HOLD ME LIKE A BREATH, by Tiffany Schmidt

The story: Penelope Landlow is the daughter of a crime family that deals in black-market organ sales. Need a heart? A new liver? No problem if you have the cash. She also has a disease that keeps her locked up at home. But when a rival "Family" in the business apparently brutally murders her parents and brothers, she stages a disappearance into the night. When she accidentally bumps into the son of one of the other organ-dealing families, she falls in love with him without realizing his true identity. Can Char keep her safe--or is he part of the plot that left her an orphan?

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG; Violence R; Sexual content PG; Nudity G; Substance abuse PG; Magic & the occult G; GLBT content G; adult themes (murder, being orphaned, organized crime) PG-13; overall rating PG-13.

Liz's comments: This is, at heart, a fairy tale mash-up complete with romance and happy ending. However, it's not a fairy tale for the younger crowd: the gangland-style murder of Penelope's family is too chilling, and her being able to fall in love with a mystery guy so soon after such a terrible occurrence kind of pushes the limits on my Suspension-of-Disbelief-O-Meter. Not sure where a sequel would go, either--but for volume 1, go ahead and hand it to 7th or 8th grade girls. Astute reader will guess who Char is long before Penelope does, but romance lovers will find the love-at-first-sight part to be just right.