📖 Novel of the Week: The Air He Breathes by Brittainy C. Cherry

As I wrote in the first post of 2017, I want to test myself with a reading challenge and one of the tasks is to read something from a female author...I read lots of books from female authors, but since I've just finished reading The Air He Breathes by Brittainy C. Cherry, I decided to check the task with this novel.

Here's to you my review and thoughts! Enjoy!

Tristan Cole and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bailey share the same unfortunate past: they both lost their reasons to live; Tristan his beloved wife Jamie and his son Charlie while Elizabeth her husband Steven, her true love.
Even so, they handled their grief very differently: Lizzie pretends (with little success) to be strong for her 5 years old daughter Emma's sake, while Tristan is consummate by it.

The two of them don't start with the right foot and since they also happened to be neighbors, Lizzie tries her best to be kind and reliable, even if Tristan couldn't care less about being polite. Not with Lizzie nor with anyone else. But as life goes, he and Lizzie start to talk, getting along and, when they find out their common misery, they decide to help each other when pain tries to drag them down. First in a mainly physical way, but when it became too much to bear, just being friends with one another.

They have their ups and downs, combined to the town people gossiping and giving unwanted opinions and Lizzie's longtime friends Faye and Tanner, who are suspicions about Tristan's temper. They'll have to go through revelations, judgments (both from themselves and others) and it looks like the journey to get back to normality is going to be a long one...

What I liked 👍

Feelings are the main protagonists in this novel and I think the author did a great job in describing and elaborating them. Characters' types and plot twists are various and believable...I spotted one plot twist at page 3, but the second one?? Superb!
Favourite character, you ask? Lizzie's BFF and walking tornado, Faye! She's always in her best mood, loyal and playful even if she's also a broken girl (her relationships are often a flop) and she protects herself with dirty jokes and big smiles...I loved her!

What I did not like👎

I find the motive why Tristan interrupted his "physical help" to Lizzie so selfish from him and, frankly, a bit weak for a reason. She had helped him in the exact same situations and now you don't return the favor? Excuse me!?!

After all, I enjoyed this book...the themes and events were serious but Brittainy Cherry managed to develop them without being overly depressive. I would suggest you to read it when you feel down and want a reminder that, even when you feel hopeless, there's always a way out!

My Vote: 6/10