Review: Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker

Ten Tiny Breaths
K.A. Tucker
Series: Ten Tiny Breaths #1
Publication date: December 11th 2012 by Papoti Books
Rating: 4 stars

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Kacey Cleary’s whole life imploded four years ago in a drunk-driving accident. Now she’s working hard to bury the pieces left behind—all but one. Her little sister, Livie. Kacey can swallow the constant disapproval from her born-again aunt Darla over her self-destructive lifestyle; she can stop herself from going kick-boxer crazy on Uncle Raymond when he loses the girls’ college funds at a blackjack table. She just needs to keep it together until Livie is no longer a minor, and then they can get the hell out of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

But when Uncle Raymond slides into bed next to Livie one night, Kacey decides it’s time to run. Armed with two bus tickets and dreams of living near the coast, Kacey and Livie start their new lives in a Miami apartment complex, complete with a grumpy landlord, a pervert upstairs, and a neighbor with a stage name perfectly matched to her chosen “profession.” But Kacey’s not worried. She can handle all of them. What she can’t handle is Trent Emerson in apartment 1D.

Kacey doesn’t want to feel. She doesn’t. It’s safer that way. For everyone. But sexy Trent finds a way into her numb heart, reigniting her ability to love again. She starts to believe that maybe she can leave the past where it belongs and start over. Maybe she’s not beyond repair.

But Kacey isn’t the only one who’s broken. Seemingly perfect Trent has an unforgiveable past of his own; one that, when discovered, will shatter Kacey’s newly constructed life and send her back into suffocating darkness.

I love books where we get tiny pieces of information and clues about what happened to the main character as we're reading the story, and this is what happens here.

Kacey's story is not a happy one, and she's not a happy person. That's what we find out as the story begins and unfolds, and we see her being teared to pieces before she's ready to slowly put herself back together. She went through an awful situation and she didn't let herself heal, bottling everything up until it smacks her right in the face.

The story has a plot twist that left me with my jaw slack. I was not expecting what happened at all, and it made it all the more amazing to read. It was heartbreaking, but that led to some pretty amazing things and ending to Kacey's story and I'm so glad with how everything turned out.

Great book, awesome characters, and I can't wait for the second installment!