Breathing Room [Import] [Paperback]

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Piatkus Books (November 6, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0749937807
• ISBN-13: 978-0749937805
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.1 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (108 customer reviews)

More About the Author

SUSAN ELIZABETH PHILLIPS is a New York Times, Publisher's Weekly, and USA Today bestseller, whose books are published all over the world.

If you'd like to know more, including info on her newest book, whether any of her books will be made into movies, how to get an autographed book, where she gets her ideas, please visit her web site. You can also see goofy vacation photos. register for her monthly contest, and chat with her on her Message Board. http://www.susanelizabethphillips.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Love Story in a Beautiful Setting, June 5, 2002

By 

Michelle (Bowersville, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breathing Room: A Novel (Hardcover)

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.

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Just....nice, July 23, 2002

By 

T. M. Wheaton "tmwheato" (Syracuse, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Breathing Room: A Novel (Hardcover)

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.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breathing Room Leaves Me Breathless!, June 7, 2002

By 

paula_k_98 "paula_k_98" (Muskogee, OK USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breathing Room: A Novel (Hardcover)

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.