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A review by fatimareadsbooks
Coming Up for Air by Miranda Kenneally
4.0
Watching the evolution of Miranda Kenneally as a writer has never been clearer than in this book. Coming Up for Air was so much more mature and sex-positive than her earlier books. The focus of this book is Maggie and Levi's relationship and how swimming takes up too much of their time to be involved in serious relationships. As I've repeatedly stated before, I am an absolute sucker for the best friends to lovers trope, and if done well, it makes for a phenomenal read.
I love love loved watching Maggie and Levi interact. Their relationship dynamic was so adorable & sweet! Their jokes, their banter, their games... Also, I really wanted to be a part of their little group of friends! All the characters were perfect in this story.
In addition to the above, the way the romance developed between Maggie and Levi? Ooh boy. It was so much more steamy than previous books in the Hundred Oaks series. The focus on Maggie's desire for physical love & her sexual curiosity made for a pretty sex-positive book, and her & Levi's intimate scenes were... smoldering, to say the least.
Also, the secondary characters, such as Georgia, Hunter, the swim team, the parents, grandparents... etc, were so well-rounded - down to the last detail. This added a level of dimension to them, making for an even better story! Kudos!
Another thing I loved was how much description was put into the training needed for the Olympics. I'm no swimming expert, but Kenneally seemed like she knew what she was talking about. The descriptions weren't weighed down by long winded explanations; they were genuinely compelling to read. It was really interesting to read about how much thought a swimmer puts into their every move when in the pool. It was just pretty cool to read about from a non-swimmer perspective.
In conclusion, I didn't really enjoy all of Kenneally's books, but Coming Up for Air is definitely one of the more well written ones in the series. The cameos riddled throughout the book were so cute & sweet, and the epilogue left me with a smile on my face. This book has all the elements that make up a perfect summer romance read. Kenneally should definitely be on everyone's Auto-Buy list!
*Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way impacted my views & opinions above.*
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I love love loved watching Maggie and Levi interact. Their relationship dynamic was so adorable & sweet! Their jokes, their banter, their games... Also, I really wanted to be a part of their little group of friends! All the characters were perfect in this story.
In addition to the above, the way the romance developed between Maggie and Levi? Ooh boy. It was so much more steamy than previous books in the Hundred Oaks series. The focus on Maggie's desire for physical love & her sexual curiosity made for a pretty sex-positive book, and her & Levi's intimate scenes were... smoldering, to say the least.
Also, the secondary characters, such as Georgia, Hunter, the swim team, the parents, grandparents... etc, were so well-rounded - down to the last detail. This added a level of dimension to them, making for an even better story! Kudos!
Another thing I loved was how much description was put into the training needed for the Olympics. I'm no swimming expert, but Kenneally seemed like she knew what she was talking about. The descriptions weren't weighed down by long winded explanations; they were genuinely compelling to read. It was really interesting to read about how much thought a swimmer puts into their every move when in the pool. It was just pretty cool to read about from a non-swimmer perspective.
In conclusion, I didn't really enjoy all of Kenneally's books, but Coming Up for Air is definitely one of the more well written ones in the series. The cameos riddled throughout the book were so cute & sweet, and the epilogue left me with a smile on my face. This book has all the elements that make up a perfect summer romance read. Kenneally should definitely be on everyone's Auto-Buy list!
*Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way impacted my views & opinions above.*
Follow me on my blog, Book Whizz | Bloglovin' | Twitter