Just Breathe

By: Susan Wiggs

Narrated by: Sandra Burr

Chicago cartoonist Sarah Moon tackles life's real issues with a healthy dose of sharp wit in her syndicated comic strip Just Breathe. As Sarah's cartoon alter ego, Shirl, undergoes artificial insemination, her situation begins to mirror Sarah's own difficult attempts to conceive. However, Sarah's dreams of the future did not include her husband's infidelity: snag number two in Sarah's so-called perfect life.

With Chicago - and her marriage - in the rearview mirror, she flees to the small Northern California coastal town where she grew up, a place she couldn't wait to leave. Now she finds herself revisiting the past - an emotionally distant father and the unanswered questions left by her mother's death.

As she comes to terms with her lost marriage, Sarah encounters a man she never expected to meet again: Will Bonner, the high-school heartthrob she'd skewered mercilessly in her old comics. Now a local firefighter, he's been through some changes himself. But just as her heart is about to reawaken, Sarah discovers she is pregnant - with her ex's twins.

It's hardly the most traditional of new beginnings, but who says life and love are predictable...or perfect? The winds of change have led Sarah here. Now all she can do is just close her eyes...and breathe.

©2008 Susan Wiggs (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Wiggs takes serious situations and weaves them into an emotionally wrought story that will have readers reaching for the Kleenex one moment and snickering out loud the next." ( Publishers Weekly)

I enjoyed her journey, the parenting issues,

and the small town life.

If I were reading this as a physical book, I might rate it lower, but as an audiobook it “hit the spot.” I had just finished some intense mystery suspense books and needed something lighter. It was very good for keeping me company as I drove, cooked, etc. It’s about a woman who discovers her husband’s infidelity, leaves him, divorces him, and starts a new life.

This is not hot and heavy passion and romance. Instead a friendship develops which eventually turns into more, but children have priority over romantic relationships. There are two sex scenes. They are referred to, no details.

One weakness was the secondary story about arson was not complete. At the end we are told X is the arsonist but nothing else. We don’t see why X did it, how it was done, and what happened to X and X’s family after.

The narrator had a lovely voice for women, but I did not like her voice for 13 year old Aurora. She sounded like a talking doll or a 5 year old. I also did not like her voices for men. They sounded weird.

Genre: women’s fiction with romance.

I testing story, male narrationawful

I liked the story, but the narration bry the male characters was just awful. Both male characters has whiny nasal voices not depicting the author’s description of them. Aurora’ s voice was too childlike for her age. Decent story, but lead character was kind of wishy washy.

Great story of starting over

Story is well written and performed. Starting over after bad relationships and how to overcome

Great!

I really enjoyed this book! From the beginning it captured my attention and I was hooked! I couldn't wait to find time to listen to more! Totally recommend as a fun, captivating, light listen. ENJOY!

Terrible narration

The men’s voices were so bad I almost stopped listening. Story line was okay-pretty pridictable

Great book

I hated to stop listening at the end of my commute. I wanted to know what would happen next. Great book.

I love the relationship with Aurora and Sarah

I truly loved the book. Sarah’s family is awesome! Learning about the Oyster Farm was very interesting.

Enjoyable and fun.

Just what I was hoping it would be I could not breathe in some moments.

It was entertaining

The story was different but the book lacked substance. I also felt it portrayed woman as weak minded a bit. There were some strong women characters but the weak side over shown the strong in the story. Some things were not realistic either. It was Ok but I did get bored a few times.

Very very boring

So unrealistic and awful. I had an very hard time getting through it. Books should be a joy not torture