Book Review New Release: Only a Breath Apart by Katie McGarry

This book certainly had me on a roller-coaster of an emotional ride. There were times I didn’t think my heart could take much more and I had to put the book down and take a deep breath before I could go on. I said to my coworker that books based on reality aren’t always fun, but that is why they are also important for us to read. Stories like this one, allow us to walk in other people’s shoes, and allow for empathy and understanding of situations that we would otherwise have no knowledge of ourselves.

Katie McGarry has done a great job of portraying Jesse and Scarlett, two teenagers who are broken, both need to heal and they need each other to do the healing. Both come from physically and emotionally abusive homes. They both have mothers who don’t put themselves or their children first, who blame themselves or their children for the abuse the men in their lives inflict, rather than blaming the person doing the abusing.

In this day and age I believe stories like this are very important in letting teenagers who have been through or who are going through these sorts of things, know that they are not alone, that they can seek help, it’s not their fault that someone in their life is abusive. It’s important that they know they can survive, and they deserve more. They learn that its OK to tell someone about the abuse, that it’s not right and it needs to stop being a secret.

I loved Jesse and Scarlett, they were messed up and afraid, but still strong, especially for the other. This is a book about abuse, but also about love and hope and trust. I loved how their relationship grew once they reconnected, how it taught them both things about themselves as well as each other.

Glory was a favourite character, she was quirky and she was so full of love for these young adults who needed her to give them a helping hand in freeing themselves from their emotional prisons as well as their physical ones. Whether she was psychic or not, she definitely had plenty of insight into what they both needed and her interference in their lives was definitely a catalyst for change.

I thought Pastor Hughes was a great character, he had a wonderful way of dealing with these two broken teens who needed someone on their side. Marshall also turned out to be a character I admired, and he definitely showed Jesse how much he could be counted on.

I definitely recommend this novel 4.5⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan – Tor Teen for a copy of this novel.

About this book:  Bestselling author Katie McGarry’s trademark wrong-side-of-the-tracks romance is given a new twist in the gritty YA contemporary novel, Only a Breath Apart. 

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…