Remember to breathe, damnit!
Books where someone, at some point, lets out a breath they didn’t know they were holding. I fully intend to update this every time I come across this line, but let me know which ones are missing in the comments!
created by kathytrithardt
last updated July, 2026
Comments
oh kathy! this list is going to be never ending!
Right?!
Now that I know this list exists, I shall be adding a note in my phone (so I can do bulk recommendations and not be horribly annoying) for every time I come across this phrase in a book because I swear it's at least in 50% of the books I read!!
Thank you in advance for your contributions!
LOL you are doing god's work I don't know which god it is, probably Momos :D
Ahahahaha, I just remember reading it a few times recently, and then remembered I could keep track for the good of us all lol
Oh this is perfect, especially as I just read Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt and it had a line that essentially was the same thing
Added!
Just read “Zoey and Sassafras: Dragons and Marshmallows” with my son and came across the infamous line. 😂
Hahahahaha, added! 🐲
“Let out his breath - which he had been holding all this time- and tried to think of what to do next” pg13 A variation on the line? Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Adding! Thanks for your contribution.
omg i’m going crazy bc i KNOW one of my recent reads had this line and i can’t remember which!! this is such a fun list tho omg i’ll come back if i can finally remember
Same here! I know it came up recently but cannot say for sure where, so I'm just going to have to moderate this running list. Feel free to pop by any time you find one!
will do! 🫡
99% sure the first Zodiac Academy book 'the Awakening' is another culprit, potentially more than once 😂
Added!
If you haven't, there's "Dreadful" by Caitlin Rozakis. The work defo have the "I release the breath I didn't know I was holding" word for word!
Thank you! I read that one before making the list, so didn't make note of that at the time. Added!
My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon can go in here :3
Thank you! Added.
I'm currently listening to Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan and as soon as I heard this line in it, I thought of this list 😭
Adding now! Thanks for your help.
I want to like, but the current nb of likes is at 69, I can't break that 😩
bwahaha, circle back when someone else has broke it :P
I wish I had a photographic memory so I could ctrl+f to send suggestions. There have to be so many😭
RIGHT?!
whoop right away: Tanya Huff, Blood Price (p. 11 of the print version if you need that)
Getting it in QUICK! Thanks for your contribution to this silly community project :)
thanks for your efforts in making this list! seems like a great resource 💚
FOUND ONE IN THE WILDDD!!! moonflow by bitter karella!!! ran to this list like my life depended on it omgomg
ADDING NOW! thanks!
I’m back with another one: A Study in Charlotte!
It’s otherwise sooooo good, but unfortunately the narrator did commit this cardinal sin 😂
Ahahaha fair. Added; thank you!
😂😂 The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart has this. I read it and immediately came to find your list. It's so funny
Thank you for your service!
Woooo I just found one in the wild!! 😂😂
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, chapter 3: “The breath I did not realize I was holding rushes out…”
Adding! Thank you for your addition!
