Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally

Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally
Series: Hundred Oaks
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: 7th April 2015
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Source: Publisher
Add it: Goodreads
Rating:

Annie hates running. No matter how far she jogs, she can’t escape the guilt that if she hadn’t broken up with Kyle, he might still be alive. So to honor his memory, she starts preparing for the marathon he intended to race.

But the training is even more grueling than Annie could have imagined. Despite her coaching, she’s at war with her body, her mind—and her heart. With every mile that athletic Jeremiah cheers her on, she grows more conflicted. She wants to run into his arms…and sprint in the opposite direction. For Annie, opening up to love again may be even more of a challenge than crossing the finish line.

Breathe, Annie, Breathe is the kind of cute teen romance that I probably would have liked when I was back in high school; it’s a light, fast read with a story that is interesting and fun.

So the basic premise is about a girl who decides to run a marathon in her dead boyfriend’s memory. The story, kind of surprisingly, puts a lot of focus on just how hard it is to run a twenty six mile marathon – it was interesting to read about all the practice and dedication it takes to be able to finish that kind of race, and I really liked how the marathon kind of gave an edge to a story that could’ve been otherwise generic. I liked Annie, the main character – she was sweet, and brave in her commitment to the marathon, never giving up despite injuries and frankly merciless trauma on her body (she throws up a lot, you guys. Running is a terrible hobby.), and I liked her running partners too. Liza, the lawyer, was a favourite as well as Matt, their trainer for the marathon. I kind of went back and forth with Jeremiah, the love interest, and I’m not gonna lie, thought Kyle (the dead boyfriend) was honestly pathetic, which kind of ruined the sympathy vibe. But she was well shot of the dude, let’s be real.

While this isn’t by any means a particularly memorable read, I do think that Kenneally’s sex positive attitude in this book is really great. Every female character is sexually active, and Annie almost sleeps with Jeremiah way before they start dating. It’s a really refreshing take because teenage girls need to know that having casual sex isn’t necessarily a bad thing – relationships don’t need to form from a hook up, and on the other side of the coin Kenneally includes a couple who fall for each other despite not being physically intimate with each other. Also. Also. She writes some real good sex scenes.

I liked Breathe, Annie, Breathe. I didn’t love it but it was a cute read and I am glad I gave her a go, if only for the excellent sex scenes.