Stealing Breath Blog Tour

Title: StealingBreath

Author: JoanneBrothwell

Pages: 258

Publisher: Crescent Moon Press

Series:  Stealing Breath (#1)

Event organized by: Young Adult Novel Reader Blog Tours
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
 

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.

My Review

Skinwalker: noun. A warlock or witch that practices in dark/evil magic; In order to become a full-fledged Skinwalker, one must commit murder. One of the many powers they possess is spirit-travel (astral-projection) while still having a human body. They gain power by stealing human souls.

Indigo Child: noun. A special kind of human; one with an indigo aura that is indicated by eye color. They have a sixth sense and have powers such as amplified empathy (feeling the emotions of others) and telekinesis. Very rare and very powerful.

(I researched skinwalkers, you can check out the info I found  here.)

Writing:

I had a difficult time beginning this review mainly because I couldn’t decide on what to rate ‘Stealing Breath’. I settled on 3.5 stars mainly because of the story line, if my review was purely on the writing it would have scored lower.  I truly enjoyed the story this book told, but it lacked in a few areas.  The writing in first half of the book bugged me. I had to literally force myself to keep reading after page 80, due to the interesting plot and potential it has. The sentence structure used for character conversations and sequence scenes was excessively redundant. Many times the same exact sentences appeared in different chapters with only minor changes. A lot of the same key information was also repeated frequently. Midway through the writing improved slightly, especially during action scenes and the steamy ones as well. However the repetitive sentence structure appears again in the last few chapters. Like I stated before, the story has so much potential and I hope to see improvements to the writing in the upcoming sequels.  

My Opinion:

  This was my first time reading a book on the subject of Skinwalkers. This is a whole new type of paranormal creature for me and I love it!  I enjoyed how the author used actual Navajo Native American legends and mixed in some of her own additions. The book also depicts a few different rituals which I found fascinating.  The Native American and dark magic aspects make it read worthy. 
 

This novel also contains some sexual content but it is written in a tasteful matter. It is a bit steamy but helps to show how profound the relationship between Sarah and Evan truly is. I do not want to spoil this part, so I will just say their relationship is memorable.

Sarah Ross the main character is an Indigo Child. At first she is unaware but later the truth is revealed. Sarah drove me nuts; she was so annoying and naive. Many times I found myself screaming out, “Oh My Goodness, why don’t you see it? Are you blind? What is wrong with you?” Aside from her annoyance she was likable, more so towards the end of the story. 

Evan Valente is my definition of sexy! *swooning* He has the look and the brains = double trouble. He is mysterious, charismatic, intelligent, cunning, and sometimes a wee bit creepy. He always seems to say the right things and has the knight in shining armor thing down to a perfection. Either way, if he were a real person, I am positive I would attempt to kidnap him. I’m just saying. (Maybe I’m the creepy one huh? Lol)

Anyway ‘Stealing Breath” was entertaining and at times enjoyable. If you can push yourself through the first half of the book, you will grow to like it just like I did. I hope to learn more of the Skinwalker background and see where the relationship goes between Evan and Sarah in the next novel.

About The Author

Joanne Brothwell lives in the country on the Canadian prairie where her stories are inspired by the dead things that appear at her doorstep on a daily basis.

Author Links:

 Website

Goodreads