“Save Your Breath” is a 6th book in Morgan Dane series, a romantic PI mystery/suspense read. And once again I am happy to report that this series is still one of my favorites in this genre! Melinda Leigh has a way of captivating her audience with new cases and keeps the reader on the edge and fully engaged till last pages. Morgan and Lance are one of my favorite fictional couples, and their romantic and professional relationship is one that will stay with me for a while. I have to say that I am quite upset that this is the last book in the series, and I will definitely miss all the characters. 

Thank you NetGalley, Montlake Romance publisher, and the author for providing me with an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Another great read from Melinda Leigh. A great back story continues as the well developed characters continue to grow in each book.  Add in some pretty exciting twists in the thriller while investigating the disappearance of a true crime writer and you've got a really good chance of not getting the laundry done.  Reading the Morgan Dane series has always been a treat.

4.5/5.0

Okay, it’s official. If one is in the mood for a tightly written, edge-of-your-seat thriller that also incorporates a wonderful dose of humanity and love, Ms.Leigh is the one to pick up.  Every.Single.Time!!

I absolutely LOVE how she incorporates real life with all it’s tender, trying, frustrating and loving moments into a state of the art thriller.  Morgan and Lance’s love is strong and secure.  It is an absolute delight to watch them juggle their personal lives with children while balancing their high stress occupations.  This time it is Lance being initiated into Halloween costume buying with three small girls, Morgan making sure she makes breakfast and gets the kids off to school and a myriad of other everyday but very endearing and sweet moments juxtaposed against the anxiety of finding a friend, who has been kidnapped, before it is too late.

I also love how this author can so realistically portray what really happens in an investigation - no matter how stressful or serious. The reader walks through every frustrating possibility and every exhausting dead-end right along with the characters as they chase a myriad of leads, strike out countless times and narrow down the possibilities.  And, Ms. Leigh juggles all those threads masterfully! 

My only complaints (and they are small) is the weird choice of villain and the even weirder climax because of it.  And, my extreme disappointment with the results in Sharp’s and Olivia’s relationship.  Throughout the entire story both regretted taking things so slow and not speaking up with their feelings only to revert rather than progress once things calmed down. 

Everything else was pure endearing, engaging, excitement and heart-pounding fun!

A great suspense story, that combined my love of crime novels with some romance. 
Good fun to read, the twists came a bit out of nowhere, not sure if I would have liked to be lead there a bit more than just randomly thrown in. Also I feel like reading the other books in the series might connect me more to the characters who have already had their own story. 
3.5 stars

Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) provided by the Author and Publisher in exchange for an fair and honest review.

Wonderful mystery with a great plot that doesn't give up its' secrets until the action packed ending. I have always loved Melinda Leigh and her books are consistently top notch. I don't know if the Morgan Dane Series is going to continue, but I hope it will. I love the Dane family and how they have opened their hearts and home to others. The depiction of the kids is spot on and so funny.

Attorney Morgan Dane and PI Lance Kruger are two weeks away from their wedding. Lots to do and now they have a missing friend to find. Lincoln Sharp is the owner of Sharp Investigations and Lance's partner. He has been dating a true-crime writer, Olivia Cruz. They are an older couple, both with bad relationships in their past, so the are taking this slow. When Olivia goes missing without a trace, Sharp is positive that this is a kidnapping and he is scared.

Olivia keeps her current book research carefully quiet, but she is having a dilemma and needs some advice from Morgan, Lance and Sharp. When she disappears, her research is the only clue they have to start with. As they investigate they find some very troubling matters that Olivia uncovered in her research. The more they look, the more suspects they uncover. Time is running out for Olivia and someone is determined to prevent Morgan, Lance and Sharp from finding her.

I've read all of the Morgan Dane books to date, and they have steadily improved over the course of the series, so when the opportunity to read this for review came up, I was very eager to join in! I have to say this is the best one of the series to date!

I loved the conflict between trying to solve the case and deal with things in Morgan's personal life. I liked that we got to see the balancing act between those two demands, as well as the balancing act between Morgan and Logan for parenting. I was especially touched by the scene at the end of the book with Logan and the girls! That was such an "Awww!" moment for me!

The case wasn't particularly unique, but what was unique to me about it was the motive behind it. It was not something that I have ever encountered previously, so that made it pretty special for me! I loved Olivia's ingenuity and grit! She became a much more fleshed out character for me with this book and I'm looking forward to seeing more of her in future books!

I loved the closure that we got with Morgan and Logan's relationship in this book, and hope that those scenes don't signal the end of the series! I am enjoying this too much to have the series end now!

Morgan and Lance are my favorite crime fighting duo! I have been a die hard fan of this series since the very first book came out and none of them have disappointed. This was a great read like every other book in this series. Highly recommend. Thanks NetGalley.

Not only did I enjoy <i>Save Your Breath</i> but, since this was my introduction to Melinda Leigh and Morgan Dane, I’m pleased to have a new series to add to my TBR list! <i>Save Your Breath</i> is number six in the series and checked off many of the boxes on my list of what I look for in reading for pleasure. 

At the top of my list, particularly in the genre of mysteries and thrillers, is whether it's believable.  In this case, the plot is thrilling with just enough twists and complexity to keep the suspense going while staying credible and realistic.  Leigh’s writing is smooth and not overly technical or laden with jargon.  She takes the time to make sure all of the connections and clues are well grounded.   Serious, chill-producing crimes are committed but they are described without a lot of gore or sensationalism.  

The large and varied cast of characters centers on Attorney Morgan Dane, her fiancé, PI Lance Kruger, and his boss, retired police detective Lincoln Sharp.  They are a tight knit group who work closely as a team to solve the disappearance of Sharp’s girlfriend, true crime author Olivia Cruz.   Although these characters are romantically involved, and the series is referred to as romantic suspense, romance is not the focus.  Their convincing emotions are realistic and play a strong supporting role in the story.   There is also a strong support system of family and friends – several of whom just happen to have law enforcement related experience and skill sets.

Am looking forward to back tracking through the series as the author has announced this will be the final entry.  However, there will be a spin-off series in which these characters “will likely make appearances” so my TBR list will keep on growing.

Each Morgan Dane book is better than the last and this one was a thrill ride.  This one keeps you guessing right along with Morgan, Lance and Sharp right until the end.  
This time the mystery involves Olivia, who suddenly goes missing and there are very few clues as to why she's no where to be found.  I love how Melinda Leigh writes from various characters point of view, so the reader knows Olivia is in a serious race against the clock. I was holding my breath through several scenes and couldn't read fast enough!

I have absolutely loved this series. Melinda Leigh sure knows how to write great suspense.. When you pick up a copy its like catching up with friends. This is definetly a series best read in order. So you are familar with the recurring characters. When Olivia disappears in the middle  of the night. Its not like her to let her mother down like that. Her boyfriend Lance gets his friends Morgan and Lincoln, along with the Scarlett Falls police department on the case. As they work the case and the peices fall into place. Will they be in time to save Olivia?
Save Your Breath will have you up reading late as you wont want to put the book down. 
Thanks to Melinda Leigh for writing such a great series. Highly recommended for fans of romantic suspense.
ARC requested from NetGalley in exchange for a voluntary review.

Another hit out of the park for Melinda Leigh!  Loved all the characters as they each came alive, but saddened knowing that this is the last book in this particular series with these special characters.    I so enjoyed the way Morgan, a widow, and her grandfather work as a team to raise her three daughters.  With the addition of Lance, they make a very special family unit.  In this book in the series, a reporter friend named Olivia is missing.  All hands on deck as they all work together to find her in time.  Love the way Morgan’s grandfather and mother both actively help with finding Olivia and solve other cases at the same time.  I am so looking forward to a new series, but will miss these characters.  Many thanks to Melinda Leigh, Montlake Romance, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc of this very recently published book.  Don’t leave this one behind!

Save Your Breath is the sixth and final book in Melinda Leigh’s series of suspense novels featuring defence attorney Morgan Dane, who – together with her three young daughters – moved back to her home town of Scarlet Falls following the death of her husband on active service.  Over the course of the series, Morgan has found love again with Lance Kruger, her former high-school sweetheart, and the couple are planning their wedding, which is due to take place in just a few weeks’ time.

Lance was a police officer and now works as a PI for the firm run by his former colleague and mentor, Lincoln Sharp; Morgan works from an office in the same building and the three are very close and have successfully worked a number of cases together.  Their latest case, however, is one that hits very close to home for Sharp when the woman he’s been dating for the past six months or so, investigative reporter Olivia Cruz, goes missing after having arranged to meet with the three of them the next day to discuss something she’s been working on.

With no other clues or information to go on, Sharp, Lance and Morgan start digging to see if they can tie Olivia’s disappearance to any of her current research projects.  They learn that she’s late with a book proposal to her editor, and find a couple of avenues of investigations to pursue, both of which appear to be related to cases of possibly wrongful conviction and imprisonment – and one of them is coincidentally connected to a meeting Morgan took just that morning.  But of course nothing is ever simple, and the plot takes several unexpected and cleverly executed twists and turns before all is revealed.

Save Your Breath is a suspenseful and enjoyable read in which the author steadily builds the tension as Sharp, Lance and Morgan race against time to find Olivia, while never losing sight of the fact that these are people with complicated lives and complex emotions.  Sharp has always been something of a steading presence in the other novels in the series – even a bit of a control freak; calm and unflappable, he’s a solid, dependable presence, but here, it’s almost painful to witness him as he starts to unravel.  At fifty-three, he’s been single for some time, and as both he and Olivia have been  burned by past romantic relationships, they’ve been content to take things slowly.  But as Sharpe struggles to keep it together and remain positive about finding her, he realises he can’t imagine life without her.

As always, one of the most enjoyable elements of these books is provided by the characters and the relationships between them.  Morgan and Lance are a solid couple who love and support each other unconditionally, and I applaud the author for showing that parenting three children aged seven and under is no picnic and how both of them put their family first.  (The scene where Lance takes the girls shopping for Halloween costumes is cuteness overload!)

I did have a few small problems with the novel overall. I was pleased when I learned it would focus on a story for Sharp and Olivia, who have been striking sparks off each other since Olivia first appeared in an earlier book in the series – so I was a bit disappointed to discover that they’ve been dating for several months by the time this story takes place.  I’d hoped for a little more romantic development, maybe them working alongside each other for a while before the kidnap occurred – and I have to say that the final reveal as to who was behind it and why had me scratching my head a little.  Not because it didn’t make sense, but because it was a bit of an anti-climax after everything Olivia had gone through.

Those niggles apart, Save Your Breath is a fast-paced page-turner featuring a clever mystery and a group of engaging, multi-faceted characters I’ve grown fond of.  It’s a fitting finale to what’s been a solidly entertaining series and fans are bound to enjoy it.

I really enjoy the Morgan Dane books, but be warned; this is not the place to jump into the series. Start at the beginning and read through, because by the time you get to this book, the sixth in the series, the principal characters will start to feel like friends and you’ll be much more invested in the story here when Lincoln Sharpe’s girlfriend Olivia is kidnapped at the very beginning of the book.

Morgan and her two partners in their PI business, Lincoln and Morgan’s partner Lance, spend most of the book chasing red herrings trying to find Olivia. Persistence and good old-fashioned detective work eventually pay off, however, and there’s a dramatic confrontation to rescue Olivia and save her life. I have to say the reason she was kidnapped was totally a new one on me and, as a writer myself, made me laugh, but it’s true that publishing can be as cutthroat a business as any other and with a big contract at stake, the motive was certainly established.

Long-term readers of the series who are invested in Morgan and Lance as a couple will find the ending of this one very satisfying. I’m not sure if it’s the case, but this does read rather as though the series is ending here, and if it does I’d say it’s a pretty good spot to close it out. I very much enjoyed the read, and the series overall. I give it five stars, but with the proviso that this isn’t a standalone and I don’t think you’ll enjoy it all that  much if you haven’t read the rest of the series.

Wow. Just wow. Olivia is kidnapped and Sharp is at his wits end. The woman he has spent the last few months dating, yet keeping at arms length, is gone. Morgan and Lance take a step back in this latest novel as Olivia and Sharp take on a bigger role. And you have mist definitely not seen Sharp like this before. As the team desperately searches for even a hint of a motive, a suspect, a far fetched theory, Olivia faces the nightmare of being held against her will, scared to death and desperately clinging to the hope that Lincoln will find her. He comforts her in the cold dark room she is in, helping her stay strong. Lance and Morgan's wedding  creeps closer with every day, they find themselves with the possibility of having to prospone it. The friends they love and cherish are in pain, one is very sick and another is missing, more than likely not to be found alive. Their strength and determination though will see them through even this and you will hopefully love it as much as I have. I'm not even completely sure if this is the end, though I am pleased to say that if it is I am satisfied with this final chapter. Hopefully it's not! Well done to the Author, action pact, emotional and satisfying in every way.

Here we met Lincoln’s girl, then she disappeared. Where’s she? Did someone took her or what? The group raced with time to find her. There’s suspense, mystery, edge-of-the-seat moments, and everything in between. A fast paced book that thoroughly enjoyable.

I really hoped that this won’t be the last book as I heard that this one is the last book of Morgan Dane. There are cases could be solved by this group. Yet I understand the reasoning as Morgan and Lance relationship was stable and could only move forward to better something, so there would only be case to case after and it could get boring to some.

People said it’s better to end things at high note; and if this really is the last book, the series definitely end at very high note.

I was provided a complimentary copy by the author / publisher through NetGalley, but this in no way influenced my thoughts or opinions.

I probably shouldn’t let this surprise me so far into this series, but it still blows my mind how enthralled I get when I read these books.  As a reader, I’m so vested in the characters, the case, and the suspension that is teased out just right that I barely notice the pages flying past, time going by, or real life around me.  I was so jazzed when I saw this was going to focus on Lincoln and Olivia, but wow, it really floored me how the author brought out their story in much the same sort of trial by fire romance that she put Morgan and Lance through.
Review

Save Your Breath is the sixth in the sensational Morgan Dane romantic suspense series.  The mysteries tend to be standalone, but the surrounding story and characters is ongoing and works best read in order.  In addition, the Morgan Dane series is a follow up to the Scarlett Falls trilogy.

Morgan and Lance think they’ll be up to their eyeballs in Halloween with the girls and wedding preparations.  Never in their worst nightmare would they think they would be working against the clock along side a distraught Lincoln Sharp to solve the kidnapping of Olivia Cruz, Sharp’s girlfriend and a brilliant investigative journalist/true crime author.  They hunt high and low through her life and her research notes to find the one thread that when tugged will lead them to Olivia.  Meanwhile, they know the odds on a retrieving a live kidnapped victim after time passes.  With the assistance of Morgan’s sister Stella, grandpa, and Lance’s mother, they won’t give up.

As I said, I love how the author takes me completely into her book when I’m reading these.  My emotions are engaged with her characters and the situations.  The case is dark and a little gritty.  The early evidence wasn’t much and then they had a white board full of motives and suspects.   Poor Sharp got put through the wringer and Lance and Morgan had to be his pillars through it all.  I liked that the author really did her homework on the justice system, legalities, police procedures, kidnapping crime, and even a bit on domestic abuse and militia.

Oddly, I went right for the right suspect from the moment they were introduced.  I had no reason to, but I kept holding to that person no matter what came up later nor could I say why they were the culprit.  But, there was more to it, of course, and I appreciated getting the big end scene and reveal.

And, yes fans of Morgan and Lance, we got a few tender scenes.  One with Lance and the girls totally made me swoon big.

Now, I am left with a sad face because I must wait for my next Morgan Dane series fix.  I can’t recommend this series enough in print or audio.

My thanks to Montlake Romance via Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This must have been the best book in the series. It was really devastating to how Sharp suffered. He deserves so much more after always helping others. And there wasn’t really anything to go on after ....... went missing. Nobody could help with insides or point the investigation in the right direction. I’m not sure I wouldn’t have given up in ..... place. And I definitely didn’t see the real mastermind behind the scenes. Everybody should read this series!

Great to catch up with the characters in this series. Another fast paced,exciting story which gives us an insight into one of the main characters.
Twists and turns along the way.

Save Your Breath is book 6 in the Morgan Dane series by Melinda Leigh. All of the books can be read as standalone books, but you guys know I love a good romantic suspense series, so I’m going to tell you it’s worth it to read them all and read them all in order. If you have Kindle Unlimited, there’s really no reason NOT to read this series. Or this author’s other books. 
In Save Your Breath, Morgan and Lance are working hard to find Lincoln Sharp’s girlfriend, Olivia Cruz. She’s disappeared in a mysterious manner with very few clues for the gang to follow. Can they find her before it’s too late?
The thing I loved most about this book is Lincoln and Olivia. I’m well beyond the age to be considered a new adult, so the fact that these characters are finding love at a more mature age really appealed to me. Their hesitancy in labeling their relationship and taking it into more serious territory is definitely understandable as both characters have been shaped and burned by past life experiences. Sometimes it takes a pretty big life event to remind us that the future isn’t guaranteed for any of us and that we should always make every moment count.
NICUnurse’s Rating: I’m a pretty big fan of Melinda Leigh’s books. In my opinion, she writes pretty great, and some pretty twisted, romantic suspense books. She leaves just enough breadcrumbs scattered around that the reader isn’t quite sure how to make them all connect until the very end without throwing in too many extraneous details. And if a book keeps me up reading when I really should be sleeping because I just HAVE to know how it ends…well, that’s a great story! As you guessed, this one did just that. Her characters are also varied and multifaceted in this series, yet they all are able to come together as a family, even though some of them are not related by blood. I give Save Your Breath by Melinda Leigh 4.5 out of 5 stars!

I'm a sucker for a Morgan Dane book, and "Save Your Breath" didn't disappoint.  

My favorite aspect of this installment of the series was seeing how Sharp's personal crisis affected his usually calm, poised, professional, cautious demeanor.  When Sharp is drinking COFFEE and getting less than 8 hours of sleep, you KNOW it's hit the fan.  He's violating laws and urging Stella to violate search and seizure laws herself.  With his girlfriend missing, he's a complete wreck.  

As I usually comment with these books, Morgan is the luckiest lawyer in the world.  She doesn't perform any actual legal work, isn't even getting paid on this case, yet she supports 3 children, 1 nanny, and a grandfather, all while working side-by-side with her hunky fiance.  Sign me up for that job!  As a lawyer, I've never only handled just one case, and I've barely been able to pay my rent or mortgage most months.  Go, Morgan!  You keep living in that dream world!  I love living vicariously through Ms. Dane.  

I liked the case a lot.  A missing true crime writer, few clues, multiple suspects.  This was one of my favorite Morgan Dane cases so far.

I would have liked more family life in this book.  Seeing how Lance now has to navigate raising 3 daughters from another man is compelling, and this book could have used more of that.  

Overall, this was a solid Morgan Dane book.