Scan barcode
A review by lenoreo
Coming Up for Air by Miranda Kenneally
5.0
https://celebrityreaders.com/2021/08/31/summer-of-love-week-11-coming-up-for-air-by-miranda-kenneally/
4.5 stars — I haven’t read a book by Ms. Kenneally since that first one, Catching Jordan, YEARS ago. I think I forgot what her writing was like, and how much I appreciated the way she wrote characters and their struggles. There was just so much to love in Maggie’s story, and when I initially sat down to write this review, I was overwhelmed and couldn’t start. We’ll see if things are better after a few days to absorb.
Let’s get narration out of the way first, I LOVE Ms. Robins’ voice for Maggie. It felt young, she had a great consistent range of voices, and the emotions were fantastic. Basically everything I love in a narrator, she nailed. And she had just the right amount of sass and spunk and confusion and genuineness and caring.
Maggie was an interesting heroine to root for. I will admit, I have barely anything in common with her, and yet I connected with her all the same. She was driven, motivated, and passionate about swimming. Her competitive drive is something I will never understand completely, but I at least felt it. And while swimming took up most of her life, I still felt other elements of her personality. You could feel how caring and empathetic she was towards her friends, and even those not as close. I appreciated that she feels things deeply. And she wasn’t without flaws by any means — I can’t tell you how frustrated I got with her refusing to listen to what her coach (and others) were trying to tell her. At least she got there eventually.
This was a coming of age story in many ways, especially as it deals with Maggie dealing with her sexual awakening in some ways (that sounds so weird, but I don’t know how else to express it). Even though it wasn’t what I remember experiencing way back then, I loved that we got to see her dealing with her hormones and lust and all that good stuff. So often women/girls aren’t portrayed as wanting sex, and it really shouldn’t be something that is gendered.
I appreciated the way Maggie could get jealous, and she recognized those feelings, but it still didn’t always prevent her from feeling them. I also liked that I felt like she genuinely didn’t know her own feelings, b/c feelings can be confusing. Normally that would be something that drives me crazy, but Ms. Kenneally writes it in such a way that it feels authentic instead of just convenient. Basically she deals with teenage feels really well.
And while much of it was her own personal story, the book was also strongly focused on her relationship with Levi and how it was changing. Levi was wonderfully flawed, but still super adorable. I really wanted them to find a way. I loved the little things that made him up, how he shunned the spotlight, his love of reading, his confidence, his genuine love and caring for Maggie. I particularly loved that he was a genuine dick at a certain point, but you FELT his real remorse afterwards. Again, something that would be hard to come back from with other authors, but Ms. Kenneally makes it work.
And holy shit, when they started her “lessons”, things were super sexy between them!! Like damn. I loved that you could FEEL the friendship between them, but you could also see when things started to change, and that neither one of them had been looking for more or feeling those things before, so it kind of took them both by surprise.
I think one of the strengths of this book was the amazing cast of secondary characters. They all felt necessary, and added something to Maggie and Levi’s story. From their friends Georgia and Hunter, and the things they were each going through; to their families that actually played an important and supportive role (which is sometimes overlooked in other YAs) — huge shout out to Oma and Opa in particular, they were hilarious and delightful. Even Coach Woods’ cameo was fun, which kind of makes me want to reread Catching Jordan but I don’t have time. And honestly, even those with smaller roles felt important: Coach Josh, Jason and Susannah, Shelby, and even Roxie.
And lastly (because damn this review is getting way too long), the swimming aspect was beyond awesome. I love when sports romance books actually have a lot of sports time. As someone who did speed swimming when I was a kid (albeit not well), it brought back so many memories.
So yeah. Wow. Apparently I went from not being able to get my thoughts out to verbal diarrhea. Whoops. Needless to say I really enjoyed myself, and kind of want to dive into a few more of these.
4.5 stars — I haven’t read a book by Ms. Kenneally since that first one, Catching Jordan, YEARS ago. I think I forgot what her writing was like, and how much I appreciated the way she wrote characters and their struggles. There was just so much to love in Maggie’s story, and when I initially sat down to write this review, I was overwhelmed and couldn’t start. We’ll see if things are better after a few days to absorb.
Let’s get narration out of the way first, I LOVE Ms. Robins’ voice for Maggie. It felt young, she had a great consistent range of voices, and the emotions were fantastic. Basically everything I love in a narrator, she nailed. And she had just the right amount of sass and spunk and confusion and genuineness and caring.
Maggie was an interesting heroine to root for. I will admit, I have barely anything in common with her, and yet I connected with her all the same. She was driven, motivated, and passionate about swimming. Her competitive drive is something I will never understand completely, but I at least felt it. And while swimming took up most of her life, I still felt other elements of her personality. You could feel how caring and empathetic she was towards her friends, and even those not as close. I appreciated that she feels things deeply. And she wasn’t without flaws by any means — I can’t tell you how frustrated I got with her refusing to listen to what her coach (and others) were trying to tell her. At least she got there eventually.
This was a coming of age story in many ways, especially as it deals with Maggie dealing with her sexual awakening in some ways (that sounds so weird, but I don’t know how else to express it). Even though it wasn’t what I remember experiencing way back then, I loved that we got to see her dealing with her hormones and lust and all that good stuff. So often women/girls aren’t portrayed as wanting sex, and it really shouldn’t be something that is gendered.
I appreciated the way Maggie could get jealous, and she recognized those feelings, but it still didn’t always prevent her from feeling them. I also liked that I felt like she genuinely didn’t know her own feelings, b/c feelings can be confusing. Normally that would be something that drives me crazy, but Ms. Kenneally writes it in such a way that it feels authentic instead of just convenient. Basically she deals with teenage feels really well.
And while much of it was her own personal story, the book was also strongly focused on her relationship with Levi and how it was changing. Levi was wonderfully flawed, but still super adorable. I really wanted them to find a way. I loved the little things that made him up, how he shunned the spotlight, his love of reading, his confidence, his genuine love and caring for Maggie. I particularly loved that he was a genuine dick at a certain point, but you FELT his real remorse afterwards. Again, something that would be hard to come back from with other authors, but Ms. Kenneally makes it work.
And holy shit, when they started her “lessons”, things were super sexy between them!! Like damn. I loved that you could FEEL the friendship between them, but you could also see when things started to change, and that neither one of them had been looking for more or feeling those things before, so it kind of took them both by surprise.
I think one of the strengths of this book was the amazing cast of secondary characters. They all felt necessary, and added something to Maggie and Levi’s story. From their friends Georgia and Hunter, and the things they were each going through; to their families that actually played an important and supportive role (which is sometimes overlooked in other YAs) — huge shout out to Oma and Opa in particular, they were hilarious and delightful. Even Coach Woods’ cameo was fun, which kind of makes me want to reread Catching Jordan but I don’t have time. And honestly, even those with smaller roles felt important: Coach Josh, Jason and Susannah, Shelby, and even Roxie.
And lastly (because damn this review is getting way too long), the swimming aspect was beyond awesome. I love when sports romance books actually have a lot of sports time. As someone who did speed swimming when I was a kid (albeit not well), it brought back so many memories.
So yeah. Wow. Apparently I went from not being able to get my thoughts out to verbal diarrhea. Whoops. Needless to say I really enjoyed myself, and kind of want to dive into a few more of these.