A feel good love story over a decade in the making, I loved Breathe. ~ Slick, Guilty Pleasures
Blurb:
Fall in love with the Wards…
From troubled teen to successful general contractor, Jake Nichols turned his life around from his time in foster care. Divorced and single, he juggles his time between his daughter and his work. Next on his agenda, a new project that is his chance to prove his worth at the job he loves. Except he never anticipates that the only girl he’s ever loved and lost as a teen is now a grown and beautiful woman in charge of the project.
Phoebe Ward has survived and conquered a painful past that includes foster care and becoming a teenaged mom. She wants nothing more than to focus on the present but it’s hard when she looks into the eyes of her son, knowing she’s tried and failed to find his father. She’s resigned herself to raising him alone with the help of her family… Until a client meeting brings her face to face with her first love. A boy… now a sexy man she thought she’d never see again … and the father of her child.
So many years have gone by and both of their lives have changed drastically. Will they be able to put the past behind them and find the second chance they both deserve?
Author Carly Phillips offers up an engaging and charming second chance love story in Breathe. There was much I enjoyed about this book including the ability of the two main characters to put aside their past to focus on the future.
Meeting in a foster care home, teenagers Jake Nichols and Phoebe Ward formed a friendship that blossomed into more and got Jake expelled from the house when they were caught. Eleven years later they meet on a jobsite and Phoebe knows that no matter what she must fess up that he fathered her 11 year old son.
I appreciated how both Jake and Phoebe dealt with the situation with their son Jamie and made sure to put him first always. There was no denying the chemistry between them and while they did spend time on their own, they were careful around Jamie and around Jake’s daughter with his ex-wife. While I did feel Phoebe let her aunt off a bit easy for making decisions for her, I could also understand she felt she was protecting both Phoebe and Jamie. The tension/drama of Jake’s ex-wife was the only real downside to this story, it felt a bit forced and honestly given their history, their lives in the system, and Jake’s time in prison there were enough obstacles for them to overcome without it.
I enjoyed their easy camaraderie once the initial shock of seeing each other again wore off and the fact that they felt free to be themselves with one another. I loved the way Jamie accepted Jake from the start and how Jake was determined to be the best dad he could be and make up for the time they lost together and it was wonderful to see that Callie (Jake’s daughter) easily accepted both her new half-brother and Phoebe. It really was refreshing that there was no jealousy between the kids and they seemed excited to have a sibling.
A feel good love story over a decade in the making, I loved Breathe.
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