Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Book Review: Breathe

                                                                                        Author: Abbi GlinesBreathe (Sea Breeze, #1)
Publication Date: June 4, 2013
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Series: Sea Breeze # 1

In the shore town of Sea Breeze, Sadie discovers that fame is nothing in the face of passion. A steamy read from bestselling author Abbi Glines.

Sadie White’s summer job is at the beach, but she won’t be working as a lifeguard. Since her mom is pregnant and refuses to work, Sadie will be taking over as a domestic servant for a wealthy family on a nearby island.

When the family arrives at their summer getaway, Sadie is surprised to learn that the owner of the house is Jax Stone, one of the hottest teen rockers in the world. If Sadie were normal—if she hadn’t spent her life raising her mother and taking care of the house—maybe she’d be excited about working for a rock star. But she’s not.

Even though Sadie isn’t impressed by Jax’s fame, he is drawn to her. Everything about Sadie fascinates Jax, but he fights his attraction: Relationships never work in his world, and as badly as he wants Sadie, he believes she deserves more. Yet as the summer stretches on, Jax’s passion leaves him breathless—and Sadie feels like the only source of oxygen.

Can their love overcome the disparity in their lifestyles? One breath at a time, they’re going to find out…
 
I’d already planned what we would eat for dinner before I got home. I knew Mom was helpless in the kitchen. I’d somehow survived the early years of my life on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Somewhere around the time I turned eight, I realized my mother needed help, and I began growing up quicker than normal children. The more I offered to take on, the more she gave me. By the time I turned eleven, I did it all.

 
“I wouldn’t call you an old woman, just more mature than the average seventeen-year-old girl.”

 
Marcus turned to me. “Did I hurt your feelings? I didn’t mean to if I did. It was a compliment, really. I get tired of the silliness and shallowness of girls. You’re like a breath of fresh air.”

 
His fingers never left mine as we walked back to the house. The only way to explain it is to say it was very close to an out-of-body experience. Holding hands with Jax Stone and feeling like we connected. He didn’t seem like a rock star anymore. He wasn’t the guy I saw on posters and magazines. He wasn’t the hottie I’d seen on MTV. He was just Jax. I thought about the times Marcus had held my hand, and how casual it had seemed. But the warmth from Jax’s hand sent a tingling sensation up my arms. He was a rock star and I was his maid, for crying out loud. I cleaned his vegetables!

I think this will be the first book by Abbi Glines that I reward less than 4 or 5 cupcakes. I have read other books in this series, I know I read out of order, but this as my first time reading this one. Something about this book just didn’t meet the standards that I have for Abbi Glines. I was not compelled by the characters as much and I was not flipping through the pages so fast that you could see smoke lifting from my fingers. This is the first book in the Sea Breeze series, and it follows the story of Sadie, Jax, and Marcus. (Marcus gets his own story in Because of Low, which I am in love with!) Sadie takes over her mother’s job of cleaning houses on a remote island because her mother is pregnant and can barely move. Sadie does not realize that she is in fact cleaning the home of rock star Jax Stone until he is standing right in front of her. She just wants a summer job, but instead she may get a summer fling!

 
There was just something about Jax and Sadie that didn’t sit right with me. Jax, knowing that he is extremely famous and extremely busy, knows that he should not get involved with Sadie but honestly I never really saw him fight that urge. It was just like BAM! Here we are in a relationship all of a sudden. And really the same goes for Sadie. She is supposed to be focused on paying the bills and going off to college, but she gives in to him right off the bat as well. I wanted to see them both fight it a little bit. Before I knew it I was reading their sex scenes and was completely thrown off.

 
I wanted to see more of Marcus in the beginning because Abbi Glines really knows how to write love triangles. Marcus makes Jax a tad bit jealous, but I felt like this could have been played up a bit more. Sadie NEVER develops any kind of feelings for Marcus in the beginning, and I just feel like I may have liked the book a little better if she had of. Jax was not my favorite character by any means. He doesn’t play out to be what I expect of his character from the start. He is Hollywood, and let’s face it Hollywood changes most musicians. I wanted him to have a little bit of the “bad guy” image, and I still like Marcus better.

 
Now this book was not all bad, and I did finish it. I will never put down an Abbi Glines book. Abbi still drew me into their relationship like she always does. She gives background on Sadie and Jax, and I honestly would have liked to have seen more of Sadie’s home life and how her mother treated her. Sadie’s home life gave me a better understanding of her character and Abbi Glines really knows how to connect readers with characters. She made me sympathize with Sadie and really understand Sadie’s motives behind her actions.

 
***A copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Simon Pulse in exchange for my honest review***





1 comment:

  1. I am right in the middle of breathe. I understand this first book is more young adult but as the series continues it is more new adult. Have you found that to be so ?

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