Review: Breathing

Title:  Breathing

Author:  Cheryl Renee Herbsman

Published:  April 16, 2009

Page Count:  272

ISBN:  978-0670011230

My Rating:  3/5

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. 

With Breathing, Cheryl Renee Herbsman has written a sweet little YA romance that a lot of teens will surely enjoy.  Many teens have been through a similar situation to Savannah’s – you have this new relationship that you feel is just perfect, and suddenly life throws a few obstacles at you and the relationship becomes much harder to manage than you ever expected.  I think this element to the story is the most “real”; those of us who are adults can look back on our teen years and remember our first loves, it’s easy to recall how every little thing seemed to stand in the way of spending time with that person, and how parents, friends, and other commitments paled in comparison to the passion and devotion you feel for that special someone.  It goes without saying that in these early relationships, all you want to do is spend time together regardless of what else is going on.  Looking back and remembering my personal experiences with teenage love was definitely my favorite thing about Breathing.  As an adult it an be easy to forget how all-consuming our teenage relationships were, but Breathing brought those feelings back to light with Savannah and Jackson’s relationship.

For me, however, besides this element to the story, Breathing was just okay.  It wasn’t bad, not by any means, but I didn’t feel too connected to any of the characters, and didn’t find myself needing to know what happened to them.  Like I said above, I enjoyed reading about Savannah and Jackson, but in the beginning of the book I had a hard time believing in their relationship.  They met one day and were in love the next, or at least that’s how I read it.  Once I got past that, I did like the two of them together, but I would have liked there to be more of a build-up in regards to their meeting, falling in love, etc.  

I liked how the story turned out, but it was slightly predictable.  I felt like Savannah did become a stronger person, more mature, but really that happened only in the last few pages.  I would have liked to see more of a gradual transformation of her personality; I would have liked to see her learn and grow from her relationships with Jackson, her mother, and even her brother.  

Breathing was a decent YA read with a sweet story and I do think many teens will like this book.  I just don’t see it being compared to, say, anything by Sarah Dessen or Elizabeth Scott anytime soon.

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