I just wish these ties were more clear.Īnother issue: pacing. Goedjen would beautifully tie scenes from the beginning into ones at the end, which I greatly appreciated. The ending had me re-reading several parts from the beginning, just to ensure that I was understanding what was happening. The answers in this novel were far and few, and while I may hypothesize as to why the novel ended as it did, there was no definite answer. When I believe I solve a mystery, I often fly through the pages of the novel, waiting for the moment where my potential answers are affirmed. I felt as though I figured out the book’s mystery early on, although the answers were never definitively given. Unfortunately, I found this book a little lacking and occasionally confusing. I also enjoyed the riddles that came about throughout the book, but, like the characters, I figured them out quite easily.īetween the title and the synopsis, I was excited for this read. These chapters added a great deal of dynamic that the book was lacking, and created a deeper sense of mystery. The point of view changed every chapter, and the best chapters were the one’s that were from the perspective of Mae’s ancestors. The idea of a Gothic South suspense novel was very intriguing. The atmosphere of Blue Gate and its history was this book’s saving grace. When you throw in a slightly creepy love triangle between Ro’s possible-murderer-ex-boyfriend Cage and obsessive-stalker-boy Lance, the book was clearly filled with suspense. Her death shook the Cole’s to the core, and Mae, one of her younger sisters, has taken it upon herself to uncover the secrets that Ro was hiding. Roxanne Cole: the dead girl who used to light up the room with her smile and morbid pranks. And if what it says is true, then maybe, just maybe, Ro isn’t lost forever.Īnd maybe there are secrets so dark, they should stay hidden forever. It’s filled with secrets-dangerous secrets-about her family, and about Ro.

Nothing’s been right in the house since Ro died.Īnd then Mae finds the little green book. Mae wouldn’t believe him, but something’s not right. According to him, Ro was alive only the day before. One year-almost to the day-from her death, when he knocks on the door of Blue Gate Manor and asks where she is.Ĭage has no memory of the last twelve months. No one knows what really happened on the shores of the beach where Ro’s body was found, but her boyfriend, Cage, took off that night and hasn’t been seen since. As hard as she tries, she can’t let her sister go. Roxanne Cole’s death tore the heart out of the Cole family, and for the last year Mae hasn’t been able to breathe. Once there were three beautiful sisters at Blue Gate Manor.

The breathless by tara goedjen