Bestselling author Katie McGarry’s trademark wrong-side-of-the-tracks romance is given a new twist in the gritty YA contemporary novel, Only a Breath Apart. They say your destiny is carved in stone. But some destinies are meant to be broken. The only curse Jesse Lachlin believes in is his grandmother’s will: in order to inherit his family farm he must win the approval of his childhood best … approval of his childhood best friend, the girl he froze out his freshman year.
A fortuneteller tells Scarlett she’s psychic, but what is real is Scarlett’s father’s controlling attitude and the dark secrets at home. She may be able to escape, but only if she can rely on the one boy who broke her heart.
Each midnight meeting pushes Jesse and Scarlett to confront their secrets and their feelings, but as love blooms, the curse rears its ugly head…
“A gorgeous, heartfelt journey of redemption and love.” —New York Times bestselling author Wendy Higgins
“Gritty and real, Only a Breath Apart is a story of hope conjured from pain, strength drawn from innocence, and love earned from self-respect. Beautiful, poignant, and fierce.”–Kristen Simmons, critically acclaimed author of the Article 5 series
At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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Secrets that lie behind closed doors are often missed by the outside world. For Jesse – the curse that he believes haunts his family keeps love at bay. After losing his mother, Jesse torments himself reliving the moments that brought his mother to that day that forever changed his life. Now the perils of trying to keep the family farm standing weigh on Jesse’s shoulders each and every day.
For Scarlett – control and fear are the driving forces in her life. Every factor in Scarlett’s life revolves around the fear that hovers in her home where her father is concerned. The unpredictability leaves Scarlett and her family walking on egg shells each day. Then there is the over protective and invasive nature that her father interjects into Scarlett’s life. Nothing is off limits for Scarlett’s father. From invading her privacy to having a hand in every personal relationship that exists in Scarlett’s life, her dad just can’t stop trying to have the upper hand in all situations.
Jesse and Scarlett grew up together knowing that their lives were not perfect. Both relied on their friendship to overshadow any despair they may face in life. As they matured, so did the problems they faced in life. Then came the day they no longer were friends. This absence of friendship would be revisited once Jesse’s grandmother passed away. A pivotal time in life that would set the course for an old friendship to rekindle once more.
Time has a way of mending fractured hearts, and Jesse and Scarlett know this pain all too well. Now they find their futures intertwined in a way they would have never predicted. The only question that remains is just how far the two are willing to go to remain in the other’s life now that their friendship has given each of them the strength to face the demons that haunts their lives.
Only A Breath Apart is the journey of two tattered hearts who have lived through a lifetime of hardships. Jesse and Scarlett are childhood friends that find a way back to one another after tragedy once again intervenes in their lives. It’s a story that will hit home for many readers as you follow the journey, but at the same time will give you hope they can work through the hardships and learn to hope once more.
The pain and struggles that Jesse and Scarlett endure will grab you by your heartstrings. What trabspires to lead them through life will captivate you and leave you wondering what will happen next. It’s a story that is relatable to many that will delve into their struggles. While I enjoyed this book, I did find the ending a bit more rushed than I would have liked to encountered. There was so much about the struggles these two endured to make it to the ending in that last third of the book. I just wasn’t satisfied with the summarizing. All in all the book is interesting and relatable. Judge for yourself just how endearing Jesse and Scarlett are in one another’s life.
* A review copy was provided by the author/publisher via Netgalley for the Blog Tour *
If you are a fan of a YA or a Mature YA novel and have read anything by Katie McGarry, then you need to pick up this book.
As most readers know Katie McGarry is known for her YA romance stories. She is also known for being able to make her stories and characters relatable to any type of reader. Only A Breath Apart is no different. This book will suck you in and consume you until you are finished.
Going into this book I really didn’t know what to expect except that it was a YA romance. What I didn’t expect was how emotional this story was going to be. This book is definitely NOT a light and fluffy high school romance. Katie talks about a subject that could be a trigger for some readers. She also adds in a otherworldly aspect to this story. NO it is NOT a paranormal read, but she adds a twist onto this story that we don’t normally see in a YA book. I will say this that if you don’t normally read YA because they tend to be based in a High School setting and we get the normal high school angst, this book is different. Yes they are high school aged but the focus is outside of school. You’ll understand more when you read this book.
In this story we follow Jesse and Scarlett’s story. Jesse has just lost his grandma and is fighting to keep the land that he grew up on. He is also known in town as a bad boy, but he is more just misunderstood. Scarlett is a Senior in high school and is just looking to leave her house and go to UK for college. But she lives in a home that from the outside looks perfect but in reality is anything but. Jesse and Scarlett were best friends when they were younger but for reasons Scarlett didn’t know, Jesse cut her off and stopped talking to her. Now years later they both need each other to move forward with their future plans. Can these two pull it out in the end?? Will they get the futures they want?? Read this book to find out.
Only A Breath Apart is a standalone novel and told in Dual POV. I thought the flow of the story worked well for Jesse and Scarlett’s journey. But I will say at times I thought the pace was on the slow side. I thought there were some things that could’ve been left out and it would’ve helped move the story along a little faster. But even with that said it was an entertaining read and one I think all YA readers should read.
What can I say about Only a Breath Apart? That would give it justice. The newest from Katie McGarry pulled at my heart string and threw me into this world of Jesse and Scarlett.
I loved every minute of it. I loved how these two grew together even when they were apart. The writing feels poetic and I feel saying it was beautiful is not the right word. This story is one of those that will hide within your heart. Maybe in a sense make you stronger, maybe you learned something from Jesse and Scarlett. You need room to soar, and you need to take adventures, even if that adventure is finding yourself.
I love that Peter Pan is a part of this story. I remembered as a child and watched the movie. And how Tinker Bell was my favorite. I knew how much she met to him and thought that it made you feel even more for these two. There’s always a story that will touch you in some way. It didn’t make me ugly cry, but it brought tears to my eyes, and it filled my heart. I read to escape, and I was able to escape into their world.
Overall, Five Boundless Stars
***4 Stars***
Oooooweeee.
Okay. So, I had an idea of what I was getting into when I dove into this baby, but Whoa. Things get quite heavy, distressing and even disturbing at times and yet all of that upheaval was tempered by sweet moments and a whole lot of grit and heart and a feeling of hope that kept me turning the pages until the very end.
I really liked Jesse and Scarlett. I did. They were very much teens on the cusp of young adulthood, trying to figure out who they are and what their next steps in life were going to be. Unfortunately they both have way more on their plates than just passing tests and writing papers and watching them both struggle against all they’d ever known and believed was all at once heartbreaking and yet the sense of hope that things would work out for both of them was strong.
As for their journey. It was all kinds of sweet, second chance romance and I honestly enjoyed watching as they worked through what happened in the past and learned to trust each other again, or in their cases, more than they had before their friendship fractured and I liked where they were at, separately and together, when the book ended.
This is my first read by the author and I really enjoyed it. The writing was engaging, pacing good and dual first person POV was well done. As I said, things in this one get quite heavy, and uncomfortable, with the issues that both Jesse and Scarlett deal with but they were realistic and I like the way everything was handled. As for the secondary cast of characters, some I liked, some I wanted to Gibbs smack while some I wanted to hurt, but they definitely gave depth to the story and made things feel real. Glory was my favorite and I really enjoyed how she looked at and utilized her psychic abilities.
~ Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley & voluntarily reviewed ~