04th
Nov

Welcome to the Wednesday Favorites post. In the Wednesday
Favorites post I will talk about a book I loved and that I think deserves a
little more attention. I read popular books, but also many books that aren’t so
popular (yet). In this post all sorts of books from all sorts of genre’s will have
a chance to shine. Today’s Wednesday Favorites is ‘The Next Breath’ by Laurel
Osterkamp, a book I read in November 2014.

The Book:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23208650-the-next-breath
I kiss him, choosing love over honesty, which is a choice
nobody should ever have to make…”

Robin loves sweet, responsible Nick, with his penchant
for Beethoven and Ben Folds Five. But she also still loves her college
boyfriend Jed, an irreverent playwright plagued with cystic fibrosis. Now Robin
is struggling to reveal her secrets and confront her past, as she finally
performs in the play that Jed wrote for her, eleven years ago. Will Robin have
the strength to keep her promise and stay true to her heart?

Alternating between present-day scenes, college
flashbacks, and segments from Jed’s play, this tear-jerking yet uplifting tale
illustrates how life is finite but love is infinite, and the road to recovery
begins with the next breath.  

 

The Facts:

Publication Date:                           August 11th 2014

Pages:                                            313
Genre:                                           Adult Contemporary
Average Goodreads Rating:          4.41
Average Amazon Rating:               4.6

Praise for ‘The Next Breath’:

The story is… wow.
Its deep and absolutely heartbreaking. Heartbreaking in some way but moving in
a lot of ways. Robin’s story is something you read slowly so that you can feel
everything she’s saying. Its engaging and I can’t help but devour it all.
I think this was
probably the most emotionally touching book I’ve ready by Laurel
Osterkamp.  She masterfully balances the past and the present while
showing us Robin’s heart.  You won’t be able to not shed a tear while
reading this.
This is a
wonderful story of love, loss, acceptance, and renewal.
This book is going
to stay with me for a long while. I loved Laurel’s writing and I hope to read
more of her books. This book is definitely a must- read if you ask me. I
promise you, you will be completely blown away by this one 😉

Buy Links:

‘The Next Breath’ is available at Amazon US, Amazon UK and Amazon IN.

About the Author:

Laurel Osterkamp becomes very attached to her characters,
and it’s hard for her to stop writing about them.  ‘The Holdout’,
‘November Surprise’, ‘Blue State’, ‘Campaign Promises’, ‘American Angst’ and
‘The Next Breath’ all feature the Bricker family, as their stories continue. Her
other novels are ‘Following My Toes’ and ‘Starring in the Movie of My Life’. (But
you can read any of these books in any order.)
Laurel teaches in Minneapolis, MN, where she tries to stay
warm, spend time with her two nearly perfect children and husband, and find the
time to write.   
You can find Laurel on Twitter but she needs to work on
sending clever Tweets. A better idea is to follow her blog at www.laurelosterkamp.blogspot.com, or visit her website.