Only a Breath Apart by Katie McGarry

Only a Breath Apart by Katie McGarry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book releases January 22, 2019: Go pre-order a copy right now!

This book fronts as a YA contemporary romance, but it has this delicious undercurrent of magical realism that just takes my breath away.

It reminded me of being a kid, when I also felt so tied to the land that I haven’t set foot on again since I was about 13 years old. It’s funny the way the things that shape us as a child can suddenly seem so distant once you are 38. This story threw me back into the shell of an emotionally fragile teenager who fought through the challenges life served up in a far less graceful and mature fashion than Jesse and Scarlett. Granted, I didn't have the sort of mentors they had to help guide me on my way.

This story basically scratched me raw from the insides out, and I spent the better part of the story trying not to cry, not because it’s so painfully sad but because it hit home in so many ways that just left me feeling vulnerable and emotional.

Katie McGarry understands characters and relationship dynamics in a way that is so real and honest. She creates characters that I fall so hard in love with that it hurts just a bit when I have to admit to myself that they aren’t real. The writing is excellent. The plotting and pacing are spot on, and this story is gritty and aches in all the right and wrong kinds of ways. It ran me through the full emotional spectrum, and the end result is that it was such a satisfying read that I expect this story will cling to me, even after I have moved on to other books.

I will definitely reread this one, and while I received it free from Netgalley to review, I suspect I’ll pop on Audible and pre-order the audio, as this is a story I could reread again and again and likely take something a bit different away from it each time I revisit it.

Like the land, this story has life and breathes.

Book 7 read in 2019

Pages: 368

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a good look at poverty and violence, and the struggle it is to grow up inside them and to then try to make a life outside of them. It's a lot about class, community culture, and the persistent trauma of growing up inside a culture of constant stress and drama. Honestly, this hits very close to home, even in Missouri, and I know many people who grew up in such a way or are still trapped and impacted by similar childhoods.

My brother said this was a boring book, because it's everything he already knows about the impacts of growing up in poverty and despair. In fact, his exact words were, "I thought it was boring and not that good, but we grew up in a poor area, so it wasn't anything groundbreaking."

This had me thinking about why my brother would expect a book about a culture in crisis to be groundbreaking. Does he feel as if there is some kind of reason or solution to poverty and violence that he does not yet know about? And why doesn't he want to see the reality of some of our life experiences reflected back in his literature?

My mother said, "It is suited to those who have always had advantages and money and don't understand those who haven't."

Now, on some level, I understand her comment, because she's suggesting that the value of the book may be in its shock value for all of those who haven't grown up in or surrounded by some level of poverty and hardship. But who in the world are these people? And what world do they live in that I don't? How many

"Cop Out" by KC Burn

This was an unusual story of Kurt, a Toronto cop, who is injured and his partner killed in a shooting.  Even though he'd been partnered with Ben for several years, it turns out that Kurt really didn't know much about him outside of work.  For one thing, Ben was gay, and for another, he had a longtime boyfriend, Davy, with whom he'd been living.  When Kurt meets the inconsolable man at Ben's funeral, he knows he has to do something to help as he would if Ben had been with a woman.  But as Kurt gets to know Davy, he comes to realize that Davy has been the victim of Ben's verbal and mental abuse.  That's all I can say to prevent spoiling this emotional story about two men connected by tragedy and second chances.  I'd definitely read a sequel.  200 pages (Kindle edition).

Palindrome by Stuart Woods

Posted for Paul Mathews

Liz Barwick finds a second life on Georgia's Cumberland Island with all of its mysteries. Love-Death-Hurricane.

Audio:  9 hrs. 36 min.

Print:  432 pages