Monday, July 14, 2014

Tour: Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally

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I received this book for free from Miranda Kenneally in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Tour: Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda KenneallyBreathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally
Series: Hundred Oaks #5
Published by Sourcebooks Fire on July 15th 2014
Genres: Contemporary, YA
Source: Miranda Kenneally
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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 an emotional, heartfelt, and beautiful story about finding yourself after loss and learning to love. It gave me so many feels. Her best book yet." — Jennifer Armentrout, New York Times bestselling author of Wait for You 

Miranda Kenneally has done it again folks! I always know that when I pick up a book by Kenneally that I am in for a fair amount of swooning, but I have to say that with Breathe, Annie, Breathe I got even more than I could have expected. Full of wonderful characters, a swoon-inducing romance and a full range of emotion, I think this is the best in the Hundred Oaks series yet!

In the fifth instalment in the series we are introduced to Annie who has recently lost her long term boyfriend and is now training to run a marathon in his honour. What I’m sure you can gather from this already is: SPORTS! Yes, while previous books featured football, baseball and even horseback riding this book tackles running. Oh man, let me tell you that I learned a thing or two from reading this. The effort and training that goes into preparing for a marathon is shocking! The eating too! I loved that once again I was sucked into this aspect of the story and full-on rooting for Annie to achieve her goal.

Through her training she is introduced (from the one and only Jordan Woods who is now Coach Woods) to Matt who trains people for marathons. Through Matt she meets his brother Jeremiah and therein lies our love story. I feel like I might say this with every book in the series but Jeremiah is now my favourite love interest. He was a real mans man. He lived on the edge (an adrenaline junkie,) was a true southern gentleman and all I wanted to do was run my hands through his floppy hair (I have a thing for guys with longer hair, ok!) I loved how, because our characters were a little older in this one, we got to see a more mature growth to the relationship. Jere was 20 and Annie is 18 so I felt like I could connect a little more to Annie’s thought processing when she was thinking about where she wanted things to go. Of course the whole time she was thinking, I wanted her to be doing (*wink* *wink* if you know what I mean) and this led to some major sexual tension which I loved and hated in equal measure.

All of the debating Annie does when it comes to Jere is really well thought out. After losing Kyle she doesn’t know if she wants to jump into something head on with a guy who lives as dangerously as he does, which was so completely understandable. The circumstances surrounding Kyle’s death is slowly revealed through some well place flashbacks and throughout the story we get to see how his death has affects so many aspects of Annie’s life. Her relationship with her mother has gone downhill and she’s saddened to be alone because he had really become to center of her life in the three years that they were together. We get to watch her attempt to work on bringing back friendships that she lost over the years and start to put herself out there. Watching her bridge these relationships and deal with her loss was really emotional and I got teary eyed on more than one occasion with this one.

I know I mentioned Jordan earlier and that I say what I am about to say after every book but I need to say it again. I love getting to see characters from previous books in this series. After Racing Savannah I really wanted Kelsey’s story and here we get to see her quite a bit because she was best friends with Annie growing up. We also get to see Savannah & Jack and so many others here and there. This series really does just keep getting better and better and just when I think Kenneally can’t possibly top herself, she does.

five-stars
5 Hot Espressos


 

 

About the Author




Growing up in Tennessee, Miranda Kenneally dreamed of becoming an Atlanta Brave, a country singer (cliché!), or a UN interpreter. Instead she writes, and works for the State Department in Washington, D.C., where George W. Bush once used her shoulder as an armrest. Miranda loves Twitter, Star Trek and her husband.




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Giveaway

As part of the Breathe, Annie, Breathe blog tour brought to you by Xpresso Book Tours, you can enter to win some great prizes!


  • Open to US and Canada only
  • Full contest terms and conditions found on Rafflecopter

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This post is part of the Breathe, Annie, Breathe blog tour.
(Click on the banner for the full tour schedule)
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23 Responses to “Tour: Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally”

  1. Nick @ Nick's Book Blog

    I’m with you! This is the best book in the series! I loved the previous installments, but this was even better than the rest of them. I definitely appreciated how much more mature Annie and Jeremiah were. I also learned so much about running from the book. I had no idea it could be so intense. I loved seeing some of the older characters, especially Matt.
    I’m so glad you loved this one, Jenni! 🙂
    Lovely review!

  2. Kris @Imaginary Reads

    I’ve read and loved previous installments in this series. I’m glad that it keeps getting better and better. The characters and story sound wonderful. I can’t wait to read Breath, Annie, Breathe! Lovely review, Jenni! 🙂

  3. Summer

    I actually remember being not a total fan of Catching Jordan, didn’t read Stealing Parker, but LOVED Racing Savannah. (I didn’t read the other book I can’t remember the title for either.) So I danced in my seat when I saw that you liked this one as well. A love/hate relationship with the sexual tension? YES PLEASE. Yay, love your review!

  4. erinf1

    this sounds fantastic! I’m just starting this series so I”m excited to get caught up. I like reading about running, but I definitely hate doing it in real life too! Thanks for sharing 🙂

  5. Tammy

    Catching Jordan has been my favorite of this companion series so far. Looking forward to reading more.

  6. Kristilyn (Reading in Winter)

    Loved this book! And you’re so right … they just keep getting better and better! I hold this one near and dear to my heart since I used to run, so I’m thankful for this book to rekindle that passion! Working slowly to running 10k again. 🙂

    And my fingers are crossed for that giveaway — I would love to win a signed Miranda Kenneally book! She’s definitely one of my favourites.

  7. P.E. @ The Sirenic Codex

    Hmm for some reason I didn’t know that Breathe Annie Breathe was part of a series. Interesting. It sounds incredible though, and I think now I’ll look into the other books! Thanks for the awesome giveaway!

  8. Jennifer @ Some Like It Paranormal

    Love this series! Always excited for the next book. I also love seeing the old characters because I am in love with all of them. It is so easy to fall in love with all the love interests and I really don’t think I could pick a favorite. Always lots of emotion and realistic details.

  9. Larissa

    This one really does seem promising c: Miranda just has this great ability to write fun romantic sports oriented stories. My favorite would be definitely Catching Jordan, so it’s awesome to see that she’s still involved in things. I really loved each of these stories, except Things I Can’t Forget. That one was just a little too preachy for me, and I didn’t enjoy the main character.

    This one sounds super emotional though, which is definitely a plus for me. You do have your first love, but moving on from the first love and opening your heart to new love is always a heartbreaking and moving journey.

    Thanks for the lovely review and giveaway! (:

  10. Rashika

    I always feel like such a loser whenever I read a review for a book by Miranda Kenneally since I really didn’t like Catching Jordan .-.

    I keep wondering if I am just missing something or if her books just aren’t for me even though all my friends seem to love them. *sigh*

    I am REALLY glad you enjoyed this though, Jenni! Annie sounds like a wonderful character! 🙂

    FANTASTIC review, Jenni!! 🙂

  11. Lauren

    Yay! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed this one too, though I can hardly say I’m surprised – Miranda is such a fantastic writer. I always get so addicted to her stories, and like you I love seeing old familiar faces from prior books pop up. Lovely review!

  12. Rachel

    I absolutely love Miranda’s books! they are my absolute favorite and I can’t wait to read Breathe, Annie Breathe!

  13. Valia

    I’m a huge fan of Miranda’s writing so I’m definitely looking forward to getting my hands on this one! And one to do with running? Right up my alley! Thanks for the giveaway!

  14. CJ Schindler

    This sounds like a great book.. one that inspires a person to push forward despite obstacles.

  15. Stephanie F.

    She I’d always a writer I go to when I’m in the mood for a beautiful and emotional read. I’m so glad this book didn’t disappoint, it’s on the top of my TBR.

  16. Claire

    Miranda Kenneally did it again. I loved this book! Everything about it was amazing, the characters, the plot and the writing. I think this book hits a more harder topic about losing a loved one at such young age and coping with it. And there was Jeremiah, he stole my heart right away. Who doesn’t love a wild child? I enjoyed the chemistry between Annie and Jeremiah, it had me sitting on the edge of my seat until they finally got together. I also enjoyed hearing from our old favorite characters. Kenneally awes me by being able to write her fifth book with a totally different plot from the rest of her books. Job well done.