ONLY A BREATH APART

By: Katie McGarry

Genre: Y/A Contemporary Romance

Year: 2019

Rate: 5 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

“Success isn’t making the right choice every time. Success is trying again after you’ve failed.”

A little about the book:

“Jesse dreams of working the land that’s been in his family forever. But he’s cursed to lose everything he loves most.

Scarlett is desperate to escape her “charmed” life. But leaving a small town is easier said than done.

Despite their history of heartbreak, when Jesse sees a way they can work together to each get what they want, Scarlett can’t say no. Each midnight meeting between Jesse and Scarlett will push them to confront their secrets and their feelings for each other.”

My review:

Adults are awful!

Well not all of them, just those ones who have forgotten what is to be a child, those who don’t know the real meaning of love and those who lost theirs inside Peter Pan.

That wasn’t the way I wanted to start my review, but it’s one of the things that hooked me deeply into the story, the importance of keeping the innocence and the adventure in our heart in order to live the life the best what we can.

Now, after saying this, let talk about the book, Only Breathe Apart is a whole complex, sensitive, heartfelt plot. It tells the story of Jessie and Scarlet, and their journey to rediscover their friendship and love that one was lost. More than that, it’s their journey to find the real meaning of what is Love, to find themselves, who they are and who they want to be, and how to fight prejudice and discrimination.

“Is it possible to love someone who hurts you? Is it possible for the person who hurts you to love you?

There is more, the author brings to the story a sensitive topic about family abuse, physically, mentally and emotionally, as the terrible reality of how some people living under this situation can possibly think that is normal and they don’t know how or don’t want to break the vicious cycle.

“A different type of pain. Your body may not be cut or bruised, but your soul is ripped apart all the same.”

There’s friendship too, the real one when friends don’t look like friends, but they really are, and the fake one, those friends that they are something else but friends.

I found this book different from others written by Katie. It’s deeper, more powerful, it shows how “the real-world works.”

Another thing I like, are new elements incorporated into the story, magic, mystery, and a mystique aura, definitely the author nailed it.

About the writing, Katie’ style is magnificent, her dialogues, and descriptions are so effective that readers don’t realize how deep involve they are into the story.

The characters, each one of them are unique, especially main characters:

Jesse is a warrior, and a broken wing, he desperately wants to believe in himself and in the people he loves.

Scarlet is another broken wing but for a different reason, she’s strong, sweet and innocent at the same time. She wants to success despite the world tell her she will fail.

 

“Jesse was freedom, when so much of my life meant confinement. He was laughter during dark nights, he was the warrior who scared the monster under my bed away.

Finally, what I like the most besides the reference to my favorite classic, Peter Pan is the beautiful prose, Katie has a gift to squeeze our hearts with every word, to make us cry, sigh, laugh, smile. Readers can feel every character’s emotions and, in this case, readers can feel every breath.

“ ‘Where exactly are we going?’

‘Same place as always.’

I’m dumbfounded as he walks towards his land. ‘And where is that?’

‘Second star on the right then straight on the till.’

There is just one question that I didn’t know why it wasn’t answered and I think I didn’t understand one of Jesse’s choices, but in that case, it wasn’t the writing or the character or the author, I think it was more about me and what I would had done.

“My heart beats, his hearts beats and beneath us the land breathes in.”

This book is perfect, not justs for young adult but for everybody like I said adults need to keep the innocence in their heart and this book can helps with that.

100% recommended.

Note: I received an ARC from Inkslinger PR through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. And I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Excerpt:

~SCARLETT~

My entire body seizes. “You’re supposed to give me a ride home.”

Glory ends the call and offers me an apologetic expression. “I forgot I had a phone meeting. I’ll take you home, after the call, but this will be a lengthy session.”

Meaning I won’t be home by curfew. “Reschedule.”

Glory has a thoughtful look as she approaches me. One that makes me feel like I should run. She leans forward and says in my ear, “You felt something when you saw the Chariot.”

The moment she placed that card on the table I felt as if I had sprinted headfirst into a wall. It was a stunned feeling, as if I were lost in a fog, but I won’t admit that. Not to her, not to anybody.

“You’ve been asleep for a very long time,” she whispers. “It’s time to wake up, Scarlett. There’s a whole word of possibility waiting for you.”

I step back from her because this lady is insane. “I need you to take me home.”

“I can’t, but I’m sure Jesse can lead the way.”

Um…no. I spin on my toes, and I’m out the door, down the stairs and I head east for home. Seconds later, the screen door slams shut again, and there are heavy footfalls on the wooden steps.

“Wait up!” Jesse calls out.

Nope. Not going to happen. I enter the tree line and curse the sky above that there’s no moon. This is the country, which means that besides the fading light from Glory’s house, I’m in complete darkness.

“Scarlett!” Jesse tries again. “Wait!”

But I don’t. I walked this land hundreds of times with Jesse, sometimes by myself so I could find him when I needed a friend. I can do this on my own.

“Let me find you so I can walk you home,” Jesse says.

He’s to my right, and I hurry because I don’t want to be found. My pulse pounds in my ears, and my blood tingles with this need to stay hidden, to stay alone.

Once upon a time, Jesse was my best friend, and then one day he froze me out. He stopped answering the door when I knocked, he ran away when he saw me coming across the field and then when we were forced into the same space on the first day of our freshman year, he humiliated me in front of the entire school.

Jesse Lachlin crushed me, and while I feel sorry for him because his grandmother died, I don’t forgive him for leaving a scar on my soul.

“Dammit, Scarlett, stop being so stubborn.”

My jaw clenches, and it takes an immeasurable amount of self-control to not explain to Jesse in a very loud tone that he’s the biggest jerk I’ve ever met. Doing so will inform him where I’m located, and I need him to leave me alone.

I push forward, faster this time, but then my foot snags on a root. My balance is thrown and my arms swing wildly in the air. I attempt to reach for something to break my fall, but my fingers catch air. The sensation is like the first massive hill of a roller coaster as my stomach lifts, and I brace myself for impact with the ground.

I close my eyes, tense my muscles and I’m caught. Strong, warm arms weave around me from behind and then my back is pressed flush against a solid chest. My heart leaps, and my lungs are robbed of air.

“You okay?” Jesse’s mouth is incredibly close to my ear, and his hot breath tickles my skin. I tremble because of the adrenaline or because of this achingly beautiful intimacy, I don’t know.

“Are you okay?” he asks again, and this time his arms tenderly squeeze me as if he’s offering comfort, as if he honestly cares. It’s been so long since anyone has hugged me that a part of me melts into the embrace as if I’m dry ground welcoming a warm rain.

Note: Photos and excerpt were provided by @katiemcgarry or @InkSlingerPR. 

ON THIN ICE

By: Julie cross

Genre: Y/A Contemporary fiction

Year: 2019

Rate: 3,7 stars 💥💥💥🌟

“Brooke Parker never expected to find herself in the tiny town of Juniper Falls, Minnesota. Of course, she also never expected to lose her dad. Or for her mom to lose herself. Brooke feels like she’s losing it…until she finds Juniper Falls hockey. Juniper Falls girls’ hockey, that is.

Jake Hammond, current prince of Juniper Falls, captain of the hockey team, and player with the best chance of scoring it big, is on top of the world. Until one hazing ritual gone wrong lands him injured, sitting on the sidelines, and―shocking even to him―finding himself enjoying his “punishment” as assistant coach for the girls’ team.

As Jake and Brooke grow closer, he finds the quiet new girl is hiding a persona full of life, ideas, and experiences bigger and broader than anything he’s ever known. But to Jake, hockey’s never just been a game. It’s his whole life. And leveraging the game for a shot at their future might be more than he can give.”

This a sweet, lovely, cute reading, with great descriptions, good characters, and flows really well.

The story is told from both main character POV which is my favorite and, in this case, Brooke and Jake are great together, the chemistry, the love, is all there.

The plot is more complex than what is expected. It shows a reality for some athletes, and both side of the ambition, the good and the bad.

It’s a story about self-respect, right and wrong, choices and consequences.

The last quarter is fantastic, I couldn’t stop until I reach the end. I was absorbed into the story, but the first part is a little messy with so many sub-plots and holes that doesn’t help the reader to keep focus on the main goal, and there are inconsistencies on the main characters' thoughts, at first it seems part of their personality but then It looks more like a flaw in the writing.

However, like I said, it’s a nice, fresh, and romantic reading with a great message for everyone.  

100% recommended.

Note: I received an ARC from Entangled Publishing LLC through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. And I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Note: Images was taken from goodreads.com

ONLY A BREATH APART

Would you dare to defy destiny?Are our destinies written in stone? Do we become nothing more than the self-fulfilling prophesies of other people's opinions? Or can we dare to become who we believe we were born to be?

Finally, the excerpt for the new book by Katie Mcgarry, Only a Breath Apart is here, and I'm so excited to share it with you.

Please keep reading.   

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Jesse dreams of working the land that’s been in his family forever. But he’s cursed to lose everything he loves most.

Scarlett is desperate to escape her “charmed” life. But leaving a small town is easier said than done.

Despite their history of heartbreak, when Jesse sees a way they can work together to each get what they want, Scarlett can’t say no.Each midnight meeting between Jesse and Scarlett will push them to confront their secrets and their feelings for each other.

EXCERPT:

"I’m defying my parents by attending a funeral. Reckless and adventurous teenage behavior, I know. Most seventeen-year-olds lie to their parents so they can go on a date with a forbidden boy or attend a party where there will be questionable behavior. Me? I’m outright lying to my dad, and it’s because Jesse Lachlin’s grandmother died.

The entire way here I’ve questioned my sanity, but I don’t know how I’d live with myself if I stayed home. Jesse Lachlin used to be my childhood best friend. We were inseparable. We had the type of friendship people strive to have, and then, a few years ago, he cut me so deeply that I still bleed. But ten-year-old me would have never abandoned a hurting Jesse. So today I’m not only honoring the memory of Jesse’s grandmother, but also the memory of our dead friendship.

On my way to the funeral, the high grass of the field swats at my legs, but I don’t mind the sting. I love walking barefoot in grass, I love the smell of the earth and I love that brief feeling of freedom open spaces can provide.

It’s the dog days of August. The type of hot that starts when the sun rises and makes you sweat through your clothes within minutes. While my skin and palms are on fire, the pads of my feet are cool against the dirt. The heat is unwelcome, but the sky is deep blue and the sun is bright, and for that, I can be grateful.

Walking out of the field, I stop short of crossing the one-lane road to slip on the flats that dangle from my fingertips. My mother would be mortified if she knew I was entering a church in a cotton daisy-print sundress. It’s not one of the dresses with stiff fabric and impossible back zippers she would have picked for me at an overpriced department store. It’s the type that’s machine-washable and breathable. The type of dress Jesse’s grandmother would have given her stamp of approval.

I can practically hear my mother heavily sigh and mumble my name, Scarlett, as if it were her personal, private curse word. Mom believes there’s a certain way to dress and behave, and I’m breaking all sorts of her rules today. Watch out, world. I’m officially rebellious.

I smile to myself because I’m the opposite of rebellious. For the last few years, I’ve followed every rule. I’m the teacher’s pet and the girl with straight. I’m the poster child of perfection, and have earned every snarky ice princess comment Jesse’s friends whisper about me in the school hallways because he and I no longer speak.

There are only six cars in the parking lot of the white church, and that makes me frown. I thought more people would have wanted to attend. Jesse’s mud-covered pickup is there, and so is an unnaturally clean black Mercedes that belongs to his uncle. This ought to be interesting. Jesse and his uncle have a mutual hate for each other that runs deeper than any root of any tree.

Movement to my right and I slowly turn my head. Shivers run down my spine at the sight of Glory Gardner. Even though I’m seventeen and too old for ghost stories, I still can’t shake the ones regarding this woman. Girls would whisper over lunch boxes that Glory was a witch. As I grew older, I understood that witch meant con artist. She claims she can read palms, tarot cards and “sees” spirits from beyond the dead. All for a glorious fee.

She’s a beautiful woman—long dirty blond hair that’s untamed, even in a bun, and she has an eclectic taste in clothing. Today she wears a white peasant shirt and a flowing skirt made of material that shimmers in the sun.

Glory watches me like I watch her, with morbid curiosity. I knew her as a child, back when Jesse and I ran wild in the fields near her home, but we haven’t talked in years.

She stands under the shade of a towering weeping willow. There are lots of those trees around here. Mom says it’s because there is too much water in the ground. I say it’s because the people in this town have cried too many tears. Mom doesn’t like my answer.

I tilt my head toward the church, an unspoken question if Glory will be joining me. She shakes her head no. I’m not shocked. According to rumors, Glory will go up in flames if she enters the house of God. But who knows? Maybe I will, too.

The church is one of those picturesque, historical, one-room school buildings squeezed between a cornfield on one side and a hay field on the other. A huge steeple with a bell attempts to reach the heavens, but like anything created by a human, it falls tragically short.

The foreboding wooden door makes no noise as I open it, and I’m able to slip in without a huge, squeaking announcement. Orange light filters in through the dark stained glass windows, and its struggling beams reveal millions of dancing particles of dust.

On the altar, there’s no casket, but there is an urn. My heart dips—Suzanne is dead. I used to wish she were my grandmother, and many times, she treated me as if I belonged to her. Suzanne was the epitome of love, and the world feels colder now that she’s gone.

Choosing a spot in the back, I drop into a pew, and as I scan the church my stomach churns. How is it possible that this place is so barren?

Besides the Funeral Brigade, or the FB, as I like to refer to them, there aren’t many people here. The FB are the older group of woman who attend every funeral in our small town even if they didn’t know the person. Attending funerals isn’t my idea of fun, but who am I to judge?

The FB sit directly behind the one person the town believes to be the lone sane member of the Lachlin family, probably because he isn’t blood related—Jesse’s uncle.

On the left side of the church is Jesse. Only Jesse. And that causes a painful pang in my chest. Where are his stinking friends? The anarchists in training who follow Jesse wherever he goes? Where is the rest of the town? Yes, Suzanne was polarizing, but still, where is any respect?

Quietly, so I don’t draw attention to myself, I slip from the right set of pews to the left. Someone should be on Jesse’s side, and it’s sad it has to be me.

A door at the front of the church opens, and the pastor walks out from the addition the church build on as a small office ten years ago. I would have thought any pastor assigned to this place would be as ancient as this church. Sort of like an Indiana Jones Knights Templar scenario where he lives forever as long as he stays inside. But no, he’s the youngest pastor from the main, newer church in town. His name is Pastor Hughes, and he’s a thirty-something black man with a fit build who is just cute enough that he should be starring in a movie.

The pastor looks up, and he flinches as if startled. I peek over my shoulder then sigh. Clearly, he’s surprised to see me. Flipping fantastic.

His reaction, and the fact he won’t stop staring, causes every person to turn their heads. Lovely. I’ve had dreams like this where I enter a room and become the center of attention. Only in my dreams it’s at school, it’s my classmates and I’m naked, but still, this is disconcerting.

Eventually, the FB and Jesse’s uncle return their attention to the front, but Jesse doesn’t. He rests his arm on the back of the pew, and it’s hard to ignore that he’s made me his sole focus, but I do my best to act as if I don’t notice.

To help, I concentrate on what my mom taught me as a child—to make sure the skirt of my dress is tucked appropriately so that my thighs don’t show. I then fold my hands in my lap and straighten to a book-on-head posture. I can be the ice princess people claim me to be.

Five pews separate me and Jesse, and it’s not nearly enough. My cheeks burn under his continued inspection. Jesse has done this a handful of times since our freshman year. Glance at me as if I’m someone worth looking at, someone worth laughing with a little too loud and smiling with a little too much. Then he remembers who I am and snaps his gaze to someone else.

But he’s not looking away now."

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Katie McGarry was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.

ONLY A BRATH APART IS ALIVE ON JANUARY 22, 2019

PRE-ORDER HERE: 

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Note: The excerpt and images were provided by  @katiemcgarry or @InkSlingerPR.