Coming Up for Air (Hundred Oaks) by Miranda Kenneally
Pages: 293
Publish date: July 4th 2017
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
ISBN: 9781492630111
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – QBD
Swim. Eat. Shower. School. Snack. Swim. Swin. Dinner. Homework. Bed. Repeat.
All of Maggie’s focus and free time is spent swimming. She’s not only striving to earn scholarships—she’s training to qualify for the Olympics. It helps that her best friend, Levi, is also on the team and cheers her on. But Levi’s already earned an Olympic tryout, so Maggie feels even more pressure to succeed. And it’s not until Maggie’s away on a college visit that she realizes how much of the “typical” high school experience she’s missed by being in the pool.
Not one to shy away from a challenge, Maggie decides to squeeze the most out of her senior year. First up? Making out with a guy. And Levi could be the perfect candidate. After all, they already spend a lot of time together. But as Maggie slowly starts to uncover new feelings for Levi, how much is she willing to sacrifice in the water to win at love?
Coming Up For Air:
I have been reading Miranda Kenneally books for years now. When I first picked up her books I fell in love with the sports romance and now I read it all the time. Miranda Kenneally books are much harder to find here in Australia and that’s mostly why I kept putting off reading it. But I thought it was due time for me to pick it up.
Coming up For Air by Miranda Kenneally follows Maggie as she tries to navigate her final year of high school, and more importantly her competitive swimming. Swimming has always been a part of Maggie’s life. Most of the day when she isn’t swimming she is thinking about swimming. And now she is training more than ever, because not only is Maggie striving to earn scholarships, but also to earn her spot at the Olympics. But after her best friend Levi earns a tryout, Maggie feels the pressure to get a place at the trails even more. But after a college visit, Maggie realises that she has missed a lot of the high school experience. And she thinks Levi might be the one to help her.
I just loved this book so much. I loved the characters, the plot and just everything in between. I’ve always finish Miranda Kenneally books with a smile on my face and it was no different for Coming up For Air.
Maggie was a fantastic protagonist in Coming up For Air. She was honest, real, and had her faults – and that is why I enjoyed reading about her so much. Maggie has been training to get to the Olympics most of her swimming life, it’s what she gets up each does and thinks about. But by doing this, she also forgets how to be a teen. It was a really interesting way of looking up the ‘normal’ teen life, and I really enjoyed seeing Maggie experience some new things for the very first time. And while I loved seeing such a young driven character, it was great to see her let loose and kind of go with the flow.
One of the things that Miranda Kenneally does so well, is that she represents honest female characters that have their faults. Sometimes in YA, I have a hard time connecting with the protagonist because I feel like they can’t go wrong. But Kenneally does the opposite. This makes for not only a really good read but a protagonist with a fantastic character arc.
Levi was a really interesting character and for the most part, I really enjoyed him. Like Maggie, he is focused on his swimming and becoming the best that he can be. But he is naturally talented so things do come a little easier for him. Because of this, he likes to get this frustrating out a little differently. It was an interesting contrast to Maggie. Throughout Coming up For Air the reader gets to see many different sides to Levi, and I really enjoyed that.
I know I have spoken about this before many times. But I love sports romances books. I don’t really know why but they always put a smile on my face. Sometimes it is a little harder when I don’t know the sport so well, but I like learning about new things. And I think that Miranda Kenneally knows how to writes sports romances so well. You aren’t really thrown into the deep end with it all, but the reader learns along the way. I also like that Keneally didn’t just look at one type of sports in her Hundred Oaks series – it centres around all different types which is really cool.
The romance in Coming up For Air was adorable. It melted my hear and I just couldn’t stop smiling. And not only that it looks at one of my favourite romances tropes – best friends to lovers. Maggie and Levi have been friends since forever. They rarely spend a day apart, so Maggie knows that asking him to experience more of ‘normal’ teen life is going to be hard. But she does it. I really enjoyed that Levi didn’t give in right away – he showed that he respected their friendship – which was really nice. I loved that the heat between these two slowly builds and they both start falling for one another.
Friendship and coming of age was also a massive theme throughout Coming up For Air. One of my favourite things about young adult novels is the exploration of friendships and I really think it was done well here. It explores some really fantastic friendships, as well as one that has turned a little nasty. Maggie has a really strong friendship group surrounding her that not only encourages her with swimming, but also other things in life.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading Coming up For Air by Miranda Kenneally. It was a little bittersweet reading the final book in this series as I have been reading it for some time now. But Coming up For Air was a great way to finish it all off. It explores coming of age, being a teen and looking into the future. You will laugh, you will smile and you might even cry. Maggie and Levi are adorable together, but also have fantastic character arcs of their own. If you are looking for a cute, quick read, then this one if for you.
Have you read Coming up For Air by Miranda Kenneally? What did you think? Are you planning on reading it? Have you read any other books by Miranda Kenneally? Let’s Chat!
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