**REVIEW** Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker

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:  September 24, 2013

Published By:  Atria Books

Review Copy:  ARC, 278 pages
*provided by Simon & Schuster Canada

Review

  Admittedly I have become some what addicted to NA as it offers basically everything YA does but with a little something extra.  When picking up Ten Tiny Breaths I was not quite prepared for the emotional wave that was about to take me out and pull me away with it, taking little pieces of me and throwing them away.  Reading this was like a beautiful heartbreak.  You would never regret the pain and tears because ultimately you couldn't stand to loose the love and beauty that came with it.  Tucker's writing was superb and really pulled me into the story.

  There is just so much to love with this book.  Tucker did a phenomenal job creating a place for the sisters to run to and characters to fill the pages.  Even secondary characters were developed and easy to enjoy.  Storm was probably one of the best secondary characters I have read. She may look like a gorgeous Barbie but is more than her looks put out and ends up being a great neighbour and an even better friend.  More than that basically every little detail about the apartment (I guess complex/compound), right down to the other tenants was there.  Though the area in Miami that they resided in wasn't clear all the things that really mattered were.  I could probably gush on and on about all of the little things but in the end all of the little things were perfect and made the story as a whole work better. 

  Kacey has flat out gone through a lot.  I would never claim to have been through the horrific events that she has but she was such a strong character I found it made her more real.  She didn't just forget and move on, she went through a period of time where she used all of the wrong escapes: drugs, alcohol & boys.  But when the moment comes she tries to be strong and gives up those things for her sisters sake but she still suffers, even if it is in silence.  The fact that she would do anything for her sister just about broke my heart but it was good too.  It was through Livie that Kacey was able to start moving forward, even if it wasn't Livie that got her to take those steps.  As the "before" Kacey starts to reemerge all seems to be perfect but all it takes is pulling one string to unravel it all.  Both uplift and heartbreaking, Kacey is one of the most beautifully written broken characters I have ever read.  She can make you laugh, cry and is alive enough to have your heart fall apart with her.

  Being NA there is quite obviously a love interest and his name is Trent.  My gosh talk about swoon all over the places.  It's when Trent walks into the pages that things start looking up but I always had this feeling that he was hiding something.  Looking past that wasn't hard because of the fact that he was so patient and wanted to make sure she was okay, putting her first was so completely endearing.  Trent brings out so much good and seems to be the perfect, HOT, bad boy(I know obvious that something can't be right, right?!).  Thing is Trent made you want Kacey to let go, let her become happy again and be with him but it is also clear for awhile that he may also just be the complete undoing of her as well.

  Tucker is absolutely brilliant and her writing is beyond stunning.  Ten Tiny Breaths will make you laugh, swoon, cry and break your heart.  It is not just a story about getting over the hurt of the past but letting go and forgiving.  Forgiveness is quite possibly one of the hardest things to fully accomplish, many times we save we forgive but we don't let go.  It was like watching a brick wall come crashing down leaving everything exposed and openly beautiful on the other side but you also know that wrong type of storm can destroy all of the beauty and the work it took to expose it.  I had read and enjoyed Tucker's Casual Enchantment series but the writing in this one has me fully addicted!  If you enjoy a good NA, with lots of the sexual tension but more meaning this is 100% for you!

Quotes

Maybe drugging him and stealing their money crossed the line.  Then again, Uncle Raymond shouldn't have gone all creepy pedophile.

Count to ten, Kace.  Ten tiny breaths.  as usual, her advice doesn't help me because it makes no sense.  All that makes sense is getting away from this two-legged trap.  Immediately.

Those were impossible days, though-holidays, birthdays, and the like-and I quickly learned that alcohol and drugs, while capable of destroying lives, also had a magical power: the power to dull pain.

I care.  I care what Trent thinks.  I care if it bothers him. I just...care.  And no matter what I do, I'm not going to be able to shake that.  Not with random sex, or by being a bitch, or any of the other dozen cruel methods I use to try and push him away.  Somehow he's managed to slide a finger under my titanium coat and touch me in a way that o one else ever has.

Sexual blackmail.  That's what Trent has up his sleeve.  He's breaking his going slow ruke in hopes of making me talk.  My teeth grind in response.  No way in hell am I agreeing to this.

Trent squeezes me close to him.  "I don't hate you.  I could never hate you.  Give me your heart, Kacey.  I'll take everything that comes with it."I start to cry.  Uncontrollably, for the first time in four years.

**all quotes are from the ARC & will be checked from final copy**