When Dorothea "Dottie/Thea" Matthis was a sophomore in high school, she had two dreams; that of becoming a meteorologist and going out with her crush, Daniel Porter. Daniel Porter is two years older than Dorothea and told her that she is perfect the way she is. However, when Daniel Porter breaks her heart, Dorothea's life is never the same again.

Years later after her failed marriage to Jazz, a local meteorologist, Dorothea becomes manager of an inn, forced to put her dreams on the backburner and at the same she is forced to run into her former crush who has a hefty use of the inn for his one-night trysts. Tired of feeling ignored, she decides on a daring plan to attempt to shake up her life.

Please don't let the cover fool the reader into thinking that this is another run-of-the-mill romance novel that hides the rough edges and seems to be way more fantasy than reality because it isn't; there is exposure of flaws, ugliness within the issues of PTSD and being a curvy girl within today's society, and very little of the ugliness of these topics is hidden from the author's masterful pen.

In addition to not hiding the rough edges, Gena Showalter creates a very memorable heroine and while Dorothea is more secure now than previously, she is not portrayed as extremely secure who has forgotten her roots, for she still has her demons. Most of the times in romance novels PTSD is portrayed as suffering from nightmares and other aspects-such as adjusting back to real life-or even memories get very little mention. In CAN'T HARDLY BREATHE, Gena Showalter doesn't ignore those aspects but brings them to light and even shows that love can be part of the healing in addition to talking about it and having service dogs.

I loved how healing can HARDLY BREATHE felt as well as the relationships between various characters and how nothing seemed instantaneous but instead the characters really had to work for their successes. For me, Gena Showalter really makes the romance work within its pages and shows how healing it can be for Dorothea as well as Daniel. While it's my first time venturing into Gena Showalter's writing, I do hope that in the future I can read more of her books.

Highly recommended for readers seeking a more serious read and not the just standard run-of-the-mill romance novel.