Ten Tiny Breathes by K.A. Tucker

 

"Just Breath, Kacey. Ten Tiny breaths. Seize them. Feel them. Love them."

Holy freaking hell. This book blew me away. I finished it last night, and my head is still spinning this morning. It was amazing. Everything you expect from Atria, and this wonderful new genre that is New Adult.

 K.A. Tucker just became one of my new favorite authors. She's now in my hall of fame with authors like Jamie McGuire, S.C. Stephens and Abbi Glines. These authors write characters we fall in love with, and can't seem to shake. We think about them days after, their lives branded to brains, twisting their ways to our hearts. We find ourselves returning to their books time after time, just to be close to the characters again, to hear them "speak" and to feel the connection they share with each other. It's why we, as readers, read. To feel emotion, and connections. And when an author is able to capture both of those so perfectly, we are helpless but to fall captive.

Ten Tiny Breathes is a roller coaster of emotions, dealing with two sisters, Kacey and Livey, who move to Miami, FL to start over. Kacey, 20, is a broken shell of her former self, after recovering from a horrific accident that left her and Livie alone in the world. Her only goal in life is to make a better one for Livie. Until she meets Trent, a new neighbor who skates the line so perfectly between bad boy and savior, Kacey can't tell which side to trust.

"He stops what he's doing to glance over his shoulder, blazing eyes leveling me with a look that makes me want to do things to him  for him, with him.  His attention drags down the length of my body, unashamed.  This guy is a contradiction   One second sweet, the next second brazen.  A mind-blowing hot contradiction."

 I loved every character in this book.  Each one of them was expertly crafted and had a specific role and duty in the story-line.  Seeing life through Kacey's heartbroken eyes was difficult at times.  You wanted to cry for her, bleed for her and sometimes, knock her upside the head and say "Really?"  It seemed like every time she took a step forward, she took two back, no matter who was there trying to guide her.

"What?  What did you think?  You don't know the first thing about what I've gone through and you...what, think you can swoop in, give me an orgasm, and follow it up with a survivor's group full of fucking cyborgs who talk about their supposed loved ones like everything's all right?"  

But Trent...he's my favorite.  I think he's my new book boyfriend.  He's some kind of hot.  I love how K.A. Tucker describes him as the perfect balance of bad boy and Good Samaritan because isn't that what woman love about romance novels?  The bad boy who will only soften for the right woman?  It's why we pay for book after book, and spend hours reading.  It's that perfect balance between the boy next door and the guy who's gonna slam up against a wall and take whatever he wants.

"When the gaze lifts back to my face...whoa...it it has just the right mixture of anger, frustration, and smoldering heat to make me bite my bottom lip.  And that's all it takes to push him over the brink.
'God, Kacey' he growls and takes two quick steps in tho slam against my body, his hands seizing my biceps as his mouth claims mine.  Dipping my head back, he forces his tongue into my mouth, demolishing me with a depth of need I've never experienced before.  This is the real Trent.
Unleashed."  

Seriously, if that quote doesn't make you go out and buy this book, then I've got nothing.  There's obviously something wrong with you.  ;-)
This book is raw, emotional and just plain...wow.

It's about two people experiencing more trauma and emotions at a young age than most people experience in an entire lifetime.  It shows how a single event can shred you, and shatter your entire life.  How do you recover?  Can you?  And what do you do with the pieces that are left?

I don't give ratings on my blog.  Authors are worth more than numbers or gold stars.  All I can say is this book is stellar.  Probably the best book I've read all year.  Read it.

Purchase Ten Tiny Breaths: A Novel - Kindle Edition
Purchase Ten Tiny Breaths: A Novel - Paperback
Purchase Ten Tiny Breaths:A Novel - Nook Edition