Ramblings-n-Writings

Posts Tagged ‘Lisa Tawn Bergren’

To make a new life, she’ll have to learn how to breathe again…

By the time Dominic and Moira St. Clair get their ailing sister, Odessa, to Colorado Springs in the winter of 1883, she is nearly dead. Odessa has been seriously ailing for the past year from consumption, an illness that claimed the lives of four of her younger brothers, prompting her father, to send his only surviving children west to chase the cure.

Moira is beautiful and dangerously headstrong; and pugnacious Dominic is charged with establishing a new arm of the family business–a business he doesn’t want.

Several days after her arrival, Odessa witnesses what she fears is the murder of miner Sam O’Toole, friend and neighbor to the charming Bryce McAllan.

What’s more, Sam leaves her a poem containing clues that seem to direct her to his mine, which is purported to carry a fantastic vein of silver. But if she is ever to rise from her bed again, she must first concentrate on conquering the giant that threatens her─consumption. Indeed, she must learn to breathe again─daring to embrace her life, her future, and hope in her God.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Breathe, go HERE

MY THOUGHTS

Quite a few years ago, I read Lisa Bergren’s Northern Lights series. Having not read anything recent by this author, I was intrigued to find out if her books were as good as I remembered.

They were.

A couple of things stood out to me about Breathe. The opening scene, which you can read through the chapter link above, immediately pulled me in to the story. Odessa St. Clair suffers from consumption (what we call tuberculosis today) and at times, you could feel her agony as well as determination to take one more breath. I imagine that the feeling is much like someone who has severe asthma. Wishing her to conquer the disease is what made me continue to turn the pages.

The story focuses on the St. Clair siblings, as it should, but at times I found myself wishing for a little more description or detail especially about their surroundings. The secondary characters in the story are well-developed to the point that I could sense the growing animosity of the St. Clair siblings towards the sheriff.

Overall, Breathe is an excellent read. The story line may be cliche’ at times (it is a romance!), but it’s clean and even appropriate for teenage girls. Breathe is not “preachy” either. God is present in the story, but only as He naturally fits in the characters’ lives – no forced preaching scenes, long spiritual discussions etc. If you want to introduce a friend to Christian fiction, but she doesn’t want to be preached at, suggest that she read Breathe.