Mundie Moms

Monday, July 10, 2017

Coming Up For Air by Miranda Kenneally / Book Review


By: Miranda Kenneally
Published by: SourceBooks Fire
Released on: July 4th, 2017
Series: Hundred Oaks
Purchase from: Amazon 
Add it to Goodreads
E-Arc from publisher in exchange for my honest review

Swim. Eat. Shower. School. Snack. Swim. Swim. Swim. 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?


When it comes to Miranda Kenneally's books, I love the way she writes romance, and sports. For someone who's not a huge contemporary fan, her books are ones I've enjoyed reading. When this arrived on my Kindle, I dove right in. Sadly, I wasn't a fan. 

First off, let me start off by saying I loved the swimming aspect of this story. Having had friends who swam in high school, I know how brutal their schedules are. Swimming basically owns your life, as it has for Maggie. I got Maggie, and why she didn't have a social life, and why she was feeling the pressures she was. 

The part of this story that just didn't do it for me was Maggie's quest to have her friends teach her how to hook up, because she didn't want to go to college without having some experience. Honestly, this is where I stopped being interested in the book. I felt like the sports element became secondary to Maggie's wanting to not be inexperienced. I think I would have liked this book more if it was the other way around. 

I liked the friendships, character chemistry, and seeing a few other characters from through the series, in this book, and the roles they played. I also liked Levi, and his feelings and thoughts towards Maggie, and her requests from him. I totally got him not wanting to cross those lines and ruin their friendship. I also understood their feelings when lines did get crossed. I went back and forth on loving their friendship, and liking their relationship. 

Over all, this is one book in the series I wasn't a fan of. However, I loved the competitive swimming aspect of the story, and the role previous characters from the series played in the book. 

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