cupcakegirly's review
5.0
I had the privilege of reading a very early version of this, something I'm still smiling about! One of the reasons I enjoy Miranda Kenneally's books so much is because of her writing style, it's clean, crisp and easy to follow. The other is because she gives us characters who are wonderfully human, perfectly flawed and easily releatable, and Annie and Jeremiah are no different. Breathe, Annie, Breathe, is a story about taking risks, learning to love again and finding yourself in the process.
Annie is trying to find a way to deal with her grief, having lost her boyfriend Kyle not too long ago, and Jeremiah is working to repair his relationship with his family. He's an adrenaline junkie who thrives off of taking risks and looking for the next high, even if it means he ends up hurt. Their attraction to each other is palpable right from the start and even though Jere is by Annie's side both in and out of training, it's easy to understand why she's afraid to move past the "Friendzone" with him. Doing so would mean putting herself and her heart on the line again, something Annie isn't sure she can do. But life is full of risks, you just have to decide which ones are worth taking.
As with the other books in her Hundred Oaks series, Breathe, Annie, Breathe, can be read as a stand alone, BUT, it's a lot more fun to read the previous books first,because Sam Henry and Matt Brown especially since some of those characters appear in this one. One in particular had me seriously considering training for a marathon, but then I remembered:
A) I hate to run. Unless, of course, Matt Brown was at the finish line holding the next Hundred Oaks book, then I would make an exception.
B) The 5k I ran a few years ago nearly killed me. (Not really, but it sure felt like it.)
C) I couldn't actually hire him to train me because Matt Brown is fictional. *pouts*
And then there is Jeremiah Brown...
We're first introduced to Jere as Matt's younger brother in, Things I Can't Forget, and I never had any doubt that I would love him like I do Sam, Will, Matt and Jack, but after Breathe, Annie, Breathe, I don't just love him, I LIGHTENING BOLT Jeremiah Brown! So much so, Andi from Andi's ABCs and I decided to have buttons made before BEA this year.
I may not have been able to relate 100% to Annie's desire to run a marathon, but I could totally relate to Jere's need for adventure. I like adventure too, I'm just a little moresafe selective about mine. For example, I'm terrified of heights, but I love to ride roller coasters, the faster the better, and I even jumped out of an airplane a couple of years ago. But you will not get me on a Ferris Wheel. Ever.
Breathe, Annie, Breathe is an excellent addition to the Hundred Oaks series and I'm really looking forward to where these characters take us next!
Annie is trying to find a way to deal with her grief, having lost her boyfriend Kyle not too long ago, and Jeremiah is working to repair his relationship with his family. He's an adrenaline junkie who thrives off of taking risks and looking for the next high, even if it means he ends up hurt. Their attraction to each other is palpable right from the start and even though Jere is by Annie's side both in and out of training, it's easy to understand why she's afraid to move past the "Friendzone" with him. Doing so would mean putting herself and her heart on the line again, something Annie isn't sure she can do. But life is full of risks, you just have to decide which ones are worth taking.
As with the other books in her Hundred Oaks series, Breathe, Annie, Breathe, can be read as a stand alone, BUT, it's a lot more fun to read the previous books first,
A) I hate to run. Unless, of course, Matt Brown was at the finish line holding the next Hundred Oaks book, then I would make an exception.
B) The 5k I ran a few years ago nearly killed me. (Not really, but it sure felt like it.)
C) I couldn't actually hire him to train me because Matt Brown is fictional. *pouts*
And then there is Jeremiah Brown...
We're first introduced to Jere as Matt's younger brother in, Things I Can't Forget, and I never had any doubt that I would love him like I do Sam, Will, Matt and Jack, but after Breathe, Annie, Breathe, I don't just love him, I LIGHTENING BOLT Jeremiah Brown! So much so, Andi from Andi's ABCs and I decided to have buttons made before BEA this year.
I may not have been able to relate 100% to Annie's desire to run a marathon, but I could totally relate to Jere's need for adventure. I like adventure too, I'm just a little more
Breathe, Annie, Breathe is an excellent addition to the Hundred Oaks series and I'm really looking forward to where these characters take us next!
dtrumps's review
4.0
Originally posted on Gone Pecan
Annie, several months after her boyfriend’s death, has decided to run a marathon in his name because she feels guilty for wanting to go thirty minutes away to college instead of marrying him right out of high school. So she gets herself a running coach (I had no idea there was such a thing outside of high school and college) because she obviously has no idea what she’s doing.
Enter Jeremiah Brown, younger brother of Matt Brown from Kenneally’s Things I Can’t Forget, who is one of my favorite YA book boyfriends. Matt is Annie’s running coach and Jeremiah, now 20 and in college, is working for him. Annie and Jere have this instant attraction to each other, but there are several obstacles, including Annie’s grief and Jere’s inclination to dangerous activities like bungee jumping and motorcross, that keep them separated.
So Annie and Jere begin a tentative friendship, which is less than Jere wants but she cannot seem to let him out of her life. Annie and Kyle’s relationship, as well as the pitfalls of growing up, has caused her friendships to slide away, so Annie doesn’t have anyone other than her family. She needs to be interacting more with other people her age and get ready to move away. Annie is not really the type to put herself out there, and she is a little jealous of the friendship of other girls at school, so when a couple of them reach out to her, she tentatively moves in that direction.
This book is about grief and it’s effects. Annie is quite young and losing Kyle was devastating, but the people in her life don’t want her to wallow in the pain. Her mother and brother were very sweet, but they were ready for Annie to get back out there and not miss out on life and anything that might come her way. I loved how cute they were when Jere was around and Annie had to keep reminding them that they were JUST FRIENDS.
Overall, it was a bittersweet book about Annie finding the courage to move on after the love of her life dies. She’s still reeling the from guilt and loneliness that comes with something like this. Annie was brave, though, deciding to do something that she’d never even contemplated doing before and stuck with it, despite all the pain and complications. I loved that about her.
This book brings in a lot of characters from the other books in the series. Most of them, Matt and Jordan, have grown up and it was really sweet seeing them older and what direction their life has taken. Savannah, from Racing Savannah, was one of the girls that Annie becomes friends with, so she was the same age (I haven’t read that book yet, I need to get on it because she was adorable). It’s been so long since I read the other books, that I didn’t remember a lot of what and who were in them, so I think a reread might be in my future.
This book is less about the romance, though that was definitely there, than about Annie moving on and growing up. Jere is there for her in both ways and was a real prince. I loved their friendship as well as the other friendships she develops over the course of the book. A lot of times, friends are more important than family and I know, leaving this book, that Annie will be just fine because of all the people she has in her corner. Sometimes a book and it’s characters will make an impact on you in a way that makes you want to think about how you’re doing in life and what you could do to be a better person and more happy. Breathe, Annie, Breathe is definitely that book for me and I think it could be for a lot of people.
4/5
Annie, several months after her boyfriend’s death, has decided to run a marathon in his name because she feels guilty for wanting to go thirty minutes away to college instead of marrying him right out of high school. So she gets herself a running coach (I had no idea there was such a thing outside of high school and college) because she obviously has no idea what she’s doing.
Enter Jeremiah Brown, younger brother of Matt Brown from Kenneally’s Things I Can’t Forget, who is one of my favorite YA book boyfriends. Matt is Annie’s running coach and Jeremiah, now 20 and in college, is working for him. Annie and Jere have this instant attraction to each other, but there are several obstacles, including Annie’s grief and Jere’s inclination to dangerous activities like bungee jumping and motorcross, that keep them separated.
So Annie and Jere begin a tentative friendship, which is less than Jere wants but she cannot seem to let him out of her life. Annie and Kyle’s relationship, as well as the pitfalls of growing up, has caused her friendships to slide away, so Annie doesn’t have anyone other than her family. She needs to be interacting more with other people her age and get ready to move away. Annie is not really the type to put herself out there, and she is a little jealous of the friendship of other girls at school, so when a couple of them reach out to her, she tentatively moves in that direction.
This book is about grief and it’s effects. Annie is quite young and losing Kyle was devastating, but the people in her life don’t want her to wallow in the pain. Her mother and brother were very sweet, but they were ready for Annie to get back out there and not miss out on life and anything that might come her way. I loved how cute they were when Jere was around and Annie had to keep reminding them that they were JUST FRIENDS.
Overall, it was a bittersweet book about Annie finding the courage to move on after the love of her life dies. She’s still reeling the from guilt and loneliness that comes with something like this. Annie was brave, though, deciding to do something that she’d never even contemplated doing before and stuck with it, despite all the pain and complications. I loved that about her.
This book brings in a lot of characters from the other books in the series. Most of them, Matt and Jordan, have grown up and it was really sweet seeing them older and what direction their life has taken. Savannah, from Racing Savannah, was one of the girls that Annie becomes friends with, so she was the same age (I haven’t read that book yet, I need to get on it because she was adorable). It’s been so long since I read the other books, that I didn’t remember a lot of what and who were in them, so I think a reread might be in my future.
This book is less about the romance, though that was definitely there, than about Annie moving on and growing up. Jere is there for her in both ways and was a real prince. I loved their friendship as well as the other friendships she develops over the course of the book. A lot of times, friends are more important than family and I know, leaving this book, that Annie will be just fine because of all the people she has in her corner. Sometimes a book and it’s characters will make an impact on you in a way that makes you want to think about how you’re doing in life and what you could do to be a better person and more happy. Breathe, Annie, Breathe is definitely that book for me and I think it could be for a lot of people.
4/5
pikasqueaks's review
4.0
This book is the standout for me with Mirand Kenneally's books. There are some concerning common threads in all of the ones that I've read so far, but I have to say that I can tell the author's writing is maturing, and she's getting to know her characters a little bit more along the way.
Annie is a typical girl. She's not great at running, but after her long term boyfriend dies before he's able to complete his first marathon, she decides to finish on his behalf. I thought the premise of the story was super cute, and definitely something memorable. Death of the significant other doesn't happen much in YA, and when it does it's kinda more dramatic than anything else. BAB takes it in a positive, healing direction, rather than an angstfest. We do get some overwhelming guilt that isn't explored as well as it could be , but the overall focus on the story is not emotions.
The author also manages to work in some great class struggles in with the story, which I adored. Annie is from a working class / poor little area, lives in a trailer park, and became distanced from her best friend after the friend moved up in class due to her mother's marriage.
What was lacking from this book was some kind of self-awareness for Annie. She's not very self-aware about anything that she does. She's very hypercritical of herself (beats herself up over making out with Jere, the love interest), but it's not obvious where it comes from.
Jere is a weird love interest. He's pretty unique in his presentation, the adrenaline junkie who slows down and falls in love. I didn't understand why he fell in love with Annie, though. The only thing they had in common was running, and besides that, it didn't really seem like there was anything there. It felt like they were suited better to be friends, even though because of his blah blah abs and muscles and all of that (yawn, rolling my eyes, wondering how exactly Jere gets so ripped without heavy weight lifting? he does extreme sports and then stops and then he starts running all the time and somehow his runner's body is just different than everyone else and he's ripped? ok, sure...)
I enjoyed Annie's progress in terms of moving on from her dead boyfriend, letting Jere in, and moving on to college. We don't see a lot of YA where the kids actually go to college, so it was interesting to see that worked in. I kind of wish it'd all been set like that, because the whole thing with Annie's mom and brother was a snooze.
Other reviews mention the cameos from the other books, but I honestly didn't catch on to any of that. None of Kenneally's characters have been paticularly memorable -- even Annie is kind of a stock character without a strong personality who just happens to exist in this world where things are happening around her. But I think she was the strongest one yet.
Annie is a typical girl. She's not great at running, but after her long term boyfriend dies before he's able to complete his first marathon, she decides to finish on his behalf. I thought the premise of the story was super cute, and definitely something memorable. Death of the significant other doesn't happen much in YA, and when it does it's kinda more dramatic than anything else. BAB takes it in a positive, healing direction, rather than an angstfest. We do get some overwhelming guilt that isn't explored as well as it could be , but the overall focus on the story is not emotions.
The author also manages to work in some great class struggles in with the story, which I adored. Annie is from a working class / poor little area, lives in a trailer park, and became distanced from her best friend after the friend moved up in class due to her mother's marriage.
What was lacking from this book was some kind of self-awareness for Annie. She's not very self-aware about anything that she does. She's very hypercritical of herself (beats herself up over making out with Jere, the love interest), but it's not obvious where it comes from.
Jere is a weird love interest. He's pretty unique in his presentation, the adrenaline junkie who slows down and falls in love. I didn't understand why he fell in love with Annie, though. The only thing they had in common was running, and besides that, it didn't really seem like there was anything there. It felt like they were suited better to be friends, even though because of his blah blah abs and muscles and all of that (yawn, rolling my eyes, wondering how exactly Jere gets so ripped without heavy weight lifting? he does extreme sports and then stops and then he starts running all the time and somehow his runner's body is just different than everyone else and he's ripped? ok, sure...)
I enjoyed Annie's progress in terms of moving on from her dead boyfriend, letting Jere in, and moving on to college. We don't see a lot of YA where the kids actually go to college, so it was interesting to see that worked in. I kind of wish it'd all been set like that, because the whole thing with Annie's mom and brother was a snooze.
Other reviews mention the cameos from the other books, but I honestly didn't catch on to any of that. None of Kenneally's characters have been paticularly memorable -- even Annie is kind of a stock character without a strong personality who just happens to exist in this world where things are happening around her. But I think she was the strongest one yet.
msethna's review
4.0
Breathe, Annie, Breathe definitely falls under the category of my guilty pleasure books. Looking through my list on Netgalley, I knew I had to read this next. I love reading YA/new adult romance stories and after reading so many books outside my comfort zone in February, this book was a perfect read. Miranda Kenneally knows how to write in a way that hooks the reader in and not stop until you are done. After reading Breathe, Annie, Breathe, I have added several other books from Kenneally to my to-read list. I think this one will be popular among the high school girls.
jessica22's review against another edition
4.0
Surprisingly really good. I actually listened to this book while I went running and this gave me motivation because Annie was awesome how hard she was working and what she was doing it for. There wasn't a ton of action but this was a book of self discovery and the emotions were high. The ending had me in tears, both happy and sad.
sarastar's review
5.0
Heartfelt and touching. I think every girl has abit of Annie in them.
Annie is a beautiful character, real in every sense as a girl.
The Choices we are given and decisions we have to make.
Running the marathon for Kyle is no easy task, and Jeremiah is such a sweet surprise, the risk taker, searching for meaning in life, challenging himself to find his grove until he meets Annie.
Then adrenaline takes on a new meaning.
I love the way Miranda Kenneally writes. She doesn't explain romance in every detail, but yet it's there and you feel the love. the way she writes sex is so good, without being detailed, yet it does not lessen the impact of completion or chemistry.
I love it, the subtle signs of love in the characters and their need for each other no less than if it was described.
I think i found my true calling.
Running a marathon cant be easy for anyone, someone who isnt into sports. I am not, in high school i avoided it like a disease, i would hideaway, i couldn't stand i...lol.
For Annie, i felt the emotions, everything she feels, every step of the way, i was with her. When she got sick, blister from hell and dying lol.
Then the thrill of pushing yourself to the limits and winning, coming out on the other side knowing that you did not quit and finding love in all that is truly scary and exhilarating.
Loved it.
Annie is a beautiful character, real in every sense as a girl.
The Choices we are given and decisions we have to make.
Running the marathon for Kyle is no easy task, and Jeremiah is such a sweet surprise, the risk taker, searching for meaning in life, challenging himself to find his grove until he meets Annie.
Then adrenaline takes on a new meaning.
I love the way Miranda Kenneally writes. She doesn't explain romance in every detail, but yet it's there and you feel the love. the way she writes sex is so good, without being detailed, yet it does not lessen the impact of completion or chemistry.
I love it, the subtle signs of love in the characters and their need for each other no less than if it was described.
I think i found my true calling.
Running a marathon cant be easy for anyone, someone who isnt into sports. I am not, in high school i avoided it like a disease, i would hideaway, i couldn't stand i...lol.
For Annie, i felt the emotions, everything she feels, every step of the way, i was with her. When she got sick, blister from hell and dying lol.
Then the thrill of pushing yourself to the limits and winning, coming out on the other side knowing that you did not quit and finding love in all that is truly scary and exhilarating.
Loved it.
basicbbookworm's review
3.0
Made me want to get back into running haha. Cute little YA romance. A little bit of teen sex/drinking.
varishaasim's review
5.0
I love everything about this book. It gives you all the feels and I REALLY recommend this book. It helped me get out of my book slump. The romance was amazing and the lesson was beautiful. Annie changes a lot throughout the book and becomes an amazing confident young women. This book is empowering and inspires you to try new things. In this book forgetting about the past isn't the way to move on. Annie reunites with her past and learns to live in the moment. Overall a beautiful book and I really recommend it.