Book Review: I Breathe You (Breathe #1) by Lori Clark

Summary: 
When a tragic accident leaves Rhane Evans -- lead vocalist for the rock band Fate's Crazy -- permanently unable to speak above a whisper and kills the love of her life, she moves across the state to pick up the pieces. Shattered, Rhane struggles to understand what happened the night of the accident, an accident everyone blames her for, even though she wasn't driving the car.

Enter Ian Callahan. He's the one person who may have a more tumultuous past than Rhane. Though they try hard to deny the sizzling attraction between them, it proves nearly impossible. When Ian's troubled past threatens to tear them apart, they begin to believe happiness isn't in their cards.

Because Fate's Crazy that way...

Release Date: August 2, 2013
Age Group: New Adult
Source: Review copy from author

Review:
I wasn't quite sure what to think when I started I Breathe You.  I confess that Rhane's character did not draw me in at first.  In fact, I didn't like much about her.  I don't like drama and hot-and-cold relationships, and her relationship was full of that.  So, I started the book not really liking Rhane...and then all of a sudden there was a huge plot twist which made me look at her differently.  

Rhane is involved in a car accident and suffers damage to her vocal cords.  For someone who was once a lead singer in a popular band, to not be able to speak above a whisper is a crippling loss.  She has a really hard time adjusting to the change (how could she not?) and I felt so badly for her.  That's when I started to see the softer side of her character, and started to identify with her.  

The love story was well-done, and built up slowly.  I like that.  There was a lot of chemistry between Rhane and Ian.  There were a couple of cliches in this book, but they weren't too obvious.

There was an emphasis on working through your problems in therapy in I Breathe You, which was well-portrayed.  I appreciate it when authors mend their broken characters in healthy, realistic ways (instead of the dreaded "love cures all" plot trope).  Rhane goes through a lot of personal growth in this book and that was gratifying to read about.  Her inner dialogue was fun to read and one of my favorite aspects of this book.

When I finished the book, it had such a concrete ending that I thought it was a stand-alone novel.  Now I see that it's the first in a series.  I'm hoping book two features someone else from the band.  Overall, I really enjoyed I Breathe You and would recommend it to fans of contemporary NA fiction.