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Blurb
They say your destiny is carved in stone. But some destinies are meant to be broken.
The only curse Jesse Lachlin believes in is his grandmother’s will: in order to inherit his family farm he must win the approval of his childhood best friend, the girl he froze out his freshman year.
A fortuneteller tells Scarlett she’s psychic, but what is real is Scarlett’s father’s controlling attitude and the dark secrets at home. She may be able to escape, but only if she can rely on the one boy who broke her heart.
Each midnight meeting pushes Jesse and Scarlett to confront their secrets and their feelings, but as love blooms, the curse rears its ugly head…
Review
4.5 stars!
Katie McGarry knows how to write engaging, heartfelt YA drama, and she has delivered a fantastic read with this book! A beautiful coming of age story with drama, romance and a touch of the mystical, this is the story of two very damaged teenagers dealing with heartwrenching situations, and in doing so, finding out who they are, what they want, and falling in love along the way. It’s a beautiful book with all the feels, and I loved it!
“Do you ever wish you were somebody else?”
From an early age, Jesse Laughlin was taught two things – to love and respect his family’s land, and that to leave the land would activate a curse that has haunted his family for decades. His tragic childhood only reinforced those lessons and, looked down upon by the two he grew up in, the only peace he found was on the land with his best friend and his beloved grandmother. Following the death of his grandmother, the land is all that he has left and he has a deep love for it – though a stipulation in her will could see him lose his legacy.
Scarlett was Jesse’s childhood best friend. She grew up on the property next to his, though with a very different life. The daughter of a well-loved, well-respected businessman in their small town, she was forced to keep her friendship with Jesse a secret from her disapproving father but that didn’t stop her from disappearing out her window whenever she got the chance so that they could run free together. It was an arrangement that continued up until they became teenagers and Jesse broke Scarlett’s heart, deserting her without a word and distancing himself completely. His cruelty left her confused, shattered and alone, and though she has since moved on, she still mourns for the friendship they once had. But that pales in significance to the drama now unfolding in her house as her father’s anger and demand for control spirals out of control, shifting their family dynamic in inevitable ways.
Everything begins to change for Jesse and Scarlett when Jesse learns that in order to keep his land, he’ll need to win Scarlett’s approval. With the intervention of Jesse’s psychic cousin, the two enemies are suddenly forced together, told that they need to rely on each other to get through the brewing storm, with Jesse fighting hard to win back the trust of the girl that he hurt so badly.
I have nine months to win her over, and it’s going to take all that time to undo what’s happened between us.
I loved the dynamic between these two! There is so much emotion between them – good and bad – and their journey as they get to know each other once again, re-establish their friendship and earn and learn trust is beautifully written.
“Why did you stop talking to me?” she asks. “After all those years of seeing each other day in and day out, why did you stop being my friend?” She pauses, and I lower my head because each and every word is a paper cut on my heart. “What did I do wrong?”
I shake my head because I got nothing. Nothing that will make sense to her. What’s worse, I don’t have anything that makes sense to me. At least not anymore.
Each moment with Scarlett and Jesse together is just beautiful. It’s honest, raw, confusing and painful, but the moments of sweetness increase as their bond is re-established and it was so gorgeous to watch.
It’s as if the sun has melted off her outer shell and has revealed the girl I once knew, and a woman I want to get to know.
And, of course, there is romance. Slow-burning, sweet and innocent, I could feel the shifting feelings between them and I fell right along with them as they bravely followed their hearts and openly explored their emotions.
There’s something more than friendship between us. A trust and love that had taken root when we were children, something that has grown, something that once took a wrong turn and had to be pruned. Something that has been allowed to reflourish and is on the verge of going wild.
But the romance is just a small part of Scarlett and Jesse’s journeys. Scarlett is dealing with a hellish situation at home and Jesse’s entire future is up in the air. They both have a lot of growing and learning to do, and watching them find their inner strength and deal with it all is amazing! They have each other to lean on, of course, but there is a fantastic cast of side characters helping them on the way and bringing so much to the story. The mystical aspect of the book is there, but it’s minor – at first I was a little wary of how that all was going to play out, but it worked with the themes of the story and I thought it was handled well. It’s Scarlett and Jesse’s individual battles to find their way forward that are the crux of the story, and that make this such a special read.
“Pain is what makes you grow, it’s what makes you mature, it’s what helps lead you to the path you are meant to be on. If everything is good all the time, there would never be change.
The book deals with some really serious subject matter with themes of violence, murder and domestic abuse, with emotional and physical assault occurring on the page, and the emotional impact of all of that explored in detail. Those scenes are hard to read but the harshness of those moments is softened somewhat by the strength of Scarlett and Jesse, and by their love story which brings a beautiful lightness and had my happily lovesick little heart soaring.
“You love me?” …
“I’ve been in love with you for as long as I can remember. I don’t remember not loving you.” It’s always been there – as easy and beautiful as the sun rising in the morning.
I really loved this story. It reminded me a bit of Pushing the Limits – one of my all-time fave reads and the reason that McGarry is an auto-buy author for me – with some similarities in the story setup and the way it all played out. Scarlett and Jesse are amazing characters and I finished this book with tears rolling down my face at how beautiful it all was, and then when I saw the playlist and quite unintentionally listened to Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’, I started crying all over again.
Beautiful. 4.5 stars.
An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Excerpt
~SCARLETT~
A scraping of a chair, a tray full of food and I glance over with my practiced smile in welcome. It’s not Camila, Evangeline, or anyone else from the group. It’s green eyes, red hair, a familiar mischievous smile that used to be reserved only for me, and my blood pounds with excitement as if someone lit a sparkler in my chest. Then I frown because I’m not supposed to feel this way. Not with him. Not with anyone.
Jesse Lachlin winks at me as he sits across from me like no time has passed from when we climbed trees together. “What’s up, Tink?”
Another thrill runs through me but then my muscles tighten. Stupid, antiquated reaction belonging to a dead past. “What are you doing here?”
Jesse pops a fry into his mouth, chews, then picks up another as if he has no intention of answering. I scan the cafeteria. Several people are watching us, curious as to why Jesse Lachlin is sitting with me, or is event at lunch, or even at school.
From the lunch line, Camila’s and Evangeline’s eyes are bugging out of their heads.
What is going on? Camila mouths.
I raise my eyebrows to inform her I have no idea. Jesse digs into his corn with his fork and that’s crossing a line. “Maybe you didn’t hear me, but I asked what you’re doing here.”
He lifts his eyes to meet mine and there’s a glimmer in them that causes my lips to flatten. Fantastic. He’s here to make my life a living hell.
“It seems obvious,” he says.
If he remembers anything about me, he should recall I was never known for my patience and that he should be speaking, and speaking soon. “Just answer the question.”
“I’m eating lunch.”
I honest to God groan in frustration. “There’s no room at the inn.”
He surveys the table, takes in the empty seats, my books, and then gives me a good look. A slow look. As if he’s trying to memorize every inch he’s drinking in. My cheeks redden because that somehow feels a little too intimate for lunch. Feels a little too intimate for someone I’m no longer friends with. It feels too intimate if we were friends.
I glance away, but I sense him still staring at me. God help me, I want to stare back.
Giveaway
To celebrate the release of Only a Breath Apart, the publisher is giving away a $50 Amazon Gift Card!
ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE
The Escapist Book Blog is not responsible for this giveaway
About the Author
Katie McGarry was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.
Katie is the author of full length YA novels, PUSHING THE LIMITS, DARE YOU TO, CRASH INTO YOU, TAKE ME ON, BREAKING THE RULES, and NOWHERE BUT HERE and the e-novellas, CROSSING THE LINE and RED AT NIGHT. Her debut YA novel, PUSHING THE LIMITS was a 2012 Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction, a RT Magazine’s 2012 Reviewer’s Choice Awards Nominee for Young Adult Contemporary Novel, a double Rita Finalist, and a 2013 YALSA Top Ten Teen Pick. DARE YOU TO was also a Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction and won RT Magazine’s Reviewer’s Choice Best Book Award for Young Adult Contemporary fiction in 2013.
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