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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
Summery fluff that I wish had distracted me from real life a little more.
I've been waiting a long time to read this book, so I'm glad it was worth the wait.
I really enjoyed this book and the relationship between Jax and Sadie.
I really didn't like Sadie's mom and Sadie accurately predicted what would happen once her mom had the baby.
My only other complaint was Marcus. Marcus kept pointing out how horrible Jax and Sadie were as a couple and how Jax was going to hurt her and it wouldn’t last etc...but I kept feeling like Marcus was the one putting doubts into Sadie's head. Jax was upfront with her about everything and she accepted it. She only had problems with who Jax was and his celebrity life when Marcus interfered.
This was an enjoyable read and I can't wait to read more by Abbi Glines.
I really enjoyed this book and the relationship between Jax and Sadie.
I really didn't like Sadie's mom and Sadie accurately predicted what would happen once her mom had the baby.
My only other complaint was Marcus. Marcus kept pointing out how horrible Jax and Sadie were as a couple and how Jax was going to hurt her and it wouldn’t last etc...but I kept feeling like Marcus was the one putting doubts into Sadie's head. Jax was upfront with her about everything and she accepted it. She only had problems with who Jax was and his celebrity life when Marcus interfered.
This was an enjoyable read and I can't wait to read more by Abbi Glines.
I love Abbie Glines and adored her other books. The speech hurt this story for me. Example... “I have something for you, but it is really for me. I need you to take it, so I will be able to get some rest while I am away.” What rock star under age 30 talks like that?? Use contractions! The chemistry between the characters never really happened for me. I kinda wanted her to fall for Marcus. I will attempt book two but if it's more of the same I'm done with this series. Still love the author but this one might just it be for me.
One of the best exemple of an unhealthy relationship passed has a healthy one. NEEDING somebody to want to stay alive is not proof of a healthy relation.
This book has insta-love and Sadie has the lowest self-esteem ever seen. Since she was a little girl her mother (who is really a case for child services) has told her that she got her looks but that she has a bad personnality. Way to go mother of the year!
This book is partly redeemed by the secondary characters like Marcus.
I don't recommend this book.
This book has insta-love and Sadie has the lowest self-esteem ever seen. Since she was a little girl her mother (who is really a case for child services) has told her that she got her looks but that she has a bad personnality. Way to go mother of the year!
This book is partly redeemed by the secondary characters like Marcus.
I don't recommend this book.
This was a fun, quick read to enjoy under a shining sun. It will definitely fulfill all your teenage girl fantasies of falling in love with a rock star.
I wanted so badly to like this book, the synopsis on the back cover sounded amazing. But after fifty pages I was debating not finishing it at all. The concept of a complex sentence seemed to be foreign to this author until halfway through the book. The only reason I kept reading was because I peeked ahead and saw that the quality seemed to improve and decided to forge on. It ended up being worth it, but it wasn't a book I would read again. I DO however want to read "Because of Low", the next book. There was a sneak peek for it at the end and it sounded like it was much better written than the first one.
I needed an audiobook, so I searched the library hoping to find a Sebastian York performance I hadn’t listened to yet. I came across Rosemary Beach, but grabbed book one of this series (read by Shayna Thibodeaux and Kirby Heyborne) when they didn’t have audio of the early Rosemary Beach titles. So this was my very first Abbi Glines book.
In very simple terms, this book reminded me a lot of New Moon. I’m a twilight fan so that’s not a straightforward criticism, but I think the plot parallels are similar enough to be justified as a good benchmark for whether someone will like the story.
There were a lot of holes that I could criticize, but I’m reserving judgment on most of them because this appears to be a series of connected standalones and I’m waiting to see whether my questions get answered in later books.
In very simple terms, this book reminded me a lot of New Moon. I’m a twilight fan so that’s not a straightforward criticism, but I think the plot parallels are similar enough to be justified as a good benchmark for whether someone will like the story.
There were a lot of holes that I could criticize, but I’m reserving judgment on most of them because this appears to be a series of connected standalones and I’m waiting to see whether my questions get answered in later books.
Breathe by Abbi Glines follows Sadie White the summer before her senior year of high school as she takes on a job as a domestic servant in the summer home of teen heart throb Jax Stone. Readers are immediately thrust into a world of whirlwind romance, clichés and hyper-masculine-toxic-behavior. If the hatred I held for romance novels a majority of my life could pick one novel to summate itself, it would be this novel.
First and foremost, the language throughout the novel teeters back and forth between overly proper and forced to sappy and... forced, but in a different flavor. We're introduced to characters who have these strong southern accents, such as Ms. Mary. When it suits the character, she has a drawl and portrays the southern-sweet-old-lady cliché of calling everyone honey and making the best sweet tea and biscuits this side of the Mississippi, but when it suits the moment she suddenly is so overly proper that the novel begins to read like Glines had a word count to meet. Honestly, most of the novel reads like Glines has a word count to meet. Somehow, it's as if the author can't decide between conjunction junctions being the function or being the enemy that is avoided at all costs.
Another aspect from the novel that really makes my skin crawl is the manner in which Sadie's mother, Jessica, is discussed. Sadie's mother is constantly summed up to her sexual prowess and used as the metaphorical black to Sadie's pristine, virgin white. Readers don't have to look much further than the prologue to be bombarded with slut-shaming and demonizing of a character who sees no real development and is only brought up to further the point that perfect Sadie should be pitied. I suppose I'm not a fan of characters who exist solely to be bashed on, and make a lukewarm main character look better, but Jessica truly is the punching bag of the novel.
And if the slut-shaming belittlement of a poorly drawn up character doesn't fit your interests, look no further than the absolute forced love triangle of Marcus, Jax and Sadie. Marcus, the only likeable and realistic character in the entire novel, is currently in college and still completely smitten by the underaged bombshell that is Sadie. Disgusting, I know. I suppose if we're to assume Sadie is 18 before her senior year, then it's redeemable but historically speaking, that isn't usually the case especially in novels like these where the author leans so heavily into the character being an wholly underprepared, virginal conquest. And it sure doesn't seem to be the case for Sadie. Throughout the novel the boys (which is exactly how they're written; boys. Children fighting over an inanimate object which, of course, is actually a woman) spend all of their time thinking about, following and trying to seduce Sadie. If half of the interactions intended to make Jax look desirable and "down to earth" are sappy, I have no idea how to classify the mess that is Jax and Marcus attempting to win Sadie over.
I can go on and on about all the unfortunate implications of possessive behavior and peculiar damsel in distress instances for a character that so intentionally pushes to be considered "independent", but I think you get the gist. The romance is hardly believable, the characters are almost entirely deplorable, the plot takes so long to develop just to push towards a rushed and forced ending, and the language will make you roll your eyes so hard you might actually give yourself vertigo.
I read this novel because it was recommended to me years ago, when I was still in high school. Had I read this novel back then, I can absolutely promise I would have had the same thoughts and reactions. This is marketed as New Adult, Young Adult and Contemporary. I'd argue that it's a half baked dream that scraped its way into the very young, Young Adult realm.
First and foremost, the language throughout the novel teeters back and forth between overly proper and forced to sappy and... forced, but in a different flavor. We're introduced to characters who have these strong southern accents, such as Ms. Mary. When it suits the character, she has a drawl and portrays the southern-sweet-old-lady cliché of calling everyone honey and making the best sweet tea and biscuits this side of the Mississippi, but when it suits the moment she suddenly is so overly proper that the novel begins to read like Glines had a word count to meet. Honestly, most of the novel reads like Glines has a word count to meet. Somehow, it's as if the author can't decide between conjunction junctions being the function or being the enemy that is avoided at all costs.
Another aspect from the novel that really makes my skin crawl is the manner in which Sadie's mother, Jessica, is discussed. Sadie's mother is constantly summed up to her sexual prowess and used as the metaphorical black to Sadie's pristine, virgin white. Readers don't have to look much further than the prologue to be bombarded with slut-shaming and demonizing of a character who sees no real development and is only brought up to further the point that perfect Sadie should be pitied. I suppose I'm not a fan of characters who exist solely to be bashed on, and make a lukewarm main character look better, but Jessica truly is the punching bag of the novel.
And if the slut-shaming belittlement of a poorly drawn up character doesn't fit your interests, look no further than the absolute forced love triangle of Marcus, Jax and Sadie. Marcus, the only likeable and realistic character in the entire novel, is currently in college and still completely smitten by the underaged bombshell that is Sadie. Disgusting, I know. I suppose if we're to assume Sadie is 18 before her senior year, then it's redeemable but historically speaking, that isn't usually the case especially in novels like these where the author leans so heavily into the character being an wholly underprepared, virginal conquest. And it sure doesn't seem to be the case for Sadie. Throughout the novel the boys (which is exactly how they're written; boys. Children fighting over an inanimate object which, of course, is actually a woman) spend all of their time thinking about, following and trying to seduce Sadie. If half of the interactions intended to make Jax look desirable and "down to earth" are sappy, I have no idea how to classify the mess that is Jax and Marcus attempting to win Sadie over.
I can go on and on about all the unfortunate implications of possessive behavior and peculiar damsel in distress instances for a character that so intentionally pushes to be considered "independent", but I think you get the gist. The romance is hardly believable, the characters are almost entirely deplorable, the plot takes so long to develop just to push towards a rushed and forced ending, and the language will make you roll your eyes so hard you might actually give yourself vertigo.
I read this novel because it was recommended to me years ago, when I was still in high school. Had I read this novel back then, I can absolutely promise I would have had the same thoughts and reactions. This is marketed as New Adult, Young Adult and Contemporary. I'd argue that it's a half baked dream that scraped its way into the very young, Young Adult realm.