The Air He Breathes by Brittainy C. Cherry

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Title: The Air He Breathes
Author: Brittainy C. Cherry
Series: Elements #1
Published by: Audible Studios
Release Date: April 5, 2016
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Brian Pallino, Erin Mallon
Length: 8 hours and 27 minutes
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2018 #LetsReadIndie Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 Beat the Backlist Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER Big Summer Birthday Bash 2018
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon
My rating:

Blurb:

I was warned about Tristan Cole. "Stay away from him," people said. "He's cruel." "He's cold." "He's damaged."

It's easy to judge a man because of his past. To look at Tristan and see a monster. But I couldn't do that. I had to accept the wreckage that lived inside of him, because it also lived inside of me.

We were both empty. We were both looking for something else. Something more. We both wanted to put together the shattered pieces of our yesterdays. Then perhaps we could finally remember how to breathe.

My Review:

4.5 stars — This was quintessential Brittainy C. Cherry.  I mean, I’ve only read 2 books by her so far (this is my 3rd), but it’s amazing how sometimes writer’s just have a specific feel.  This one gave me a lot of feels, had some strange situations and a medium amount of drama, and while I’m not always a drama seeker, I do appreciate the way Ms. Cherry pulls out my emotions.

The narrators were pretty solid.  I wouldn’t say they were favourites, but I enjoyed them in general.  I liked Ms. Mallon more than Mr. Pallino though.  And honestly?  That was 100% because Mr. Pallino’s voice sounded super familiar, and it took more than half the book to figure out he sounded a little bit like Anthony Bourdain to me.  I just wasn’t drawn in, but that’s a personal taste thing, nothing to do with his skills, you know?  They both did well with distinguishing other character voices in the books, and in particular I thought they both had adorable takes on Emma.  My only other complaint is that when I heard Tristan’s first few chapters I didn’t realize that only the first part was in the past, and then it returned to the present…and I was confused.  I feel like there needed to be a longer pause to denote the switch or something.  Once I figured it out I just paid attention to context and it was good enough.

As for the story…wow.  That went in a lot of different directions.  Some made me uncomfortable, a lot made my heart break, some had me giggling and sighing happily, some were totally anticipated and foreshadowed, and the ending surprised me with the drama — it was a bigger twist than I was expecting I guess.  There were a lot of different aspects, and I had a hard time deciding on my final rating…it really is somewhere between a 4 and a 4.5, and I just can’t settle.

The romance was completely not what I expected…even while other parts were.  I was wary with the level of coldness and anger that Tristan exhibited at the beginning.  I mean, yes, it’s totally in the blurb.  But wow was it harsh.  And yet…as the story went on, I got why he was that way.  It’s weird to totally hate something about a person, but understand why it makes sense in their head.  It was odd watching these two characters deal with grief in COMPLETELY different ways.  I appreciated the way this book ended up exploring grief, and society’s expectations, and just the real base feelings that go along with it.  It’s a different journey for everyone, and there’s no right way.  As such, the way their relationship started was very odd to me.  It felt really unhealthy, and I was concerned for them both and how it was going to play out.  It made me uncomfortable, but at the same time I could see how it happened for them.  It just made my heart break more and more.  I was so relieved when things changed and evolved.

I enjoyed both of our main characters.  I’m not sure I necessarily fell in love with either of them.  Sometimes I really connect with characters, but in this case I more connected with their emotions and their journey.  It was a bit of a different read in that way.  It was very easy for me to anticipate one of the twists, almost immediately from the beginning.  I’m not sure if that was intentional, but it had me waiting for that shoe to drop.  Whereas while I knew I wasn’t a fan of Tanner, I hadn’t anticipated all of that side plot.  It’s weird, but it felt like the story didn’t need that level of drama.  I would have been just fine with the normal grief stuff.

The highlight of this book for me was watching all the beautiful falling in love moments.  The simple fun ones.  Sometimes the focus on the pain got to be a bit much for this particular reader, and so I adored watching them both fall in love.  I loved the butterflies I felt.  I loved the feather symbolism throughout.  And the biggest surprise of all?  I LOVED Emma.  I’m not really a kid person, but I thought she was written very believably, and I loved what she brought to the story.  I may have loved watching Tristan fall in love with Lizzie, but watching him fall in love with Emma made my heart melt.  Hearing about their arguments, and hearing her call him Tick just…made my heart complete.  Basically, Emma is the reason I punched it up to 4.5 stars, when otherwise it probably would have been just a 4 for me.

So yeah.  I’m excited to listen to The Gravity of Us next, though I’m a bit bummed that it’s the same narrators.  I’m still finding my faves, and I would have loved something different.