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.

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Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire!!

I've been waiting for this book since September when I downloaded Beautiful Disaster, and Travis Maddox crashed into my life.  I was so excited and honored to receive an advanced copy of this book from Atria for review.  So let's go!

First off, if you are thinking about doing the normal thing us book crazed people do and re-read Beautiful Disaster, my advise would be - don't.  Walking Disaster is Beautiful Disaster, but from Travis's POV.  So you are robbing yourself of reliving the story all over again by re-reading Beautiful Disaster.  It will be too fresh in your mind, and all those frustrating parts that make you want to scream won't be nearly as scream-worthy if you're already primed and ready for them.  

While I will say that I had hoped that Walking Disaster would differ from the original a bit more, and have more new scenes, I can't deny that I didn't absolutely LOVE reading an entire book from Travis's prospective.  Hearing his inner thoughts, seeing his actions and learing the reason behind them made a lot of things click for me.  By not re-reading Beautiful Disaster, I would hit certain parts and remember, "oh right, he does this now" and then get rewarded with the full Travis Maddox version of the event. 

I had totally forgotten what a total douche he is in the beginning.  We all fall in love with him at by the end of BD, and kind of forget the womanizing asshat he was.  In Walking Disaster, you get a front row seat to that action.  Part of my was disgusted, and wanting to move on to the non-douchy part of the book, but the other part of me was totally enjoy pre-Abby Travis - he was kind of yummy...in a different way.  But I also think it helped me understand, as a reader, that part of him, and why he was the way he was at that part of his life.   

As I've said before Beautiful Disaster is my favorite book.  I've read it a hundred times.  One would think reading the same book from the hero's perspective, rather than the heroine, would be boring, but it wasn't.  Maybe that's partially because I'm a die-hard fan, but I think also it's because Jamie McGuire's a great writer and created such a strong character writers can identify with.  I found myself getting mad and frustrated over scenes I had read and re-read in Beautiful Disaster a dozen times, but reading them again from Travis's POV put a totally different spin on them.  I was angry all over again, even knowing everything would turn out alight in the end.  

The journey Travis takes in this book is beautiful and painful.  He constantly second guesses himself and will end up taking one step forward and two steps back.  He plays the part of a untouchable harden man on the outside, but his thoughts are so much the opposite.  One word from Abby can destroy him.  It makes you wonder if you can love someone too much, or if there is no such thing as too much love.  

Walking Disaster still had all of my favorite lines, and they are all delivered by Travis...so reading them as he says them and thinks them was thrilling.  The toast at the Valentine's Party, I always knew how agonized he was when he said it, but to hear the thoughts that are running through his head and he delivers the speech, it just makes the words even more painful.  And the most famous line in the entire book "Well I belong to You!" and the events that happen after.  Breathtaking.  It was like putting together the missing pieces of a puzzle.  The entire book was...the missing pieces to a puzzle.  

And the best part of the book? The ending.  That's all I'm going to say.  ;-)

Pre-Order Walking Disaster: A Novel - Kindle Edition
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(Please Note - Because Walking Disaster has not released and I was provided an advnaced readers copy for this review, I have not included any quotes from the book.  If you would like some teasers, please visit Jamie McGuire's Facebook page.  She's got some good ones!)

Walking Disaster!!!

OMG!  I love you Atria!!  

I just got my advanced copy of Walking Disaster and I think I am going to cry tears of joy!!
Walking Disaster is the sequel to Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire, well kind of.  It's Beautiful Disaster from Travis's POV.  We finally get to see inside that pretty little head of his.  :-)
Beautiful Disaster is my FAVORITE book ever.  Ever.  I've had Walking Disaster pre-ordered since the beginning of September, and have read BD about a million times since i bought it.  The Beautiful Disaster movie is currently being produced, and I cannot wait to see who the ycast as Travis.  I'm sure I'm not alone in that, lol.
So, excuse me.  I have some reading to do!  ;-)

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