Despite some intense subject matter, the warmth of the central couple of this romance left the overall work sweeter than I expected.

A finder of lost things, young dreamers swept up by LA or pets that have wandered off not entirely of their own volition, may have just found something of his own from his latest case: his heart. For a romance, Inhale packs quite a lot of action. Blackmail, investigations, and high-stakes modeling on both coasts to name a few. Even with so much going on, the emotional through line and central romance keep the story from feeling too heavy or straying too far off course.

The characterization and how well written their emotions are the main reasons I enjoyed this read as much as I did. While one character in particular might appear a bit flat or one-dimensional at first (work, work, work!), give it time. There’s a very valid reason for that. I always appreciate a novel and an author that can portray strong and capable characters that are still able to be vulnerable. The author beautifully crafted the personalities of both romantic leads, their uniqueness from each other as well as how they meshed.

What kept me from pushing this up to a higher rating was primarily the pacing. That goes both for the overall plot itself but also for the passage of time within the novel too. Some aspects felt dragged out while others were almost too short to be realistic. I wouldn’t say it happened often, but it did happen enough to draw attention to. In more than one case, I also think there was an error between days and hours when transitioning scenes. There were a handful of other errors too but nothing major, mostly punctuation surrounding dialogue.

A content warning is already included for grief, but I feel I should warn that there is also substantial mention of suicide and the impact it has on those left behind. I do want to commend the author though for not shying away from harder topics and for having one of the best literary approaches I’ve seen for it. I highly recommend reading both the front matter and back matter for Inhale. And of course, the wonderful story in between.

Inhale is available to buy on Amazon.

Verdict:

READABLE