Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Review: Every Breath (Every Life #1) by Tasha Ivey

~Synopsis~
How does someone give their heart away when they don’t have all of the pieces? Not that Makenna really wants a second chance at love anyway. She is stuck in her tragic past, secretly living every day for her deceased fiancé, while her new boyfriend, Drew, is gently nudging her into the present. Desperate to appear normal again, she slaps on a happy face and goes through the motions of a normal, healthy relationship—but with the exception of even a single kiss. And she’s okay with pretending, but Drew needs more than she’s willing to give.

Surprisingly, it’s an innocent letter from a soldier halfway around the world that has her seeing life differently. Sawyer is at his breaking point, and his depression sucks him in deeper every day. Makenna becomes his only lifeline to home, and he’s hanging on by a very weak thread.

By helping him, Makenna learns to let go of grief before she’s left with only a ghost of the woman she once was, finally freeing her from guilt and showing her that it is possible to love again. But when she discovers that both of the men in her life are hiding something, she makes two shocking revelations. One of them is insanely in love with her, and one of them destroyed her happy ever after.

Even though a fairytale ending does await her, is she willing to face her own demons to fight for it?
~My Review~
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I honestly don't know where I found this book.  I think it may have been on GoodReads as a recommendation, but I don't recall.  Either way, I absolutely loved this book.  I've actually read it more than once, and I would read it again if I were bored and didn't want to start a new book.

Makenna is a damaged soul.  She's stuck in the past, a tragic past, where she lost her fiance, Shane, in a car accident.  She wants so much to appear like she is living each day with everything she has, but she just can't.  Her best friend Callie, her husband (Shane's brother) Wes, Drew, and Sawyer all play huge roles in getting through to Makenna to heal past her tragic past and move into the future.  They all add to the story, which I absolutely loved, and really help move the story along in their own way.  I never felt like the story dragged, or went to fast.  I felt like I connected with the characters, and never once did I feel like parts of the story were unnecessary.  The story flowed really well, and I didn't have a hard time believing anything that was going on.

I really liked the character development in this book.  I felt like I really knew who Makenna was, and while she suffered so much day to day, I really understood her.  I felt for her when she was hurting, and agreed with a lot of her thoughts on dating Drew, how she felt about him, and then how she felt about Sawyer.  I loved the development of Drew throughout the story.  I felt like I knew what was going to happen with him from the beginning, but at the same time, loved that there were surprises along the way with him.  I absolutely loved Sawyer...I think I have a thing for military men, and he was no exception whatsoever.  He developed quite a bit throughout the story as well, and while I also felt like I knew what was going to happen with him too, it also wasn't obvious and I enjoyed reading through the development of the story.  Just like there were a couple ups and downs in the relationship between Makenna and Drew, the same was for Makenna and Sawyer, and it really added to the story.

There was definitely conflict in the book.  We start the book knowing that Makenna is suffering from her past, and she's going to need to get over that at some point.  But there is also other conflicts between Callie, Drew, and Sawyer, and none of it is silly or drawn out.  At the same time, all of the conflicts are resolved really well. In some books, I feel like the entire book is conflict, and then in about 2 pages, everything is resolved.  Not so much here.  While there are conflicts between Makenna and so many other people, everything is resolved at different times, and everything makes so much sense.

The book is a great length (4820 locations in Kindle, about 405 pages). There is no cliffhanger, and there is a wonderfully happy ending.  There is a second book in the series, but that focuses on the relationship between Callie and her husband, Wes.

I would totally recommend this story to everyone.  I loved every second of it, and loved that it was different that a lot of other books that I've read.  5 wonderful stars for this baby!!.


Link to Amazon
Link to Nook

Other Books in the Series:
Every Kiss (Every Life #2)
Every Glance (Every Life #3) (To Be Released)

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