Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
3.5 stars I think …
I’ll admit it… I still think that when I see a ton of 4 and 5 star reviews that I’m about to read something that is different and unique and blow my mind good.
I feel like I should know better by now.
Ten Tiny Breaths is good… the writing is wonderful and the story is well done, but original it is not. I pretty much had the story figured out by the 60% mark. (cue yelling at my sister)
We first meet Kacey Cleary and her sister Livie on a bus to Miami… escaping their pedophile of an uncle. Kacey’s life ended four years ago when she was in a car accident that stole the lives of almost everyone she loved, and at times you’re left to wonder if she had wished hers had ended too. BUT she’s got her sister to worry about now.
So they escape to Miami and try to move on with their lives.
Kacey has spent the last four years pushing everyone away, never trying to make connections and cutting herself off from feeling anything for anyone. When they move into their apartment she wasn’t expecting to find a friends like Storm (Nora) and Trent living on each side of their new apartment.
Trent of course is incredibly beautiful… just like Kacey and Livie and Storm. But please don’t get me wrong, I really liked him…. I think. He seemed to realize that Kacey had major issues from the get-go and never forced anything with her. He’s wonderful really.
What I liked… The characters. While not completely original, they were likable and written in a way that made them fresh. Storm was really well-written and I enjoyed her impact on the story.
Kacey. She wants what is best for her sister and so she cleans up her self-destructive ways and I can admire that. I think her character definitely shows some growth here and I always like to see that too. But admittedly… through most of the story, I felt like this…
She was just too hard and I never felt any kind of connection with her and while I could empathize with her situation I didn’t find myself caring all that much and that sucks when it’s the main character.
NOW – this is where my review gets spoilery. I’m sorry… I can’t not, because the things that bothered me really were the big parts of the story. BE WARNED NOW!
I was so mad by the end of this book that I was literally yelling at my sister. In my opinion the end was cheesy and unrealistic and it made me angry. The fact that Trent admitted to STALKING HER FOR TWO YEARS… and that has no impact on the outcome of this book… I was shaking my damn head. How do you reconcile the fact that this guy lied to you about who he was and manipulated your feelings and stalked you, yet you find yourself still in love with him?
 I get the forgiveness, don’t get me wrong. I can get on board with that, but love? Love is built on trust, and all the things that he does, violates her trust. SO forgive me, but I’m not buying it.
All that aside… *deep breath* I thought this was really well-written, the flow and pacing of the story was wonderful and the characters jumped off the page. The story of this young girl who has lost almost everything because of someone’s bad decision and learning how to cope with it is a life lesson we all can take to heart. Learning to empathize and understand others is also another.
This is in the New Adult category. I think I was expecting a bit more toward the adult end of the spectrum on this one, but it wasn’t. In fact it could probably have been categorized in the YA genre. There were definitely sparks between Trent and Kacey,
His index finger reaches up and runs down my temple, down my cheek, to join the rest of his hand to cup my jaw. he rubs my hanging bottom lip with the pad of his thumb as I gawk up at him. I can’t move. Not a muscle, like his touch hast he power to paralyze. “You are so very beautiful.”
And that was only the second time they met! I definitely recommend this for anyone who doesn’t mind a predictable plot, angst, drama and swoony boys… (because Trent is definitely swoony). I think my problem was that it just fell flat because I was expecting more after all the hype. The author will be writing another in this series from Livie’s point of view – that’s her sister.
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