Breathless Review

When Katie Kitrell is shipped off to boarding school by her distant father and overbearing mother, it doesn’t take her long to become part of the It Crowd. She’s smart, she’s cute, and she’s an Olympic-bound swimmer who has a first class ticket to any Ivy League school of her choice.

But what her new friends, roommate, and boyfriend don’t know is that Katie is swimming away from her past, and from her schizophrenic older brother, Will, who won’t let her go. And when he does the unthinkable, it’s all Katie can do to keep her head above water.
Taken from GoodReads.

Breathless is the story of teenage Katie, a talented swimmer with the world at her feet, but she's hiding a dark secret and a painful past. Her older brother, whom she loves more than anything, is schizophrenic, and his disease is slowly consuming every inch of love and care he had for his family – especially his little sister. Katie discovers it's easier to lie about the past and pretend that everything is fine, her home life is normal, and there's no dark secrets hiding under her bed. The problem is that the secrets are catching up to her slowly but surely, and they're about to unravel all around her.

Breathless is one of those stories that I haven't heard much buzz about around the blogosphere. I think I've only read maybe one or two reviews for it, but they were pretty good, and I was already sold on the swimming premise (go figure) and the awesome cover. Breathless is the brainchild of author, Jessica Warman and combines a heart-wrenching tale with flowing prose, rich descriptions, and a setting that the reader can lose themselves in. It was very well-written and didn't lag, which I often find in books I don't know too much about.

I will, however, say that there were a few issues I had with Breathless. While it flowed nicely and had a great pace, I often found that the antics of the large cast of characters almost pulled me out of the story. Katie's personality had me somewhere between hating and loving her the entire time, and there were points where I was just indifferent. Then there's Drew. Drew is a character that I could potentially have loved in Breathless. He's a devout Christian with good morals and a strong standpoint, but I often found that he jumped on his religious bandwagon at only the most opportune moments, which I felt was a bit too convenient. Then, there were times when faith didn't drive his character, and I was left confused as to just who Drew really was.

I guess my verdict on Breathless is as follows. It's definitely not a bad read. I enjoyed a lot of it, and I thought the writing was very well done. While the characters have some flaws in my humble and honest opinion, I'm sure there is a big market for a book like Breathless. I give it a strong 3.5 out of 5, and I'd recommend it to fans of YA fiction, especially those who enjoy contemporary fiction.