katkinney's review
5.0
Wonderfully witchy paranormal romance
I absolutely loved JUST BREATHE by author Sarah Doughty. Aisling Green has just turned 21 and discovers that she, like her grandmother, has supernatural powers. They’re both powerful witches. Unfortunately, Aisling’s grandmother passes away before she has a chance to do much more than pass on her grimoire, leaving Aisling alone and without supernatural training. I loved the way the elements of the supernatural world were slowly introduced. Connor, who is a light witch, agrees to take on Aisling as a trainee and also protect her from Zoe, a dark witch, who also happens to be his ex.
The book does an excellent job of mixing in outstanding worldbuilding and a strong urban fantasy plot with a steamy romance that threatened to incinerate my kindle with some hot scenes in the bedroom! Connor and Aisling’s forming romance and student-mentor relationship is twisted up in the trauma of what happened between Zoe and Connor in the past—the fact that he trained her, was involved with her romantically, and then she turned dark. Will this eventually happen to aisling? Dark, delicious stuff!
This had a great ensemble cast. I especially liked the besties relationship shown between Angela the librarian (who has a special role to play in the world) and Aisling. Bugs the cat and Shadow the werewolf were favorites as well. Aisling has a special destiny, and someone dark from her past is standing in her way. This is a wonderfully witchy book, with vampires, werewolves, pixies, witches, charms, curses, potions and more. And with that ending… I now need book two! 5/5 stars.
Trigger warnings:
I absolutely loved JUST BREATHE by author Sarah Doughty. Aisling Green has just turned 21 and discovers that she, like her grandmother, has supernatural powers. They’re both powerful witches. Unfortunately, Aisling’s grandmother passes away before she has a chance to do much more than pass on her grimoire, leaving Aisling alone and without supernatural training. I loved the way the elements of the supernatural world were slowly introduced. Connor, who is a light witch, agrees to take on Aisling as a trainee and also protect her from Zoe, a dark witch, who also happens to be his ex.
The book does an excellent job of mixing in outstanding worldbuilding and a strong urban fantasy plot with a steamy romance that threatened to incinerate my kindle with some hot scenes in the bedroom! Connor and Aisling’s forming romance and student-mentor relationship is twisted up in the trauma of what happened between Zoe and Connor in the past—the fact that he trained her, was involved with her romantically, and then she turned dark. Will this eventually happen to aisling? Dark, delicious stuff!
This had a great ensemble cast. I especially liked the besties relationship shown between Angela the librarian (who has a special role to play in the world) and Aisling. Bugs the cat and Shadow the werewolf were favorites as well. Aisling has a special destiny, and someone dark from her past is standing in her way. This is a wonderfully witchy book, with vampires, werewolves, pixies, witches, charms, curses, potions and more. And with that ending… I now need book two! 5/5 stars.
Trigger warnings:
Spoiler
child abuseiamjamface's review
3.0
There is a lot of repeated descriptive information. And the MC is really obsessed with the love interests Adam’s apple.
bookwormjazz's review
5.0
Reading Just Breathe was akin to taking a breath of fresh air. It’s just so…refreshingly different. Sarah has taken many common tropes found within urban fantasy and paranormal romance and has turned them on their heads, thereby creating the perfect start to what promises to be an action-packed, exhilarating series.
The first aspect of this novel that I want to draw attention to is Connor, a light witch who tasks himself with the job of guiding Aisling as she enters an, until recently, unknown world where “everything is real”. He is, without a shadow of a doubt, the sweetest, kindest and warmest male lead I have ever encountered within this genre. There’s none of this macho bravado, or hard-headed arrogance that’s become so prevalent in male characters. I actually bookmarked a particular scene that perfectly showcases the sheer selflessness of his character. It’s a scene where he and Aisling are playing catch with Shadow, Connor’s werewolf companion. Aisling asks him if werewolves like to play catch and Connor simply answers “Shadow does. That’s all that matters.” There’s no embarrassment in his admission. He simply wants to see his friend happy and will do anything, no matter how seemingly trivial, to do that, regardless of what others in their world might think. It’s rare to come across such a good-natured, pure character. I’m definitely team Connor!
Now, let’s talk about Aisling and her power. She’s…well, powerful. And. This. Is. FANTASTIC! All too often it’s about the mighty, all-powerful males protecting ‘their’ women but it’s the complete opposite with Just Breathe. Sure, Connor is powerful in his own right (the fact that he enables Aisling to tap into her immense power demonstrates this), but Aisling’s power far surpasses his own and Connor is absolutely 100% okay with that. He suffers no dented pride in being protected by Aisling. In fact, he feels pride in seeing her harness her power in such an effective way and I think this pride and trust lay the foundations of a strong and healthy relationship.
Just Breathe is a book filled with many paranormal creatures, but its main focus is witches. Thanks to series such as Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark, I harbor a soft spot for witches and was intrigued to see what Sarah’s take on them would be…and I wasn’t disappointed! From the aura colors surrounding each paranormal creature to the legend of the original twelve Earthen witches and their demise, it’s apparent that Sarah has thought long and hard about the world she has created and the characters populating it. There’s no detail too minor for Sarah. Auras are explored in depth, often in the most amusing of ways (just gonna say “red aura” and leave it at that) and each and every character has been fleshed out with their own individual personalities and idiosyncrasies. Ultimately, all of these elements combined make for an intriguing and exciting world for a reader to become immersed within.
Just Breathe is the first book in the Earthen Witch series, a series in which each book has consistently received 4 or 5 star reviews on Goodreads. Really looking forward to reading the next book!
The first aspect of this novel that I want to draw attention to is Connor, a light witch who tasks himself with the job of guiding Aisling as she enters an, until recently, unknown world where “everything is real”. He is, without a shadow of a doubt, the sweetest, kindest and warmest male lead I have ever encountered within this genre. There’s none of this macho bravado, or hard-headed arrogance that’s become so prevalent in male characters. I actually bookmarked a particular scene that perfectly showcases the sheer selflessness of his character. It’s a scene where he and Aisling are playing catch with Shadow, Connor’s werewolf companion. Aisling asks him if werewolves like to play catch and Connor simply answers “Shadow does. That’s all that matters.” There’s no embarrassment in his admission. He simply wants to see his friend happy and will do anything, no matter how seemingly trivial, to do that, regardless of what others in their world might think. It’s rare to come across such a good-natured, pure character. I’m definitely team Connor!
Now, let’s talk about Aisling and her power. She’s…well, powerful. And. This. Is. FANTASTIC! All too often it’s about the mighty, all-powerful males protecting ‘their’ women but it’s the complete opposite with Just Breathe. Sure, Connor is powerful in his own right (the fact that he enables Aisling to tap into her immense power demonstrates this), but Aisling’s power far surpasses his own and Connor is absolutely 100% okay with that. He suffers no dented pride in being protected by Aisling. In fact, he feels pride in seeing her harness her power in such an effective way and I think this pride and trust lay the foundations of a strong and healthy relationship.
Just Breathe is a book filled with many paranormal creatures, but its main focus is witches. Thanks to series such as Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark, I harbor a soft spot for witches and was intrigued to see what Sarah’s take on them would be…and I wasn’t disappointed! From the aura colors surrounding each paranormal creature to the legend of the original twelve Earthen witches and their demise, it’s apparent that Sarah has thought long and hard about the world she has created and the characters populating it. There’s no detail too minor for Sarah. Auras are explored in depth, often in the most amusing of ways (just gonna say “red aura” and leave it at that) and each and every character has been fleshed out with their own individual personalities and idiosyncrasies. Ultimately, all of these elements combined make for an intriguing and exciting world for a reader to become immersed within.
Just Breathe is the first book in the Earthen Witch series, a series in which each book has consistently received 4 or 5 star reviews on Goodreads. Really looking forward to reading the next book!
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