Book Review: Ten Tiny Breaths (Ten Tiny Breaths #1) by K.A. Tucker

Summary: 

Kacey Cleary’s whole life imploded four years ago in a drunk-driving accident. Now she’s working hard to bury the pieces left behind—all but one. Her little sister, Livie. Kacey can swallow the constant disapproval from her born-again aunt Darla over her self-destructive lifestyle; she can stop herself from going kick-boxer crazy on Uncle Raymond when he loses the girls’ college funds at a blackjack table. She just needs to keep it together until Livie is no longer a minor, and then they can get the hell out of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

But when Uncle Raymond slides into bed next to Livie one night, Kacey decides it’s time to run. Armed with two bus tickets and dreams of living near the coast, Kacey and Livie start their new lives in a Miami apartment complex, complete with a grumpy landlord, a pervert upstairs, and a neighbor with a stage name perfectly matched to her chosen “profession.” But Kacey’s not worried. She can handle all of them. What she can’t handle is Trent Emerson in apartment 1D.

Kacey doesn’t want to feel. She doesn’t. It’s safer that way. For everyone. But sexy Trent finds a way into her numb heart, reigniting her ability to love again. She starts to believe that maybe she can leave the past where it belongs and start over. Maybe she’s not beyond repair.

But Kacey isn’t the only one who’s broken. Seemingly perfect Trent has an unforgiveable past of his own; one that, when discovered, will shatter Kacey’s newly constructed life and send her back into suffocating darkness.

Release Date: December 11, 2012

Age Group: New Adult

Source: Purchased
Reviewed By: Kelli

Review:

I'm loving the mature YA genre!  I don't feel so much like I'm reading books that are too young for me.  But this book was quite mature for the genre, with a lot of bad language and sex.  In fact, I looked it up to verify that Ten Tiny Breaths is in fact new adult and not just adult. 

I really enjoyed this book, in fact, I sped through it in about three hours.  I stayed up late to finish it, because I just had to know if Kacey was going to get her HEA.  I loved the writing style, the emotion, and the characterization.  I thought the story was paced very well and the emotions just jumped off the pages.  My favorite thing about this book was how Tucker resolves Kacey's emotional crisis.  The inclusion of therapy and medication to treat Kacey's problems made the story feel very realistic.  

One big thing I didn't like about Ten Tiny Breaths was that it felt predictable.  I knew Trent's secret long before Kacey did.  I also was not completely in love with the ending.  It felt a little rote to me.  

While I did have a couple of problems with this book, overall I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to fans of the New Adult genre.  I would definitely read K.A. Tucker again.