Breathe, Annie, Breathe

Breathe, Annie, Breathe was an amazing piece of literature!! Kenneally has definitely done it again. The basic premise of this book is that of an 18 year old girl, Annie, who has just lost her long-time boyfriend and love of her life, Kyle. We find out fairly early on that Kyle’s death was due to a car accident of some kind. Full details are revealed later on. Kyle always had the dream of running in a marathon and had just made it to 20 (I think) miles before passing away. Annie has decided that she will run the marathon for him, even though she despises running and has no clue about the first thing when it comes to training for one. Enter Matt (you may remember him from Things I Can’t Forget). Matt has his own race training program in which Annie (with the help from Coach Woods (Jordan Woods from Catching Jordan)) signs up for and begins training for the Country Music Marathon a couple months away. Insert love interest, Jeremiah Brown, Matt’s younger brother. With his help and affection Annie is able to train harder than before and find room in her heart for another man. This book tugged at my heart strings and tear ducts while having me laughing equally throughout. I enjoyed Annie’s character and how we see her evolve from this angry, depressed, teenage girl, to one who is strong and determined. Jeremiah Brown was the perfect love interest. He pushed and encouraged Annie, but also knew when to give her the space she needed. I really love how Kenneally brings back the main characters from her previous books. Not only do you get a new amazing character to add to the blend, but you get to see what the old characters are up to as well, such as Jordan and Henry, as well as Matt and Kate. After following Annie through her training I was left wanted to run a marathon. An inspiring peace of work that was beautifully written!

First and foremost I will state of the bat that I was lucky enough to read a very, very early draft version of this book that was sent to me by the author. I say this because I want it clear that the opinion I have on this book was not swayed by any shape or form by the opportunity to be a BETA reader. These thoughts are my thoughts and my thoughts alone.

With that out of the way I can tell you that Breathe, Annie, Breathe is the MOST FANTASTIC book that Miranda Kenneally has ever written. It had emotion and a beautiful story and fantastic writing. It had all the things I have come to expect from a Kenneally book but on a level that was different from her other books. Breathe, Annie, Breathe is definitely a heavier subject since it deals with death and guilt and being left behind, but Kenneally hit it out of the park with this one and showed the depth of her writing.

Breathe, Annie, Breathe is the story of, you guessed it, Annie. Annie is training to run a marathon to honor her boyfriend who unexpectedly died. Filled with anger and sadness and guilt, Annie decides to honor Kyle’s memory and to do the thing he dreamed of doing and never did, run all 26 miles. With the help of some familiar faces (see the first books in the Hundred Oaks series) Annie begins training and trying to start a life that doesn’t involve Kyle. What Annie didn’t expect though was the attraction she feels to her trainer’s younger brother Jeremiah. And as Annie and Jere get closer Annie has to make a decision just where she wants her life to actually go.

This book is really hard to put into words to show how really good it is. What I can say is that it was really poignant. My heart just broke for Annie. Here she was this 17 year old girl that had her whole life to look forward to. She was going to college and was going to make something of herself. And the rug was pulled right under her when her boyfriend died. Sure she was still going to go to college and have a career, but Kyle was supposed to be by her side for all of it and then he was just gone. I can’t imagine what that would be like at my age never mind for a 17 year old that thinks her boyfriend is the be all and end all of her life. Even feeling so lost Annie did the one thing she could think of and that was to run because that was what Kyle liked to do and had dreamed of running a full marathon. Actually the running was what I really admired about Annie because it ended up symbolizing two things. It symbolized her love for Kyle and it symbolized her having enough guts to keep on going even when the wind was knocked out of her. And in a weird way it was Kyle telling her it was okay to move on in the direction of college and life. And he brought her to Jeremiah who changed her in a way she never saw coming.

Ah, Jeremiah Brown. What do I even say about him??!! I loved him for the brief time we saw him in Things I Can’t Forget so I was over the moon when I found out he was the "hot Kenneally boy" (that is a technical term!) in Breathe, Annie, Breathe. And trust me when I say hot he was. But he was also really sweet and patient and caring. He was pretty much a typical boy with his competitiveness and his need for a rush, but he also took thought when it came to other people’s fears and worry for him. And he was the PERFECT counterpart for Annie. She was terrified of losing someone else she loves so she held back, especially after learning about his love of extreme sports and danger. But Jere was also able to teach Annie a lot more about herself through his love of the rush. Basically they had major chemistry and that is all I’m going to say about that.

Simply put, Breathe, Annie, Breathe was phenomenal. I’ve now read it twice it is got better the second time which was hard to do. Kenneally put her heart and soul into this book and wrote a winner. It was one of those books that I just laughed and cried and smiled and sniffled over. It was 100% Miranda Kenneally and it was 100% awesome. Can’t wait for her next masterpiece.

Miranda Kenneally is one of my new favorite authors. In the past month I have read all of her other novels and this one doesn't disappoint. Kenneally takes the reader on a journey with the main character, Annie, as Annie trains for a marathon she is running in honor of her deceased boyfriend, Kyle. The book follows Annie through her training schedule and the events that coincide with the different races she is running. The pacing in the book is fantastic. I very much enjoyed the way that the author formatted the book to mimic the running schedule. It helped keep time and I felt as though I was taking the journey with her. This is a book about running, and it is a book about facing the challenges in your life head on (even when you don’t want to). This is also a love story, love of self and romantic love. Annie has a lot of guilt to deal with and she faces a different kind of guilt as she meets and begins a relationship with Jeremiah. Their friendship is well written and believable (even the river scene!). The friendships and female relationships that Annie tries to build are also believable, as is her struggle with beginning college. One thing that I love about Keanneally is that she revisits her old characters. Jordan Woods was back as the football coach in Annie’s high school, and various other characters made cameos. I recommend reading all of Keanneally’s books, though they aren’t a series and can stand alone. I was sad when this book ended because I felt as though I really knew Annie. I wanted to see her complete the race for Kyle and I wanted to see her overcome the guilt in her life to find new love. A wonderful book that I will be highly recommending to my school library and students!

There is just something about Miranda Kenneally's books that hooks me into reading them start to finish without wanting to stop...and Breathe, Annie, Breathe was no exception. This story again takes place in the world of Hundred Oaks as her previous four books do, but this one edges toward the older end of YA with an 18 year old main character heading off to college and a 20 year old romantic interest. Annie is a character I emphathized with as she is struggling with her feelings and guilt over the loss of her longtime boyfriend in an accident. She decides to train to run a marathon that he was going to do but never got the chance to, and during that time meets another guy. Her fear of losing someone close to her again makes her hesitate to get involved, even as she gets closer to him. This is a book about grief and finding the strength and peace to be able to let someone else in after losing the one she thought she'd be with forever. But it's also a story of family and friendships and romance. It felt like an honest book, and it was enjoyable to read. I also appreciate how characters from Kenneally's previous books make appearances in Breathe, Annie, Breathe allowing loyal readers to get an update of sorts on where they've ended up as well.

The Hundred Oaks series are favorites in my classroom. This one does not disappoint. Also love the deviation from the other title, with the exception of Things I Can't Forget.

I was really excited to read this book. I am a huge fan of Miranda's books and have anticipated every book since Catching Jordan released. The writing is wonderful, the plot was perfect and the girl learning to do something that wasn't easy was heart wrenching.

One of Kenneally's best books since Chasing Jordan. I've always been a fan, but her last two books were only decent compared to this fantastic addition to the Hundred Oaks series.