Rowena’s review of Promise Me This (Between Breaths #4) by Christina Lee.
A new love will test the boundaries of passion between a privileged boy next door and the tattooed, blue-haired girl who helps him embrace his wild side…
Nate has developed quite a playboy reputation around campus. It’s not that he doesn’t respect or trust women; he doesn’t trust himself. The men in Nate’s family are prone to abusive behavior—a dirty secret that Nate’s been running from his entire life—so Nate doesn’t do relationships. But he can’t help himself around one girl…
Jessie is strong, independent, and works at a tattoo parlor. Nate can’t resist getting close to her, even if it’s strictly a friendship. But it doesn’t take long for Nate to admit that what he wants with Jessie is more than just friendly.
With Jessie, he can be himself and explore what he’s always felt was a terrifying darkness inside him. Even when Nate begins to crave her in a way that both shocks and horrifies him, Jessie still wants to know every part of him. Testing their boundaries together will take a trust that could render them inseparable… or tear them apart.
This is the fourth book in the Between Breaths series by Christina Lee. It’s a series that both Holly and myself have come to love. I adore the characters in this series and while this wasn’t my favorite book in the series, I really liked it. I really liked getting to know both Jessie and Nate and I thought their romance was too cute for words.
Jessie and Nate are friends and they have absolutely nothing in common. They’re not each other’s normal type but that doesn’t stop Nate from being attracted to Jessie. But Nate isn’t going to go there with her because he likes her and he doesn’t do relationships…like ever. There isn’t anything anyone can tell him to change his mind about that. He’s got some family issues that keep him from trying for more than a bang session with girls and it’s not until Jessie wakes up and smells the Nate is hot coffee that things start to change for Nate too.
This was a really fun story to dig into. Nate and Jessie were really strong characters that leaped right off the pages and straight into my heart (cheesy shit and all). I adored the both of them. I thought their romance was fantastic and their first love scene? Hot damn, Nate! I wanted to say to Nate what this pervy weirdo said to me in a bar once. I wanted to tell him to, “Give me your lips!” Haha. That’ll show girls not to talk about the way Nate kisses. He kissed the hell out of Jessie.
I really liked Nate. I felt for him when we find out about his family life. His mom, dad and even his brother. It couldn’t have been easy growing up in that house but I really admired that Nate was able to grow up and be mindful of the person he wanted to be. I liked that he worked hard to make sure that history didn’t repeat itself and I loved the way that he loved his Mom. Their relationship was great and I really liked the person that Nate’s Mom became over the course of the book.
Jessie was a great heroine for Nate. I thought their differences made them even more perfect for each other. I loved that Jessie didn’t have a dark childhood that she was struggling to overcome. I liked that one part of the main couple came from a normal background and had a great support system in not only their friends, but in their family too. Far too often, we see a whole lot of dark childhoods from both the hero and heroine in NA books. I was happy to see that wasn’t the same here. I loved that Jessie was able to show Nate that not everyone is bad and he was a better person than he was giving himself credit for.
Watching these two grow closer and closer made the story so easy to fall in with. I was invested in both Nate and Jessie’s life and I adored just about everything. There were times when I wanted to throttle both Jessie and Nate but in the end, I was so happy with the way everything fell into place that I closed the book with a big ol’ grin on my face. My least favorite part of the story was Nate’s Dad and there were times when I would get so frustrated with Nate’s Mom but none of that stopped that grin from spreading across my face once I was finished.
It was good to see everyone from the previous books. I’m not sure what is next for this series (it’s not the end, is it? I don’t want to say bye to these characters) but if Christina Lee writes it, I will definitely read it. I completely recommend this book.
Grade: 4.5 out of 5
This book is available from InterMix. You can purchase it here or here in e-format.
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