Inhale, Exhale.: A Standalone Angsty Contemporary Romance (Hollow Ridge)

***I am not emotionally ready to review this book yet.....***(a day later- I think I am ready to review this soul devastating piece of awesomeness!!! )I DIED ALL THE DEADS!!! This book was EVERYTHING!!! It is going straight to my TOP READS OF 2019 list! I don't even know HOW to move on! It was everything I thought it would be and MORE! Book hangover from H*** right now! (Glad I'm all caught up on ARCs) 5 stars is no where near enough. CL Matthews killed it! She killed me with this book! And the last 10% of this book was THE MOST INTENSE HOUR OF MY LIFE!!!!!The name was totally fitting because I was having to remind myself to breath while reading it. And then it felt like some one was sitting on my chest! From the very beginning CL Matthews rips your heart out....and keeps on doing it through entire book. I read it over the span of 2 days. When I was trying to go to sleep all I could think about what the most recent bomb that had been dropped before I went to bed! (oh yes... there a A LOT of bombs). I knew that I wanted a HEA for Lo... but with everything that was happening I just didn't know what I thought that would look like for her. I think one of the coolest things in this story was that there were 2 chapters that came from Ace's POV (he is Lo and Jase's teenage son). It really let the reader in on how observant the children are and how these things process in their brains. It was really ingenious to include his POV in their story.I am all in with Hollow Ridge! I can not wait to get more from the people of this world. As this book was ending there were a whole lot of interesting things regarding some of the secondary characters that I CANNOT WAIT to get the stories behind!So basically.... this book is everything! Top 10 Reads of 2019. Emotional roller coaster. Go get it now! The angst is so really real! Everyone needs to read this book!(Please note: No kindles were harmed in the reading of this book.... but it was touch and go there for a while)

Inhale. Exhale. Breathe.****It shows you the battles of loss, depression, drug abuse, cheating, and other adult themes. It’s hard to stomach at times, mostly because it’s painful.****This book wrecked me. I cried during the duration of it, but it hit on so many life lessons most people are afraid to talk about. Above you'll see a piece the author puts in before you read, and it's all true. This book is hard, painful, brutal at times, and will devastate your emotions, but it can also heal you in ways you never imagined."Marriage is the opposite. It’s work and painful, and it sheds more blood, sweat, and tears than anything else."~Jase~If anyone says life is easy, they're lying. It's not. Far from it. This one shows you the hardships of it. The emotional angst, is excruciating. It doesn't just follow Loren (Lo) and Jason (Jase) it follows all of them. Their family. His brother Toby, Ellie, their son Ace, and my Gods what he goes through. My heart breaks for him. A child that had to grow up too soon."Scars made by people can go many ways. They can slice you in the skin. They can slice to the bone. They can even sever limbs entirely. But scars of the heart, the untouchable ones, the ones that ache deeper but are invisible, branded, tattooed, those are the ones you feel forever."~Lo~Tragedy doesn't affect just one person. It spreads. You can love someone, and it not be enough. It ebbs and flows. You can BE loved, and it not be enough. Depression is a real thing. Everyone experiences loss in different ways. Some retreat inside themselves, some leave, and some ignore it completely. Pretend it never happened. It doesn't bother them. Infidelity leaves a lasting impression on people. Lies, distance, the disrespect of everything you promised to hold dear. Their love. Your vows. Then you remember what you had, and why you wanted it."She’s a sweet peach hiding behind a tangy nectarine bravado, and I want to meet the sweetness in hiding, to know her soft spots and weaknesses, to protect her and challenge her, and most of all, to just be with her."~Jase~And then it's gone. It falls on you to get it back. To fix it, or fix yourself. To heal. It's hard. This book makes you think, and re-evaluate everything you thought you knew. You'll have to step back at times. Wipe your eyes of the tears. Put it down. Maybe walk away for a minute. Sometimes you just have to......."Inhale, exhale, repeat."~Jase~

From start to finish, Inhale, Exhale was like riding a roller coaster blind - never knowing what's over the next hill or around the next bend. It grabbed onto me from page one and didn't let go. It is as real as it gets; diving into the blood and guts of marriage and friendship. And not just that of Lo and Jase, but everyone their lives touched. Their story is not an easy one; a story that becomes reality for so many. It was as breathtaking as it was tragic. It was real and it was raw and the pain within those pages was palpable. I laughed, I cried and I celebrated the small victories. And along the way I fell in love with Toby and Ace. Two characters that shined so bright during the telling of Jase and Lo's story. Two characters that walked away with a piece of my heart by the time I turned the last page.Jase and Lo's story is not one you will soon forget. To me, it's a reminder of appreciating what you have, loving yourself unconditionally and the knowledge that forgiveness can set you free. You put your blood, sweat and tears into this one Ms. Matthews and it shows in every single word.

Gosh!! How to review this book!! It was just so full of anguish and turmoil that it was not a happy book to read at all! There are some spoilers in this review so if you don’t want to have an inkling of the story line then please do not read any further!So this is a story about Lo (Loren) and Jace (Jason). The secondary characters are Toby, Jace’s brother and Ellie, Lo’s best friend. This story is written from everyone’s point of view except for Ellie. There is also input from Ace, Lo & Jace’s son, because this whole train wreck of a story affects him too.It starts off in the past when they are all young teenagers at school and are all friends; Ellie & Toby are Lo’s best friends. Then they meet Jace, Toby’s stepbrother, and you see sparks fly between Lo & Jace. However, Toby has feelings too for Lo but Lo has him placed securely in the friend zone. And then we have Ellie who secretly has feelings for Jace although this isn’t obviously clear from the beginning but becomes evident as the story unfolds.It then fast forwards a few years where Lo & Jace are married with 2 kids (Ace & Jasmine) and this is when all the anguish & turmoil begins. Lo looses her Mom & her newborn baby in the same week and goes into a downward spiral of depression so deep that it takes her years to come out of. During this time Jace tries his best to help her but is suffering with his own grief and desperately needing his wife but she mentally checked out on him and their 2 kids. So what does he do to help himself, he seeks comfort in another woman of course, who happens to be Lo’s best friend Ellie! He too checks out on his kids but for completely different reasons!As the story unfolds it flips back & forth from the past to the present; you get the past on Toby & Jace’s abuse from their dad, which I found really difficult to read. You also get the history of cheating in Lo’s family (her dad cheated on her mom) and she has a half brother, Nate. But because you’re in everybody’s head all of the time, all you feel is the anguish and all you see is the turmoil caused by the love and betrayal. The author captures Lo’s mindset so profoundly that you literally feel her inner turmoil & her pain. And although her husband cheated on her you can’t help but feel his pain too. Once I got to the end of the story I was left with very mixed feelings about the characters in this book & I don’t think that I liked any of them very much apart from Ace who seemed wise beyond his years but still so young at the same time.I just didn’t know what to make of Lo who appeared to be so put together at the start but then just fell apart. One minute she was weak the next she knew exactly what she was doing, and as for her relationship with Toby all I can say is why??As for the story line with Ellie (the not so BFF) and how that ended it was a little far fetched for me but did juice things up a bit. And then there’sFrancis, Ellie’s husband who was supposedly dead but suddenly reappears at the end! That was a twist I didn’t see coming but it wasn’t really explained in the storytelling and was a huge missing point for me.Overall, this was an riveting read that pulled at all your emotions, leaving you in a flummox of mixed feelings. I didn’t really like any of the main characters but yet I have already pre-ordered the next book in the series because I just have to know what happens to Toby and whether or not it will be a continuation of his & Lo’s relationship or if he finds his own soul mate.This has got to be the longest review I‘ve ever done and for me that says a lot about how good this author is at writing in such an intense way that has you coming back for more!

Wow! I was not expecting all the heartache that came with reading this even though the blurb and note at the beginning warned me. I enjoyed this a lot, not enough for 5 stars but by golly did the heartache have me feeling things. Not tears were shed but my oh my does this make your heart hurt for those who have been through the pain that Jase and Lo have been through. Not a fan of cheating but this kinda worked. I’m more of a black and white no forgiveness kinda gal but this, there were lots of shades of grey. I highly recommend.

Lots going on in this book. I literally could not put it down. Days later when making dinner I'm thinking about this book. Grab a glass of wine, get comfy and read this book.

I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into with this book, all I knew was that CL Matthews wrote it so I was going to dive in. Then I heard it was about a marriage falling apart and thought that sounded interesting. When I got the arc it comes with a warning- there’s not just cheating here, there’s domestic violence and death, so much sadness and pain. But as these characters learn, strength comes from pain, knowing your alive because you can feel that pain. But for some people this pain is too much and they ‘shut down’. Even now writing this review a week later and I’m getting emotional over it.So let me say this, I loved Jase and Lo together. I didn’t like Ellie from the beginning and I didn’t like grown up Toby either. This couple had soo many things against them it just wasn’t fair but in the end they fought for each other and for the truths to come out. That’s all I needed was all the truths to come out but CL doesn’t give you everything until the right time.I loved that there were other POV scattered throughout, I’m amazed at how angsty this book was, especially at the end- I couldn’t sit still and I was swearing out loud. Can’t wait to see where you go next CL Matthews.

This book takes you through the life's of a family who struggle with grief, cheating, hopelessness and the void of numbness. It's a story about the little things when dealt with wrongly can turn into huge mistakes and the impacts they have. It's Heart breaking, beautiful and soul consuming. An inspirational story, I can't wait to read more from these characters.