened to her in her life, however she was very quick to lie down and just take it. She didn’t seem to have a backbone nor really want to develop one, despite her claims to want to change. Unfortunately the way in which the characters behaved led to a storyline that we’ve seen before in many NA novels, however this really wasn’t any different. It didn’t stand out, which is a shame because it did have the capacity to be a great story.In summary, Breathe Into Me started off well. It was intriguing from the first page and kept my interest. However, after several discrepancies in the plot as well as a predictable ending, my interest waned quickly. The book unfortunately became similar to many NA novels out there, which is unfortunate because the premise started out so well. Other than the holes in the plot, the book was well written; it flowed well making it an easy read. A solid three star effort but is capable of far more. The characters were intriguing but the execution fell short.