Hello everyone!
I am back with another book review, today I am reviewing the next in the continuation of the Ten Tiny Breaths series, One Tiny Lie by K.A. Tucker.
This story follows eighteen-year-old Livie in her first year at Princeton. Assuming you've read book one, Ten Tiny Breaths, you'll remember Livie as Kacey's younger sister. It had been a while for me since I had read that book, but it was okay because Tucker does a good job of recapping what had happened. Anyways, in this book, Livie is a straight-A, friendly, 'perfect' girl. When Kacey gets her set up at college, she tells her to have some fun. And fun comes in the form of row team captain Ashton. Livie knows his type, he's definitely not boyfriend material, even if he did steal her first kiss. She soon meets Connor, Ashton's best friend. He is everything she should want, everything her parents would want for her, but she is still drawn to Ashton. As she learns about Ashton's dark past (they always have a dark past, don't they?) and more about herself, Livie begins to wonder if she's made the right choice, in more ways than one.
Right off the bat, I just want to say that if you are wanting to read this book/series, you should do so in order, at least for these first two. I *think* the rest are more companion novels, but if you don't want to be spoiled for the couples of book one, read that one first. This book contains spoilers to book one and some really cute moments between the couples of that book, plus, it's a great book!
Ok, back to this one. I knew right away that I was going to enjoy this book. I loved Tucker's debut and was really looking forward to completing the series, despite putting it off. I really liked how this book dealt with the aftermath of the accident still, and how it affected Livie, but it wasn't as much of the main focus as the first book was. This book had its own plot and even though there were brief mentions of the original storyline, I was able to enjoy a new book with characters I had come to love.
As I mentioned earlier, there's just something about a college setting that makes me enjoy a book even more. I loved hearing about Livie's classes and college life, as a university student myself her roller-coaster of romance, grades, and parties resonated with me. I also think by having this book set in a more neutral setting, Tucker made it easier to focus on the characters and their lives. In book one, so much was about where they lived and how they lived that this concept was a nice change. I felt like I could worry about the characters more.
In terms of characters, I really liked both Livie and Ashton. Despite his playboy reputation, Ashton pretty much shuts it down while he pines after Livie. I thought that was really refreshing, so often we see the female love interest forcing him to give up this 'lifestyle' but in this book, he did it himself. The only character I didn't really like was Connor. I'm not sure if we're not really supposed to like him because Livie is supposed to end up with Ashton but I felt like I didn't really know him. And what I did know was annoying. He was clingy one minute and then brushed Livie off the next. He wanted to take things slow and then he was introducing Livie to his parents. I'm not saying he was a bad guy, I guess I'm just saying I didn't really see him and Livie together.
It was interesting seeing Ashton having the dark past and issues, after the first book dealing heavily with Kacey's issues after the death of her parents, I was expecting something similar with Livie. But between the two of them, she seems to have her life the most together.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next one in the series.