Inhale by Kendall Grey

Inhale:
Strangers in reality, inseparable in dreams…

After years of suffocating under her boss’s scrutiny, whale biologist Zoe Morgan finally lands a job as director of a tagging project in Hervey Bay, Australia. Success Down Under all but guarantees her the promotion of a lifetime, and Zoe won’t let anything—or anyone—stand in her way. Not the whale voices she suddenly hears in her head, not the ex who won’t take no for an answer, and especially not the gorgeous figment of her imagination who keeps saving her from the fiery hell of her dreams.

Gavin Cassidy hasn’t been called to help a human Wyldling in over a year, which is fine by him. Still blaming himself for the death of his partner, he keeps the guilt at bay by indulging in every excess his rock star persona affords. That is, until he’s summoned to protect Zoe from hungry Fyre Elementals and learns his new charge is the key to restoring order in the dying Dreaming. He never expects to fall for the feisty Dr. Morgan…nor does he realize he may have to sacrifice the woman he loves to save an entire country.

Inhale is the first in the Just Breathe trilogy, and Kendall Grey really pulled me into her world of the Dreaming: a place of dreams and so much more. The characters were honest and well rounded. There was a secondary character we meet halfway through the novel that raised the question of who's side he is truly on, and that really intrigued me. Kendall's use of imagery was easy to visualize, and there were times that I could swear I heard the ocean waves lapping lazily along a beach. The story flowed smoothly and at a relatively quick pace, the further into the novel, the more intense it became, keeping me turning pages long into the night. Most of the book takes place in a dream-like state that felt completely realistic and added to the fantastical, unique storyline. I loved that the romance surrounding Zoe and Gavin was entwined with danger, it was an added bonus of tension and intrigue. I honestly would have liked a little more information about the Sentinels, Elementals and Wyldlings: their history and how they are created. But despite that little exception to my enjoyment of Inhale, this book kept me completely interested from beginning to end.