Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda KenneallyPublished by: Sourcebooks Fire on July 15, 2014
Genre: Romance, Sports
Pages: 320
Source: Purchased
Book Details
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.
If there’s ever a book to inspire you to go out for a run, it’s Breathe, Annie, Breathe. This book had me dying to go out and run 10 miles, even though there’s no way I could do that at the moment. But it was very encouraging and inspiring to watch Annie go from running like 5 miles to running a marathon.
One thing that I really confirmed while reading this book is that I have no desire to run a marathon! Honestly, there were times when I was quietly trying to convince Annie to just stop. After most of her runs she throws up like five times, has horrible knee pains, and is practically incapacitated the rest of the day. I think it’s cool to run 10 miles or even a half marathon, but when she started running like 18-22 miles, her body was sooo clearly crying out in pain. I was just like, “DON’T DO THIS TO YOURSELF!!” I think it would be awesome to maybe run a half marathon, but I’d never want to push myself to the point where my body feels like it’s dying like that lol.
The romance in Breathe, Annie, Breathe was interesting. I both liked it and didn’t like it. I think my weird feelings towards the romance are the main reason I gave this book 4 stars and not 5. I felt like maybe I LIKED the romance, but didn’t love it. I thought Annie had a really horrible thing to overcome in her past (Kyle’s death) and it was great to watch her work through that. And I liked the new guy she has her eye on—Jeremiah. But although there was some attraction there, I felt like there just wasn’t a ton of PASSION between those two, and that’s where I was bummed out a bit. Like, not love, you know?
But overall, Breathe, Annie, Breathe was a fabulous book! I had a lot of fun reading it, and it was quick to get through. I feel totally inspired to get out there and RUN!
The Verdict
Honestly, I loved the concept of this book but I didn’t love the book as much as I wished I did. There was something off for me. I was unhappy with her encounter Jeremiah at the beginning. It just set the wrong tone for me for the rest of the book. Not sure why. Glad you liked it I also read this one out of order. Didn’t realize it was part of the whole series (although I know you can read it as a stand alone, but I also know there are characters who appear from the previous books so I didn’t have that connection like others did).
Aw, I’m sorry that you didn’t enjoy it as much. 🙁 I agree with you about her encounter with Jeramiah at the beginning. I think that’s a bit part of why I didn’t love the romance. I actually started out hating it. But I think it helped that after that first encounter they took a big step back and kind of started over.
To be honest, I don’t think you missed much by not reading the other books. I’ve only read two of the others in the ‘series’, but honestly you only really see the characters from the other books in passing. They don’t actually play a role in the story other than living in the same town/area.
Ooh, this sounds really interesting! I haven’t read many reviews for this book, but it sounds really good. I think I’ll check it out when I get the chance 😀 Great review!
Thanks! 🙂
Interesting premise. I loathe running; this book might change my mind! 🙂
Haha maybe! It was a bit inspiring… until she started throwing up a lot after her runs >_<
I enjoyed this book too!!! I love to run a lot, I practically love all sports so my legs are pretty tight. I loved every minute of BAB, it was so adorable and the way they tried to make “friends” with each other was such an act, they were so dying to sleep with one another LOLOL HAHA great review, Ashley!
As an asthmatic, I think I’ll get tired just from reading this book! Bwahaha. I have Catching Jordan on my nook, I have to read it first then I’ll branch out to her other works!
Thanks for the review! 🙂
Amber Elise @Du Livre
I LOOOOVED Catching Jordan!!
I enjoyed this book too, though some parts really bothered me. I think it was mostly due to the fact that I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator was basically terrible. I feel bad saying that, but she sounded way too old and didn’t “perform” the book anywhere near as good as others could have. I was bummed. I’m definitely looking forward to reading more by this author. I’ll just be sure it’s not the same narrator if I choose the audio route again. Bummer.
That sucks about the narrator. 🙁