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C L Matthews
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Breathe: A Standalone Angsty Contemporary Romance Kindle Edition

by C.L. Matthews (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 216 ratings
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Full of depth and emotion, Breathe is beautifully written. The pain and angst drip from each page, spreading through your chest in the best of ways. - Author SM Soto

What happens when history repeats itself? Do you fall into the same pattern of your brother, or do you overcome and keep your promises?
You’d think five years would be enough time to cope and move on.
It’s not.
If anything, it’s given me more unrealistic ways to deal with my loss.
More pain.
And even worse, a woman I don’t love.
A woman that isn’t her.
I hate her.
She hates me, too.
My life’s a mess.
My heart’s nonexistent.
My soul was lost long ago.
Worst of all, I no longer have any f#cks to give.
They say you find your true love after you lose your first one.
I call b#llshit.

Each book in the Hollow Ridge series is a complete standalone.
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  1. Print length
    391 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    14 April 2020
  5. File size
    3335 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  9. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B084NXVJ9H
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3335 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 391 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 216 ratings

About the author

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C L Matthews

C L Matthews

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C.L. Matthews is a USA TODAY Bestselling Author who lives in lala-landia with their husband and invisible friends. They're queer and Mexican-American, and love to write as many diverse characters as they can. They want to riot the lack of authentic Mexican food in their state but will settle for cooking their own dishes in the meantime. They enjoys tacos, Red Bull, and warm water, because they're crazy. They're an oddball and realize it’s been mentioned before, just go with it. Their joys in life consist of writing unconventional romances, making book covers, causing havoc to her reader’s hearts, and genre-hopping when they need a change of scenery. They're a special kind of weird and enjoy every moment of it.

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4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
216 global ratings

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Top reviews from Australia

Anita_booktoread.
5.0 out of 5 stars ‘We’re good together. Toxic but perfect. Bad but so much more.’
Reviewed in Australia on 14 April 2020
What an amazing, emotional story of growth. C.L. Matthews takes socially forbidden topics of suicide, depression and alcoholism and gives them a heart and soul, allowing us to take this journey with her characters as they fight for their loves and their lives.

I loved the fiery, sassiness of Joey. She fought Toby at nearly every step of the way, except when her self loathing was too high. It was at those peaks of her depression that she felt she deserved all of his hatred. And that was kinda devastating to see. They had soo much love for each other until it fell apart.

I was grateful that Toby wasn’t the same from Inhale, Exhale- I hated him in that book and found him to be slimy and conniving. In Breathe we get to see his animosity and malevolence at himself and others shine through. He was surprised that he could fall for Joey, he enjoyed their ‘fighting’ and came to discover that her needed someone with that strength to love him back. If only he could keep his self doubt away then he wouldn’t have believed what he thought had happened.

‘“Why do I hate you and love you?”
The question throws me off. She still loves me?
“How do I love the hate out of you?”’

I like that the timeline jumps about, there’s no way we could just go from start to finish with these stories, the present and the past help to give justification and understanding about the current situation. Also, I love that she gives us chapters with other characters- past and future storylines- they helped add an extra dynamic to this dysfunctional (normal) family.

As for the snippets of Ace and Gray! Their story is going to hurt too I’m sure.
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Ange C
3.0 out of 5 stars Well written story but...
Reviewed in Australia on 5 May 2020
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The H was an utter pig and his actions irredeemable. I wouldn't consider the h weak - just damaged and lacking in self-worth.
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Top reviews from other countries

Christina ( The MasqueReader )
5.0 out of 5 stars LOVED this heartbreaking yet real love story.
Reviewed in the United States on 18 April 2020
Verified Purchase
My soul has been craving this book since the moment I finished Inhale, Exhale last year! If you’ve read Inhale, Exhale then you understand the pain and heartbreak that surrounded Toby’s life; well Breathe gives you even more insight to who he is and why he is that way. I feel like there are two type of people when it came to Toby in IE, the ones who LOVED him and the ones who HATED him! I LOVED TOBY from day ONE of meeting him in IE, but Inhale, Exhale was NOT Toby’s book. THIS IS TOBY’S BOOK and OMG...it is everything you need whether you loved or hated Toby!

CL Matthews’ Hollow Ridge series is one of the most emotionally raw series that I have ever read. Breathe was filled with the type of torment and grief that most souls could never survive experiencing. When you love someone, truly love someone you take the bad along with the good. Unfortunately with great loves can come great heartbreak, with the laughs we have the tears and with life comes death. Matthews’ doesn’t hesitate to write heartbreaking and authentic love stories and in the process we are granted the ability to experience all angles of love including the pain that life can unfortunately bring. I am in love with the way that Matthews’ writes, almost as if she ingrains each word with emotions that grasp your soul as you read along.

Toby...TOBY....MY TOBES!!! I couldn’t wait for his book! I’ve loved him since the first book and although it hurt to see him get his heart broken then; I didn’t want him to ever settle for being anyone’s second choice. But then Matthews created the most perfect heroine for him! Joey’s sassy & strong attitude is the first thing that grasps my attention; these two things are essential when dealing with Toby. I could never imagine him with the kind of girl that he could push around and even though he has his alpha ways...he definitely met his match in her. Joey challenges him in ways that no one ever has and he loved her in a way that no one else ever has. It made my heart soar to see my boy so in love that he smiled so brightly.

Unfortunately, life always have a way of sucking the life out of even the greatest of people. It’s the things done and said afterwards that can either save or break a person. My heart broke to see the life drain from Joey, but it hurt me even worse to see her lose the one person that gave her life purpose and meaning after not having someone like that for such a long time. Seeing how truly damaged and broken Toby was made me cry for him, it made me cry for Joey. Every now and then...with heartbreak comes healing and a restoration to the human soul that you once thought was damaged beyond repair.

All the appearances from everyone in Hollow Ridge and the different POV’s in this series helps give the reader an idea of how it would feel to live among these characters...in their world. I LOVE this part about her writing. I absolutely CAN’T WAIT for the next Hollow Ridge book.
6 people found this helpful
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Autumn
4.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes you've gotta dig deeper.
Reviewed in the United States on 14 April 2020
Verified Purchase
Breathe was so unexpected. I've had to take time away from it to try and come with them a review because I'm at a total loss for words.

I spent a majority of this book feeling my heart crumble. Piece by piece by these two characters. I wanted them to find happiness. Together or apart I didnt care.

I actually liked Toby in Inhale,Exhale. I dont know if I like him now. My gut reaction is no. But my head is telling me its just not that simple. Life is complicated and people make mistakes. Well Toby is excellent at making mistakes. I didnt even recognize who he was sometimes. But I guess thats what happens when you're broken.

Breathe takes place a few years after Lo asked Toby to leave and breaks him. Honestly, I'm so mad at Lo for this book. Toby is back and has met someone a younger chef, Joey. Idk I guess Toby and Joey are good together mainly they are a disaster area.

I feel like this isn't exactly a glowing review but hear me out. I loved it. I FELT so much. I STILL FEEL so much. Am I happy about stupid things that happened absolutely not. But no ones perfect, life isn't perfect. Even in the books we are flawed. Breathe is a beautiful disaster of a love story that I couldn't put down.
3 people found this helpful
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agiledgs
3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed in the sequel
Reviewed in the United States on 16 April 2020
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I loved book 1 - lots of twists and turns but those made sense and came mostly full circle leading to a moderate cliff hanger.

This book is a disappointment in comparison. The flashback chapters are a common technique for authors but these were incongruent to the timeline. *spoilers below*

Ex: When J goes to Lo’s house, she says she is 22 but she’s been married for 5 years. She met T at 19 yo. That’s not the only discrepancy.

And after T finds J in a hotel near dead, one would assume hospitalization and recovery is next but never mentioned.

The overall dichotomy of love/hate is over dramatic and repetitive. Reads like the author was pushing so hard to hit a deadline that the story lost ingenuity.

Overall, this book was a waste of my time.
5 people found this helpful
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suzyb
3.0 out of 5 stars Toxic & twisted
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 April 2020
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Toxic & twisted is the only way to describe this book. So this is Toby’s story and to fully understand it you really need to read book 1 first, Inhale Exhale, Loren & Jace’s story, because this book follows on straight from that. As with the first book I found this intense and not a happy read at all. It is an emotional roller coaster, from beginning to end.

However, there are a lot of similarities between this book and the first book, not least with the emotional angst. As with the first book, Joey (the heroine) loses a baby, shuts down and seeks comfort in someone else. This causes Toby to go into a tailspin, which then starts the demise of their relationship. He finds solace with other women but does it out of hate and so begins their toxic love hate relationship.

Because the storyline was very similar to the first book, I found there was too much emotional padding in some chapters and padding of the sex scenes., which took away from the depth and quality of the overall storytelling. There was also some parts of the story that were left hanging. For example there was a good part of the story that touched on Joey’s missing mom and the effect it had on Joey. This was a contributing factor to her behaviour and self harming. This storyline was picked up again later in the book when her mom was found, but it was odd that it wasn’t followed through and I wonder why the author would put this storyline in only to leave it hanging. Also, Joey did not have a very good relationship with her father, I would have liked to see how that developed. There was a part in the book where he threatened Toby with something and Toby was going to “take him down” but that never happened.

Instead I found the book too drawn out with too much toxicity and emotional baggage going on at the same time. I also found that switching from past to present difficult to follow, it got a little confusing at times to keep with the flow of the timeline. You also get input from Ace and Gray (Lo & Jace’s children from the first book) towards the end of the book and you can already see how Ace’s story is going to go! He’s going to be just as twisted as his dad and uncle! I’m in two minds now about whether or not I’ll read the next book it if it’s anything like this one. A 3.5 star read for me.
One person found this helpful
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CEA63
5.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreakingly gutwrenching journey to find love,family and happiness
Reviewed in the United States on 31 August 2020
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Breathe (Hollow Ridge #2)
By C.L. Matthews

Where to start..... I'm an emotional wreck I thought the first book Inhale,Exhale ruined me but I was so wrong. Breathe was 1,000 times more emotional. My entire body heart and soul bleed reading Tobias (Toby) and Josephine (Joey's) story. I know it is a standalone but you really need to read Inhale,Exhale to understand Toby because he played a major role in that story and why he is the way he is to some extent. Toby is so broken it breaks my heart he fears abandonment, not being good enough, not being worthy of love. He has turned to alcohol, anger and meaningless sex to ease his pain. Joey although broken she still has the capacity to love with all her heart even when being hurt time and time again. She is ferocious, sassy, brave,resilient and loyal even when Toby is anything but loyal. I've never wanted to hug someone as much as I did her. There story isn't an easy one to read it has infidelity, addiction, trama ,violence and loss. He can't see what is right in front of him because of what is in his past. So he purposely destroys, hurts her until she is only a fraction of herself yet she still loves him. Their story is told in past and present in multiple POV's which will help the reader understand why and how they become who they are in the future. This book along with Inhale, Exhale will stay with me forever. I am so glad I discovered this outstanding author who knows how to write storylines that will stay with you forever.

I would give more than 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ if I could.
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