Breathe, Annie, Breathe

Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally

Age: Adult / Young Adult
Category: Romance / Contemporary
Rating: 4 stars

Rosie Thinks: Sometimes, you just need a book that’s going to leave you with a smile afterwards. This is that book. It’s so cute, but has an at times sad and gripping storyline. Our main character is Annie, who is struggling with guilt over her boyfriend’s death. To honour his memory and as some kind of atonement, Annie signs up to run a full marathon. Downside: she hates running, and has never run a day in her life.

This story is structured around her preparing for the marathon, but it’s a lot more than that. It goes into her dealing with her grief and how her boyfriend’s accident has affected all areas of her life: family, school, and friends. She’s also struggling with her feelings for her coach’s younger brother, the charming Jeremiah. He makes her smile and feel things she hasn’t felt before, but that makes her want to stay away from him at the same time. A second chance romance is a tricky cliche to navigate. It’s too easy for an author to justify a new relationship by vilifying the old one, or comparing the two guys and finding the previous one lacking. Or, my least favourite of all, having the entire thing be completely unrealistic. This wasn’t the case here. The topic was dealt with gently and thoroughly, in a way that was very realistic and heart-breaking.

Jeremiah himself has to be one of my favourite leading guys. His personality is one I’ve never seen before, so it came across as incredibly original. This whole novel was a breath of fresh air. I’ve trained for something similar to a marathon, and the details were all there: the body breaking down, the stomach cramps, and how it’s the strength of your mind that will get you through it. I loved all of it! This is in a series of books called Hundred Oaks, and some characters from the other books do appear, but I read it as a stand-alone and had no trouble.