Kacey Cleary’s whole life imploded four years ago in a
drunk-driving accident. Now she’s working hard to bury the pieces left
behind—all but one. Her little sister, Livie. Kacey can swallow the constant
disapproval from her born-again aunt Darla over her self-destructive lifestyle;
she can stop herself from going kick-boxer crazy on Uncle Raymond when he loses
the girls’ college funds at a blackjack table. She just needs to keep it
together until Livie is no longer a minor, and then they can get the hell out of
Grand Rapids, Michigan.
But when Uncle Raymond slides into bed next to Livie one night, Kacey decides it’s time to run. Armed with two bus tickets and dreams of living near the coast, Kacey and Livie start their new lives in a Miami apartment complex, complete with a grumpy landlord, a pervert upstairs, and a neighbor with a stage name perfectly matched to her chosen “profession.” But Kacey’s not worried. She can handle all of them. What she can’t handle is Trent Emerson in apartment 1D.
Kacey doesn’t want to feel. She doesn’t. It’s safer that way. For everyone. But sexy Trent finds a way into her numb heart, reigniting her ability to love again. She starts to believe that maybe she can leave the past where it belongs and start over. Maybe she’s not beyond repair.
But Kacey isn’t the only one who’s broken. Seemingly perfect Trent has an unforgivable past of his own; one that, when discovered, will shatter Kacey’s newly constructed life and send her back into suffocating darkness.
But when Uncle Raymond slides into bed next to Livie one night, Kacey decides it’s time to run. Armed with two bus tickets and dreams of living near the coast, Kacey and Livie start their new lives in a Miami apartment complex, complete with a grumpy landlord, a pervert upstairs, and a neighbor with a stage name perfectly matched to her chosen “profession.” But Kacey’s not worried. She can handle all of them. What she can’t handle is Trent Emerson in apartment 1D.
Kacey doesn’t want to feel. She doesn’t. It’s safer that way. For everyone. But sexy Trent finds a way into her numb heart, reigniting her ability to love again. She starts to believe that maybe she can leave the past where it belongs and start over. Maybe she’s not beyond repair.
But Kacey isn’t the only one who’s broken. Seemingly perfect Trent has an unforgivable past of his own; one that, when discovered, will shatter Kacey’s newly constructed life and send her back into suffocating darkness.
I started reading TTB last night, figuring after spending a day moving furniture and cleaning that it was time to relax and read for a little bit.... next thing I knew, TTB sucked me in to where I was damning the clock and K for writing such a great book. At 4am, with watery eyes and a breath caught in my throat, I finally finished it. *big sigh*
'Nothing but ten tiny breaths holds the rest of me together.'
So, where to start. Kathleen has found the ever difficult, and sometimes impossible, way to make the characters real. Not in the sense that I just met them (which would be awesome, but fictional characters seldom jump out of books), but rather in the sense that they could be anyone. The emotional depth and damage to ALL the characters is truly astounding. There aren't any throw away characters, easily dismissible and forgotten until they pop back up. Each character in the book has a purpose and a tie to each other, even the secondary characters. It's rather easy, and frightening, to picture people I know who have had similar trauma go through what Kacey did, and ultimately break.
I find myself at a rare loss of words when it comes to how I felt while reading TTB. Normally, I could go all day talking about books, but for some reason, the magnitude of TTB and the emotional vortex it sent me through, with layers upon layers of ragged, broken pieces of emotion, has left me somewhat stupefied. The scenes in the book keep running through my head, constantly haunting me to the point where I dreamed about them last night. With the morning light, my first thoughts were of the book, but my kids needing breakfast and my schedule for today is the only reason I haven't yet jumped back in to re-read TTB.
I cant recommend this book enough. All I can say is that this book is one of the few that gets into my 'will read until I die' category, forever by my side and thoroughly thumbed through until the spine breaks and I need a new copy.
Until next time, Happy Reading.
To purchase your copy of Ten Tiny Breaths, click HERE
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