Learning to Breathe

Karen White is one of my favorite authors. She never disappoints! I wish Book Bub would feature her books more often.

Since I've found Karen White's books I've wanted to read them all. As I picked this one up I wondered if there wasn't going to be any sort of mystery in it like her other books. I don't feel it was as mysterious as, say, On Folly Beach, but I do think Learning to Breathe had it's own charm to me.I didn't really get into it at first and thought I would have to force myself to finish it because I had gotten two more books in the mail and had wanted to read them so badly but when the letters started to get read aloud, I found what I was looking for in this book I think.The main character is Brenna O'Brien, who has her heart in a box of steel so it seems. She's constantly set up on horrible dates by her four older sisters who just want her to get married already. When a man she used to date (Pierce McGovern) comes back into town she is very hurt because she felt he never answered her calls or her letters.Pierce is back in town to move his aging father into a nursing home. Due to certain events (not having a room big enough being the first) Pierce stays around to help his father.As the old post office the girls' father used to work for goes down, they find a metal box full of old letters to Pierce's father, sent from a "Me". And to me that was where the story really picked up. It's amazing the parallels between Me and Andrew, and Brenna and Pierce. It's not hard to figure out what happened if you really think about it.The ruin of a once beautiful theater, the abandonment of a mother, an unknown half-brother, and the death of a tired old soldier with the heart of a poet really tied the book together. I haven't cried over one of Karen's books like I did this one since reading The Lost Hours.As usual I loved her character work. I could find no one I really disliked as a character, even though all four of Brenna's older sisters seemed very pushy to me. But my favorite was Aunt Dottie. A little batty and seemingly with a touch of Alzheimer's, she is none-the-less very important to the story and someone I found myself to like a lot. Her love of hats, her wanting to fill herself with marbles to fill the empty spaces, her bits of seemingly confusing advice, it was what made her a great character to me. So in all it was a pretty decent read. Not my favorite Karen White book but it's still pretty good if you can get into it.

I’ve read numerous White books “out of order” according to years written. The themes, layered characters, and plot networks—her trademarks—gleam from the pages. Yet Learning to Breathe captivated me. I’ll read it again.

Learning to Breathe is...like a breath of fresh air as is the author, Karen White. I have a close friend that owns a book store (lucky for me) and it's not unusual for her to throw a book at me and say, "Read this. Then tell me what you think." And that's how I came to read White's prose in this heart-warming and refreshing novel. There's something about White's writing that hits so close to home and touches the heart that you simply can't put the book down. Although I don't think White is all that well-known, in my opinion, she well should be. After reading this novel, I went to Amazon.Com's website and ordered three more novels by Karen White, trusting the brief description of each novel and the customer reviews. I didn't go wrong. I don't have the time to do book reviews for the other three books, but trust me, The Color of Light, Pieces of the Heath, and The Memory of Water are three more novels by Karen White that once you start reading these novels, you won't to put them down until you're finished. You might want to have a box of Kleenex handy as well. Remember, if the writer doesn't cry, neither does the reader. I keep wondering if Karen White might have shed a few tears while writing these novels. I think Nicholas Sparks might as well move over because he's just met his match in heart-warming novels that truly touch the heart.

I haven’t read a book by Karen White that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed. She holds your interest so much you don’t want the book to end. It’s amazing sometimes how blind people can be and how they sometimes just walk through life letting circumstances and other people rule their life. Makes you pause and think about your own life and see if we aren’t sometimes guilty of the same kind of mindlessness.

KWhite continues to entertain me with a great writing style and so many life lessons written in her work that they just speak to you and make you pause and read that again. Love Karen White and her small town settings.

Having read quite a few of Karen White's books, I wasn't prepared to dislike this one...but that was the case. I never could get a real feeling for any of the characters...and there were quite a few of them....not even Brenna, the main character. For goodness sake, why did we have to be told so many times that she bit her fingernails??Or that she always had chipped fingernail polish? That was strange and unattractive for a 32 year old, to say the least. The author kept mentioning that throughout the book, for no obvious purpose....it grew tedious and was a distracting habit to keep bringing up. Her fascination with unread letters seemed a bit odd, too. The story just didn't grab me at all, from beginning to end. I was actually glad when it was finally over. I wouldn't recommend it to a friend who might be looking for a good book, unfortunately. Others by her would be a much better choice, such as The Beach Trees, On Folly Beach, After the Rain, or Falling Home. Sea Change was rather odd, in that it dealt with too much of the paranormal to be remotely believable. Learning to Breathe was just a bit of a dud in my opinion

Everything Karen White, writes is always absolutely perfect. I laughed and I cried as I fell in love with each character. Aunt Dottie was the best.

Loved the book, I have just read 6 of Karen Whites books,love them all, I have to order more!!