The Air He Breathes

By: Brittainy C. Cherry

Narrated by: Brian Pallino, Erin Mallon

Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's Summary

I was warned about Tristan Cole. "Stay away from him," people said. "He's cruel." "He's cold." "He's damaged."

It's easy to judge a man because of his past. To look at Tristan and see a monster. But I couldn't do that. I had to accept the wreckage that lived inside of him, because it also lived inside of me.

We were both empty. We were both looking for something else. Something more. We both wanted to put together the shattered pieces of our yesterdays. Then perhaps we could finally remember how to breathe.

©2015 Brittainy C. Cherry (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Spectacular... except for one little thing

I absolutely adored this book! The author manages to provoke so many feelings from the reader: angst, sadness, anger, humor, lust etc. Faye was the perfect sidekick/best friend and I couldn't wait to hear what would come out of her mouth next. It's difficult to describe my one disappointment with this book without spoiling the climax for future readers. Let's just say that the "plot twist" meant to cause drama towards the end of the book is completely unbelievable, in my humble opinion. The rest of the story was so great though, it was easy to overlook that one issue that nagged at me a little. I'll definitely be looking for more works by this author!

Heartbreaking and heavy

Wow. This one was emotional. I hesitated on the book because I read the preview and could see it would be a heavy story, but after hating the last three I listened to, I finally landed on this one. I'm glad I did. It was adult...something a lot of books have been lacking, and it was deeply heartbreaking and beautiful. At 32, finding a great story that doesn't revolve around college age is getting more difficult, and its hard to get into the mind set.. here, you're dealing with loss and pain that play on your biggest fears. The author nailed it, there were eye roll moments, but at the same time they were fairly relatable. I formed an emotional bond to the characters and even found myself so sad I was throwing it aside only to pick it right back up because I had to know what was next. Brian Pallino was the other reason I finally decided on this one, he and Erin Mallon both are fantastic. Great read, fantastic listen, but prepare yourself to feel the emotions.

A BREATHTAKING EMOTIONAL MASTERPIECE

Well Brittainy Cherry I hope you're happy with yourself... because you tore my heart out with this tragic and achingly beautiful love story about the grief that Tristan and Elizabeth went through before they were able to live and love again. It was filled with descriptive and all consuming chapters as they first both used each other to mask their deep sorrow, then faced the nearly impossible and painful process of coming to terms with the sudden loss of their loved ones, accepting it and finally letting them go so they could, at last, feel again. But then, just when I thought things were going to work out for this wounded couple, you threw in a curveball that shocked the Hell out of me and left devastation in its wake which was quickly followed up by various twists that had me praying for mercy.

This was a painful yet romantic, touching and sexy listen that drew me in from the start as I too felt the life-shattering devastation at the loss that Tristan and Elizabeth endured. I understood their conflict and confusion as they lent on each other for emotional support. Then I eagerly rejoiced in their tentative slow steps to happiness as they poured out their feelings, opened up their hearts, let new possibilities enter.... and love blossomed and grew again. This book was so well written, is filled with great secondary characters too and I was sad to have to say goodbye to them but I was also overjoyed with their hard won perfect HEA. Dual POV's and two great narrators brought this powerful journey to life in such an awesome and epic way.

Worth a credit? It was raw, it was brutal, it was heartbreaking, it was intense, it was heartwarming, it was beautiful.... and YES, it was so worth the credit.

This gets all the stars

So I have read this book but I grabbed it the second it showed up on Audible. Most of the time books & narration are like books & movies... It just is weird to listen or watch after reading but this was NOT the case with The Air He Breathes.

The book is a wonderful, painful, beautiful tale of love and loss. Brittainy Cherry's words crushed me and made me whole again. I even got a few laughs in there despite the enormous amount of tears that I shed.

Brian Pallino and Erin Mallon were genius. Erin was already one of my favorite narrators, her inner dialogue voice is my all time favorite. It's how I imagine I sound like when I talk to myself. Brian did a fantastic job reading Tris.

There is no down side to this book. There is nothing to critique. It's just that awesome. I can't wait for The Fire Between High and Lo to come out in Audible.

Heartbreaking & Beautiful all in one!

I love a book that gives you two damaged & lost souls and lets you see how they find their way back to happiness. This book is really about loss, love, friendship and finding your way out of a deep dark hole of guilt, anger and genuine heartbreak. Tristan is a broken man who's way of coping with loss is being ANGRY and just plain mean. He tries to make everyone stay away from him. Elizabeth dealt with loss and despair by running away. She couldn't drown in her depression because she has a daughter who needs her. These two come together like a freight train and reading about how they use each other to help cope and move on is beautiful. The story line was fabulous, the characters very likable and the ending perfect. I really enjoyed the narration too!!! Highly recommended!

Too much drama

And not in the good sense, the forever surly narration of the male character didn't help. I'm more than ok with dramatic plots but this was just too centralized on it for me to enjoy much.

Good Story Great Narration

Definitely worth the credit. I have both the book and the audiobook. The story was not a cookie cutter insta love story line that seems to be so popular now. It was about how small the world can be and how cruel fate can be. Yet, as long as there is hope, there is a chance for future happiness.

You can't really go wrong with Brian Pallino and Erin Mallon as narrators. They are both consistently strong.

Not Good!

I wish I had read a few more reviews before I bought this book - granted only $2.95 - but still 8.5 hours of my life gone. It could have been SO MUCH BETTER. I stopped listening, but thought, this is a published author - it has to get better. Joke on me!

Character development - none. I could care less about most of the characters - all but one, Faye; she wasn't even a main character.

Spoiler alert: This really could have been good, but it wasn't. I mean - who would lose their family in a car accident and NOT know who caused it, and died too? That is only one thread of this story that is not just difficult to swallow, but unbelievable.

The sex scenes were almost funny, like who says "Kiss me with your darkness" - if someone said that to me I would be completely stunned and laugh! Moment gone...

Don't recommend.

Keep your daughters away from this book

You may think that I'm joking with the title. I'm not. This book has no place in the hands of any impressionable young women. Why? The male love interest/'hero' is no hero. He's an unstable, foul-mouthed (and unnecessarily so), verbally abusive a-hole. Sure, he has had pain in his life but that's no excuse for heaping misery on those around him.

Perhaps he's redeemed later in the book. I don't know as I didn't make it past the first two hours or so. That seemed like enough of a chance for the book to redeem itself.

I say 'keep this away from your daughters' because young women do not need to hear a story that has as its moral 'you can fix that a-hole and he will become your Prince Charming.' Real life doesn't work that way.

Finally, the book was in general poorly written -- cliche, overly dramatic and clunky.

The narrators did a nice job. At first I only thought that Ms. Mallon was doing a good job. I later realized that Mr. Pallino was doing a fine job, too, but I couldn't stand listening to him not because of his performance but because the character he was voicing was such a turd.

I will be returning this book.

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Loved this book and narration

Would you consider the audio edition of The Air He Breathes to be better than the print version?

The narration gives the characters a more real life effect.

What did you like best about this story?

It is another story of time heals all wounds, eventually.

Have you listened to any of Brian Pallino and Erin Mallon ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No I have never heard them but I really enjoyed hearing this book.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The story was full of moments of sadness, tears, pain and happiness.

Soap opera melodrama

This felt like the plot of a soap opera, always going to extremes rather than staying closer to reality.

What I liked:

1. The concept of 2 people using each other to remember their late spouses.

2. The little girl and the dog.


What I didn't like:

1. The emotional whiplash between the 2 characters, particularly in the beginning. It has those "stay away from me, psycho, but I'm going to angry kiss you out of the blue" interactions. That's not romantic or healthy.

2. Melodramatic. Every situation seems to rapidly go from 0-100 without reason and the town's people felt like caricatures. It made me feel like I couldn't relate to the story or characters.

3. Immature characters. The best friend is obnoxious with the maturity of a 16-year-old. Then there's the interactions between the 2 main leads who sometimes act like insecure teenagers.

4. Emotional outbursts. There is some delicate subject matter being dealt with in relation to grief and death - that was handled fine. But the characters' interactions with each other in relation to their feelings about each other and current events turns into emotional tantrums (again, going from 0-100 in an instant).

5. The final plot twist was extreme and unnecessary. It was a soap opera villain.

6. The voice actors were really lacking any variety in accents. They could only do 2 voices (one male, one female). I sometimes got confused when there were 2 women or 2 men in the scene because I didn't know which character was saying what.

Overall I just feel like the execution was lacking. This was made obvious to me because I read Elements #4 (The Gravity of Us) first and that was a perfect execution of plot, themes, and characters.