Review: Breakaway by Catherine Gayle

Offical Blurb: She’s reaching for a breakaway pass.

Dana Campbell has spent the past seven years in self-imposed isolation for a crime she didn’t commit. The danger is well in the past, but her panic attacks make it impossible to have a normal, healthy relationship with a man. Even her counselor has given up on her. She has to find someone she trusts to help her fight through the panic, or her seven-year ordeal will become a lifetime sentence. There’s only one man she feels safe enough to ask.

He got caught with his head down.

As the captain of the NHL’s once elite but now fading Portland Storm, Eric Zellinger knows a thing or two about keeping his focus on the job. Questions are flying about his ability to lead the team back to the playoffs. If they don’t make it, he might be shipped out of town. It’s the worst time possible for his best friend’s kid sister to divide his focus. How can he give her what she needs without jeopardizing both the Storm’s playoff hopes and his future with the team?

It’s her only chance, but it’s his last shot.

My Thoughts: Breakaway hit home with me on so many levels, and it made me appreciate the story all the more. Dana is a young woman that had a bright future in hockey until one terrible night after a game when she was brutally raped by a group of men. She is a former shell of herself for the obvious reasons, but she knows that she needs to overcome her fear of men to live again. After seven years of self-imprisonment she has come up with a plan to begin the healing process. She travels to visit her brothers best friend, Eric to enlist his help. Eric has always loved Dana but knows that nothing could ever come from that love, but when she shows up asking for help he cannot say no. What is supposed to be a courtship of healing becomes a full-out romance that neither Dana or Eric can prevent from happening or the heartbreak that could come from it.

Breakaway is very emotional, and you feel for Dana every step of the way. Your heart breaks for her when she try’s to overcome the things we take for granted; like receiving a touch on the arm. Eric is a wonderful man that wants to do right by the woman he  secretly loves, his best friend (her brother) and the hockey team he is captain of. Not everything always goes right, but he truly fights to make it right at the cost of his happiness sometimes. The cast of characters is great and not only are their some scenes that make you want to cry their are hilarious scenes that leave you smiling. I recommend readers to read this book, it’s uplifting and romantic. I am really looking forward to this series.

Purchase Breakaway on Amazon and B&N.

-Romance Reader Girl

Advertisement

Review: Out of Breath (Breathing #3) Rebecca Donovan

Readers, on Monday evening I sat by my Kindle waiting for 9pm to roll around. I was waiting for the last book in the Breathing series by Rebecca Donovan to be auto delivered. I have been waiting more than year to read the ending of this power emotional series. On Monday evening I started it and finished it on Tuesday. I was absolutely paralyzed by all the emotions I felt while reading the ending to a captivating series.

*Please note this is not a standalone book and the three books in this trilogy must be read in order. With this being said, there could be spoilers (I will try hard not to add them) in this review, but please continue to read and read this series, it will change your life.*

This book is about young adults facing the hard truths that happen in life. We have choices and sometimes those choices affect people we care about. Emma Thomas is running away from those who love her. Running away she feels will save them from the pain she will cause them. However, she does not realize that running away causes more pain and damage than staying and fighting through the pain and emotional scars. She runs from Connecticut to California blocking out the people that care the most and really blocking out her feelings. She is a shell of herself. Emma is getting by with the help of her new friends, but they don’t understand or truly know her. A tragedy throws her into a spiral and back home to Connecticut where she is faced with the one she hurt the most, Evan Mathews.

Evan Mathews is the young man that has loved Emma from the first moment he laid eyes on her in an art class. Two years ago she walked away from him as he laid beaten to a pulp and didn’t look back. He has been trying to understand why and what happened to his Emma over the past two years, and what made her leave and destroy his heart and life. Emma isn’t the only one that has to face dragons, Evan has as well.

Emma and Evan are faced to deal with their demons and try to figure out what they want in life. Both have a story they need to share with one another before they can move on in life, either as a couple or separately.  Evan will do everything within his power and life to help her realize she needs to breath, live, love and be loved. They both will have to truly open up and be honest about what happened the night Emma left Evan lying in a pool of  blood and what has happened to both since that night. Can the raw truth of the past and forgiveness help them build a relationship or with the truth be too painful having them break apart forever?

“Every breath I breathe is because of you. Even when your weren’t there to save me, you were my reason to breathe. And for that I will always love you. Always.”

I knew Rebecca Donovan was going to put me through hell while reading this book. I told myself it was going to be emotional and prepared myself for the emotional roller coaster I would be put through. The reality is, I was not prepared for the emotions that I would experience. This series is powerful and as corny as it sounds you are left breathless. I was put through an emotional roller coast and left in a book coma, I loved it. It was everything and nothing that I thought it would be. This series and book is amazing and will be one I encourage everyone to read. The power of healing and forgiving oneself is the hardest thing to do, but in ordered to be loved and love you must do it.

Rebecca Donovan thank you for writing a series and book that will change the lives of so many people, as it did mine.

Breathing Series:

You can purchase the Breathing Series on Amazon or B&N.

Reach out to Rebecca Donovan via her website or Facebook.

-Romance Reader Girl