Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Because Life is Better with Happily Ever Afters

  • HOME
  • BOOKS
    • New & Upcoming Releases
    • All Books
    • Chicago Stars Series
    • Wynette, Texas Books
    • Stand Alone Books
    • Autographed Books
    • Printable Book List
    • International Editions
    • Signed Bookplates
  • SEP
    • All About Me
    • Appearances
    • Awards
    • F.A.Q.
    • Videos
    • SEP’s Newsletter
    • Contact Susan
  • FUN STUFF
    • Monthly Sweepstakes
    • SEP’s Newsletter
    • Epilogue to Heaven, TX
    • How Panda Got His Name
    • My Secret Service Valentine
    • Writing Tips
    • Interviews
      • SEP Interviews SEP
      • Kristan Higgins Interviews SEP
You are here: Home / Books / Breathing Room Test

Breathing Room Test

Pin It

  • Buy Now!
  • Reviews
  • Author’s Notes
Buy Now!

Mass Market Paperback:
e-Book:

Reviews

“…witty, moving, passionate and tender.” —Publishers Weekly

“In a word, fabulous. This is, without a doubt, Susan Elizabeth Phillips’s best book to date…. Known for her warmth and humor, Ms. Phillips has become one of the most cherished authors of our time.” —Romantic Times

“Phillips delivers her trademark dead-on characterizations and delicious humor…” —Dallas Morning News

“…whatever Phillips writes is a treasure, but perhaps her greatest gift is that…she gives us hope…. I dare you not to feel good after you’ve read one of her books.” —Oakland Press

“…splendid entertainment…. Flavored with Phillips’ clever humor and quick wit, this is a pure joy to read.” —Booklist

 

Author’s Notes

HOW I CAME TO WRITE BREATHING ROOM

“Do you really know how to cook,” Isabel asked, “or are you faking it?”
“I’m Italian,” Ren replied. “Of course I know how to cook.”
“You’re only half Italian,” she pointed out. “The rest of you is a rich movie star who grew up in the States surrounded by servants.”
“And a grandmother from Lucca with no granddaughter she could pass the old ways on to.”
Isabel was surprised. “Your grandmother taught you to cook?”
“She wanted to keep me busy so I wouldn’t impregnate the maids.”
“You’re not nearly as rotten as you want me to believe.”
He gave her his bone-melting smile. “Baby, all you’ve seen is my good side.”

I traveled to Italy not to get inspired. I know, a dumb idea. But for years, I’d dreamed of taking a walking trip through Tuscany, and in September 2000, my dream came true. For eight days, my husband Bill and I walked through one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world with sixteen other friendly travelers, two charming Italian guides, and helpful people to take care of luggage, since hauling a backpack wasn’t part of my fantasy. We stayed in quaint hotels overlooking tidy village piazzas as well as a lovely country villa set in a beautiful garden.

Each day, we walked ten to twelve miles, wandering through olive groves and vineyards or strolling along country lanes. For lunch, we usually stopped at a rustic trattoria. One memorable afternoon we had a picnic at an old stone farmhouse. At night, over leisurely dinners, we sipped local wines and chatted about our adventures during the day.

From the beginning, I’d been determined not to think about writing while I was on vacation. I’d just finished THIS HEART OF MINE, and I desperately wanted a creative break. The trip would provide much-needed time to refill my creative well. Except…this was Tuscany, the land that had inspired DiVinci and Michaelangelo, Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. What could I have been thinking?

It happened on the third day. We were walking along one of the most beautiful stretches of road I’ve ever seen, not far from Volterra, Italy. There, with the Tuscan sun shining down on me and the scent of wild sage lingering in the air, the idea for BREATHING ROOM leaped into my head.

I knew immediately that I wanted to put my uniquely American characters in Italy, and by the end of that day’s walk, I had a pretty good idea who they were. My heroine would be Isabel Favor, America’s Diva of Self Help. Life is going well for Isabel until, within a matter of weeks, the empire she’s built comes crashing down. Broke, heartsick, and soul-weary, Isabel heads for Italy in search of a little breathing room.

And whom should she meet but Lorenzo Gage, Hollywood’s favorite villain? Ren is a viciously handsome man whose career was born when the public developed a taste for a bad guy with a face to die for. Needless to say, his intentions toward Isabel aren’t honorable.

What happens when a woman who only wants good for the world is stuck with a man who makes his living killing people on the silver screen? If you’d like a Sneak Peek, click here.

Happy reading, everyone!




Cover: Breathing Room

Avon Mass Market Paperback
SBN-10: 0061032093
ISBN-13: 978-0061032097

      She’s Dr. Isabel Favor, America’s diva of self-help.

 

      He’s Ren Gage, Hollywood’s favorite villain.

 

    Sometimes you just know that God has a sense of humor.

Dr. Isabel Favor, author of Four Cornerstones for a Favorable Life, has sacrificed everything to build her self-help empire. Then, in a matter of weeks, it all comes crashing down. She loses her money to an unscrupulous accountant, her fiancé to a frumpy older woman, and her reputation to headlines denouncing her as a fraud. America’s diva of self-help soon discovers she can fix everyone’s life but her own. Broke, heartsick, and soul-weary, she heads for Italy in search of a little breathing room.

Lorenzo Gage makes his living killing people… on the silver screen, that is. He’s viciously handsome and sublimely talented. But as he begins his vacation in Italy, he’s also vaguely dissatisfied. Being a villain with a face to die for has its rewards, but he hates the feeling that everything he’s neglected in life is catching up with him. Then he spots Isabel sipping a glass of wine in a sidewalk café. A good guy wouldn’t think of seducing such a tidy-looking woman… but he’d never seen the fun in playing the hero.

It doesn’t take long for Isabel to realize she’s escaped one kind of chaos only to be plunged into another. Even the shelter of a simple stone farmhouse nestled in a Tuscan olive grove can’t provide her with the refuge she needs—not when the townspeople are scheming to drive her away, and her plan to restore her reputation has come up empty. And especially not when the man who deceived her refuses to leave her in peace.

Breathing Room is a book for any woman who’s dreamed of wandering through a vineyard, of lazing under the Tuscan sky, or of reforming a deliciously wicked man. This is a story of hope and renewal, of love and redemption when it’s needed the most. Sometimes it takes a special place… a special love… a little breathing room… for life to deliver all its glorious promise.

Browse Inside

Filed Under: Books

Copyright © 2021 Susan Elizabeth Phillips · Log in