Book Review: Breath of Scandal by Sandra Brown

I love reading books, all kind of books, especially romantic genre fictions.

Do you know why?....because it is purely fictional, entertainment, happily-ever-after books. Recently, i have gone on a book spree, reading all books whichever i can get a hand on in my free time. I'm currently reading books by Sandra Brown....she writes mostly contemporary romance and romantic suspense fictions.

The one thing i love about Ms. Brown's books is that there are no short cuts in the story, it will be a slowly developing story from the beginning to the end. Here is a review of one of her books i read two weeks back.

 Breath of Scandal by Sandra Brown

The storyline revolves around a young girl, Jade Sperry, 18 years old,  from a small southern town Palmetto, DC. She is an intelligent, pretty and a self-confident girl who had planned a bright future with her boyfriend, Gary Parker. But, unfortunately, she is attacked and raped by the wealthiest boy of the most powerful family of the town and his two best friends. She is unable to prove the attack on her and no one believes her innocence including her childhood friend and her own mother. Gary gets convinced that Jade has cheated on him when she gets pregnant and he finally commits suicide. Later, she gets a college scholarship and leaves Palmetto, with only one goal in life - to plan revenge and retribution against the three boys who destroyed her innocence and life.

If i have to describe the book in one word, it would be the book has a Powerful Story !  

It was really heart-touching, the pain and heartache suffered by Jade by her own people. The horrifying attack on her was extremely painful which again leads to worse circumstances, which ends with Gary's suicide.

In between Jade's story, Ms. Brown tells the story of another person, Dillon Burke, who loved his beloved wife and six-month old son deeply and lost them in an accident which he blames on himself.

Both Jade's and Dillon's stories goes parallely untill Jade decides to come back to Palmetto to construct a textile industry which was her and Gary's long ago dream and exact revenge on her enemies. Jade hires Dillon as the contractor for the new project in Palmetto.

The characterization of Jade and Dillon was fabulous, Ms. Brown has depicted magnificiently how each of them overcomes their emotional traumas and come together in a emotional relationship with deep feelings for each other. The slowly developing romance between Jade and Dillon was really sweet to read.
 
The depiction by Ms. Brown of each stage in Jade's and Dillon's life from their normal happy life to how it changes to the worst nightmares of their life and the deep relationship they develop after coming back to Palmetto, felt very realistic. Her depictions of the three rapists, their life, who are adults now was also commendable - especially when except one, the other two were repentant and were finally punished by fate. One more best thing about the story i would like to mention is the way by which Jade is executing her revenge -by financially stripping of the wealthiest family in Palmetto, the main person responsible for destroying her life, as she knows losing the power they hold on the town is the biggest defeat for them.

Okay, so that was a brief review of the book. I really LOVED it! It is a great read, a fast-pacing drama, you will not feel like keeping down the book untill it is finished. I would recommend everyone to read this wonderful book!!