Leave Me Breathless by Cherrie Lynn

Why I read it:  Despite DNFing Unleashed recently, after seeing the Twitter buzz about this book and, especially after seeing Mandi's review, I decided to give her another try.  This was much more successful for me. 

What it's about:  (from Goodreads)  Leather and lace don't strike sparks. Or do they?

It's Valentine's Day, but Macy Rodgers isn't feeling the love. Aside from a torrid, one-night fling in a backseat a few months back, her love life has been sorely lacking, but fortunately she has devious friends who feel like playing Cupid. Wouldn't they be shocked to learn that the match they've made for her is the same one that steamed up the back of that '69 GTO...

Seth "Ghost" Warren has just returned to town after an extended absence. Between his grandmother's failing health, his job as a tattoo artist, his band's gigs, and a crazy ex that won't leave him alone, he's stretched thin. Cautious cowgirl Macy is the last thing he needs thrown into the mix.

She's all country, he's all heavy metal—and Macy knows that if anyone can propel her out of her rut, it's Seth. But when their worlds collide, it's anyone guess if they'll survive with their hearts intact.

Warning: Contains explicit sex, graphic language, road trips, troublemaking exes, emotional baggage, and an unconventional but exceptionally hot hero tatted and pierced for your pleasure...

What worked for me (and what didn't):  I didn't finish the first book in the series and haven't read the second, but I don't think it's necessary to have read them to enjoy this book.   Macy is clearly more on the uptight side of things and Ghost (Seth) is clearly on the other.  It's a case of opposites combusting and they certainly scorch the sheets (and the backseat of his car and various other places too).    

Seth was a character of somewhat unexpected depth (you can probably tell I'm more like Macy!) and I enjoyed watching Macy realise that you really can't judge a book by its cover.    Seth is also very sweet - he wants to push Macy but, as he says, only to places she wants to go.  He's very insightful and seems to have her number almost from the beginning (in fact, he even tells her so).  

“You’re so obsessed with my underwear, are you sure you don’t want to wear them?”

He stilled and silence hung for a moment. For one terrible instant, she thought she’d made him angry. No chance. “Who’s to say I didn’t?”

She couldn’t help it; she burst out laughing. “You are awful.”

“And you like it. Admit it.”

“And you’re pushy. And presumptuous.”

“No. I’ve just got your number, babe.”

 I thought some of the writing was beautiful actually, like this:  

Amazingly, she wasn’t self-conscious about it, not with him. She opted out of bikinis these days, but Seth…in a way he carried his life story in his skin, right? He believed in that. He would merely see her scar as a little piece of hers.

I missed seeing their first encounter (perhaps it was in the second book as a subplot?) and even at the end, I thought that Macy's behaviour in ignoring him afterwards was pretty shitty.  Seth didn't deserve that and I thought he let her off much too easy.

I enjoyed the sexy humor of the book too.  Mandi had some good quotes in her review but I found another one which made me laugh:

Whoever the guy was who taught her to suck cock, he wanted to buy him a beer and punch his fucking lights out.

The second half of the book took a bit of a right turn for me.  The angst and misunderstandings ramped up to the kind of level I see in the Crossfire series and for this book, I would have rather it was a bit toned down.  In the end, the so many new problems arose that I wasn't entirely sure that they were settled enough into their HEA at the end - was it really a HEA?   Was it more a HFN with the possibility of more?    Perhaps what was missing for me, after all the angst was seeing them happy together for a bit longer, seeing whether the volatility which was the hallmark of the last half of the book had truly passed.  

What else? I'm happy to report that Seth referred only once to his penis in the third person (he called it "he" once).  I'm really not into sentient intimate parts.   

The other thing that dropped off a little in the latter half of the book was the sex - they were so busy being all angsty and fighty that they were not having the hot sex.  I felt a little deprived.

I liked Seth a lot and I liked Macy and Seth together.  While I had a couple of issues with the story, I nevertheless enjoyed it - did I mention about the sex being hot? - and I'm very glad I gave this author another go.

Grade:  B