Review: The Breath of Dawn by Kristen Heitzmann

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Morgan Spencer has had just about all he can take of life. Following the tragic death of his wife, Jill, he retreats to his brother's Rocky Mountain ranch to heal and focus on the care of his infant daughter, Olivia. Two years later, Morgan begins to make plans to return to his home in Santa Barbara to pick up the pieces of his life and career.

Quinn Riley has been avoiding her past for four years. Standing up for the truth has forced her into a life of fear and isolation. After a "chance" first meeting and a Thanksgiving snowstorm, Quinn is drawn into the Spencer family's warm and loving world, and she begins to believe she might find freedom in their friendship.

The man Quinn helped put behind bars has recently been released, however, and she fears her past will endanger the entire Spencer family. As the danger heightens, she determines to leave town for the sake of the people who have come to mean so much to her.

Fixing problems is what Morgan Spencer does best, and he is not willing to let Quinn run away, possibly into the clutches of a man bent on revenge. But Morgan's solution sends him and Quinn on an unexpected path, with repercussions neither could have anticipated.

Oh! Oh oh oh! I absolutely loved this story! It had been highly recommended to me and I was so happy that it lived up to my high expectations. No, actually it exceeded them! :) I knew I liked Ms. Heitzmann's writing prior to reading this and this book has solidified my love for her stories completely. I am not ashamed to say that I am officially a fan of Kristen Heitzmann! I will wear my fangirl hat for everyone to see! :D But you say you want an actual review and not just a million exclamation points? Well, I'm sorry my friends, but if you're tired of the exclamation points already, you'd better just stop reading right now. Because there's many more to come! See?!! ;)

I'm not really sure I can be coherent enough to make much sense beyond "It's awesome! Go read it right now! You won't be disappointed!". But I'll try. I'll start by saying that it's much more than just a typical love story. There's a little mystery and heartache and suspense too. I have to confess though, the love story is what I was swept up into from the beginning, and by the last page I declare I was swooning! Morgan and Quinn are flawed and human, yes. They make mistakes, yes. They make a decision at one point that seems a little rushed and perhaps they should have thought a little bit more about it, yes. But you know what? They have chemistry like you wouldn't believe! And watching them fall in love? Is a beautiful, beautiful thing. They take care of one another. They acknowledge their mistakes to one another. They support one another. They get snarky and sarcastic with one another. They made me laugh and swoon and sigh and go back to reread all my favorites scenes between them again. They are, simply put, awesome characters!

Now, as I said before, there is much more to this story. There's lots of moments where things happened that I wasn't expecting. There's a villain and his actions bring about much intrigue. Ms. Heitzmann hasn't written just a fluffy little romance, lest my exclaiming above makes you think that. But the romance is where she hooked me and kept me flipping pages as fast as I could. There were moments where I was flipping ahead to find out what happened, but then I'd have to backtrack to finish where I had been, and back and forth I went. You know it's a good story when that happens! :D

So. It's awesome! Go read it right now! You won't be disappointed!

Going back outside as the sun sent scarlet flame across the rosy sky, Morgan raised his head. "Hear that?"
She said, "Elk." The screeching bugle was unmistakable.
"Someone's proud of himself."
"That noise would make me run."
His mouth pulled sideways, "Good thing you're not a lady elk."
She cast him a glance. "Thanks for not calling me a cow."
The corners of his eyes crinkled as he pulled the truck door open.