Breathe Into Me by Sara Fawkes-a review

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BREATHE INTO ME by Sara Fawkes

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date April 8, 2014

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 ex-boyfriend, 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?

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REVIEW: BREATHE INTO ME is a contemporary, new adult storyline from the mind of Sara Fawkes. The premise follows a young twenty something Lacey St. James as she struggles to survive in a world of betrayal, abuse and extreme family dysfunction. Meeting Everett Ward had her looking to the future but the reality of her life in Small Town, USA comes crashing back when the people that are supposed to love you, destroy what is left of your psyche, your ego and your heart.

Lacey is a young woman struggling to find some semblance to her life. Following the death of her father, Lacey and her family have struggled but none more than Lacey and her younger brother Davey. Lacey works hard to keep her head held high but there is always someone waiting in the wings to slap her down. Enter Everett Ward-the man with whom she would fall in love but not before more lies and betrayal break what is left of her fragile heart.

Lacey and Everett’s relationship is friends to lovers but one that is mutually beneficial to both. Everett hides a secret and his need for Lacey is as necessary as the air that he breathes. Lacey brings some order to his life-a life that was once full of promises but destroyed by the actions of a naïve young man.

BREATHE INTO ME is a difficult read. The storyline is awash in heartbreaking family dysfunction, betrayal and, emotional and physical abuse. Lacey is a strong heroine whose family has pulled her into the depths of hell and with every step forward she is pushed two steps back. She is a victim of her circumstances; of her family; but I couldn’t help wondering if she was a victim of herself. Sara Fawkes combines the small town mentality where everyone knows your name into a storyline where one woman is unable to move forward because someone is always willing to push her back down. With the help of friends and people she doesn’t know, Lacey will learn that there is always someone willing to help when and where you least expect.

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy