A twisty, steamy second chance romance, Barely Breathing draws you in on the first page and holds your attention until the very end. Marselas’ writing gets better with every book, keeping the reader guessing and building up the tension. It takes just the right second chance romance for me to even consider a 5-star rating, but this sat unwaveringly between 4 and 5 stars the whole way through.
The story follows River and Jaxson, former lovers who thought they had forever to look forward to… until River’s father got in the way. In a mysterious turn of events, River was forced to break things off with Jax, take her place in the family business, and become a shell of the woman she used to be. Two years after their breakup, River comes face to face with Jax when he worms his way into her company for undisclosed reasons and neither one seems to be over how things played out. One of the biggest obstacles? The fact that Willow is engaged to another man – though not all is as it seems.
If you’re looking for a second chance romance with plenty of tension, some angst, some steam, and characters you can root for, this is definitely worth a read. While we do get some brief flashbacks to help set the scene, this takes place primarily in the present with dual perspectives to get the full story. It moves quickly and there’s never a dull moment. My only real complaint would be the pacing – it felt like one conversation could’ve prevented them two years of heartache and their inevitable reunion came too easy. That paired with an ending I neither loved nor hated, and this fell to 4 stars – though it was hovering around 5 for the majority of the book. I’m looking forward to whatever Marselas writes next, because this was a very solid read. I received an ARC via Give Me Books and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Series: Keep Breathing #1
Release Date: January 30, 2020
air. My life, my choices are being dictated by my father.
marry a man who I hate.
coming back.
present collide.
same, you know. I hate you most days, but I can’t forget how fucking amazing
you smelled.” I brush back her hair with my fingertips, and I can’t miss the
small tremor that runs through her body. I affect her. This is good, and I plan
to use this to my advantage. “Or how good you looked underneath me.” Her
chestnut hair still shines like I remember, and I can easily visualize how it
looks twisted around my fingers. How her cheeks heated up to a nice pink after
I made her come… and don’t get me started on her legs looking like sex in
these heels and how good they would look wrapped around my neck. Fuck. I’m
kidding myself if I say she doesn’t affect me and doesn’t make my dick hard at
the sight of her. Snap out of it Jaxson. Now isn’t the time. “Tell
me I actually meant nothing to you, and I’ll go away.”
mother of four, and a tequila drinking smart mouth. When she’s not wrangling
her children and trying to keep them alive, she’s writing. She’ll write
anything from sweet stalkers, to forbidden love, to erotica, to rom coms to
young adult because she believes no love story is created equal and every story
deserves to be told. Even the fictional ones. As long as she can dream it,
she’ll write it.
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