If she could figure out how to write a romance without adding in copious amounts of nickname usage and cringe-worthy terms, I would probably find myself more appreciative of what she's trying to do. She even has promise as a storyteller, if you're looking for light and simple stories.

I think Abbi Glines comes up with great concepts/ideas. I wanted to try this author in another genre to see if my issues were somehow related to the paranormal theme of her Existence trilogy. Maybe it's because I did actually end up enjoying the following book in this series Because of Low (which proves I'm not in any sort of anti-Glines camp), I feel less guilty about coming back and down-rating this one after the fact.

After time, I started to realize that there was nothing about these characters or story which appealed to me (other than Marcus). The more I sit on this book and think about it, the more I've discovered that I really didn't like anything about Breathe and that rounding up to 2 stars was my way of being nice and not completely trashing the book.

I quite enjoyed The Vincent Boys, Glines's other book that she wrote after this one, but this one was disappointing. Sweet Cinderella-ish girl is rewarded for her harsh life by meeting the prince charming, who is there to rescue her. Breathe was only telling you a fairytale of a Hollywood teenage film. Literature is there to entertain, but also to educate or give you some sort of advice that you can take with you and even apply in a situation you might be in now or one day. But in contemporary fiction where there is no fantasy background to distract you there should be more focus on the characters and you should take something out of the story. I know that when you read fantasy there is the supernatural element that doesn't make it real as well, but underneath the surface is supposed to be 'some deeper message or thought' usually slightly pushed away by the romantic plot and whatever. It was light reading, there weren't any particularly boring passages but it lacked any truth in it. The characters, the setting, the way they talk, none of that felt REAL for a single second. I don't mind some amount of cheesiness, a lot of YA books have some bits, but here I wasn't sure whether to cry or laugh out loud, every page was drooling with lovesick babbling.

Breathe sea breeze