Monday, June 15, 2015

Review: "Breathe, Annie, Breathe" by Miranda Kinneally

Annie hates running. No matter how far she jogs, she can’t escape the guilt that if she hadn’t broken up with Kyle, he might still be alive. So to honor his memory, she starts preparing for the marathon he intended to race. But the training is even more grueling than Annie could have imagined. Despite her coaching, she’s at war with her body, her mind—and her heart. With every mile that athletic Jeremiah cheers her on, she grows more conflicted. She wants to run into his arms…and sprint in the opposite direction. For Annie, opening up to love again may be even more of a challenge than crossing the finish line. 
"Breathe, Annie, Breathe is an emotional, heartfelt, and beautiful story about finding yourself after loss and learning to love. It gave me so many feels. Her best book yet." — Jennifer Armentrout, New York Times bestselling author of Wait for You
Thanks to Sourcebooks Fire for the free review copy in exchange for my honest review!
Did I like this book?
Once I picked this one up, I had a hard time putting it down.  I'm currently training to do a 10km run, and even though that's nowhere near a marathon, I felt a kinship with Annie from the very first page.  Like Annie, I've always hated running, and no matter how many times I've tried to run, I've never been any good at it.  Unlike Annie, I'm not doing it to honour anyone's memory, it's more for myself, so maybe that's why she seemed to be more motivated than I am most days, haha!

So while I felt immediately connected with Annie due to our mutual dislike of running, my respect for her as a character grew throughout the course of the book.  She goes through a lot, and it all felt real to me, which is something I always appreciate in a story.

There were some other great characters here, and I realize some of them have been introduced in Kenneally's previous books, but I didn't feel lost or confused about any of them - this can definitely be read as a standalone.

Jeremiah...hmmm, not really sure what I think of him.  Okay, maybe I'll sum it up like this: I liked him, and I loved how he was so patient and supportive of Annie, but I feel like I could have stood to learn a bit more about him.  And the poor guy, the bar was set pretty high, what with his competition being a ghost and all.

Which brings me to Kyle.  Gah, Kinneally slayed me with the descriptions of Annie's relationship with him!  I had that hard lump in my throat a few times while reading, I just felt so sorry for what both of them had lost.  

Will you like this book?

I think Kinneally fans will definitely want to read this book, but even if you've never read any other books in this series, don't hesitate to pick this one up.  I really enjoyed it and I think you will too!

Will I read more by this author?

Absolutely!  I already have "Jesse's Girl" waiting for me next - can't wait, I've heard so many good things! - and I'll probably be going back to read Kinneally's entire backlist in the near future!

My rating:

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