One Last Breath

The Borderline #1

by Laura Griffin

He's an ex-cop. She's an ex-wife. And they're both out for revenge on the same man....

When pampered former cheerleader Feenie Malone takes a job writing fluff pieces for her South Texas paper, she has no idea she's about to stumble into a juicy news story that could launch her career -- if it doesn't get her killed first.

Almost as soon as she breaks out her press pass, she crosses paths with Marco Juarez, the macho PI obsessed with solving his sister's murder. The information he has might be the perfect lead -- but his dangerously sexy looks could be a deadly distraction.

Juarez has zero patience for reporters, especially mouthy blond ones. But with the evidence pointing to Feenie's ex-husband, Marco thinks she could be useful. Confident he can keep her on a tight leash, he lets her in on his investigation. He quickly discovers he's underestimated his new partner, as well as the danger they both face.

Now he must protect her -- to the very last breath....

Genres: Romantic Suspense, Romance, Suspense, Mystery, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Thriller

464 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 25, 2007

About the author

Laura Griffin is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty books and novellas. She is a two-time RITA Award winner, as well as the recipient of the Daphne du Maurier Award. Laura got her start in journalism before venturing into the world of suspense fiction. Her books have been translated into fourteen languages. Laura lives in Austin, Texas, where she is working on her next novel.
Series:
* Texas Murder Files
* Tracers
* Wolfe Security
* Alpha Crew
* Moreno and Hart Mysteries
* Glass Sisters
* The Borderline

Reviews

[A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ditched after 75 pages.

Romantic suspense laced with humour created through the klutzy behavior of the disaster-prone, too-stupid-to-live heroine?



No, thanks.

[ElaineY · Rating 1 out of 5]

New author for me again. Brace yourself.

If Marco's no nonsense attitude towards the heroine, Feenie, grates after awhile (this IS supposed to be a romance!) then Feenie deserves it and much less. She is so dumb, to call her a dumb blonde would be insulting every blonde in the world.

Griffin has her heroine insist on following the PI hero, Marco Juarez, everywhere even though he's told her not to so that he can do his job without her getting in the way - or killed. Of course, the ex-cop now PI, knows all Feenie is good for is a quick fuck - which is why when he first met her 2 years ago trashing her soon-to-be husband's belongings, he didn't even hit on her. He doesn't want that kind of girl, see. Now, 2 years later and he with his own agenda, I get the idea - thanks to the author - that Marco hasn't changed his opinion of Feenie one bit. Unlike the dumb blonde, Marco isn't impulsive so he's pretty focused on finding out who killed his sister. The poor guy's way is dogged by the dumb blond's even dumber behavior and so the book plods along this way despite the promising prologue dealing with Marco's sister's murder.

The defining dumb blond moment comes when Feenie, once again, insists on not being left behind on Marco's investigation so she makes sure she's on Marco's boat when he's waiting for Feenie's ex to go 'fishing'. Marco had taken her for shooting lessons (strike one against him) and so he's given her his mother's gun (maybe they do deserve each other!). Feenie then trips and falls in the boat and of course the bad guys hear the gun go off since Feenie & Marcos have been following the bad guys' boat in the middle of the night. Of course the villains give chase but the hero manages to elude them and they spend the night in the boat.

Feenie decides she wants to fuck Marco so she comes out of the shower in a towel and nothing else and drops said towel in front of Marco who's laying on his bed. Of course hero asks heroine if this is what she really wants and of course she says YES. I'm waiting for a book where the heroine who drops her towel and asks the hunky Hero-With-The-Bulge if this is what HE really wants. LOL!

It takes 2/3 of the book to get here by the way and then...zilch. I think the heroine did have an orgasm but I'm not sure if poor Marco-With-The-Bulge did. If the author isn't going to be explicit then do not give the idea that it's going to be. Unfortunately, this book does lead you on to think it's going to be action-packed and loaded with hot sex due to the hype the author gives Marco Juarez. He is, after all, a sexy hunk who's mysterious and reticent, full of brooding sexual magnetism and he has the hots for Feenie. And don't forget the ever-present Bulge. Marco lives up to the character the author promises him to be but the author cheated me by not following through with the heat factor. After saddling me with the most annoying heroine I've come across in a long time, the least I could have gotten for my trouble is one, just one, satisfying sex scene. There are great romantic suspenses out there with subtle sex scenes like Sandra Brown's Play Dirty, Vicky Hinze's Lady Liberty or Michelle Jaffe's Bad Girl so it's not as if I have to have hot sex in a romance to likre it.

I just can't see any reason why Marco would want Feenie after he gets the info that will lead to closure on his sister's death. Sure he'll have sex with her but even the author doesn't think it's important enough to write much about this so I don't feel so bad that I don't buy into a future for these two. Marco far deserves a smarter woman than this bimbo he's saddled with and I have books on my TBR pile I know are better.

[Christa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, but it is not of the caliber of my favorite romantic suspense authors, such as Karen Rose. The book is romantic suspense with some humor included. The hero was very appealing, and the heroine was likeable. She did some things that were less than intelligent, and this lessened my opinion of her as a character. The next book by this author is about two of the minor characters from One Last Breath, and I am interested in reading their story. This book was interesting, and reading it was a pleasant experience.

Feenie Malone finds out in the prologue that she has a cheating husband. Two years later, she is trying to break into a career as a reporter. Trying to find out if her wealthy ex -husband has possession of a boat that belongs to her, Feenie inadvertently realizes that he may be heavily involved in several illegal activities. Feenie encounters ex-policeman turned private investigator Marco Juarez who is also interested in the activities of her ex-husband. Marco's sister, who was also in law enforcement, disappeared two years ago, and Marco is determined to prove that Feenie's ex, Josh Garland, had her killed. As Marco and Feenie try to find evidence of her ex-husband's involvement in murder and other illegal dealings, Feenie becomes a target of danger. While Marco tries to protect her, they become intimately involved. Feenie knows that her feelings for Marco are deep, but she is afraid that he is only looking for a temporary physical relationship. When Marco's investigation concludes, he and Feenie must decide what they want from one another.

One Last Breath was a good book, and I will definitely read the next book by this author. I didn't find either the suspense or the romance in this book to be as intense as in most of the romantic suspense that I read. It had more humor than most romantic supsense books, and while I enjoyed some of it, I found myself wishing a couple of times that the author would decide to write either suspense or humor, but not try to put the two together. The hero was an intensely masculine character with some baggage left from the ending of his former career, as well as from his sister's disappearance. The heroine was well meaning, but came across as bumbling and inept much of the time. Even so, they were both likeable, and the book was worth the time spent reading it.

[Julie (jjmachshev) · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW! What can I say? I picked up this book because I saw how high some of you guys (goodreads friends and PBS buddies) had rated this book. I was totally hooked. I went in assuming I wouldn't really like it, but I was so WRONG!

The book has a little humor, a good bit of sexual tension and heat, a tight plot, and a great amount of suspense. If you enjoy Linda Howard/Julie Garwood/Nora Robert's romantic suspense books, then you don't want to pass this one by.

Feenie's a former cheerleader, trophy-wife whose life has officially hit the shi#@er!! Then she stumbles (she actually stumbles quite a bit) onto some information that may enable her to get back at her cheating-louse-lawyer-of-an-ex-husband who screwed her out of just about everything in the divorce. It doesn't take Feenie long to get in WAAYYY over her head!

Marco just wants the name of the hired killer who took out his sister the cop. He's pretty sure it was Feenie's ex who hired the hit man and he runs across Feenie while investigating. The story of how they originally met will leave you in stitches. Anyway, he decides that maybe Feenie can be of some use, and she's pretty hot too. I don't want to give it all away, but these two are quite a pair. Their escapades will leave you giggling and then gasping for breath as you race through the pages to find out what happens next. Don't miss it.

[CD {Boulder Blvd} · Rating 2 out of 5]

I debated between 2 or 3 stars but looking back to the number of times I had to put the book down and take a breather from the characters or a scene, I went with 2 stars.

Feenie isn't the best heroine. She divorces her first husband because he cheated and walked all over her. And then although Marco doesn't cheat he spends the entire book just using her for information and sex. If she isn't being a doormat, then she's doing something TSTL. Her ability to be an investigative reporter is pretty nil. She just came across as just another annoying doormat.

And Marco isn't much for hero material. He pumps her for information, doesn't communicate, ignores her, leaves for weeks and then is back for weeks and doesn't call. If he isn't using her for information then he appears to be using her for sex.

This is supposed to be romantic suspense but for me there wasn't any romance. Their relationship (such as it was) didn't really develop. Showing up drunk for sex after being gone for weeks isn't a relationship nor is it romantic. He doesn't mention his sister's funeral, doesn't ask her to go with him, and finding her there he acts like "oh yeah, you should be with me; let me introduce you to my family as my girlfriend ". But she's desperate so it's ok.

As for suspense, not much of that either. And when the book ended, I felt like there were a lot of hanging items. Some to be resolved in future books, but others just kind of felt like "oh yeah, we got some of the bad guys".

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a first book, "One Last Breath" was pretty good. There were some noticeable misses in the plot, but overall, it was a great story. I didn't feel the passion between to H/h and I thought the heroine showed her blonde a tad too often, for a character who was supposed to have a keen mind under the blond hair.

Feenie Malone is almost down to her last dollar, she is in danger of losing her house and she needs to find a job other than the part time newspaper gig writing about weddings and funerals. Then she stumbles onto a news story that could be her ticket to a full-time position on the small South Texas newspaper except it puts her in the cross hairs of a killer. It also brings her to the notice of sexy former cop, now PI, Marco Juarez whose interest in the case is personal, very personal.

Marco Juarez has taken his sister's unsolved disappearance as a personal mission. He knows in all likelihood she is dead, but for the past two years he has doggedly pursued every lead to uncover what really happened to her and her partner. When Feenie's safety is threatened, he finds that some things are more important than his vendetta. and he has to find a way to protect her and solve his sister's murder.

[Jessie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I like Laura Griffin, especially her Tracers series, but this one was a little disappointing. The book was enjoyable, it was the heroine I had issues with, who was the kind of heroine I despise. She won't listen to the person who knows what they're talking about and as a result of her stupidity, she keeps screwing things up, getting into situations she needs to be rescued from and generally makes me want to slap her. I have no problem with women needing to be rescued by men, assuming the man is a cop or someone who has skills, but I do have a problem with dumb-asses. I was rooting for her to get killed an put me out of her misery. Just one time is would be funny for the guy (after rescuing the stupid woman at great personal peril for the third time) to say "screw-it: Darwinism" and let her reap what she sows.

[Veronica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool book. Fast paced. Exciting.

[Twobchelm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this read, lots of interesting situations . Loved Feeny with her sassy toughness and her loving heart. Marcus wasn’t bad either!

[Katharine. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murder, cops, FBI, drug smuggling, child exploitation, love.

This is another good book from LG. Feenie, divorced from a cheating husband, accidently gets mixed up with a murder victim’s brother and murders for hire. This just the beginning. Non stop action and romance.

[Jane Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primarily a mystery, but there is a developing relationship which I was rooting for.

STORY BRIEF:
Feenie was a high school cheerleader who married the local football star and occupied herself with decorating magazines and charitable activities. She discovered her husband was having an affair. They divorced. Her husband came from a wealthy family and was able to hide his assets, so Feenie got less than normal. She got the house with no furniture and a car she sold because she needed the money. Now she works as a part time reporter for the local newspaper, doing fluff pieces. She accidentally sees Josh with one of his hidden assets, a boat, and Feenie starts spying on him to prove he has the boat. She has a good heart and a good attitude but is not street smart. She follows some bad guys, someone tries to kill her, and she flubs a number of things throughout the story. She’s easy to follow, makes noise when she’s supposed to be quiet, etc.

Marco was a cop who was framed for drug possession. He did not go to jail, but he lost his job. His sister Paloma was a cop investigating a drug smuggling group headed by Josh (Feenie’s ex-husband). Josh or his people murdered her. Marco now works as a PI. For the past two years in his spare time, he has been searching for evidence concerning his sister’s murder. He runs into Feenie while she is spying on her ex-husband. Marco doesn’t want her involved, but she keeps getting in the way, and he saves her numerous times. Feenie starts to fall for Marco, but she fears he only wants her for what she knows about Josh.

REVIEWER’S OPINION:
This was primarily a mystery, but there was a fair amount of romance involved. A lot of time was spent developing the relationship between Feenie and Marco. I was rooting for them to get together throughout. I enjoyed this book. The characters and events kept me interested, and I wanted to keep reading. There were many times I chuckled at unexpected remarks. It was a worthwhile read.

DATA:
Story length: 442 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: 2. Total number of sex scene pages: 5. Setting: current day Texas and Mexico. Copyright: 2007. Genre: romantic mystery suspense.

OTHER BOOKS:
To date, the author has published four books (two series with two books each). This is book 1 of the first series. I recommend reading this book before reading the sequel “One Wrong Step.” Characters and events are introduced which continue into the sequel. For a list of my reviews of other Laura Griffin books, see my 5 star review of “Thread of Fear” posted 5/10/09.

CAUTION SPOILERS:
I would have liked an epilogue to answer some questions. Someone planted drugs on Marco’s property causing him to lose his job as a cop. Who were the bad guys who did this? I wanted to see the bad cops punished and Marco’s reputation restored. I also wanted to see what was going to happen with Josh. What evidence was presented and what would put him in jail. What happened to the tape Robert had? What about Josh’s father? Did Feenie ever get her boat back? None of these questions were answered in this book or in the sequel “One Wrong Step.” However, the sequel did answer some additional Robert questions. The sequel is the story of Robert, Cecelia and the reporter John.

[Meigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad I stumbled upon this author, she has the potential to make it to my sacred list of favorite romantic suspense authors! Loved the storyline, really liked the characters and their interactions and relationships, both the romance and the suspense were enough to make me come running back and put off housecleaning to finish this book!

The characters were well written and developed and the relationships between them were believeable and enjoyable. The author was able to write them with emotion, which made the reader really connect with them. I was mad, laughing, sad,excited, angry all while reading this book. I really grew to like Feenie (despite her oddball name!), I loved Celie, and Marco sounded like a big chunk o' sexy. The suspense side of the mix was really good, although I felt the wrap up of the mystery was a bit on the anticlimactic side and played out rather tidily. There was quite a suspenseful build-up and a lead-on to what I thought would be the "climax". I felt something bigger was going to happen with the unraveling of the bad guys, but it seemed to end too neatly with many unaswered questions. Feenie also had a listening problem that got her into a few hairy situations, which made her come off as a cotton-headed-ninny-muggins at times. Had she just put on her listening ears, she could have avoided some trouble.

The only part that seemed off to me was the timeline in the book. The first half, the reader is able to keep time. It's easy to follow, meaning everything that's happening is within a span of a day or two, then we move nicely to the weekend, now it's next week, etc. In the second half, the time keeping stretched into weeks. One page, you're reading about this week, but then the next page it's as if weeks have passed,which they have. The second half seemed kind of pressed for time, which is why weeks were passing on each page. That didn't necessarily irk me, it was just a really minor thing I noticed.

Overall, excellent book! I went ahead and blindly ordered additional books from Amazon from this author, prior to reading this one. Now I can rest easy knowing if the first one was really good, it's a positive sign the following ones will be just as good or better.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

In One Last Breath, the first book in the Borderline series, we're introduced to Francis "Feenie" Malone, a divorcée who's seeking revenge on her ex-husband. We can see her struggle in the journalism field, making a name for her own, and her anger and heartbreak on her ex-husband. I really felt for Feenie, ever since for page one, and how her former in-laws treated her. Her best friend, Cecilia Strickland, always supporting her, while we witness her own struggles with her own husband. Enter Marco Juarez, a former cop now turned PI, who turned up the heat. We know for sure, sparks would fly between them, a certain chemistry, ever since they got trouble. He's a man on a mission too. Is it hot in here or just me? He's hot, sexy and not bad on the eyes. We witness the chemistry between them, and their love grow, while they both stop at nothing to get the same man, one way or another. This romantic suspense will cool you down this summer.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid suspense novel -- interesting plot, likeable characters; yet I only rated the book a 3/5 stars. About two chapters into the book, I had to check to see what year it was written (2007) because it read like a book from the 1980's. The mansplaining and misogyny the main character, Feenie Malone faces in life and at work (male co-workers called her "babe"!) just seemed so old-fashioned. It really bothered me that men continually treated her like a "dumb blonde" as well. The story does take place in the southeast -- maybe society hasn't caught up to the 2000's -- it just bothered me all of the way through the novel.

That said, part-time journalist, Feeny Malone discovers that her ex-husband is doing many illegal things and she starts trying to get the goods on him. Unfortunately, she has stumbled onto an FBI and a private investigator's investigation. So, she has people both hurting and helping her own investigation. Meanwhile, shots are flying and people are dying.

[MELANIE · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'ai commencé ce livre sans grande motivation, ayant été déçue par la série de J.A. Jance, dans cette même collection j'ai lu Frissons.
J'ai été agréablement surprise. L'intrigue débute par la mort d'une policière. 2 ans plus tard, son frère, ex flic devenu détective, n'a toujours pas pu élucider cette disparition. Il soupçonne un avocat, issue d'une famille importante de la région, mais n'arrive pas à trouver de preuves. Il se retrouve aidé par l'ex-femme de cet avocat, qui se retrouve mêlée par hasard à cette histoire.
Le macho latino qui veut protéger la jolie blonde, qui elle veut prouver qu'elle peut se débrouiller seule... Pas très originale je l'avoue, mais bien traité. Les personnages sont intéressants, il y a un bon mélange entre l'intrigue, de l'humour et une histoire d'amour.
J'ai hâte de commander le tome 2, consacré à la meilleure amie de Feenie.

[Meghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Family bonds

Marco and Feenie. Not a predictable pairing, but a solid relationship as they worked towards their goal of figuring out the clues and about each other. The story has betrayed spouse, missing family and law enforcement, murdered cartel and police, and more surprises. The bad guys are known from the beginning as solving what they are doing is part of the story. The FBI connection is not as strong with this story, though I liked how I was nervous one of them was guilty! I think the one that blew my mind and grabbed my emotions the most was actually Feenie’s best friend, Celia. I hope she gets her story and that we see McAllister and Marco’s mom more!

[Robin Mccormack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laura Griffin's One Last Breath in her Borderline duology was not that great. It has been sitting on my shelves forever and I thought I had read it, but turns out I never did.

Convoluted, yet not, story about a clueless woman married to a 'mob' type guy, who once they get divorced, finally gets a clue, becomes a reporter and sticks her nose into her ex husband's business. With the help of a former policeman, now private eye survives the results amazingly, and falls in love in the process. The characters were really stupid. 3 Stars It was good but....

[Jan Fore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Griffin Again... Always a Powerful Mystery

Great book. Laura Griffin never disappoints. Such great suspense. An oldie but excellent. Two years ago Marco's sister was murdered in Mexico. He's been on the trail of the family who masterminded it and other killings but their money and attorneys kept them in the clear.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really hate to write this as I am a fan of the author. But I just felt like there was a lot of the story missing, like it could have used some more fleshing out. The main character comes across as a dumb blond and her friend is not much better. The hero is dark and hunky but never really endears himself. It was not a bad story, it just felt lacking compared to her other books.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Addicting!

A completely captivating story that keeps you turning the pages as fast as you can.

Characters you love with edge of your seat goodness!

Laura Griffin is the best!

Absolute MUST READ!!

[L Cherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a 3.75 stars for me. The story was interesting and characters were well developed. I generally like more gory suspense in my mysteries but that’s just preference for me. This was a really good read.

[Lara · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the most stupid and boring book. It reads as a bored house wife’s sexual fantasy. The characters aren’t developed and the women are all sexualised and forced around intensively. What an absolute nonsensical mess.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent early Laura Griffin - this is a good mystery, structured well. Some character beats didn’t work so well, but this is compelling anyway. You can see what she’ll become in this book: it has a lot of promise.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great series. Can't wait to read the next.

[Gisela · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

My new favorite!

I have found that I love every single book written by this author. She is truly a talented and gifted writer. I highly recommend this book!

[Myshelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoy all Laura's books

[Sandy McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read. Kept me interested enough to not want to put it down. Will definitely read more of this author's books.

[Lisa Spicer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book! Was thrilled to see there is a part 2

[Diane Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not one of my favorites.