Coming Up for Air by Miranda Kenneally (ARC Review)

Coming Up for Air by Miranda Kenneally

Release Date: July 4th, 2017 

Thanks so much for the publisher for sending me an E-ARC of this book via Netgalley – thanks again!

DNF @ 12%

I had always wondered about Miranda Kenneally’s books. Her name continues to crop up in YA contemporary, and since I’m clearly a lover of contemporary, it seems that I should have picked up one of her books by now. Alas, I had yet to make it to one to this book. Perhaps because she used a lot of sports themes in her books? Sports and YA plots really don’t mix too much for me, so I tend to skip over a lot of them (therefore, skipping over a lot of Kenneally’s work). However, this one was about swimming, and I do love a good swim story (perhaps an earlier Michael Phelps Olympics obsession), so I thought I would finally take the dive (pun soooooooo intended) into her stories finally!

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 try out, so she 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 lose to win?

There was really nothing wrong with this book except, well, me. I have told you before that there are writing styles that I liked and writing styles that I do. I’m super picky about them, and if I’m not vibing with it, then I’m out. This book is a classic case of that. I really tried to get into her writing style, but I just didn’t like it. I’m not sure how I can explain it, but it just didn’t work for me.

I also felt nothing for the characters. I understand there will be parts in contemporaries that are slower or don’t have much going on, but I felt like I was literally sitting there at this table with the crew who I cared nothing about and was just sitting into their conversation. It wasn’t interesting to me. And it didn’t make feel like I needed to needed to read on right away.

Snow White is back…back again, again…Snow White is back…call one of her 7 friends.

And I really didn’t care about Maggie. She was just…there? Yes, this was only 12% of the novel, but I wanted something from her.

So, as you can see, this was me just being picky, but I really couldn’t get into this story even though I really tried (I once DNF’d a book within 3 pages because I couldn’t deal with the writing style so 12% = huge step for this Picky Book Princess). I think a good deal of people could definitely enjoy it. No crowns since I DNF’d it and a Snow White rating!

Randomness, but I really like that girl’s shorts on the cover. I love the cover. That totally might have swayed me to pick up this book. *looks around innocently*

Check it out:

• Goodreads
• Amazon
• Barnes and Noble

What do you think? Have you read this book or any of the author’s other books? Is writing style a factor for you on why you DNF? Let’s discuss in the comments below!