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Dorothea Mathis has always had a crush on Daniel Porter.\u00a0 He’s always been out of reach.\u00a0 That is until he begins staying at her inn.\u00a0 She decides to take the leap and offer him one night with her.\u00a0 The reaction she gets she doesn’t expect.\u00a0 Daniel didn’t expect Dorothea to come to his door in only a raincoat.\u00a0 His reaction is purely out of shock.\u00a0 But, he regrets it immediately.\u00a0 When he realizes he can’t get her out of his mind he makes it his mission to have her.\u00a0 Though now she won’t be so easy.\u00a0 Can these two people, who are entrenched in their dark places, come together to find the light?
\nI LOVE this series!!!\u00a0 Gena Showalter is one of my favorite authors.\u00a0 But, of all her series’ this is one of my top three.\u00a0 I have been waiting for Thea and Daniel’s book since the end of West and Jessie Kay’s book.\u00a0 All the books in this series have a serious emotional component to them.\u00a0 But, this one really takes you deep.\u00a0 She truly explores how two people coping with two different forms of PTSD come together to heal.\u00a0 The passion and steaminess between them will ignite you from the inside out.\u00a0 I was truly addicted to this book until the very end.\u00a0 Though both characters have their ways that will definitely bug you, you will fall in love with both and the story that comes along.\u00a0 I will be counting days until we get to see Ryanne and Jude’s story.\u00a0 If you haven’t read any of Gena Showalter’s books you need to pick this one up immediately.\u00a0 You will fall in love with this town\u00a0 and these people<\/p>\n
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Dorothea Mathis studied the last room on her cleanup schedule and groaned. The bed had been wrecked, the comforter and pillows tossed haphazardly on the floor. A pair of panties hung from a bedpost. The TV remote had been busted, the pieces scattered across the night\u00adstand. Wet towels created a path to the bathroom door, and the trash can\u2026 From New York Times Bestselling author Gena Showalter, comes the next standalone romance in the Original Heartbreakers Series\u2014CAN\u2019T HARDLY BREATHE! Order your copy today! CAN\u2019T HARDLY BREATHE Synopsis: New York Times\u00a0bestselling author Gena Showalter returns with an irresistible Original Heartbreakers story about a woman who\u2019s never felt desired and the man who wants…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[261,621,1226,1602],"class_list":["post-6286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","tag-cant-hardly-breathe","tag-gena-showalter","tag-ptsd","tag-the-original-heartbreakers-series"],"yoast_head":"\n
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\na Rafflecopter giveaway<\/a><\/p>\nExcerpt :<\/h2>\n
\nOh, gag me! <\/em>The trash can contained used condoms.
\nThe place needed to be decontaminated by people wearing hazmat suits.
\nAm I up to date on my vaccinations?<\/em>
\nWith a sigh, Dorothea anchored earbuds in place, keyed up her iPod and donned a pair of latex gloves. One\u2014germs. Gross! Two\u2014she was protective of the green nail polish she\u2019d applied only that morning.
\nShe selected color based on mood. Green = irritated.
\nSomehow she\u2019d known <\/em>today would suck balls.
\nHer mom must have checked in Mr. and Ms. Pigsty last night after Dorothea had gone to bed. Since she had a 4:00 a.m. wake-up call, she tended to hit the sack by 9:00 p.m. Granny hours, her sister, Holly, liked to tell her.
\nDorothea picked up the dirty towels, removed the panties from the post, emptied the trash, changed the sheets on the bed, straightened the pillows and covers, and tossed the remote remains, planning to bill the Pig\u00adstys for a new one.
\nTime was limited this morning. She\u2019d promised to drive her mother into the city in\u2014 Crap! Less than an hour. She rushed through dusting and began vacuum\u00ading. As the machine swallowed dirt and debris, she tried not to envy her mother. Carol would soon be enjoying her fourth \u201csingles retreat\u201d of the year. Her fourth, but certainly not her last. She stayed at the Michaelson, a five-star hotel owned by the richest guy in Strawberry Valley, Dane Michaelson. Dane was married to a local girl Dorothea had gone to school with, and he allowed Carol to stay free of charge. No doubt about it, she took full advantage, attending speed-dating sessions, mixers and a plethora of themed parties.
\nHer busy love life was just one of the many reasons she\u2019d given the Strawberry Inn to Dorothea.
\nThe wheels on her cart suddenly squeaked, the sound louder than her music. Yanking out the earbuds, she spun.
\nSurprise expelled the air from her lungs, leaving her gasping. This so wasn\u2019t happening right now.
\nIt couldn\u2019t <\/em>be happening.
\nNightmares didn\u2019t really come to life. Nor did pornos. Not that she watched those\u2026very often. But dang it, this had to be one or the other.
\nThe sexiest man on the planet had just stridden into the room. He was shirtless, sweat glistening on his eight pack\u2014and his name was Daniel Porter.
\nThe <\/em>Daniel. The childhood crush she\u2019d never forgot\u00adten. The first boy to break her already fragile heart.
\nShe gulped. What was he doing here?
\nWait. Like she really needed to ponder this one. Wel\u00adcome back, Mr. Pigsty.<\/em>
\nHer hands trembled as she yanked the vacuum cord from the electrical socket, the room descending into si\u00adlence as the engine died.
\nI think you\u2019re perfect just the way you are.<\/em>
\nShe smoothed her trembling hands down her \u201cuni\u00adform,\u201d a pair of blue scrubs that could take a licking and keep on ticking. \u201cUh, hi. Hello.\u201d Oh, wow. Could she be any lamer? Definitely in a nightmare, not a porno. \u201cWelcome back.\u201d
\nHe pulled the earbuds from his ears and gifted her with a small smile that failed to hide the lines of strain around his mouth. \u201cSorry about the mess. I planned to clean up before I checked out.\u201d His gaze darted through\u00adout the room, and he cringed. \u201cI also plan to pay for the remote.\u201d
\nWhat kind of sexual acrobatics had placed the poor remote in harm\u2019s path, anyway?
\nOh, my stars. <\/em>A warm flush poured over Dorothea, threatening to overheat her. She almost fanned her cheeks for relief, barely stopped herself.
\nLook away! <\/em>She tried, she really did, but Daniel was just so freaking beautiful. He was even taller now, and stronger, with a rough, tough face. His cheekbones were sharp, and his nose boasted a small notch in the center. Been broken a time or two? Dark stubble dusted his an\u00adgular jaw, though the shadows couldn\u2019t disguise the fine tracery of scars on his left cheek.
\nHe was a modern-day warrior\u2014literally. After high school, he\u2019d joined the army, defending the country he loved.
\nThis wasn\u2019t the first time Dorothea had seen him since his return to town a few months ago, but her body reacted as if she\u2019d never seen any <\/em>man, heating and tin\u00adgling in all the naughtiest places.
\nAct naturally. He\u2019s just a customer.<\/em>
\nA customer who\u2019d wrecked a room during his most recent stay, but whatever. He was waiting for her to re\u00adspond to his offer.
\nLet\u2019s do this. <\/em>\u201cYes, thank you. Payment would be ap\u00adpreciated.\u201d She wound the vacuum cord around her arm, her motions clipped. \u201cAs for the room, I just need to tidy the bathroom, and I\u2019ll be done.\u201d
\nWith his back to her, he stuffed his toiletries into an overnight bag. \u201cI\u2019ll get out of your way, then.\u201d
\nDuring his senior year of high school, he hadn\u2019t just slept with Madison Clark; he\u2019d slept with a string of beautiful, popular girls, as if banging-and-bailing had finally been dubbed a national sport.
\nGood thing Dorothea hadn\u2019t pursued him. He would have taken all her firsts and discarded her like garbage.
\nInstead, Jazz Connors had taken all her firsts and dis\u00adcarded her like garbage.
\nAnger boiled her blood until bitterness swept in, leav\u00ading a glaze of frost. Fire and ice. This wasn\u2019t the first time they\u2019d battled it out, and this wouldn\u2019t be the last. The biggest downside? They ensured the wounds inside her hollowed-out chest never really had a chance to heal.
\nAfter graduation, she\u2019d moved to the big bad city, enrolled in the University of Oklahoma\u2019s meteorology program, met Jazz and gotten hitched, just as she\u2019d al\u00adways dreamed\u2026only to return home several years later with a divorce and no degree.
\nA washed-up has-been by the age of twenty-four.<\/em>
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About Gena Showalter:<\/strong>
\nGena Showalter is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of the spellbinding\u00a0Lords of the Underworld<\/a>\u00a0and Angels of the Dark series, two young adult series–Everlife and the White Rabbit Chronicles–and the highly addictive Original Heartbreakers series. \u00a0In addition to being a National Reader’s Choice and two time RITA nominee, her romance novels have appeared in Cosmopolitan (Red Hot Read) and Seventeen magazine, she’s appeared on Nightline<\/em>\u00a0and been mentioned in\u00a0Orange is the New Black<\/em>–if you ask her about it, she’ll talk for hours\u2026hours! \u00a0Her books have been translated in multiple languages.
\nShe\u2019s hard at work on her next novel, a tale featuring an alpha male with a dark side and the strong woman who brings him to his knees. You can learn more about Gena, her menagerie of rescue dogs, and all her upcoming books at genashowalter.com<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Facebook.com\/genashowalterfans<\/a>
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\n <\/p>\nWebsite<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Goodreads<\/a><\/h3>\n
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