Customer Reviews

Breathing Room a

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I absolutely love Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I could not wait until this book came out, and I was extremely satisfied by the way that it turned out. I absolutely love the sexy story between Lorenzo "Ren" Gage, and Dr. Isabel Favor. Isabel was a hishly successful author of a self help book when her whole empire came crashing down around her shoulders. She had immense personal trouble in that her fiance left her for a frumpy older woman (who was pregnant with his child), her accountant skipped town with 1.2 million dollars of Isabel's money that was supposed to go to the IRS for her taxes. Meanwhile, Isabel's best friend was supposed to travel to an Italian farmhouse to write a book. However, Debbie (I think)met the man of her dreams so Isabel was able to rent the farmhouse for a small fee. When she travels to Italy she is still haunted by the things that her drip of an ex-fiance told her. So, she throws caution to the wind and has a wild encounter with the sexiest man that she has ever seen-Dante.
Of course, Dante is our hero Ren, and he is one of the sexiest that Suan Elizabeth Phillips has ever created. Also, I love the subplot where the Itialian people are searching for the fertility statue. I adored this book, and Susan Elizabeth Phillips is one of (if not the best) author that I have ever read. ... I was sooo pumped yesterday when I was reading it, and it did not disappoint me.
P.S. Please do not judge me so harshly when you read this random review, it is my first.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips is a great writer. Not just, good but great. She can do more with a sentence to create a picture than a lot of writers can do with a whole book. Her descriptions of Tuscany made me immediately want to book a trip there. Her descriptions of Ren's wonderful food concoctions made my mouth water. And of course, the story of Isabel and Ren is lovely.

With Isabel we get the familiar SEP character arc of a woman who reaches rock bottom only to come back out on top both personally and through her romance with the hero. And in Ren we get one of her wonderfully drawn alpha heroes. I love the fact that he is an actor who always plays the villain in movies.

And of course, Nobody writes secondary characters as well as SEP does. Ren ex-wife's romantic foibles make a great foil for the romance of Ren and Isabel and is just as engrossing. You didn't feel as if the secondary plot was taking you away from the primary one because it was just as interesting. But I've always found this true of her stories.

So why is this only a 3 star? Well, it lacked a certain emotional depth that I know this writer is capable of. I can't help but think of The fabulous 5-star "Nobody's Baby But Mine." It is a laugh out loud funny romantic comedy and is quite frothy, but it also has some really wonderful layers that Breathing Room seems to lack.

Breathing Room is a very good read, but I don't think it is SEP's best.

How do I describe Breathing Room by Susan Elizabeth Phillips? Well, let's see-it's sexy, romantic, naughty, has characters I adored, fabulous secondary characters, great dialogue, and takes place in an exotic location. Let me ask you, as a romance reader, what more can you ask for?

Dr. Isabel Favor has it all. She's a self-help guru who can do no wrong, or so she thinks. Then she is attacked in the tabloids by a disgruntled ex-employee, she finds out the IRA is after her for unpaid taxes, her accountant who was supposed to take care of the taxes has skipped the country with all her money, and her fiancé has gotten another woman pregnant. All this happens within a space 24 hours to a woman who is supposed to have all the answers.

Lorenzo Gage is a drop dead bad boy. He makes his living playing the most horrendous villains in movies. His attitude is he can do whatever, whenever, with whomever he wants when he wants. Life is good until a former girlfriend, who just happens to be America's favorite actress, dies and the blames lands in his lap.

Two people on top of the world find themselves hiding out in Italy waiting for the bad press to die down. However, they end up finding more when they discover each other. Breathing Room is a fantastic read. Lorenzo, or Ren as he is called, is that bad boy every woman wants to tame. He has it all, looks, money, talent, and loads of sex appeal. Isabel is the self-contained character that needs to learn to live life. Put them together and you have a wonderful story. Ms. Phillips outdid herself in Breathing Room. This is one of those books that will go on my keepers' shelf and will be read over and over.

... readers seem to either love or hate this book. I fall somewhere in the middle, finding more to like than dislike in this overall enjoyable, often funny story of two very different people who turn out to be surprisingly right for each other. This is my first book by this author who seems to be so revered, and I was not disappointed, but neither was I overly impressed.

Psychologist and self-help guru Dr. Isabel Favor's life is a mess. Her accountant took off with her money and left her with big trouble with the IRS, a disgruntled former employee has given an unflattering tell-all interview, and to top it all off, her fiance has just dumped her for another woman. Can things get any worse? Yes, they can! Decamping for two months to a rustic farmhouse in Tuscany sounds like the way to get back on track. But first stop is Florence where she engages in an uncharacteristic, fiasco of a one night stand with what she thinks is an Italian gigolo. And when she reaches the farmhouse it's no better since the locals seem to want drive her out. Demanding to speak with the owner, she barges into his villa and comes face to face with her "gigolo" - who turns out to be a movie star!

Lorenzo "Ren" Gage is Hollywood's favourite psycho killer on the screen, and a self-indulgent, self-loathing cynic offscreen. He's taking some time off at his villa before shooting begins on his next film. But when Isabel storms into his life, the sparks definitely start to fly! They challenge, antagonize and annoy one another, but they are also extremely attracted. She convinces Ren that something is up with the locals and they play amateur sleuth to find out what's going on. And then Ren's ex-wife shows up with her children and emotional drama. It gives Isabel a chance to get back to the basics of her vocation and Ren the opportunity to see her in action and in the process she earns his admiration and respect. Though they've begun an affair, Ren knows she's just too good for a rotten guy like him. But can Isabel convince him otherwise - that there's a good man deep down inside him?

I loved Ren! Not only was he handsome and sexy, he had a great sense of humour and his disguises to avoid being recognized were a hoot! Though Isabel is at first annoying and rigid, spouting her Oprah-esque psycho babble, once she started to loosen up, I started to like her. But I found the climax of the story a bit melodramatic, the conspiracy of the villagers a bit silly and, though I understood the purpose of their presence, I felt too much time was spent on the marital problems of his ex-wife and her husband. I wanted more of Ren and Isabel!

Anyway, a flawed, but still recommended read.

Phillips covered the whole movie star scene much better in her classic, "Honey Moon." She also had a movie star play out scenes with his lover in "Glitter Baby." She's had the heroine stopped by the police before so the hero can buy some time with her in "Heaven, Texas." She's done all this but she still writes an entertaining romance novel and "Breathing Room" is a solid "B" book. Where she should have pulled out all the stops was with the comedic possibilities of her baseline idea of a Self Help Shrink known the world over through her books romanced by the world's leading villainous actor. Instead, she plays it a little too straight and gets mired down in some subplots involving his ex-wife and their setting in Italy, both of which I could have done without. Lorenzo Gage, the hero, however, is on a par with Phillips' best heroes, Bobby Tom, Cal, Kevin, Dan, Eric, et al, and she hit an "A" with him.

I love this author. I have all her books and have watched her grow in breadth and skill. When she has a new book, I buy it immediately - new and in hard cover or revisions of earlier books.

This one was a "small disappointment" - those who have read her STARS books will recognize the quote. Actually, it was a big disappointment. I found the main characters unsympathetic and somewhat boring. The concept of the book is great, making its reality somehow worse.

SEP has a sense of humor about the realities of life, the challenges of growing beyond where a character currently is - fun, sexy, human and positive. BREATHING ROOM disappoints.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips is a big deal these days... a big star in the publishing world, who sells lots and lots of books. So why should I write a review? After all, what does one more review matter? Well, I can't help myself. I just have to say to anyone out there thinking about whether or not to buy this book that ... it's wonderful. It's Susan Elizabeth Phillips at the top of her game, writing a deft, dramatic, emotional story about two people who find love with one another. Yes, they're both flawed. Yes, he can be a bit of a flake. Yes, she can be a sanctimonious prig at times. But who among us is without flaws? :)

It's a romance novel, but don't let that label get you down if you're not a "romance reader." It's just a plain, old, wonderful story, with great characters and a description of Tuscany that makes me want to quit my job and run away to Italy tonight.

Don't get me wrong. I love Susan Elizabeth Phillips. In my opinion, she is one of the best contemporary fiction romance writers there is. She has this incredible talent of writing a heartwearming, funny, and charming romance story with characters you can connect with. In Breathing Room, she does it yet again, but somehow, it feels as if the spark is missing. The playful bickering/bantering of dialogue is definitely there. So is the romance. And the lush descriptions of Tuscany and the wonderful food makes me smell the aromas of the kitchen cooking. However, whereas the story begins in a promising manner, I felt the end fell a bit flat. Phillips' last novel, This Heart of Mine, carried me all the way through. I laughed, I felt the hurt when the characters hurt. But in Breathing Room, Phillips enters a more mystical realm where Isabella and this search for this sacred fertility statue (I am not joking you) gets to the point of a little bit ridiculous. I give the book four stars still, but really felt like it was more of a 3 1/2. If you want Phillips at her best, read This Heart of Mine, or Nobody's Baby But Mine.

I have to admit it, I'm hooked! Ms. Phillips is a new author for me and I have just contacted my used book store and they are holding all of her other books for me. I loved everything about this book. The descriptions of all things Italian were delicious...not to mention Ren (picture Pierce Brosnan). Somehow, Ms. Phillips has hit the story/love/family/sex/ humor/profanity level that I enjoy in a good read. I love her sense of humor and everything else is just right. This is one author I will treasure.

Some of SEP's books are spectacular -- Nobody's Baby But Mine, Just Imagine...etc. but in reading this one, I almost felt like I was dragging my feet to finish it. I thought the heroine character was too insecure -- seems she forgave his actions too easily. The secondary characters were more interesting. I
was disappointed in this one.