Considering how much I adored the first book in the In Vino Veritas series, Blush, which I reviewed back in May, I thought I would love Breathe, but I was actually very disappointed. With backdrops of breezy José del Cabo and colorful Las Vegas, Breathe is business tycoon Elijah Masterson's storythe story of how he finds the girl who steals his heart, and how he responds to her toucheven though she isn't fully available for his taking.
Samantha, our heroine, is running away from a deep, terrible past that still haunts her in the flesh today. I don't know what it is in recent trends that has glamorized childhood trauma, but as you can imagine, this "escaping the past" trope was predictable, superficial, and left a bad taste in my mouthnot because it was too horrible for words, but because it was so recklessly developed. Samantha has always had to be the responsible one, the one who had to pick up the scattered pieces of her broken family, but when she meets Elijah, a relationship as fiery as her personality ignites, and for once, she gets the chance to give up control.
There are two problems here that I can name already: first, the degree of "heat" of the relationship, and second, Samantha's "sassy" attitudeboth the result of poor characterization. Whatever chemistry there is supposed to be between Elijah and Samantha is unconvincing; I felt nothing for them, and didn't care enough to root for their romance either. While the more explicit sex scenes are taboo and decently written, the character interaction, the entire presumption of their so-called relationship, is stinted and utterly painful (and not in the good way!).
Samantha is portrayed as your typical contrary, smart-mouthed redhead who's so uptight that she can't ever be fully submissive. The heart of the book's tragedy lies here: while Samantha wants to surrender to Elijah's kinky ways, she is too much of a "strong, independent woman who don't need no man" to do so; and while Elijah is intrigued by this adorable, passionate character, he is a true Dom and cannot be with a sort-of, kind-of sub. She's the kind of girl that could make him get way over his headfall in love too quickly and get hurtagain. The dilemma of the impossible power play, as well as the secret he wants to coax out of her without damaging her, is really well elaborated, but that's about all I can praise.
The characters themselves are hard to sympathize with; entirely two-dimensional and routine. Samantha huffs her breath out and puts her fists on her hips too much, while Elijah does creepy, unrealistic things like call her "kitten" and lust after his best friend's fiancée. Jameson tried too hard to make each character idealSamantha the brazen, bold heroine, and Elijah the smooth, rich Dombut she ended up making them unrealistic and rather ridiculous in the process.
I thought I'd at least enjoy the BDSM aspect, but nope, didn't happen. Samantha's immersion into the world of kink is uncannily Fifty Shades-esque; we've got a pathetically naïve innocent girl with only not-so-witty inner monologues to her name, and we've got a billionaire-slash-handsome-devil who's an expert on whips and chains and gags. On top of this, we have an author trying way too hard to be inventive, to be sexy; it was entirely unsexy. A few nights together and a trip to Elijah's infamous sex club later, and they're already developing separation anxiety. They call it incredible passion. They call it love.
Sorry, but this one just wasn't for me.
Pros: Brief cameos of characters from Blush // Intense love scenes // D/s relationship well explored // Quickly paced; I kept reading, didn't I?
Cons: Physical BDSM is poorly incorporated // Laughable characters // Laughable romance/love/whatever // Stereotypical "rich sex god falls in love with unextraordinary girl" plot // Emotionally artless; Jameson tries too hard to be sentimental, but I got nothing out of it
Verdict: Breathe's pages turned easily and were paced well, but the story itself is insipid, unoriginal, and at times, just too over-the-top. A clear Fifty Shades of Grey wannabethe two books having nearly identical plots and equally ridiculous charactersthe second installment of the In Vino Veritas series disappointed me sorely. Frustratingly, I really wanted to enjoy this novel about giving up and handing over control, but I must have gotten my hopes up too high; even if you're a fan of Blush or Jameson's alter ego, Lauren Hawkeye's other works, I can't recommend this one.
Rating: 5 out of 10 hearts (3 stars): Doesn't particularly light any of my fires; I feel indifferent about this book.
Source: Complimentary copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you, Signet Eclipse!).
Samantha, our heroine, is running away from a deep, terrible past that still haunts her in the flesh today. I don't know what it is in recent trends that has glamorized childhood trauma, but as you can imagine, this "escaping the past" trope was predictable, superficial, and left a bad taste in my mouthnot because it was too horrible for words, but because it was so recklessly developed. Samantha has always had to be the responsible one, the one who had to pick up the scattered pieces of her broken family, but when she meets Elijah, a relationship as fiery as her personality ignites, and for once, she gets the chance to give up control.
There are two problems here that I can name already: first, the degree of "heat" of the relationship, and second, Samantha's "sassy" attitudeboth the result of poor characterization. Whatever chemistry there is supposed to be between Elijah and Samantha is unconvincing; I felt nothing for them, and didn't care enough to root for their romance either. While the more explicit sex scenes are taboo and decently written, the character interaction, the entire presumption of their so-called relationship, is stinted and utterly painful (and not in the good way!).
Samantha is portrayed as your typical contrary, smart-mouthed redhead who's so uptight that she can't ever be fully submissive. The heart of the book's tragedy lies here: while Samantha wants to surrender to Elijah's kinky ways, she is too much of a "strong, independent woman who don't need no man" to do so; and while Elijah is intrigued by this adorable, passionate character, he is a true Dom and cannot be with a sort-of, kind-of sub. She's the kind of girl that could make him get way over his headfall in love too quickly and get hurtagain. The dilemma of the impossible power play, as well as the secret he wants to coax out of her without damaging her, is really well elaborated, but that's about all I can praise.
The characters themselves are hard to sympathize with; entirely two-dimensional and routine. Samantha huffs her breath out and puts her fists on her hips too much, while Elijah does creepy, unrealistic things like call her "kitten" and lust after his best friend's fiancée. Jameson tried too hard to make each character idealSamantha the brazen, bold heroine, and Elijah the smooth, rich Dombut she ended up making them unrealistic and rather ridiculous in the process.
I thought I'd at least enjoy the BDSM aspect, but nope, didn't happen. Samantha's immersion into the world of kink is uncannily Fifty Shades-esque; we've got a pathetically naïve innocent girl with only not-so-witty inner monologues to her name, and we've got a billionaire-slash-handsome-devil who's an expert on whips and chains and gags. On top of this, we have an author trying way too hard to be inventive, to be sexy; it was entirely unsexy. A few nights together and a trip to Elijah's infamous sex club later, and they're already developing separation anxiety. They call it incredible passion. They call it love.
Sorry, but this one just wasn't for me.
Pros: Brief cameos of characters from Blush // Intense love scenes // D/s relationship well explored // Quickly paced; I kept reading, didn't I?
Cons: Physical BDSM is poorly incorporated // Laughable characters // Laughable romance/love/whatever // Stereotypical "rich sex god falls in love with unextraordinary girl" plot // Emotionally artless; Jameson tries too hard to be sentimental, but I got nothing out of it
Verdict: Breathe's pages turned easily and were paced well, but the story itself is insipid, unoriginal, and at times, just too over-the-top. A clear Fifty Shades of Grey wannabethe two books having nearly identical plots and equally ridiculous charactersthe second installment of the In Vino Veritas series disappointed me sorely. Frustratingly, I really wanted to enjoy this novel about giving up and handing over control, but I must have gotten my hopes up too high; even if you're a fan of Blush or Jameson's alter ego, Lauren Hawkeye's other works, I can't recommend this one.
Rating: 5 out of 10 hearts (3 stars): Doesn't particularly light any of my fires; I feel indifferent about this book.
Source: Complimentary copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you, Signet Eclipse!).
