Review: Loved this!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 4, 2013
I thought the character of Livie was the best part of the first book in this series, Ten Tiny Breaths. So when I saw this book on Net Galley,and saw that Livie was the main character, I immediately requested it. I received it in exchange for a honest and fair review.Livie is starting to realize her dream, going to Princeton and becoming a pediatric oncologist. It’s freshman year and Livie is on her own for the first time. She’s never dated, never had a first kiss, never had sex, and has never partied. The first party she goes to brings her in contact with Ashton, the golden boy of the rowing team and the biggest womanizer on campus. A really drunken night that she can’t remember results in a lot of firsts for Livie, most of which involve Ashton. The morning after is a pretty funny scene, but not because of what you might think. No spoilers!Whereas her sister is the broken one in Ten Tiny Breaths, Ashton is the broken one in this book. I don’t often fall in love with characters but he was just so well written. He has a horrible past and there is so much more to him then what he shows to the world. If you have read the first book in this series, then you know that Livie lost her parents and almost lost her sister in a horrific car accident. Although she is far from alright with everything in her life, she is not as broken as her sister or as broken as Ashton. The broken layers of Ashton are slowly unwrapped by Livie, something no one else has ever been able to do.The two of them together was just an incredible romance, although there are so many roadblocks to the romance in this story.The thing with sequels, sometimes the second one (or third) is not always as good as the first. This time around, I thought this one was better, much better. I wouldn’t categorize this as Young Adult, I think it falls into the New Adult category. It’s a very intense read and has some angst, although in this case, it’s not a bad thing. And even though it is a sequel, I think it can stand alone. There is some rehashing of the previous book but not that much and really not that much is needed, so this was handled really well by the author. I really hate a book that is full of the retelling of the previous book. There are some glimpses of the characters from the previous book but this is definitely Livie’s story.This book was one of those books that I couldn’t put down, and actually I stayed up all night to finish it. It’s very well written and very well paced for the story line. This is the third book I have read by this author and she is rapidly becoming a have to read author for me. I am not sure if there will be a third book. I tried to think who that book would be about and I am just not sure. I really like a lot of the characters of these books so I would definitely read another one-if that happens. This author also writes a paranormal series and I have read the first one of that series titled Anathema and it was really a well written story also.(PureTextuality.com)