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A review by gabbyreads
The Air He Breathes by Brittainy C. Cherry
5.0
4.5 Stars
"Forever was much shorter than anyone would ever like to believe."
Brittainy C. Cherry is my spirit animal. She's such an amazing writer. I read Loving Mr. Daniels last year and it was instantly one of my favorites and when I saw she had come out with a new book, I knew I had to read it. Sure enough, this book had all the amazing qualities that Loving Mr. Daniels had: a tragic event, a heartfelt story, amazing plot twists, and relatable characters. I love all of the characters in this book, even the side characters. Elizabeth is an amazing protagonist and I could feel her pain as she deals with the loss of her husband. Tristan is an interesting character because in the beginning I hated him and thought he was the biggest dick ever, but at the same time I understood why he was the way he was. Tristan lost his wife and his eight year old son in a car accident and his whole life turned upside down. It's so beautiful to watch these two characters come together and breathe life back into each other.
"He was thunder, I was lightning, and we were seconds away from creating a perfect storm."
The thing I love most about Brittainy C. Cherry's writing is how real all of her characters feel. The story never feels forced or fake and her writing flows so nicely. She understands loss and death in a way few others do. When these characters grieve and deal with their loss, it's so depressing and sad and it feels so real. Like when Tristan and Liz talk about how the little things will hurt more than the big things: "Sometimes I think the little moments are worse than the big ones. I can handle remembering his birthday or the day of his death, but remembering the little things like the way he cut the grass, or how he only read comics in the newspaper, or how he only smoked one cigar on New Years Eve..." I totally understand that. It's not the big things that will break your heart, it's that slight tug of familiarity. The scent of their perfume/cologne or finding their belongings strewn about their room like they will be right back. I remember this about her previous book "Loving Mr. Daniels" as well and I remember admiring how she so easily captures grief.
"You know that place in between nightmares and dreams? The place where tomorrows never come and yesterdays don’t hurt anymore? The place where your heart beats in sync with mine? The place where time doesn’t exist, and it’s easy to breathe? I want to live there with you."
I absolutely loved seeing Tristan and Liz open up to each other and really connect and fall in love. In the beginning they would use each other as an attempt to feel something which is understandable and truly sad. Their love is so pure and real, it's beautiful and inspiring. It's the kind of love I dream about having in my own life someday. I adore the way that Liz talks about Tristan: "He smelled like the wind that pushed through the most beautiful pine trees in the forest: refreshing, comforting, peaceful. Like home." And like this: "He made me laugh in a world that was determined to make me cry." I just love Brittainy C. Cherry's writing, it's so lyrical and vivid and beautiful.
"It's easier with you." "What's easier with me?" "Being alive."
Not only were Tristan and Liz amazing characters, but I loved Liz's daughter Emma. She's an adorable kid who is obsessed with Hotel Transylvania and zombies and she argues with Tristan over who is the best Avenger and I absolutely adored her. She is everything I would want in a child of my own someday. Also, Liz's best friend, Faye. She is arguably one of the funniest characters I've ever read from. She had me laughing out loud every time she made an appearance. For example: "She can't take her eyes off of us because she's terrified that you might make me laugh, or I might touch your balls, or the wind might blow your penis into my mouth!" It's random funny shit like that that had me dying of laughter. I even loved Tristan's dog, Zeus. That dog had an amazing personality and was there for him when he needed him most and it made me emotional. The love a dog has for their owner is unconditional and it's beautiful. "I wanted to be alone, but Zeus was right there. He'd kept up with my crazed mind, he was right beside me when I hit rock bottom, and he wasn't going to leave me. He was in my face giving me kisses, giving me love, giving me himself to hold when I needed someone the most." What an incredible dog.
"Then he told me I shouldn't worry too much about falling apart because the dark days only stayed dark until the sun came up."
I honestly Loved this book so much. It had just the right amount of romance, erotic scenes, emotional scenes, and suspense all wrapped neatly into a beautiful story. The only reason I gave this book 4.5 stars as opposed to 5 is because the drama towards the end of the book was a little too over the top in my opinion and wasn't really necessary to make this book great. The book was great already and the dramatic conclusion really wasn't needed. Other than that, I loved this book. I loved the characters, I loved the romance, I was laughing and crying while reading this and I read this all in one sitting because I could not put it down. It took me about 5 hours to read it but that's because I was really soaking it all in. I was highlighting quotes left and right and trying to read through tears, and laughing my ass off. It was an amazing ride and definitely one of my favorite books of the year.
"I knew life was never truly broken; it was simply bruised some days, and bruises healed with time."
P.S. I wish Amazon had a paperback version of this book available to purchase. I read an eBook version of this but I would love to have a physical copy of this book on my shelves. ):
"Forever was much shorter than anyone would ever like to believe."
Brittainy C. Cherry is my spirit animal. She's such an amazing writer. I read Loving Mr. Daniels last year and it was instantly one of my favorites and when I saw she had come out with a new book, I knew I had to read it. Sure enough, this book had all the amazing qualities that Loving Mr. Daniels had: a tragic event, a heartfelt story, amazing plot twists, and relatable characters. I love all of the characters in this book, even the side characters. Elizabeth is an amazing protagonist and I could feel her pain as she deals with the loss of her husband. Tristan is an interesting character because in the beginning I hated him and thought he was the biggest dick ever, but at the same time I understood why he was the way he was. Tristan lost his wife and his eight year old son in a car accident and his whole life turned upside down. It's so beautiful to watch these two characters come together and breathe life back into each other.
"He was thunder, I was lightning, and we were seconds away from creating a perfect storm."
The thing I love most about Brittainy C. Cherry's writing is how real all of her characters feel. The story never feels forced or fake and her writing flows so nicely. She understands loss and death in a way few others do. When these characters grieve and deal with their loss, it's so depressing and sad and it feels so real. Like when Tristan and Liz talk about how the little things will hurt more than the big things: "Sometimes I think the little moments are worse than the big ones. I can handle remembering his birthday or the day of his death, but remembering the little things like the way he cut the grass, or how he only read comics in the newspaper, or how he only smoked one cigar on New Years Eve..." I totally understand that. It's not the big things that will break your heart, it's that slight tug of familiarity. The scent of their perfume/cologne or finding their belongings strewn about their room like they will be right back. I remember this about her previous book "Loving Mr. Daniels" as well and I remember admiring how she so easily captures grief.
"You know that place in between nightmares and dreams? The place where tomorrows never come and yesterdays don’t hurt anymore? The place where your heart beats in sync with mine? The place where time doesn’t exist, and it’s easy to breathe? I want to live there with you."
I absolutely loved seeing Tristan and Liz open up to each other and really connect and fall in love. In the beginning they would use each other as an attempt to feel something which is understandable and truly sad. Their love is so pure and real, it's beautiful and inspiring. It's the kind of love I dream about having in my own life someday. I adore the way that Liz talks about Tristan: "He smelled like the wind that pushed through the most beautiful pine trees in the forest: refreshing, comforting, peaceful. Like home." And like this: "He made me laugh in a world that was determined to make me cry." I just love Brittainy C. Cherry's writing, it's so lyrical and vivid and beautiful.
"It's easier with you." "What's easier with me?" "Being alive."
Not only were Tristan and Liz amazing characters, but I loved Liz's daughter Emma. She's an adorable kid who is obsessed with Hotel Transylvania and zombies and she argues with Tristan over who is the best Avenger and I absolutely adored her. She is everything I would want in a child of my own someday. Also, Liz's best friend, Faye. She is arguably one of the funniest characters I've ever read from. She had me laughing out loud every time she made an appearance. For example: "She can't take her eyes off of us because she's terrified that you might make me laugh, or I might touch your balls, or the wind might blow your penis into my mouth!" It's random funny shit like that that had me dying of laughter. I even loved Tristan's dog, Zeus. That dog had an amazing personality and was there for him when he needed him most and it made me emotional. The love a dog has for their owner is unconditional and it's beautiful. "I wanted to be alone, but Zeus was right there. He'd kept up with my crazed mind, he was right beside me when I hit rock bottom, and he wasn't going to leave me. He was in my face giving me kisses, giving me love, giving me himself to hold when I needed someone the most." What an incredible dog.
"Then he told me I shouldn't worry too much about falling apart because the dark days only stayed dark until the sun came up."
I honestly Loved this book so much. It had just the right amount of romance, erotic scenes, emotional scenes, and suspense all wrapped neatly into a beautiful story. The only reason I gave this book 4.5 stars as opposed to 5 is because the drama towards the end of the book was a little too over the top in my opinion and wasn't really necessary to make this book great. The book was great already and the dramatic conclusion really wasn't needed. Other than that, I loved this book. I loved the characters, I loved the romance, I was laughing and crying while reading this and I read this all in one sitting because I could not put it down. It took me about 5 hours to read it but that's because I was really soaking it all in. I was highlighting quotes left and right and trying to read through tears, and laughing my ass off. It was an amazing ride and definitely one of my favorite books of the year.
"I knew life was never truly broken; it was simply bruised some days, and bruises healed with time."
P.S. I wish Amazon had a paperback version of this book available to purchase. I read an eBook version of this but I would love to have a physical copy of this book on my shelves. ):