Breathe by Lisa T. Bergren

For several years Odessa St. Clair has fought for every breath she has taken. Wracked with consumption Odessa's father sends her and her brother Dominic and her sister Moira  to Colorado to "chase the cure" as thousands of others  have done before her.

The sanatorium where Odessa stays is renowned for their progress with consumptives. Before long Odessa is able to meet her fellow consumptives. Bryce McAllan is a handsome young man, owner of a horse farm, convalescing and hoping to return to his horses soon. Sam is an older gentleman that likes to play matchmaker.

Dominic and Moira are settling into the town hoping to open a bookstore for their father's publishing company. It doesn't take long for them to meet the Sheriff and run into trouble. Sheriff Bannock has set his eyes on Moira and is determined to have her. Moira is not a woman to be owned though. Her only desire is to sing in front of an audience, but the men in her life seem to thwart her at every turn.

It doesn't take long for the three St. Clair's to realize that while Colorado has wonderful healing powers for Odessa, it also offers more danger than any of them anticipated.

I really liked the characters in Breathe. I liked that the St. Clair's were strong and independent. Even though they were young and had never been on their own before they each have a sense of who they are and have no desire to be run over by anyone or anything. Have you ever been afraid to turn the page in a book for fear of what will happen to the character next? That is the way I felt while reading Breathe! There were so many times that I needed to take a break because I was afraid of what was going to come next, but then found myself going back to it so I could find out! The characters were written so well that you could feel their emotions, which made it a bit hard to read where the Sheriff was concerned. From the moment he is introduced the reader knows there is something "not right" about him. His evilness leaps off the page and has the reader wishing that the St. Clair's can pack up bag and baggage and run!

Breathe is the first book in the Homeward Trilogy and I'm looking forward to reading Dominic and Moira's stories in Sing and Claim.