Rowena’s review of Breathe, Annie, Breathe (Hundred Oaks #5) by Miranda Kenneally.

Annie hates running. No matter how far she jogs, she can’t escape the guilt that if she hadn’t broken up with Kyle, he might still be alive. So to honor his memory, she starts preparing for the marathon he intended to race.

But the training is even more grueling than Annie could have imagined. Despite her coaching, she’s at war with her body, her mind—and her heart. With every mile that athletic Jeremiah cheers her on, she grows more conflicted. She wants to run into his arms…and sprint in the opposite direction. For Annie, opening up to love again may be even more of a challenge than crossing the finish line.

This is Book 5 in the Hundred Oaks series and it follows Annie Winters as she prepares to run a 26 mile marathon, in honor of her dead boyfriend Kyle.  Kyle was training to run this marathon but died before he could get it done and even though Annie has never run anything longer than a mile (which she did because she had to in order to pass P.E.), she’s vowed to get it done.

Annie is feeling a lot of guilt for Kyle’s death. She loved Kyle more than anything but she wanted things out of life, things that didn’t exactly go hand in hand with what Kyle wanted.  Kyle wanted to get married, he wanted to be with Annie for the rest of their lives but Annie wanted to go to college first.  She wanted to be young before it was too late and when Kyle died, Annie is feeling a lot of that teenage angst that comes with teenage grief…they put a lot on themselves, when they shouldn’t.

Annie hires a trainer to help her get ready for the marathon (her trainer just so happens to be a familiar face from previous Hundred Oaks books, Matt from Things I Can’t Forget) and it is during her training that she starts to change…and grow.  She meets Matt’s younger brother, Jeremiah and he starts to become more than just a friend.  Of course, Annie’s not ready for anything more than a hook up and Jeremiah wants her in his life so they become friends…which is a good thing since Annie doesn’t have any friends.  Her life revolved around Kyle and the things they did but with Kyle gone, she’s been a lone star at school.

I really liked this book.

I thought Kenneally did a fabulous job of taking us on Annie’s journey to growing up and dealing with the death of a loved one.  Everything she felt, I felt it too and as the story progresses, I fell in with everything that she went through.  It’s one of those satisfying reads that gets you every time.

What I like most about this series is that each book can be read as as stand-alone but you don’t get the full effect of all the squeeing when recurring characters pop up. And quite a few recurring characters pop up in this book.  I loved all of that…if I had to list a gripe, I would have wanted a little (okay, a lot) more Jeremiah but that’s just me being greedy.

This is a book that I will most definitely be recommending to anyone who will listen to me.

Grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from Sourcebooks Fire.  You can purchase it here or here in e-format.  This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Rowena’s review of Things I Can’t Forget (Hundred Oaks #3) by Miranda Kenneally.

Companion to Catching Jordan and Stealing Parker.

Kate has always been the good girl. Too good, according to some people at school—although they have no idea the guilty secret she carries. But this summer, everything is different…

This summer she’s a counselor at Cumberland Creek summer camp, and she wants to put the past behind her. This summer Matt is back as a counselor too. He’s the first guy she ever kissed, and he’s gone from a geeky songwriter who loved The Hardy Boys to a buff lifeguard who loves to flirt–with her.

Kate used to think the world was black and white, right and wrong. Turns out, life isn’t that easy…

This is the third book in the Hundred Oaks series by Miranda Kenneally. The Hundred Oaks series follows a group of students from Hundred Oaks High School. The first book revolved around the star quarterback of Hundred Oaks, who just so happens to be a girl. The second book followed a young girl who was having troubles at home and finds herself getting into some trouble with the new hottie baseball coach. This book follows a young girl who has religion at the center of her life and is thrown into a whole lot of sin and is trying to balance everything around her.

Kate is a good girl. She goes to Church every Sunday because she wants to and not because her parents make her.  But one day, her very best friend Emily needs her.  And she forgets everything that she believes in and steps in to help her friend deal with the trouble she’s gotten herself into.  Those decisions stay with her and guilt starts pressing down on her, making her cling to her religion all the more and because Emily can’t understand why Kate can’t let go, she feels judged and their friendship strains.

It’s summer time and Kate is working as a camp counselor at the same camp that her and Emily used to attend when they were younger.  With her friendship with Emily on the fritz, Kate is having a hard time with well, everything.  When she shows up at the summer camp, she finds out that Will and Parker (from book 2) are working at the summer camp and there are a handful of people around.  There’s also a hot guy with no shoes on, staring at her with a smile on his face.

Throughout the course of this book, Kate deals with her faith, her relationships with her friends and with, God.  It’s a book with a whole lot of religion in it and though I’m kind of wary of reading these kinds of books, I thought Kenneally did a good job of making me more interested in what was going on, religious stuff and all.

Matt Brown is the boy who gave Kate her first kiss, back when they were 12 and at summer camp together.  He was a quiet boy who got picked on by the other boys because he liked to write his own music and read.  It’s years later and Matt is older and buffer and super hot.  Kate is smitten and when Matt starts flirting with her, her happiness grows.  There’s another girl who is vying for Matt’s attention but we all know who’s got Matt’s eye.

As Matt and Kate get closer and reconnect, Kate struggles with the secret she’s keeping for Emily and her physical responses to Matt.  While she’s struggling through all of these things, I’m not going to lie and say that I didn’t want to strangle her because I really did.  But I thought that her struggles with her faith and what she thought was right were real.  I knew people like Kate and they frustrated the hell out of me too but after all was said and done, I came to adore both Matt and Kate.  I was glad that things were patched up with Emily and I really enjoyed the friendship that blossomed between Parker and Kate.  This was another solid story in the Hundred Oaks series and I’m anxious for more.

Grade: 3 out of 5

This book is available from Sourcebooks Fire. You can purchase it here or here in e-format.