Today’s post is a little different – it’s not being posted on one of my normal days and in the sense that I didn’t actually write this review, my best friend did. So, yay! Guest Post! (Hopefully one day soon I can get her to sit down and write an introductory post about herself.)

I’ve invited her to review and post on here more, so hopefully you’ll see more of her reviews. (Her job is pretty busy at the moment.)

Only A Breath Apart is one of her Most Anticipated Books and Katie McGarry is one of her favorite authors, so when a copy of this landed in my lap, I quickly handed it off to her, because I knew she would read it before I got a chance to.

I fully intend to read it, soon, but I asked her to write up a review on her thoughts, so here it is.

I hope you enjoy!

Title: Only A Breath Apart

Author: Katie McGarry

Pub. Date: January 22, 2019

Rating: ♥♥♥ – 3.5

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…

Katie McGarry is hands down one of the best contemporary YA authors out there. I get excited every time a new book of hers is released. Katie has a great writing style so much so that when I read her novels I know it is her voice. What is so unique about her novels are that she does a great job of capturing character development. When she writes about these teens in her novels they are not obnoxious teenagers but feel like real teenagers with real life struggles. If you are new to Katie McGarry’s books. I would start off with her first book, Pushing the Limits.

That being said this book is not one of my favorites. This story follows along two teenagers who both were friends and neighbors when they were young children. As normal life happens they fall apart but still know each other from high school.

Scarlett is probably one of my favorite character’s she has ever written. Scarlett is very mature but she is vulnerable to the reader. She is afraid most of the time but it makes sense with how she was raised. She is a follow the rules kind of girl. To the point where she is not allowed to look a certain way or her family would not approve. Both her parents are very controlling. Her father is very manipulative. Katie does a great job with creating her father. Very much hated the character but if an author knows how to create a hateful character you know she is a great writer. Scarlett also has a younger sister that I wish was in the novel more.

Jesse never really had the chance to be a child due to life circumstances. There were times where he felt like a teenager but at times carried the world on his shoulders. The first chapter follows him as a child, and it was by far my favorite part of the book. It was the perfect scene to see multiple peoples point of view even though it was written in first person. At times I felt like he was too perfect even with all the flaws he had gone through.

I like the story overall I just felt like the second part of the novel was really rushed. The story could have either been longer. For me that is probably why this is not one of my favorites. What was also great about this book, was all the side characters. Pastor Hughes, was my favorite character in the novel. Glory was great, she is a physic but also a relative to Jesse. The reason why I think those two character were great was because they actually listened to Scarlett and Jesse without treating them like children, but also knew what was best for them even if it meant that it would upset them.

Overall, I would rate this novel 3.5 stars because even though it was a great novel it lacked the length of time this story really needed to do it justice.

I hope you enjoyed this! I’m excited that my friend finally got to post on here, I’ve been asking her to! And hopefully there will be more from her in the future. Until then, you’ll have to read my words.

Which Katy McGarry book is your favorite? Let me know in the comments!