Two people so bent they can no longer stand tall
With his sexy looks, his seductive dirty talk, and his resident bad boy reputation,
Kyle Marx was the thrill-ride every woman wants to experience…at least once.
And once is all he’d ever offer.
Suffocating in his own personal hell, Kyle thought sex, booze, and drugs could numb the pain of his past
Until an angel challenged him to fight…to feel
After living through a childhood that left her vulnerable and exposed, Cate Lockton mastered the art of blending in instead of standing out. She locked herself away to prevent more damage to her already fractured heart. She never imagined a man with a past more broken than her own would crash into her world and force her to let him in.
Their lives first collided on a stormy night. But Danny’s on Main is where they finally connected. A neighborhood bar where strangers become friends, friends become family and some become lovers, and where the strong learn that while you can bend to exist, sometimes you’ve gotta
Break… so you can Breathe.
REVIEW
Life can be suffocating; it can suck the life out of a person to the point where breathing freely is not an option. It can take away happiness; it can bend a person so much that it doesn’t seem worth trying to breathe at all. Kyle Marx and Cate Lockton, the main characters in Lisa N. Paul’s Breaking to Breathe, know all too well what happens when situations that are out of their control grab them by the throat, refusing to let go. They live that way every day, and even though their circumstances are completely different, their demons are alike in the way that they allow them to control who they are, how they act, and what they feel.
Can these two bent people help each other to stand straight and breathe freely, or will they allow the past to dictate their present and future without putting up a fight?
Kyle is the “proverbial bad boy” whose coping mechanisms to numb his pain consist of loose women, hard liquor, and copious amounts of drugs. He degrades and uses women because he believes that’s all they’re good for due to his father’s poisonous words. The damage his childhood caused him is like a coat of armor around his heart and his mind. As long as he holds on to the pain and the anger, no one can get close enough to hurt him; no one can see how truly dark he is. But that’s no way to live, and with the help of his Danny’s on Main family and the angel who ultimately saves his life; hopefully, he’ll learn to let go of the past and live and breathe for today.
Cate’s past has forced her to live a rather secluded life. She refuses to let anyone in, besides her best friend, because the fear of betrayal is ever present. She hides behind her job, and when she does interact with others, she stays in the background – being the center of attention is something she never wants to have to go through again. The one time she can let her emotions out and not feel overwhelmed is during sex. But there are rules even for that, which help her to maintain a sense of control as well as get the release she needs. But Cate’s invisibility is shattered when she meets the man whose life she saved. He makes her feel safe; he makes her want things that she hasn’t for a long time. But is he strong enough to battle her demons when he has his own? Can Cate loosen fear’s grip and choose to be happy, or will she succumb to the pain and panic that suffocates her daily?
Lisa N. Paul nailed the title and characters in Breaking to Breathe. Both Kyle and Cate are complicated characters with horrific pasts, and Paul takes readers into her characters’ psyches and truly allows us to understand why they choose to live the way that they do. Their pasts are their burdens…in a way, their albatrosses that weigh them down and force them to make choices that are unhealthy and lonely. Paul does not rush into Kyle and Cate’s transformations. There’s not an easy way to fix all that they struggle with, so they make progress and then regress in ways that make perfect sense. What starts out as purely sex slowly changes into something they both fear but want; they just have to decide if they’re ready for it.
The writing itself is another amazing aspect of this story. Paul’s words flow effortlessly, and they capture everything that readers need to know in order to understand what happened in Kyle and Cate’s past, what torments them in the present, and what they fear will happen in the future. There’s no unnecessary information or drawn out descriptions; everything is essential to the storyline.
Breaking to Breathe is a heartbreaking story about people’s pasts defining their presents. It’s about two broken souls who figure out that the only way they can truly breathe is with each other’s help. There are heavy issues explored, but they are combined with the right amount of humor and wit to help balance it out. And then there’s the sex scenes – they are beyond hot, and since that is how originally both Kyle and Cate get the release that they need to numb their minds, explicitly illustrating those scenes is crucial in understanding how far they’ve both come, and as their emotional connection begins to be stronger than their physical one, Paul shows how their intimacy changes as well, sealing their transformation.
Kyle and Cate’s story is a definite must read!
A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
5 poison apples
EXCERPTS:
Excerpt #1
“Let’s see what else you like.” He wrapped his large hands around her waist and pulled her flush against his groin. His hard shaft ground into her lace-covered mound, releasing flutters in her belly that hadn’t been felt in way too long, if ever before. Her eyes rolled in back of her head while she emitted a sigh of the pleasure she knew was yet to come. —Kyle Marx
Excerpt #2
“Danny, you don’t just hug random women without introducing yourself first. My Lord, it just comes off creepy.” The strawberry blonde woman stretched up on her tip-toes and pecked his cheek before extending her hand to Cate and Elliot. “Hi, I’m Julie Marcus; the hugger is my husband, Danny.”
AUTHOR BIO:
Lisa N. Paul is a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, reader, writer, blogger, and self-proclaimed comedian—just not always in that order. Ever since she was a little girl, she has devoured books. Falling in love with the Sweet Valley High series at a young age drew Lisa to series books and inspired her to write her own. Thursday Nights is the first book in her Charistown series.
When not writing, Lisa can be found eating french fries and Godiva raspberry truffles, or hanging out with her husband and two sons.
AUTHOR LINKS:
Website – www.Lisanpaul.com
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/LisaNPaul3
Twitter – @lisanpaul3
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/LisaNPaul3
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