Brought to you by OBS reviewer Jerjen

Breathe by Kristen Ashley is the fourth book in the Colorado Mountain series.  It’s the story of Faye Goodnight and Chace Keaton, and their struggle to find true love.

Faye is the town librarian in Carnal, Colorado.  She does not have much experience with men.  In fact she’s never had a boyfriend and she is a virgin.  But she still notices the opposite sex, especially Chace.  She has been in love with him for half her life.  But he was always been otherwise involved and she was never able to let her feelings be known.

Chace is a cop for the police department, a department that has been corrupt for a long time, but has finally been cleaned up.  He has done things in his past that he is not proud of and he  believes he is not good enough for her.  But when he spends more time with her, he realizes he wants to make her a part of his life.

Faye tries to avoid Chace but then she notices a young boy who she is concerned about.  He  has been stealing books from the library, although he always returns the books, and he looks as though he has been abused.  Faye is concerned about the child enough that she goes to Chace to tell him about the child..  As they work together to find out who the boy is and who has been abusing him, they begin to grow closer.  Will they both give in to their feelings and find true love with each other, or will their pasts stand in the way?

The writing style flows smoothly and the book is an easy read, although a long read.  The writing is very descriptive and I found myself being pulled into the story. At times, I felt like I was right there watching the happenings first hand.  The characters are well developed and three dimensional.  But at times I feel that Faye was not very believable.  She just seems too naive to me.  I do not think that she acted like a twenty nine year old, but rather someone much younger who has not lived life at all.

I thought the storyline had a good mixture of humor, suspense, romance and family dynamics..  Not only did Faye and Chace have to find the abused child and help him, but Chace had his wife’s murder to solve.  This brought suspense into the book and I enjoyed that.  The family dynamics between Chace and his family was interesting and not quite normal.  I also enjoyed this aspect.  I thought one of the best parts of the books was the caring relationship that occurs with the abused boy.  It was both heart-wrenching and heart-warming.

One thing I did not like about the book was the language.  I know that, at times, using swear words are needed to make the story seem more realistic.  I get that and can appreciate that.  But in this book, I think the swearing was overused.  I feel that the author was forcing the words out of the characters mouth just for shock value.  Even Faye’s girlfriends are not excluded from the language, and that just seemed too over-the-top for me.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading a romantic suspense.  I do not think this book is appropriate for a young adult, due partly to the language.  I think this may be a series that would best be read in order. I have not read any other books by this author but I think I will give book one in the series a try.

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review as part of their ongoing blog tour*