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.