Showing posts with label Only a Breath Apart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Only a Breath Apart. Show all posts

Monday, January 21, 2019

Only a Breath Apart by Katie McGarry
[Blog Tour: Review + Excerpt + Giveaway]

#OnlyaBreathApart
Hello! Welcome to one of the first stops on the Only a Breath Apart blog tour hosted by InkSlinger PR. I'm really happy to share my thoughts on this book with you! Katie McGarry is one of my favorite authors, and I was thrilled to have an opportunity to meet her at a signing last year. She's as awesome as her writing! Only a Breath Apart will be released tomorrow (1/22/19), and will be available on Amazon, Kobo, Google Play, BAM, Barnes & Noble, and Apple Books.

Synopsis (via Goodreads): Jesse Lachlin is cursed.

So the town folklore says, but while Jesse’s had his fair share of tragedy, the only curse he believes is in his grandmother’s will: in order to inherit his family farm he must win the approval of his childhood best friend, the girl he froze out his freshman year, Scarlett Copeland.

Scarlett Copeland is psychic.

Glory Gardner tells Scarlett she has hidden psychic abilities, but Scarlett thinks Glory is delusional. What is real is Scarlett’s father’s irrational fears, controlling attitude, and the dark secrets at home. Scarlett may have a way to escape, but there’s a hitch: she’ll have to rely on the one person she used to trust, the same boy who broke her heart, Jesse Lachlin.

Each midnight meeting pushes Jesse and Scarlett to confront their secrets and their feelings for each other. But as love blooms, the curse rears its ugly head…

"Holes in hearts hurt, and I have too many holes for me to be breathing. Gran poured her love into me, so much, I should have been fixed, but maybe that’s the problem with having too many holes. All the love that’s poured in falls out."
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes I use are from an unpublished copy and may not reflect the finished product.

I'm sorry this is posting so late today! I received my review copy for the tour a little late, and only finished reading it this morning. I tried to stay up late last night, but my eyes refused to stay open despite how engrossed I was in the story. Katie McGarry never fails to captivate me with her writing, and Only a Breath Apart was no exception. My heart was breaking for both Jesse and Scarlett, and I enjoyed watching them learn to trust in each other again.

Neither character has had an easy life, and their secrets are vastly different, but they've always been connected. I don't know if it was something they shared as children, or some connection the land, but there was something that kept these two together. They've needed each other, and their loneliness was painful to read about. They've guarded themselves against the world (with good reason), and it took the two of them working together to penetrate those walls. It's hard to overcome the need for self-preservation, and learning how to love is never easy.

I hated the way these two treated each other at the beginning of the book, especially after seeing how much they cared for one another as children. They grew up together, and then something happened to end their friendship. The reason isn't revealed for awhile, and I wish Jesse had been honest with Scarlett from the beginning. He could have told her the promise he made to his mother, and how it contradicted the one he made to his Gran. I think Scarlett would have been understanding, but instead he left her in her own personal hell with no one to talk to.

There are some supernatural aspects to this story, but it's subtle. Glory claims to be a psychic and tells Scarlett she is too, but even Jesse just thinks his cousin is exceptionally good at conning people. Glory would read palms and perform tarot card readings, but she also managed to make predictions that had an uncanny ability to come true. It's left up to the reader to determine whether or not they want to believe in something magical, or play it off as a coincidence. I thought McGarry did a wonderful job balancing between the two.

I was so angry while I read this book, but it wasn't directed at Scarlett and Jesse. Yes, I wanted them to talk to each other and share confidences, but I also understood where both of them were coming from. I was angry with how the world treated them, and what they had to endure just to get though each and every day. They both had dreams and aspirations, but neither had people that believed in them. Their friends were there, but on the outskirts and never privy to the emotional turmoil they both experienced.

Only a Breath Apart was another phenomenal book by Katie McGarry! If you've enjoyed her books in the past, I'm sure you'll love this one even more. If you haven't had a chance to read anything by this author, I highly recommend your grab one her books as soon as you can. I have so many feelings right now, and I love it!

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Cover Reveal for Katie McGarry’s Only a Breath Apart!

“Gritty and real, Only a Breath Apart is a story of hope conjured from pain, strength drawn from innocence, and love earned from self-respect. Beautiful, poignant, and fierce.”
―Kristen Simmons, critically acclaimed author of the Article 5 series 


About ONLY A BREATH APART:

Jesse dreams of working the land that’s been in his family forever. But he’s cursed to lose everything he loves most.

Scarlett is desperate to escape her “charmed” life. But leaving a small town is easier said than done.

Despite their history of heartbreak, when Jesse sees a way they can work together to each get what they want, Scarlett can’t say no. Each midnight meeting between Jesse and Scarlett will push them to confront their secrets and their feelings for each other.

Would you dare to defy destiny? Are our destinies written in stone? Do we become nothing more than the self-fulfilling prophesies of other people's opinions? Or can we dare to become who we believe we were born to be? 
“A gorgeous, heartfelt journey of redemption and love” (Wendy Higgins), ONLY A BREATH APART is a young adult contemporary novel from critically acclaimed Katie McGarry. “Haunting, authentic, and ultimately hopeful” (Tammara Webber), ONLY A BREATH APART will be available on all retailers on January 22, 2019!


Pre-order links:
Katie McGarry Bio:
Katie McGarry was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.

Katie is the author of full length YA novels, PUSHING THE LIMITS, DARE YOU TO, CRASH INTO YOU, TAKE ME ON, BREAKING THE RULES, and NOWHERE BUT HERE and the e-novellas, CROSSING THE LINE and RED AT NIGHT. Her debut YA novel, PUSHING THE LIMITS was a 2012 Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction, a RT Magazine's 2012 Reviewer's Choice Awards Nominee for Young Adult Contemporary Novel, a double Rita Finalist, and a 2013 YALSA Top Ten Teen Pick. DARE YOU TO was also a Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction and won RT Magazine’s Reviewer’s Choice Best Book Award for Young Adult Contemporary fiction in 2013.