Book Review: The Air He Breathes by Brittainy C. Cherry! (@brittainycherry)

The Air He Breathes (Elements #1)
Author: Brittainy C. Cherry
Publication Date: September 25, 2015
Published: Self Published

My Rating:

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.

Sometimes I can’t even be sorry for myself, because at times like these, when it comes to books like this one, I knew it was going to gut me. Just like the synopsis says, I was warned. I was told that this was going to be a heart tugging one and that the tears would come. What I wasn’t ready for was the beauty in the sadness.

Of course at the center of this angstfest, there are our protagonists, Elizabeth and Tristian. Both of them have lost their hearts in tragic accidents. Tristian having lost his wife and child, ended up losing himself to the darkness of his grief. He becomes a true monster, pushing everyone and anything away and letting his soul really die when he lost his family. Elizabeth, having lost her husband, isn’t new to the concept of mourning a love one. She lost her father when she was young and she saw how it killed her mother when it did. She vowed not to let that happen to her daughter Emma. So a year after her husband is killed, she goes home to find a new normal.

Now if those few facts wasn’t sad enough. Putting these two together was a recipe for tearfest. What I liked about Elizabeth and Tristan coming together was that they came together in a way that wasn’t instalove. Both of them were still hurting greatly from lost but they both continued to poke at what was starting to become obvious; two shattered souls coming together.

There is so much in this story that I don’t want to give away because this is really a great read. I think the only reason why I didn’t give it a full 5 stars was because I saw some of the turns that the author laid out. Great turns they were though. Under the sadness, there is a warm squishy center that deserves the love like these two do. Grab some tissues and a blanket and curl up with this book for sure. Can’t wait to read more from this author!