Coming Up for Air is a perfect YA romance read. The writing is solid, the banter is great, and the characters are relatively realistic. I have numerous students who love Miranda Kenneally's books and they will not be disappointed by this one!

It was a cute book, but i would not recommend to my middle school students.  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read and review

Miranda Keneally works her magic again with the latest installment in her Hundred Oaks companion novel series. I fell in love with Maggie and her story, and it certainly didn't hurt that I also happened to love a certain boy too... Ahem. I also really liked the way relationships (or lack of one) were tackled in this one, and was more than happy to see some familiar faces pop up again. It's such a fun read!

Miranda Kenneally really can do no wrong. I love all of her books and this one was no exception. Fantastic characters and story and great chemistry between the characters. Must read!

I really enjoyed this book! One of those cutesy summer reads that are perfect for long, lazy summer days to relax with by the pool or on the beach!

Super cute romance, loved the characters, and there were a several times where I actually laughed out loud.

Perfect YA contemporary book!

Highly recommend!

First Thought After Finishing: I really love Miranda Kenneally’s books!

As a teenager and in my early adult years, I was never a huge sports person. I remember when Catching Jordan released, and I almost didn't read it because it was about football. But a friend told me how good it was, so I gave it a chance. Looking back now, I can't believe I almost missed the great stories of Hundred Oaks!

Maggie eats, sleeps, and breathes swimming. As a competitive swimmer hoping to make an Olympic trial, she has time for little else. Her best friends are also athletes, and though they take one night a week off, the rest of their time is spent training. But Maggie knows that high school is ending soon, and college life without her friends is getting closer and closer. She doesn’t want to be the only girl there with no experience. So she asks her friend and swimming teammate Levi to teach her how to hook up. It was supposed to be easy and fun. Her Olympic trial was supposed to fall into place. So what is she to do when feelings might make everything fall apart?


Maggie is one of those teens that even as an adult I admire. She knows what she wants, and she has the discipline to get there. It’s hard to have that level of focus and drive in high school, but Maggie has it. Only that means her social life has suffered quite a bit. I found myself relating to Maggie from the beginning. In high school, I spent all of my time doing homework and missed the whole social scene that other teens seem to have. I found myself living vicariously through Maggie. I wish I had been brave enough to ask what she did—or even to ask someone out. She took charge of what she wanted (and what she didn’t want), and I applauded her for doing so.


But this book has more than swimming and sex—there are relationships with friends, relationships with parents and teachers/coaches, and relationships with frenemies. I loved how this book showed all the different facets of life. Jordan (from Catching Jordan) plays an important role here, and it was fun to see her again and see the Hundred Oaks characters’ lives interwoven. And then there was Levi, Maggie’s friend-turned-teacher. He wasn’t perfect by any means, but the chemistry was undeniable. Finally, I loved how involved Maggie’s swimming coach and her parents were in her life. So many young adult books have absentee parents, and it was nice to see a different perspective here.

I have to admit that I'm not ready to say goodbye to this world. The way characters favorite characters have cameo roles and their lives intertwine made these novels something special. But I am looking forward to seeing what magic Miranda spins next!


Most Memorable Aspect: The life lessons that Maggie learns.

Maggie was a likable athlete whose dream was to compete in the Olympics as a swimmer. She was focused and singled minded in her drive. That kind of commitment came at a cost to her social life and connections to her friends. She began feeling like she was missing all those high school milestones that everyone was discussing like their first kiss etc.

Maggie decided to play it safe and get her "firsts" with her best friend and fellow athlete Levi. Boy did she open up Pandora's box.  I could totally see Maggie thinking she can handle a no strings attached hook up "lesson" from her BF while only to act crazed with jealous when she sees Levi with someone else.
As a former child athlete, I found this story to be believable, Maggie and Levi were devoted to their goals but still wanted a little piece of real life sprinkled in. Good story telling. I do think the author dealt this idea in a realistic manner.

Thank you for offering me the opportunity to review this when it first came out. I have reviewed several of Kenneally's books, but this was my least favorite, and so I never reviewed it. I am so sorry; I don't like to post negative thoughts!

Miranda Kenneally is a must read author for me and I LOVED LOVED LOVED this series of books. If you are a fan of the series, you will not be disappointed. It has everything you love about her books but it is uniquely different. I am sad this series is ending.

Sadly this one wasn’t for me. I thought both the main characters were very juvenile. The writing was good however I found it to be to easy and quick at times. By the end I did get bored and felt disconnected from Maggie and Levi’s relationship. My favorite characters ended up being the secondary characters. The one thing that I did really love about this book was the swimming aspect.

This was the perfect story of childhood friends and competitors that turn into something more. It’s no secret that I love reading about sports, and swim is such a versatile one that I feel like I don’t read a lot of, especially recently. The story of Maggie and Levi (the two main characters) are so sweet, and we really see the complexity of relationships in a high level athletic training environment. This story also really reminded me of “The Boy Next Door” by Katie van Ark, so if you’ve read and liked that book, I’m like 99% sure you will like this one, and vice versa. The story of best friends turned relationships is one that is done pretty often, but Miranda does make it very special and it doesn’t feel like, “oh my god, this is the same plot that I’ve read a million times now” so props to her, as she did a spectacular job. 

The characters are all so well developed and in depth, that we really get to see all of their layers. They are student athletes, and their entire lives have been about the sport, so naturally, as college approaches, their main focus is to get an offer, and swim as best as they could. This is definitely a more mature book, I feel, and Miranda stepped up her game to a whole new level and I am absolutely in love with it. Maggie feels the real pressure of senior year, and faces real problems such as bullying, and realizes things that she might be less experienced than most people. One thing that I really loved was the transition of Maggie and Levi from friends to something more. It wasn’t rushed but was so natural. I love how everything has such a happy but my heart breaks everytime the book actually ends because I know that we won’t get anything about them anymore.

We get a cameo from Miranda’s first book, and I love to see how the characters have matured over time, and now have become the teachers to our main characters. I love Jordan and how she impacts her students. This really ties in the whole Hundred Oaks town and are fun easter eggs to find while reading. This reminds me, I need to binge-read the entire series over again soon. On that noe, I WANT MORE!!!! I love the Hundred Oaks so...I need more of them. Like sequels of all the books Miranda has written. I will literally buy and read all of them. And since my opinion is just so important, I’m going to put this here too: MIRANDA KENNEALLY SHOULD START ANOTHER SERIES THAT FOLLOWS EVERYONE IN COLLEGE AND BEYOND, ESPECIALLY PEOPLE WE DON’T SEE ANYMORE! 


I give this book 10/10 (5/5 stars). I love swimming related books and this was a perfect fit. But now, I have a few questions that no one is going to be able to answer, but I’m going to ask them anyways if you want to speculate along with me. What happened to Roxy? What about Georgia and Hunter? Did they get together? Can we predict a future book about them? And of course, what happened to Maggie and Levi as they went off to college? Did they go their separate ways and continue a long distance relationship?

I couldn’t finish this. I find it very difficult to read books with spelling errors, and while this was an uncorrected proof, I feel the dialogue was messy and that’s one of my peeves I can’t get over. I appreciate what the author was trying to do, it just wasn’t my style, unfortunately.

Coming Up for Air is one of the rare books that I have read twice (once as a draft) that I still can’t find the words for. Part of the problem is it is Miranda Kenneally’s last book in the Hundred Oaks series and that is so hard to capture in a review. The other problem is that I loved Maggie and Levi’s relationship so much I can’t really describe the love I have for it. This book was probably Miranda’s funniest to date and her most sex positive and I still can’t tell you exactly why I loved it. Does just saying “read this book and this companion series and be done with it” work because that is all I’ve got. Also Kenneally writes a cute boy.

This was so cute! As are all of Miranda's books.  They're such perfect summertime reads. Thank you for the opportunity to read this title.

This book is about Maggie who is a high school swimmer wanting to go all the way to the Olympics. As a result, she feels like she's missed out on the typical high school experience and she tries to get it all in over the year. 

This is a friends to lovers trope which is my absolute favorite. I also love reading about driven, athletic women - of which Maggie is one. My problem with this book was that all the things she felt like she was missing out on was really only one thing - sex. I wished she had more of a list than sex. Because of that I could only give 3 stars. But I loved her romance with Levi.

Miranda Kenneally has been an auto-reply author for me since I read Catching Jordan. This might be my favorite title yet. The romance is so cute and well done and wasn't an instant love, which I loved. The feelings and romance between the two main characters built slowly and realistically.

Cute YA story. Wish i.would have read the rest of the series first. Really enjoyed   the fact that a big part of the story dealt with swimming as a sport.

I am a sucker for cheesy YA romance novels! Coming Up for Air by Miranda Kenneally tells the of Maggie and Levi. Maggie ask Levi for help with making out. Because that is such a great idea. Making out with your best friend and thinking nothing could go wrong. Well that is how this story begins. The story goes more into detail with swimming, relationships, college and more. If you are looking for a cute cheesy romance that is surrounded by swimming, then this is your perfect read.

This was a cute summer read that also satisfied my need for deep characters. I didn't realize it was part of a series until after I read it, but I liked it enough to want to read the other books. I love that it features a strong female character who pushes to succeed in every aspect of life. I'm also a sucker for boy-next-door romance, and Levi is the perfect friend that both pushes and cheers for Maggie. The tension around swimming and Olympic tryouts felt real and was utilized well as a plot point. I like that Maggie had to balance swimming, relationships, school, etc. I could see many students picking this book up and enjoying it.

Coming up for air was the most refreshing young adult contemporary I’ve read in a while (Pun totally interned). 

It made me so happy to read about a guy who truly cares. Who wouldn’t purposely do anything to mess up a good thing. There are indeed good guys among “the dogs” out there and I am so beyond happy Miranda showed that. 

Perfect addition to this series and I hope Miranda continues to make more!