Breathing by Cheryl Renée Herbsman

Breathing by Cheryl Renée Herbsman

Publisher: Viking (April 16, 2009)

Hardcover: 265 pages

Reading Level: Young Adult

Savannah would be happy to spend the summer in her coastal Carolina town working at the library and lying in a hammock reading her beloved romance novels. But then she meets Jackson. Once they lock eyes, she’s convinced he’s the one—her true love, her soul mate, a boy different from all the rest. And at first it looks like Savannah is right. Jackson abides by her mama’s strict rules, and stays by her side during a hospitalization for severe asthma, which Savannah becomes convinced is only improving because Jackson is there. But when he’s called away to help his family—and seems uncertain about returning—Savannah has to learn to breathe on her own, both literally and figuratively.

Review: Savannah's father walked out on her family long ago and her mother has been the one taking care of her and her brother Dog. Savannah is book smarts and has dreams of going onto bigger things as soon as she gets out of her small town. One summer day she meets a guy named Jackson on the beach and soon they find it hard to stay away from each other.

Herbsman writes a sweet, innocent and fast-paced story about first love and how teenagers can truly love one another. Jackson and Savannah are able to maintain their relationship even with the distance between them. Cheryl includes a lot of different things in her characters. For example, Savannah has severe asthma and throughout the book she ends up in the hospital because of it.

At times I found Savannah to be a bit over the top with her melodramatic behavior when she is apart from Jackson, but only just a bit. Jackson is a very sweet guy. He is talented at painting pictures and has a dream of becoming a painting one day. I felt that Jackson was a little too perfect, but again -only just a little.

As this book is in Savannah's POV, I couldn't get over her southern accent (as well as the others!) I haven't read many books set in the south so this was really different. I have to say the accent is a nice touch to the story and makes the setting more believable.

Rating:

Characters: 8/10

Originality: 8/10

Ending: 7/10

Writing: 8/10

Voice: 9/10

Plot: 7/10

Favorite character(s): Hmm. I'm not really sure if I had a favorite character, but I'll go with Savannah's mom. Her personality was one of a kind. I liked that she was a hard worker.

Cover: B. I think the cover is very pretty!

Overall: Breathing is such a sweet book about young love and will have you thinking about those summer days. 3.5 stars.