An exciting story about overcoming, resilience, fighting for something new and love .... a lot of love ... family love, love between friends, first love.

I vibrated, suffered, twisted and felt myself in the water. Anna Jarzab's writing manages to transcend the pages and become so real that it makes the reader live the book. In addition, she is able to convey the emotions of the characters so intensely that it is almost impossible not to feel empathy for each of them and to want to hold them and take care, to protect them from the real world.

The cover is perfect for the book and conveys the message and the whole atmosphere of the plot.

My Thoughts:

Breath Like Water was about Susannah Ramos, an elite swimmer, whom at age fourteen became a world champion. However, once her body changed, and she went from having a slim svelte body, to having hips, height, and boobs, she couldn't figure out how to maneuver herself in the water the same way.

Now at the age of 16, she's trying to climb back to the top, and qualify for the olympics. Susannah isn't improving with her coach; Dave, who yells and puts her down a lot. However, when she starts working with Dave's new assistant, Beth, a coach who has a unique perspective and style of coaching, and Harry, a swimmer on her team; she begins making great strides. Harry likes Susannah, and she likes him, but she is determined to not let anything distract or deter her from her dream...

Breath Like Water was a surprising story. I was expecting a light-hearted, fluffy, and fun story. What I got was an emotional story with serious and relative topics to today. This book had a lot of substance and addressed important subjects, such as the challenges and pressures of being a serious athlete, mental health issues, and sexuality. It was a story I enjoyed, and was engaged in. I loved the time Susannah spent in the water. I could visualize her swimming, and learned a lot along the way. I also loved how supportive and caring her parents, and sister Nina were, and that we got pieces of her Mexican culture throughout the story.

The romance and relationship between Susannah and Harry was complex, realistic, and a bit messy. Susannah was so focused on her dream, that oftentimes Harry took a backseat, and suffered for it. He was a character that had a lot of baggage, and a serious mental health issue that he had to navigate.

I enjoy books with athletes, and seeing all of the trials and tribulations they go through to be at the top of their sport. The ending was realistic, and a bit open-ended, but hinted at Susannah's happily ever after.

3.5 Stars!

Susannah Ramos has spent her whole life chasing her dream of being an Olympic swimmer. But a teenage growth spurt has left her slower and in less control of her own body. As she struggles to get back to where she once was competitively, she finds herself torn between a psychologically abusive coach, an innovative yet unfamiliar coach, and a teammate showing a genuine interest in who she is as a person. Susannah will have to navigate her new body, her new feelings, and a new awareness that has her questioning her dedication to her sport and all that she thought she knew about herself and about everyone she cares about. It's time to decide if she has what it takes to be an Olympian, to see her dream through to the end, or if being an Olympian is really the only dream she has...

Thoughts: This is one of the best YA realistic fiction books centered around sports that I've ever encountered. It's perfect for reluctant readers, for readers looking to learn more about mental illness, for fans of teen romance, and for those who like family drama. Even though the main character is training to be an Olympian, the story is so realistic I found myself relating to her on many levels and I think my HS students will, too. The character dynamics are enjoyable, the characters themselves are likable (well, except for her abusive coach), and it's not just another "pretty" story with clean storylines or a tidy ending. Things get messy and relationships get complicated. Jarzab realistically portrays what it's like to love with someone who lives with a mental illness. I cannot wait to recommend this book to my HS students!

I loved the way Anna Jarzab wrote about water and swimming. As someone whose been swimming for longer than I've been walking (only for fun, not competitively in any capacity) I just loved it. And I loved seeing swimming as a sport here, it's not one we usually see focused on in stories. I find it so easy to center myself in the waters and it was great seeing Susie's relationship with swimming evolve.

I was definitely not the audience for this book. I do enjoy a lot of YA books, I just didn't enjoy this one. It's definitely a case of it's me not you. I have kids and if I ever had a coach or teacher treat my child like the coach did in this book, I would never be able to sit back and let it happen. I couldn't get past that.

I was surprised to find out that Harlequin produces teen books. I was initially expecting this book to be very fluffy and super gooey with the romance, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was definitely about a high school first love and first sexual experience, but it was also touched on the main character’s, Susannah Ramos’, passion for the sport of swimming and how she struggles continuing to compete in this sport. She becomes aware that someone close to her is having struggles of their own, but it is not apparent to everyone. This book does address teen mental illness, which was very enlightening, and I feel the book approached this topic tactfully. I have to admit that the middle of the book seemed to drag a little bit, but during the last 1/3 of the book things began to gain momentum and moved along. I even found myself crying at a very climactic point, when Susannah had to visit someone at a psychiatric hospital for minors. This book will relate to those high schoolers that devote a lot of their time to perfecting themselves in a sport and the experience of a first love and real life struggles with mental health.

Thank you to the publisher, Inkyard Press, for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I read most of the book in one day, staying up until 2 o’clock in the morning just to finish it. It wasn’t because I was so hooked on the story, instead I kept seeing all this potential and held out hope that the story might improve or at least find its centre.

I checked out a few other reviews in this story and I must warn you, this is going to be a very unpopular opinion coming your way.

According to these said reviews there was all this stuff that was still meant to happen before the story came to a conclusion and I waited patiently (I know, very uncharacteristic of me) to see where the author was taking this story and me as a reader.

I can confirm that yes, a lot happens and that is exactly one of the issues I had with it; too much is going on. More on that a little later.

For now, I need to try and focus on making sense of the characters, at least enough to bring my opinion across in a relatively coherent and intelligible way.

I didn’t get the protagonist. Creatively speaking, she contradicted her own personality traits and characteristics. Speaking as a reader, I have to admit it was impossible to relate to her at all. And I tried…for 400 pages.

She was rude, selfish, self-centred, a control freak and a mess that couldn’t see past her own nose. All of these are fine to have in a character, but I suspect that the reader was supposed to feel for her and with her. I couldn’t do that. There was not even one remotely redeemable quality that could have enticed me to do so.

And, again, I tried.

There are stories that have unlikeable characters, but there are meant to be unlikeable and the reader gets to see their struggle (the typical person vs themselves plot) that has us slowly root for this character, feel for them and with them, hoping they could make the changes they want to make in order to better their lives.

Not in this one. Plus, I wasn’t quite sure what most of the secondary characters were supposed to accomplish in relation to the protagonist.

None of them were ever allowed to get close to the protagonist, except for one, you’ll get to read a lot about that particular character.

There were no real bonds, nothing that made the protagonist seem human. I think I know why the author chose to do so; it just didn’t work very well.

Moving on, because I can go on forever, the narration was just too much. It was narrated in the first-person view, which is fine, it’s meant to give the reader greater insights into the protagonist’s mind and emotions, but in this case, it was too much.

Again, it accomplished the exact opposite of what it was meant to accomplish. We were supposed to get close to the protagonist, but the narration was so convoluted that it became tiresome and tedious to read. Every single scene had a very long description of how the protagonist felt and what she thought. Too much.

Also, the narrative style was much more mature than the protagonist was. It clashed and gave the illusion the one narrating wasn’t actually the one present in the story. It felt off.

As I said in the beginning, this had a lot of potential. I appreciated sensitive and difficult issues being addressed in a young adult novel, but there were so many of them.

The story tried to wear too many hats, tried to address too many issues at once and it got messy and tiresome to follow. I know, in real life we have to deal with a whole bunch of issues at once, too, but for the purpose of story writing it isn’t the best approach.

The story gets clogged up and loses itself and at the end I wasn’t even sure what I had been reading any more.

Overall, there was enough potential to make this a wonderful, raw, gritty and powerful young adult story, but it lost itself along the way. As I said, there were some issues that I appreciated having been addressed and for that I’m giving this book an extra star in my rating. I just wished the author could have decided on a few and really go with them.

Sadly, this one wasn’t for me.

As a person whose only known swimming all her life and wanting to be in the olympics, Susannah fears her body is slowing her down as she gets older. She thinks about the championship she won at 14 years old and if she can reach her potential again. Swimming demands so much out of young people and she's scared to fail. Two people enter her life that will rearrange her life and career around. A coach that could help her reach that dream and a new fellow swimmer named Harry.

Susannah is such an amazing character. She's mature, strong, and trying to fight those nagging demons in her head. Harry on the other hand is dealing with his own demons. He's bipolar. Dealing with constant mood swings and anger throughout his life. He falls in love with Susannah but, he's afraid his mental condition might scare her away.

This book is far from swimming competitions and the stress from it. It's about friendship, hope, being opened to new experiences in life and trusting people. I loved how Susannah and Harry connected despite their differences. Sorta hit close to home as my significant other also is bipolar. What an amazing story of two young people and their struggles with life and family. I truly enjoyed the ride this book took me on. Special thanks to NetGalley, and Harlequin Teen/ Inkyard Press for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

What an excellent and heartfelt read! I loved that the story centered on competitive swimming because I've always loved to swim! It was really interesting to be immersed in that world. I loved all of the characters in this book but especially Susannah and Harry! The emotional ups and downs of this story really moved me. I look forward to reading more books by this author!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ of 5 stars!
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I am someone who usually doesn’t like contemporary stories, but this book was really good! A perfect summer read.
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I love the competitive swimming aspect of this book, as well as the physical and mental challenges that come along with high level competitive sports. The friend group and family in this story was top notch. And lastly, the romance was absolutely adorable! Would recommend to anyone in need of a fool-good book.
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Thank you NetGally and Inkyard Press for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review. Published May 19th 2020 (sorry for the late review, the pesky pandemic has made my life a bit crazy.)
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How hard will you push to achieve your dreams, and what will you sacrifice to achieve them? These questions are at the core of Anna Jarzab's Breath Like Water.

All Susannah has known for as long as she can remember is swimming. She dreams of going to the Olympics, a dream she felt even closer to when she won a world championship at age 14. But when her body starts to slow down and change as she gets older, she wonders if her chance is over or whether she should listen to her overbearing coach and push harder.

When a new coach comes to the swimming club, Susannah wants nothing to do with her, until she realizes that her unique training techniques may take her where she needs to go. It’s a delicate balance between self-belief and recognizing the limits of her body.

"I feel like I'm one person in the water, and another on dry land. Me on land is still hesitant and uncertain; having faith is hard for her, and so is letting go. But me in the water, the girl Beth found beneath the rubble? She's elegant and powerful and fast."

Meanwhile, when she meets Harry, another talented swimmer, she wonders whether continuing to push herself for a dream she might never achieve is worth not taking a chance to follow her heart. But Harry has secrets of his own which also threaten to weigh Susannah down. She doesn’t understand why she can’t have it all, but if she has to choose, what’s the right choice, not just for her, but for those she cares about?

This really was a thought-provoking story, and Anna Jarzab does a great job in making you feel the tension of Susannah’s choices. But at its core, Breath Like Water is powerfully emotional, as you ride both the highs and the lows that these characters experience.

I’m honored to have been part of the blog tour for this book. NetGalley, Inkyard Press, and Harlequin Teen provided me with an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

This book so was so beautiful. It was lyrical, it was descriptive, it was heartbreaking and joyous. And it was so so real.

First let me get out these trigger warnings. I don’t do them often, and nothing is super graphic, but I do want to mention the book contains struggling with mental health and self harm.

Okay, so. Susannah is a world champion swimmer. The summer after she won, she hit a growth spurt, and hasn’t been the same since. Dave has always been her coach. He’s an Olympian, so he knows what it takes to get there. This year, he hires a new coach, Beth. Susannah swears she won’t swim for her, but after finally having enough of Dave’s abusive behavior, she swims for Beth and gets better. But does she have what it takes to make the Olympics?

Along with swimming, this book mainly features Susannah’s relationship with Harry, another boy on the swim team. It is her first love. I love books about first love. The feelings are all new and exciting, and you’re just fumbling around, and it’s just great. Their relationship turned out to be so much deeper than I expected. It’s nice to see a deep, meaningful relationship between high schoolers.

Breath Like Water also showed some strong family bonds. The relationship with Susannah’s parents and sister was a huge part of the book and I loved it. I feel like I don’t get a lot of that in ya contemporaries, so it’s always a nice surprise when I do.

If you love ya contemporaries, with strong familial bonds and a backdrop of sports, this book is for you!

Breath Like Water is a bittersweet YA contemporary about women in sports, mental health, family dynamics, and balancing relationships with goals and achievement.

Susannah Ramos was a world champion swimmer as a tween, but as she grew a woman's body, both her self-confidence and swimming speed began to falter. Susannah's swimming program hires Beth, a female coach with new ideas about how Susannah might be able to embrace her changing body and improve her times. At the same time, Susannah meets Harry, a fellow swimmer who seems to have some big issues of his own out of the pool.

There was a lot to love about this book. The structure is a countdown to the Olympic trials, and that gives the book most of its plot structure, as Susannah battles physical and metal setbacks to try to make the team. I wasn't a student athlete (I was on the swim team, but for only a few weeks. My sister did continue, so I used to know my way around a swim meet.)

I read YA as an adult and as a mom, and in all honesty,I thought Harry was trouble, both for Susannah's swimming dreams and in general. When I found out about his struggles, I was a little bit more sympathetic. The book does raise issues of women as caregivers and how hard it can be to balance our empathy toward others with our own dreams and ambitions. I liked the way the book handled this aspect of the story. I found it a cautionary tale more than a romance, but I think that reflects my adult perspective.

I did think this book felt long at times (it was over 400 pages) and sometimes there were motivational speeches that felt a bit heavy-handed to me; I thought the messages were there without being over-emphasized.

Definitely recommend this to those who love books about sports and those who are looking for books about characters tacking mental health issues. If you have no interest in sports, then this might not be the book for you. And while there is romance in the book, it's not the main focus of the story.

Breath Like Water was a title that had me hooked before I got to the synopsis. Then, I was more sold on this.

Susannah Ramos is the daughter of second- generation Mexican-born parents who came to the US and have known each other for years. The Ramos family is numerous, and proud of their heritage. Susannah's life is that of a teen with school and friends but what makes hers different is a lifelong passion for swimming.

Some years before the events in the book, Susannah won a gold medal but since then her body has changed. However, swinming is ingrained in her and who she is. She even competed against her sister Nina once upon a time. Now, Nina is interested in other things but Susannah's desire to be the swimmer she once was and go one better still, by getting to the Olympics, is what furls her drive to succeed.

She has a ruthless swimming coach who is replaced by Beth who is gentler but still wants Susannah to meet her goals. She offers a listening ear when needed but Susannah prefers to seek solace in her friends, one of whom she is closer to than the other. But even so, all the characters have different personalities. Her PT was a real character!

There's a distraction in store when she meets a guy called Harry on the swimming team. Susannah has never been out with anyone and soon something special blooms, but there are threats to that and so life sometimes feels like a juggling act.......

I love everything about this novel, the storylines, Susannah and her family and how she fights to get what she wants. Family traditions abound and the tamale-making party was fun.

Romantic, fun and full of life's challenges, Breath Like Water is an amazing novel with a pace that made me feel as if I was in the story. I liked being witness to Susannah's truimphs and life but also to her downtime and enjoyed all the pets in the house: Frick and Frack made such cute cats and there was wonderful attention to detail to show their behaviour. I'm a cat lover.

Thanks to Anna Jarzab and Inkyard Press for my ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I highly recommend this book.

Susannah Ramos won a gold medal at the World Aquatics Championship at the young age of 14. Then she hit puberty, her body changed, she was injured, and has slowed down in the water. Now that the Olympic trials are coming around again, she is more focused than ever on being a better swimmer than she ever was. But changes are coming fast at Susannah. With a new coach, a new injury, and a new boy in the swim club, she isn't sure that she's going to be ready.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought the author did a pretty good job tackling some difficult subjects (mental health, having sex for the first time, the pressure that elite athletes face). I found myself rooting for Susannah and Susannah and Harry's relationship. I would also really love a follow up to find out what happens with Susannah as she pursues swimming in college and to see how Harry ends up doing also.

I am kind of torn on this one. On one hand this was a great story about two kids falling in love that felt very genuine. On the other hand it was kind of bogged down sport terms that I just really didn't care about. I loved shows growing up like BunHeads, Stick It, Make It or Break It and others. But with those they made me care about the characters and with this one I kind of just didn't care at all. I think that if you are looking for a great beach read while we are all stuck in the house that this one would work well! I totally cave it was adorkable!

This book was terrific. It was a moving story of a girl who just wants to swim and reach the Olympics and finds out what is truly important in life.

Struggle and Sacrifice to Achieve a Cherished Goal

Susannah Ramos at fourteen took a gold medal in the FINA World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, but it’s not the Olympics and that’s Susannah’s goal. It looked achievable, but then her body changed. Growing six inches made her feel less comfortable in the water still she was determined to forge ahead and get her speed back.

Harry is also a swimmer. He meets Susannah and they become friends with the tantalizing romance of teens. He’s struggling also. He became a swimmer not like Susannah because he loves it, but because he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The doctors thought swimming would give him an outlet to take his mind off the side effects of the medication.

This is a beautiful story of struggle, success, and courage. Looked at from the outside being a sports star may seem glamorous, but in reality it calls for self-sacrifice including sacrifice from the ones close to you. It takes grit and determination and the ability to work through pain. I thought the author did an excellent job with Susannah’s character. She has the desire to push herself to success, but it takes a toll on her self-esteem and relationships.

I also thought Harry’s character was well portrayed. He’s calm, compassionate, and loving, but he struggles with the problems of his mental illness and the side effects of medication. Without doing a data dump, the author did a good job of explaining bipolar disorder in an understandable way.

I highly recommend this story of courage, struggle, and love.

I received this book from Harlequin for this review.

Breath Like Water by Anna Jarzab--Susannah is a swimmer with dreams of making it to the Olympics. She has the talent and she has the drive. It's all she's ever wanted, but as Susannah becomes older, she starts thinking about some of the things she has given up for this dream such as friends, nights out, and even having a boyfriend. Is this dream really worth it? She believes so, especially when her hateful, hard-nosed coach hires an assistant coach who has a totally different approach to coaching and Susannah sees her times steadily improve. But then she also starts getting close to Harry, the hot new guy on the team. Susannah has to learn how to juggle all of this or figure out what she can live without. This reality sports-based novel has enough drama and romance to qualify as a teen romance. It will be a hit with fans of Kasie West. May 19th, 2020 release date. #netgalley #breathlikewater #annajarzab

So I really enjoyed this story! As many of you know, I have a pretty hardcore swimming background, and I get giddy excited for a swimming book! In Breath Like Water, the story is a swimming one for sure, but it also deals a lot with mental health and just growing up in general. So let me tell you all the great stuff about it, and maybe the one thing I had some issues with!

What I Loved:

► Swimming, swimming, so much swimming! I adore swimming books! And the author did get quite a bit of the feelings part down! It's such a different kind of sport, and I think the author does that justice. It occupies such a huge part of Susannah's life, which is so accurate for any serious swimmer. You don't see the sunlight in the winters, basically, which the author even mentions! And I appreciated seeing Susannah's commitment to it, because there is just not enough of that in books, especially books with women characters.

► Talking about body change impact. This never impacted me personally, but I know so many female athletes who struggled with this, especially in swimming. I was never long nor lean, and at 37 I still have no actual "womanly curves" to speak of, but so many swimmers in their youth have the long, lithe frame that is so easy to get through the water. And as they grow older, things change. And try as they may, their bodies just don't react the same way they used to. This is a huge thing for Susannah, and I loved that the author not only addresses it, but the steps to overcoming it. There's also talk about injury and pushing our bodies too hard, which is a big thing as well.

►Sometimes you need to throw the whole coach away. I have said it before, and I'll say it again: I am so, so lucky to have had incredible youth coaches. My age group, high school, and summer coaches were some of the most incredible human beings I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. My college coach was... problematic. Much less problematic than Susannah's coach, but when I look back at why I didn't do as well in college as in high school, it's not a big shock as to part of the problem. Susannah thinks she needs this guy at first, can't be a champion without him, and the trajectory the story takes is quite positive in that regard.

►Susannah's family is so supportive! They can clash at times because they don't really understand why Susannah is so all-in to swimming. And this frustrates Susannah, which is understandable. But I couldn't help but think about the flip side- when your parents are over-involved and even though they're coming from a good place, it's stifling. So I really enjoyed seeing this other side of the coin! But they have sacrificed over and over to help Susannah's career, and they are always 100% in her corner, which is kind of the best part. I also love how close she is with her mom!

►Big focus on mental health, and being a good support. Susannah's boyfriend is going through some really rough stuff, and I thought the author handled it very delicately and appropriately. This storyline also illustrates how to be a good support system for someone who needs you to be there for them at a low point, and I think that is a lesson many more people need to hear.

The One Thing I Had Issues With:

►Oddly enough... the swimming! Not that it was a huge focal point, goodness no! And look- I will say upfront that if you didn't live and die by the water, you're probably not going to notice or care about this whatsoever. But I'd be lying if I said it didn't bug me a bit. I also did read an uncorrected proof, so my hope is that it IS corrected, and this is moot! But since I cannot leave my house to check... here we are. Susannah's main event is the 200 and 400 I.M. Which is the 200/400 (yards or meters, depending on the pool/event) Individual Medley. The book, however, keeps calling it an "Intermediate Medley" and that is just not a thing. It also calls the Medley Relay an "I.M Relay" which isn't a thing because by definition, the I.M. is Individual. Then Susannah says "one thing I refuse to do is grow out my leg hair for the ritual shave before big meets". Okay first of all, that isn't why you do it. It's the whole regular season drag versus reduced drag and increased skin sensitivity taper meet Second, it isn't optional! Especially for an Olympic-caliber athlete. My high school coach made us sign a straight up contract that we would abide by this stuff. Also you cannot put bubbles in a pool, you will ruin the filter. This I know from personally watching some incredibly uninformed people using shampoo in the pool when the showers broke. Just... you can't.

Bottom Line: A lovely story about perseverance, hope, and discovering who we are and who we want to be, I definitely recommend!