Miss Bev does it again. This time she takes our leads from Forbidden, the first book in the series, to Arizona in a truly awful but realistic way in the prologue. It's now 15 years later and our MCs, originally seen as 12 and 18 respectively, are now adults who have learned some tough life lessons and are ready for love. Besides a tender romance, we also get a great glimpse into 1885 events, see some evolution of stories in the first book, and get a real feel for life at that time. The third book is also set up here and I look forward to reading it. ( )

3.5 Stars!

While I liked this better than the first book these are very similar books. They're both book with very little external conflict aside from a few specific moments and both seem to focus on the day to day lives of these characters. This isn't a bad thing, but it isn't my favorite type of romance, which keeps me from giving this a higher rating. This book at times read more like a western than a romance to me and while the read was still thoroughly enjoyable, I would have liked more of the drama and angst that I like in romances.

Once again the writing is impeccable. This was enjoyable to read because of the quality of Jenkins' prose and I think anyone could appreciate that part of this book. I think I liked the hero more in this book. He's a little more of an interesting character to me compared to Rhine. The heroine Portia is very similar to Eddy from book one but I enjoyed her character. I also enjoyed getting to see Rhine and Eddy still together in this book. This book takes place 15 years after book one and Portia is one of Eddy's niece. They didn't take over the story and it's fun to see them grown up a bit.

There were a few pacing issues that were similar to book one. As I said this mostly focuses on the characters' day to day but there are a few moments of action. Most of these work fine in the story but I would have liked if we had lingered on them longer. However, like with book one, there is a very out-of-left-field thing that happens in like the last ten pages. This happened in book one too and it's just a weird choice to me because it really changes the tone at the very end of the book. Even though I like action in my romance, I think these books would be better if they excluded those scenes.

I'll probably keep reading from this series since I'm trying to finish some series but I definitely want to also read books from Jenkins' other series to see if they're more to my taste. ( )

Well I loved the fact we get to see the HEA for characters we met in the first book, while focusing on new love interests in this one. "Breathless" follows Eddy's niece Portia.

Portia is now in charge of her family's bookkeeping at the hotel they run in the Arizona territory. The family had to flee after her uncle Rhine admitted his mixed race heritage. Portia doesn't think she will ever find a love like her Aunt Eddy an is happy to just focus on her job. However, old family friend Kent Randolph finds Rhine again and asks for a job. Rhine agrees to let him work for him. Kent and Portia have sparks flying with Portia wondering if she can just kiss Kent and forget about him. We get some introduction to new characters as well as revisiting with the older ones.

Jenkins did a great job of making me think that Portia and Kent had feelings for each other and how suited they were with each other. Portia is easily understandable based on how her mother sent her and her sister away in order for her to have a better life. Portia's mother does pop up again, but it's a plot hole I expect is resolved in book #3. I also loved the back and forth with her and her sister Regan. Though I will roll my eyes a bit that all of their talk was mostly about getting married and what man. They both are strong women and I wish that Jenkins had thought to do a novella of them growing up in Arizona. The tales we are told via other characters about them learning to ride horses, do shingling, etc. were so interesting.

I also loved how Kent's life changed once he pushed back against his father's expectations of him being a doctor too.

We get secondary characters and definitely get to see that old adage, not all of my skinfolk are kinfolk in this one.

Also thankfully we have Jenkins acknowledging the times of the day with the women's suffrage movement and how it was excluding women of color. I also loved how we hear about Geronimo (and he even makes an appearance). I also could not believe that men of color could not be deputized and if they were murdered or stolen from there was nothing they could do unless a white man or sheriff came along and pressed the issue.

The book ties things up neatly with Portia and Kent, but things are left open about Regan. I am definitely going to find and read book #3! ( )

super fun! love jenkins' writing a lot.

( )

It is always a pleasure to read Ms. Jenkins's books. They are filled with warm, loving, strong families who are fierce and loyal in both love and war. They are also filled with wonderful bits of history that add to the setting and context of the times. This book is no different.

Portia and Kent are practical, no-nonsense people who appear to have very little in common: she is a serious businesswoman with the education and experience to prove it; he is a restless spirit who's spent most of his time wandering around the Old West. A brush with the law makes him pause and take perspective of his life, and he decides to seek out Portia's uncle Rhine Fontaine, whom he worked for a lifetime ago.

Slowly but surely these two break down each other's walls, and their romance truly has a breathless quality about it. This was utterly delightful, and something I've come to love and appreciate from this author.

Only two things detracted from the awesome for me: the last minute kidnap plot, that felt completely tacked on and unnecessary, and the lack of proper punctuation. The copywriter and/or line editor dropped the ball on this one - misplaced and missing commas and periods galore.

Still, this doesn't detract from Ms. Jenkins's ability to spin a tale, and I am looking forward to jumping right into the next book, which features Portia's headstrong firecracker of a sister, Regan. ( )