Jillian had a plan: celebrate the end of her first year of college with an amazing summer full of beaches, barbeques, and bonfires. When her mom insists she needs a summer job, and her boyfriend spends more time with his band than with her, Jillian’s plans go down the drain. Grant had a plan: finish his Masters, get a great job at Google, and get the hell out of Georgia. He might be giving up some of the fun of his youth, but he knows his all work and no play method would be worth it when his dreams came true. But things never go according to plan. When temptation brings them together and tragedy tears them apart, Jillian and Grant will be forced to choose: fight for their dreams, or fight for each other.
Publication Year: 2013
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Jillian and Grant were two people who were perfectly happy with being inside their comfort zone. Loving her high school boyfriend through good and bad times was everything Jillian has ever known, even if things have been mostly bad as of late. Grant, on the other hand, has witnessed his father's downfall after his mother's death and decided that he would turn out better. Grant promised himself to focus solely on his career and to say no to any kind of romance until he finds a stable and financially fulfilling job at Google. Their safety bubbles begin to crack when the two meet at work. Linguistics major Jillian starts to teach Grant a language other than binary code and html, making him wonder if he finally found the one thing his father told him about- the one thing worth fighting for.
The summary and plot for Inhale, Exhale sounds like your average new adult contemporary, and it kind of is. It has everything you've come to expect from the genre: instant attraction, undeniable chemistry, tragic events that keep the two protagonists from giving in to each other, and steamy scenes. There's really nothing new here, but I have to say that some of the darker tones of the succeeding events surprised me and temporarily edged Inhale, Exhale away from the 'been there, done that' book that I pegged it as.
Inhale, Exhale is told in Grant's and Jillian's alternating POVs. I struggled a lot with Jillian's voice. There really wasn't that much depth in her character and she relied on others too much. I think that Jillian is used to having a rock, someone to fall back on, and she came alive whenever that 'rock' came full view, but sounded so robotic without one. Sarah M. Ross created a much more realistic character in Grant. He's gorgeous, of course, but not in the 'bad boy' way that I've grown so accustomed to. He's more of your average geeky and focused clean-cut guy, but he still had his charms. Grant was much more believable than Jillian and his chapters were the ones I liked the best because he really came through.
Is Inhale, Exhale one of the best books in it's genre? No, it isn't. But it isn't that bad either. Yeah, i had problems connecting with Jillian and some aspects of the relationships presented in the book were unjustified, but I still kept on turning the pages. The story is sweet, cute, and filled with steamy scenes and tension, but peppered with some darker undertones. Inhale, Exhale is a book is about daring to step out of your comfort zone, but if you're looking for a NA read that has all the common factors, this book is for you.
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