{Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway} Stealing Breath by Joanne Brothwell

Seeing Night Reviews is the next stop in the Dark Mind Book Tours for Stealing Breath by Joanne Brothwell. Don't forget to enter the awesome giveaway for this stop!

Stealing Breath by Joanne Brothwell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

GENRE: Paranormal
THEME: Romance/ Shifters
RECEIVED: Book Tour
AUTHORS BLOG: Joanne Brothwell's Site

BLURB:

Deep in the backwoods of North Dakota, twenty-one year old Sarah Ross is searching for a missing child when she is attacked by a glowing-eyed, transparent... creature. Sarah survives, destroying the monster by using mysterious abilities she didn't even know she had. Bloody and bruised, Sarah flees the scene and runs directly into Evan Valente, a handsome, charismatic stranger who helps her back to safety. But what is Evan doing out in the forest at five in the morning? Turning to a healer, Sarah is shocked to learn her eyes bear the mark of the Indigo Child-an evolved human with the ability to feel the emotions of others. But her indigo aura also makes her an easy target for those who wish to consume her powerful essence. Soon, Sarah is falling deeply in love with Evan and wants nothing more than to follow her heart and trust that he is the man he says he is. But she can't ignore the lingering feeling that Evan is hiding a terrible secret. The deeper she digs, the more danger she faces, leading her on a course that will force her to face the darkest, innermost parts of her soul.

REVIEW:
Skinwalkers and magic, this story carried a lot of action and originality with some interesting back-story for the characters. I liked the mix of Native American lore and how both sides the “good and the “bad” were connected by two people.

Stealing Breath follows Sarah Ross, who stumbles upon a mystery man named Evan one morning while camping with friends. Sarah has a unique ability and thought she heard the voice of a missing local girl calling out for help. But she was drawn to something evil waiting for her, a skinwalker. Luckily she got away and ran into Evan, but something about him draws Sarah to him and they both feel a connection. But little do either of them know that they are connected at a deeper level, both are on opposite sides and that a greater evil wants Sarah’s powers.

Sarah, when we meet her she already knows that she’s an empath. She also is very independent with her parents concentrating more on their sporting company, which she is left to manager in her hometown. She has two great friends who take the news about the skinwalkers and what Sarah can do with ease. Amber her best friend I liked the most, she really was protective of Sarah and wanted to help her understand and use her power to protect herself against the evil. Though Sarah is a likable character, I couldn’t connect with her, some of the decisions she made were a little too rash and not well thought out. The insta-love between her and Evan was predictable and I actually didn’t feel that connection between them when they first met.

Evan was an interesting character, he had a lot more backstory than Sarah and I think that’s why I liked him a bit more. His family history is complex and very well thought out. I would of liked to know more about his mother and whom she fell for and who Evans father is. I liked that he was both good and bad, with learning the true intentions of his “family” and trying to be good. I would have liked the relationship between Evan and Sarah to pan out a little more and grow into a strong relationship instead of instant. His character I felt grew the most, he had a lot to learn and had to fight against the very thing he grew up learning about and against his own family.

Overall there is a lot that goes on in this story and still a lot of questions unanswered, especially about Sarah and what she is. I also think that some editing could help with the readers connect to the characters. The pace of the story fluctuated and it was hard to stay connected and understand why things were happening.

Other than that I felt Stealing Breath has a ton of potential, the dark magic and Skinwalkers were the strongest part of the story and brought to life the villains really well. I don’t want to give too much away about the villains, but they were pretty creepy and put in perspective the dangers that Sarah and Evan were facing. This is a great start to a new paranormal romance series and has a lot of originality and characters that are still learning about who and what they are.

RECOMMENDATION:
This is an adult series that contains a bit of violence and sexual content for mature readers. Fans of In a Fix by Linda Grimes and Precinct 13 by Tate Hallaway will enjoy Stealing Breath by Joanne Brothwell.

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