Breathe, Annie, Breathe

After all this time, reading a book by Miranda Kenneally feels like coming back home…

As you might know, there are many stories in this “series”, though they are more like companions. All of them are stand-alone stories, vaguely related, and they can be read separately without trouble. I for one have only read the first book, Catching Jordan, a story that I found to be completely entertaining and sweet. And then came this beauty.

“Maybe you don’t have to figure life out at all.Maybe it just is.”

“Breathe, Annie, Breathe” is a wonderful book…
I loved the overall story, the characters, the ending – which for me didn’t read like a cliffhanger at all (like so many people kept saying)… It just felt like a beautiful, open ending, full of hope.

Annie is extremely easy to relate with…
She is so transparent, her emotions so open. I can’t say that I cared much for her past relationship – you know, with it being ‘past’ I felt quite a bit detached, but I understood her pain, her commitment.

Her heart is filled with grief (as she’s lost an entire future with the boy she loved) and she is struggling to heal, but there is so much more to this character and I loved to see her evolve through the story.

I loved that she didn’t stay buried under all that pain, I loved that she decided to stand up and train for the marathon, even though it was still a bridge to the past. She needed closure and she needed to move on, and this simple decision opened so many doors to a brighter future, one filled with friends and challenges and achievements.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not only a book about getting over a lost love, “Breathe, Annie, Breathe” is also about friendship, about working hard for the things you want so badly, and about getting there through all the pain that comes with the hard work. It is a book about devotion, about exceeding your limits, about pushing yourself over the edge when you feel like you can make it.

“Anything can happen. Anything. Anytime, to anyone. We have to live now. Now, now, now.”

And it is also a love story…
The romance is sweet. It doesn’t have the usual pacing at all, it feels more like a summer storm – unpredictable, unstable, still refreshing and most needed.

The guy is a bit too much to be true in a way (notice that I didn’t say too good to be true) – it’s like he can do anything and everything, mostly when it comes to extreme sports, and for his age some things felt like being a bit over-the-top, but I will forgive this flaw because I liked him so much. Yes, Jeremiah was good for Annie and that’s what counts.

Friendship is another aspect that I loved…
There is a message hidden here, about never leaving your friends behind when you fall in love, as you should keep having your own friends, you own life, no matter how in love you are, or how you feel like you two are going to be together forever. It helps if the future is not what you hoped, if it crumbles.

And talking about friends, if you’ve read the other books in the series, you will be pleased to see some of the main characters from back then.

I could say more about this book, but I won’t. I will leave you discover it page by page and I hope that you will enjoy it just as much as I did. Just keep in mind that this is a wonderful contemporary story that has the power to steal your heart.

Happy midnight reading!

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