Abandoned by Booklikes

Well I loved the fact we get to see the HEA for characters we met in the first book, while focusing on new love interests in this one. "Breathless" follows Eddy's niece Portia. 

Portia is now in charge of her family's bookkeeping at the hotel they run in the Arizona territory. The family had to flee after her uncle Rhine admitted his mixed race heritage. Portia doesn't think she will ever find a love like her Aunt Eddy an is happy to just focus on her job. However, old family friend Kent Randolph finds Rhine again and asks for a job. Rhine agrees to let him work for him. Kent and Portia have sparks flying with Portia wondering if she can just kiss Kent and forget about him. We get some introduction to new characters as well as revisiting with the older ones.

Jenkins did a great job of making me think that Portia and Kent had feelings for each other and how suited they were with each other. Portia is easily understandable based on how her mother sent her and her sister away in order for her to have a better life. Portia's mother does pop up again, but it's a plot hole I expect is resolved in book #3. I also loved the back and forth with her and her sister Regan. Though I will roll my eyes a bit that all of their talk was mostly about getting married and what man. They both are strong women and I wish that Jenkins had thought to do a novella of them growing up in Arizona. The tales we are told via other characters about them learning to ride horses, do shingling, etc. were so interesting. 

I also loved how Kent's life changed once he pushed back against his father's expectations of him being a doctor too.

We get secondary characters and definitely get to see that old adage, not all of my skinfolk are kinfolk in this one. 

Also thankfully we have Jenkins acknowledging the times of the day with the women's suffrage movement and how it was excluding women of color. I also loved how we hear about Geronimo (and he even makes an appearance). I also could not believe that men of color could not be deputized and if they were murdered or stolen from there was nothing they could do unless a white man or sheriff came along and pressed the issue. 

The book ties things up neatly with Portia and Kent, but things are left open about Regan. I am definitely going to find and read book #3!