Book Review: Breathe

Sadie White's summer job isn't going to be on the beach life-guarding or working at rental booths like most kids her age. With her single mother's increasing pregnancy and refusal to work, Sadie has to take over her mother's job as a domestic servant for one of the wealthy summer families on a nearby island.

When the family arrives at their summer getaway, Sadie is surprised to learn that the owner of the house is Jax Stone, one of the hottest teen rockers in the world. If Sadie hadn't spent her life raising her mother and taking care of the house she might have been normal enough to be excited about working for a rock star.

Even though Sadie isn't impressed by Jax's fame, he is drawn to her. Everything about Sadie fascinates Jax but he fights his attraction. Relationships never work in his world and as badly as he wants Sadie, he believes she deserves more. By the end of the summer, Jax discovers he can't breathe without Sadie.

You know how sometimes you'll pick up a book, intending to read one or two chapters, but you find yourself sucked into the story and can't get enough and the next thing you know three hours have passed and you've read the whole thing? Yeah, well, Breathe is one of those books.

Growing up, Sadie White had to take on the role of the responsible adult because her pregnant mother, Jessica, wasn't about to do it. With the school year over and the summer beginning, Sadie is thrust into taking over Jessica's job cleaning house. Upon arrival, Sadie discovers she is employed by none other than the teen pop sensation Jax Stone. Despite their best efforts and knowing it will never work once the summer's over, Sadie and Jax quickly fall for each other.

Sometimes when I start reading a book it'll take me a little time to get into it, but I quickly fell into this story. The writing is very easy to read, the characters are likable, the setting is delightful, and the story itself is quite enjoyable.

Sadie is very self-sufficient and determined. She's a bit of a loner, but without being too broody. Most of the time I find it annoy to read about a character that's beautiful and doesn't know/believe it. Sadie's a bit different in that she knows she's inherited some of her attractive mother's physical traits, but she wants nothing more than to fade into the background and remain invisible.

Her relationship with Jessica is frustrating in that her mother takes advantage and puts far too much responsibility on Sadie's shoulders. Instead of being bitter, though, Sadie just presses on and does what she must.

I did, however, enjoy when Sadie began to develop more friendships with the rest of the staff. Ms. Mary and Marcus were particularly enjoyable characters. Ms. Mary seemed like the kindly grandmother everyone would like. And Marcus was a nice guy. Even when it became clear Sadie didn't return his feelings, he still stuck by her and whenever she needed him, he was there.

Jax was a bit mysterious at first. Much like Sadie, I was almost expecting a spoiled pop star, but he turned out to be a really good guy. He was incredibly sweet, definitely a charmer. Even in the small glimpses we - the reader and Sadie - saw of the pop star, Jax still a nice guy. I didn't care for some of his decisions throughout the story. I thought he could have handled some things better, but what would a story be without someone making bad choices?

As for the story itself, I enjoyed that even though Jax was a pop star and in the public eye, the majority of the story felt pretty normal. By "normal" I mean it was a story of a guy and girl who were attracted to each other but lived in two very different worlds that would make it very difficult for their relationship to work in the long term.

Overall, I found the story to be a fantastically fast read. It's perfect for a lazy day at home or out in the sun. Even though there's some angst, it's still quite delightful! I'm quite looking forward to reading more of the Sea Breeze series!