Just Breathe

I first discovered Susan Wiggs a few years ago. I read The Firebrand and was hooked. I love her contemporary novels, but I still miss her historicals. But that’s another story…

Here’s the blurb for Just Breathe:

Chicago cartoonist Sarah Moon tackles life's real issues with a healthy dose of sharp wit in her syndicated comic strip Just Breathe. As Sarah's cartoon alter ego, Shirl, undergoes artificial insemination, her situation begins to mirror Sarah's own difficult attempts to conceive. However, Sarah's dreams of the future did not include her husband's infidelity: snag number two in Sarah's so-called perfect life.

With Chicago and her marriage in the rearview mirror, she flees to the small Northern California coastal town where she grew up, a place she couldn't wait to leave. Now she finds herself revisiting the past, an emotionally distant father and the unanswered questions left by her mother's death. As she comes to terms with her lost marriage, Sarah encounters a man she never expected to meet again: Will Bonner, the high school heartthrob she'd skewered mercilessly in her old comics. Now a local firefighter, he's been through some changes himself. But just as her heart is about to reawaken, Sarah discovers she is pregnant. With her ex's twins.

It's hardly the most traditional of new beginnings, but who says life and love are predictable or perfect? The winds of change have led Sarah here. Now all she can do is just close her eyes and breathe.

It was a wonderful read! I loved the setting, the characters, and the comic strips!

I loved the way the heroine, Sarah, grew. From a woman who would do anything to make her husband happy and healthy, to an independent woman who puts her children’s needs ahead of everything, even if it may hurt her own happiness. I loved the way she went about to make friends, she was loner during high school, and it was interesting to see her make friends with one of the most popular girls, one that she always felt intimidated with. But her friendship with Aurora, Will’s daughter, really tugged on my heartstrings. And also her reconnecting with her father, who her view was an absent parent…and don’t get me going on his shower gift … The tissue box in my family room was very handy.

Even though I really enjoyed the book, something about it was missing. Or maybe it was the hero self-sacrificing nature, or maybe it was the criminal tendencies that certain teenagers had… Anyone? Help?!

Just Breathe by Susan Wiggs (4/5) Romance Contemporary; Published: Mira (9/08); 100 + Reading Challenge (77); Library book;