Synopsis

Livie has always been the stable one of the two Cleary sisters, handling her parents’ tragic death and Kacey’s self-destructive phase with strength and maturity. But underneath that exterior is a little girl hanging onto the last words her father ever spoke to her. “Make me proud,” he had said. She promised she would…and she’s done her best over the past seven years with every choice, with every word, with every action.

Livie walks into Princeton with a solid plan, and she’s dead set on delivering on it: Rock her classes, set herself up for medical school, and meet a good, respectable guy that she’s going to someday marry. What isn’t part of her plan are Jell-O shots, a lovable, party animal roommate she can’t say ‘no’ to, and Ashton, the gorgeous captain of the men’s rowing team. Definitely him. He’s an arrogant ass who makes Livie’s usually non-existent temper flare and everything she doesn’t want in a guy. Worse, he’s best friends and roommates with Connor, who happens to fits Livie’s criteria perfectly. So why does she keep thinking about Ashton?

As Livie finds herself facing mediocre grades, career aspirations she no longer thinks she can handle, and feelings for Ashton that she shouldn’t have, she’s forced to let go of her last promise to her father and, with it, the only identity that she knows.

5 /5 stars

My review of Ten Tiny Breaths HERE

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My Review

Because you’re not a one-night girl, Irish.” Leaning in to place a kiss on my jawline, he whispers, “You’re my forever girl.

*Thanks to NetGalley for a review copy in return for an honest review*

I bloody well loved Ten Tiny Breaths, as you can see from my review, so when I found out Livie was getting a book that was the GREATEST news ever. I literally could not wait for it because I wanted to see how Livie’s life would pan out and if she too, would find love and her obstacles in her life.

I was not disappointed in this book at all. When I picked it up, it was demolished in a matter of hours (not counting how I had to put it down to work) but I was just drawn into Livie’s life, wondering how it was going to end up, wondering about Ashton’s too. You really do feel for Livie and Ashton and that is why I love K.A Tucker’s style. You get sucked in, you have all these feels and you feel the same as the characters you are reading about. It’s hard not to.

Ten Tiny Lies is about Livie and her going off to college. Kelsey’s worried that Livie is going to crack and so she recruits Dr. Stayner to help Livie out, in his obscure ways.  Although Livie doesn’t want his help, she humours him and in the end, she talks to him every Saturday, doing everything he tells her to.  In turn, when she goes to college, she lets her hair down. She drinks, she makes friends and of course, she falls in love. And as I’ve said, not without complications.

Everything in her life is tipped upside down, she has no idea what to do because it’s the only thing she’s ever known. Just what is Livie going to it?

We first meet Livie in Ten Tiny Breaths. She really is the glue to her and Kelsey, especially after everything Kelsey did and went through. She is strong willed, she’s smart, she’s shy and she has her future all mapped out, she has since she was a little girl. But despite all this, she has yet to ‘crack’ under the pressure of everything and she is too grown up for her own good. Kelsey wants her to crack, to act like the teenager she is and to not just focus on looking after everyone, she needs to let loose a little, live a lot and find herself. Enter Princeton, new friends, a lot of alcohol and a whole lot of complications. What is Livie meant to do? Everything seems to be falling apart right under her.

You really do see Livie grow throughout One Tiny Lie. She is definitely a straight and narrow girl, hating to go off track and not knowing what is going to happen, but Princeton is slowly changing her and its scary. She wants to change but at the same time she doesn’t. It’s all shes wanted and known since she was a little girl. What is she to do if she can’t be a doctor?

I loved her journey though. She finds out who she really is, lets loose and lives a lot, makes new friends, gets drunk and gains a new crush in the form of Ashton.  But Ashton is just a little bit broken. Livie has always felt empathy towards people, feels that she can help them in some way and she really did want to help Ashton out, no matter how many times he seemed to push her away. Her determination to ‘free’ him is what I loved about her and she really does find who she is at the end.

Her journey takes her from a straight A’d student to a woman. We watch come out of her shy shell and transform. We see her develop strong feelings for Ashton, watch her deliberate over what the hell to do and literally change her life. Her lifestyle changes, her career prospects change and admitting that out loud is so scary she doesn’t want to, but she has to. She takes babysteps with the help of the amazing Dr. Stayner (What a babe) and he helps her every step of the way with his crazy ideas. But he always makes her see that whatever she does, her dad will always be proud of her.

Dr. Stayner makes Livie understand that you don’t need to plan every single detail of your life, that you should just let things fall into place. Life carries on regardless of if you plan it or not. He really was the father figure that I think Livie needed at that crucial time in her life.

From the get go I was infatuated with Asthton. There was just something about him that I was drawn to – from the way he overpowered Livie to stealing her Jell-o shot and kissing her. HOT HOT HOT! The cocky little bastard that he was. This is the start of a very complicated and back and forth ‘relationship’ between the both of them. They had the chemistry from the first moment but despite Ashton’s cockiness and smugness and flirtiness, he’s pretty damn broken up inside. He’s not ‘free’, and everything he does is a front he puts on in front of his friends and everyone in college.

He hides his private life away, not sharing anything with anyone yet he’s strong, and loveable and you cant help but want to smother him with love and help him through everything. To be the one to free him from his shackles.

He has everything you would want. A great car, goes to a great school, money but there is just someone that he wants but he just cant have her – Livie. No matter how many times he pushes her away, he cant let her go – he’s torn between telling her that she should be with Connor and wanting her to himself. But he’s hiding a massive secret from her, a secret no one, not even his best friend Connor, knows about. See what I told you about the fact that no one really knows anything about Ashton.

But bit by bit he kind of needs Livie to be his reason to be free, to breathe again, and hes there for her as much as she is for him, despite her not fully understanding everything. When you find out the reason why they cant be together, your heart will ache for Ashton. I cried and it pained me that he went through all of this and is still continuing to.

When everything does come out, my heart bled for Livie and Ashton. It was time for Livie to put herself first and take a time out, focus on exactly what she wanted in her life, and if she wanted Ashton in it or not. Her decision was not taken lightly but you could see why she chose what she did in the end. It was courageous of her and of course, she loved Ashton and she really needed to know the truth from him now. Before she fully ‘took’ him back.

They were both exactly what the other needed.

I’m going to mention Connor, as he’s in the synopsis but I really didn’t click with him. He was definitely a safe option for Livie and although he did seem to really like Livie, he just wasn’t really there for her throughout her confusion over her career, her failing grades and I just couldn’t understand why a boyfriend wouldn’t be there for his girlfriend. Thank god she had Ashton around to comfort her and be there for her. She made the right decision.

I was so glad to see Kelsey and Trent and everyone else from TTB cameo in One Tiny Lie. I had missed them so much and although we obviously see Kelsey more – still LOVE this girl and I still love the comments she comes out with, we get to see her and Trent all lovey dovey, which is exactly how we love them!! They deserve so much happiness after everything they have been through. Livie leaves Kelsey in the dark about everything until Livie cracks and returns home after that one revelation one night and tells Kelsey everything. It was so nice to see the two of them bonding and just being the amazing sisters we know them as.

In my opinion this is really what One Tiny Lie is about. Breathing again, freedom, finding who you truly are and being okay with that, with the changes in your life and falling in love and being loved back. Livie and Ashton complete each other. They show each other how to love and how to live and how to free themselves from everything holding them back. They both stole a piece of my heart and I really do hope that they get to be a part of book three – Cain’s book – because I would love to know what happens beyond the end for the two of them.

Please, if you have yet to read Ten Tiny Breaths and One Tiny Lie, grab your copies. These books truly deserve to be read and Ten Tiny Breaths was on my top 10 favourite books of 2012 and would I ever lie to you about great books? No!