Book Review: Ten Tiny Breaths - K.A. Tucker

Title: Ten Tiny Breaths (Ten Tiny Breaths #1)

Author: K.A. Tucker

Release Date: February 12th 2013

Publisher: Atria Books

Source: NetGalley

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Just breathe, Kacey. Ten tiny breaths. Seize them. Feel them. Love them.

Four years ago Kacey Cleary’s life imploded when her car was hit by a drunk driver, killing her parents, boyfriend, and best friend. Still haunted by memories of being trapped inside, holding her boyfriend’s lifeless hand and listening to her mother take her last breath, Kacey wants to leave her past behind. Armed with two bus tickets, twenty-year-old Kacey and her fifteen-year-old sister, Livie, escape Grand Rapids, Michigan, to start over in Miami. Struggling to make ends meet, Kacey needs to figure out how to get by. But Kacey’s not worried. She can handle anything—anything but her mysterious neighbor in apartment 1D.

Trent Emerson has smoldering blue eyes, deep dimples, and he perfectly skates that irresistible line between nice guy and bad boy. Hardened by her tragic past, Kacey is determined to keep everyone at a distance, but their mutual attraction is undeniable and Trent is determined to find a way into Kacey’s guarded heart—even if it means that an explosive secret could shatter both their worlds.

When I started reading Ten Tiny Breaths, I thought I'd be getting another dark, sexy NA read. Man, oh man, was I wrong. This book has utterly surprised me and will stay with me for only God knows how long.

From page one, Kacey's badass, no-nonsense attitude ignited my curiosity and endeared her to me. She was broken inside, and although she had let that pain control her before, she grew out of it for her younger sister, Livie, and I really admired that. At first I was confused by her hate of holding hands but when the reason was finally revealed, I think I'd also avoid handshakes like the plague if I were her. Also, I normally hate passive characters who refuse to deal with their problems, but not with Kacey.

When Trent Emerson came into the story with his piercing blue eyes, I was officially addicted and couldn't stop reading. If it were up to me, I would have stayed in bed until I'd finished this but alas, life called. Anyway, the author did a brilliant job of making me believe that Trent was Kacey's perfect knight-in-shining-armor, when he actually had issues just as deep as hers.

The maddening sexual tension between these two seriously frustrated me. She wanted him, and he wanted her. I'd have locked them up in a room if I could. But after that came the romance, the kind of romance that I find absolutely well-written. Before Ten Tiny Breaths, I had DNF-ed a contemporary adult romance book because in the process of writing a believable, well-developed romance, the author slowed down the whole plot and made the book lengthier than it could've been. But not this one. In here, Tucker wrote a believable and well-developed romance that tugged on my heartstrings while progressing the other parts of the plot that were just as integral to the characters. Although I guessed the big shocker at halfway through the story, it still surprised me. Must have been my wishful thinking. 

Aside from Kacey and Trent, there were also a whole lot of secondary characters in here who were just as fully-fleshed out with real issues of their own, and the entwining of their stories has created this heartwarming story about love, hope, and, ultimately, forgiveness.

MY FAVORITE PART was the ending... *sigh*

RATING:

Just how good was it? Well, I'm already looking forward to re-reading it before the sequel comes out in June!

(cover and summary from Goodreads.com)