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Breathless

3.63 of 5 stars 3.63 · rating details · 1,768 ratings · 299 reviews

When Katie Kitrell is shipped off to boarding school by her distant father and overbearing mother, it doesn’t take her long to become part of the It Crowd. She’s smart, she’s cute, and she’s an Olympic-bound swimmer who has a first class ticket to any Ivy League school of her choice. But what her new friends, roommate, and boyfriend don’t know is that Katie is swimming awa...more

Kindle Edition, 333 pages

Published August 31st 2010 by Walker Childrens (first published August 18th 2009)

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Feb 28, 2013 16baldwizo rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This story is about a girl named Katie Kitrell. Katie lives with her family and her brother Will (who is schizophrenic). She had a good life when she was little until she was about nine years old, when her father got a new job. Once he got a new job he never came home and Katie didn't get to see him at all, she started calling him " The Ghost" since she never saw him. Katie had a tendency to not do what her parents say and actually do the opposite. They never let her have any fun or do anything...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Becca rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Katie is sent to a boarding school by her absent dad and artistic kind of alcoholic mother when her brother, Will's mental health goes downhill for her safety. One there she tells a little lie: that her brother died in a car crash. She didn't flat out lie, but she didn't tell the truth and kept this truth until her senior year at school.

While her brother is somewhere else Katie gets into swimming and the popular the popular crowd which somewhat includes the handsome and popular Drew.

Estella, the...more

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Dec 02, 2012 Megan Brizzell rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Breathless" by Jessica Warman

A girl named Katie Kitrell was brought up in a loving, and caring home, until she was about 9 or 10. When her distant father got a new job, her whole life was changed. Katie's father started working all the time, and she never saw him. Because of this, she starting calling him "The Ghost. Her parents made her life hard to enjoy, so she made sure to always do the opposite of what they wanted. In order to try and improve Katie's life, her parents ship her off to a boa...more "Breathless" by Jessica Warman

A girl named Katie Kitrell was brought up in a loving, and caring home, until she was about 9 or 10. When her distant father got a new job, her whole life was changed. Katie's father started working all the time, and she never saw him. Because of this, she starting calling him "The Ghost. Her parents made her life hard to enjoy, so she made sure to always do the opposite of what they wanted. In order to try and improve Katie's life, her parents ship her off to a boarding school, and she immediately becomes popular. She's also an amazing swimmer, destined to reach the Olympics. With her good grades and swimming combined, she's bound for an Ivy League school. But the pressures to become liked, and well-known are too much for Katie, and she starts lying to everyone. Her new friends, boyfriend, and roommate don't know about her awful past, and Katie's schizophrenic older brother, Will. When Will does something unimaginable, Katie's life at school and home become increasingly more difficult for her.
I wasn't really sure if I liked the book "Breathless" by Jessica Warman. Throughout most of the book I had mixed feelings about it. At times I was bored by it, and sometimes I didn't want to put it down. I felt the whole book was quite predictable, and it was easy to know what was coming up. Plus, the majority of the characters irritated me. My favorite part of the book was probably the end. It pulled the whole book together nicely, and everything that I was confused about made sense. My least favorite part of the book was the beginning. It was uneventful, and I almost chose another book because I was so bored.
I didn't really like the protagonist, Katie Kitrell, in the book "Breathless". Sometimes I felt bad for her, and sympathized with her, and other times I despised her and was confused by her and her motives. I didn't like how back and forth she was about Will. She hated him, she fought with him, but she loved him, and was always thinking about him. Then when he does something stupid she cuts him off and won't talk to him. Since Katie's in high school, this made sense in some ways. I can understand how emotional and unsure she was about her brother, since it was hard for her to be home because of him. By the end of the novel, I could see the profound change and development in her- the things she learned from all this and the ways she grew from it.
Will's part of the story was extremely emotional. The toll on his family because of his family was hard to read, especially because of how young he was when it started. It made it worse that he was so innocent, and he honestly thought was he was doing was helping the people around him. This is a book that shows that while society would want to write him off- and Katie even tried to pretend he was dead while she was at boarding school for that reason- it is much harder for the family to do so, nor should they. I honestly felt bad for Will, and I thought how she wrote his part of the story was beautifully done.
Katie's boyfriend Drew was another character that irritated me. I personally thought he was a hypocrite. He told everyone he was a Christian, and that he went to church and read and obeyed the bible, but then he would go to a party and drink and smoke and be fine with it. Drew's faith was sometimes very prominent, like when he tried to convert Katie, but at times he seemed like a normal teenager.
Overall, I thought "Breathless" by Jessica Warman was an okay book. I liked how it covered three years of Katie's life, not just a year or a couple semesters. I also enjoyed how at the beginning of the book Katie was an immature idiot starting her sophomore year, and became almost a new person by the time she graduated. I don't know if I would recommend this book, simply because of the fact that I didn't enjoy it all that much. I guess if you liked the review, and it sounded interesting to you I would recommend it. Though I liked some parts of the book, I probably won't be reading it again. I personally would rather read a book that I enjoy from cover to cover, and have no complaints. But, you never know, maybe you would enjoy this more than I did!(less)

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Aug 19, 2012 Emma rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites-2012

Raw, realistic and subject matters out of the norm, from the jock christian boy refusing to have sex to the psychotically insane brother who kills cats without really thinking of the consequences.

Katie, the main character, is the flower that rose from the pot of dirt. Her family, once poor, is now well off, she's good looking, good at swimming and destined for an Ivy league school.

Breathless doesnt have a central plot to summarize with, but if i had to, I'd go with the fact that Katie gets sen...more

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Jul 26, 2012 Natalie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Breathless" is a fast paced novel that everyone would enjoy reading. Throughout the book, the author draws sharp spikes of suspense in contrast to the straight storyline.

Katie Kitrell, the protagonist, comes from a troubled home. The issues aren't however where you would suspect. Her family consisted of her father ,which by chance was a psyciatrist, her delicate mother, and an eratic older brother.
When the father's business took off, the family relocated from a broken-down house to a mansion l...more

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Jul 04, 2012 Pygmy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: youngadult

Waffled between bored, interested, outraged, then back again. Main character is screwed up because of her parent's poor parenting and her mental brother, but I had trouble sympathizing. Once she got into the boarding school, I started becoming more interested, until I got slapped in the face a couple of times by the author's ridiculous portrayal of virgin Christian guys. Not to say that what was portrayed in the book couldn't be true....but I've always found Christians to be either a lot more su...more

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Apr 08, 2012 Sara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-booklist

Summary: When Katie Kitrell is shipped off to boarding school by her distant father and overbearing mother, it doesn’t take her long to become part of the It Crowd. She’s smart, she’s cute, and she’s an Olympic-bound swimmer who has a first class ticket to any Ivy League school of her choice. But what her new friends, roommate, and boyfriend don’t know is that Katie is swimming away from her past, and from her schizophrenic older brother, Will, who won’t let her go. And when he does the unthinka...more

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Mar 20, 2012 Heather rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book has three dimensional characters with complex and interesting relationships. I found the premise of living with a schizophrenic older brother intriguing. It’s definitely not the same old same old. Katie is damaged by her home life and desperate to escape and boarding school is the lifeline she’s been waiting for. Everyone knows an Estella, love her or hate her, she’s in every school. I loved the portrayal of her friendship with her roommate Mazzie. A true, complicated and honest friend...more

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Mar 01, 2012 Denise Cuenin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a young reader book that navigates some very adult material. The protagonist, Katie, is the younger sister of very troubled brother in a dysfunctional family. The siblings have a deeply complex relationship. The brother, Will, has been diagnosed with schizophrenia associated with drug abuse. The family lives in a very working class community where they are the focus of envy for their financial wealth and “schadenfreude” fascination for all their public problems. Will becomes dangerously...more

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Jan 31, 2012 Arlie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult

It's been awhile since I read a really quality young adult book, so this was a pleasure to discover. Katie, whose brother has drug-induced psychosis, finds that her life continues to be drawn to him, regardless of what he's like or what he's done. Alone at a new private school, Katie leads others to believe that he's dead. And she swims and swims - as though she can swim away from her loneliness, her confusion, and her family. On the way, she learns about love and forgiveness, and friendship. Bu...more

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May 16, 2011 Catherine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Jessica Warman's book is a great and easy read from the get- go. Katie Kitrell is a high school sophomore who is sent to a boarding school to be separated from her unstable schizophrenic brother Will. While at school, she immerses herself with her one true passion, swimming and makes a select new group of friends. While trying to avoid her real reason for moving to the school, she lets it slip that her brother died. Captured in her lie, she lives in fear that someone will find out and spread the...more

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Feb 28, 2011 Donna rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: family-issues, reality, young-adult

This was a realistic story overall, and a good portrayal of a dysfunctional family. Katie's family is falling apart, especially her older brother. Her dad is a psychiatrist who works all the time, and her mother is an alcoholic. Her brother is diagnosed as schizophrenic, and as the story continues, his mental illness grows. Her parents send her to boarding school as a result, where she begins as a sophomore. In order to fit in, she tells everyone at the school "an untruth," and they conclude tha...more

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Nov 29, 2010 Jacki rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: teen-fiction

Summary: After her brother's mental illness enters what can only be called a Death Spiral of Psychosis, Katie's workaholic father and alcoholic mother pack her off to boarding school four hours away. At first she overcomes her newbie jitters and fits in, impressing her swim coach, finding popular friends, and nabbing what we are led to believe is the cutest boy in a twenty-mile radius. However, her fear of others' reactions to the truth leads Katie to tell everyone her brother is dead, while his...more Summary: After her brother's mental illness enters what can only be called a Death Spiral of Psychosis, Katie's workaholic father and alcoholic mother pack her off to boarding school four hours away. At first she overcomes her newbie jitters and fits in, impressing her swim coach, finding popular friends, and nabbing what we are led to believe is the cutest boy in a twenty-mile radius. However, her fear of others' reactions to the truth leads Katie to tell everyone her brother is dead, while his behavior back at home grows increasingly violent.

Writing: I opened this book convinced it would be a depressing slog through overwrought teenage hand-wringing, but instead Katie's first person narration is refreshingly sardonic and honest. More time is spent developing and describing characters than setting, but that only works to the advantage of this emotion-driven story.

Pacing: The story covers three years in only 320 pages with little to no drag time but still manages to avoid being rushed. Scenes are set quickly so the author can dig into the meat of the story: deeply-felt one-on-one conversations between various characters.

Characters: Katie is well-rounded and believable. She reacts in understandable ways to difficult circumstances. Her roommate Mazzie is, like Katie, a tender soul trying to wear a thick skin, and while she starts out with a stronger set of neuroses, she is able to turn around and care for Katie when Katie's life gets rough. How can you not like someone who hides in the bathroom cabinet to skip class? I laughed at the naive statements from Katie's ultra-religious, ultra-conservative boyfriend while still liking him for his insistence on seeing the good in everyone, even though he really thinks they're all going to hell. Katie's family is also fleshed out, their history explained, the path from Katie's childhood to the present. Her brother's insanity is in and out of the spotlight, but Katie never goes long without ruminating on their relationship as children and now: Should she stop loving him because he's criminally insane now, when he was her closest companion for so long? Can she stop loving her only brother?

And we also have a couple of typical snotty rich brats. I mean, we are in a boarding school, here. However, even they have backstory and motivation.

Plot: There are various story arcs in Katie's life: her brother's continuing journey into madness, her growing bond with her roommate Mazzie, her awkward relationship with her boyfriend (he's saving himself for marriage but oral is fine, thanks), her attempts to get into Yale, and her troubled relationship with her parents. All of these arcs are explored deeply and finally interwoven.

Ending: The story plunged into an emotional but uplifting finale, although it got a bit too high school graduation and cliched.

Cosmetic: The girl on the cover kind of looks like she's drowning, not swimming, but I think that fits Katie's circumstances. I was a bit confused because the back cover called the heroine a "swimming prodigy." First of all, what does that mean? She's a prodigy who swims, or a prodigy at swimming? In the book, she's neither. She constantly says swimming is the only thing she does well, and it is her claim to high school fame, but it's also openly acknowledged that she's not good enough to go pro or swim in the Olympics. That's not really prodigy quality.

What more did I want?: For me, the book was a bit too Gemma Doyle meets modern dysfunction (by which I mean, it was a bit girly.) While the brother's episodes of insanity were extreme enough that one every hundred pages seemed like plenty, I felt like the heroine's distance from him kept the reader from seeing the buildup in the interim between outbursts, so it was a shock when something else went wrong. I don't think the author was trying to wear kid gloves about the brother's issues; I think she was just trying to keep the focus on the heroine. Still, I would have liked more tension in the brother's plot line.(less)

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Aug 29, 2010 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Prior to reading this book, let me just say that I did not know anything about it. I hadn't heard about it from any of the many book blogs I frequent or the book vloggers that I watch. I came upon it while scanning the YA section of my local library. The cover was interesting and the synopsis seemed promising so I picked it up. And let me say, I was definitely glad that I did.

The story is about a girl named Katie Kitrell who, in the beginning, is trying to cope with a mentally unstable/ill broth...more Prior to reading this book, let me just say that I did not know anything about it. I hadn't heard about it from any of the many book blogs I frequent or the book vloggers that I watch. I came upon it while scanning the YA section of my local library. The cover was interesting and the synopsis seemed promising so I picked it up. And let me say, I was definitely glad that I did.

The story is about a girl named Katie Kitrell who, in the beginning, is trying to cope with a mentally unstable/ill brother and her hard-to-get-along-with parents. The family is pretty dysfunctional to begin with. But not unbelievably so. I think it's so easy to relate to Katie's situation because I don't believe any family is without its problems and its always refreshing to see YA books take this route of depicting highly dysfunctional families rather than perfect households. Anyway, her brother is a very unhappy person and he attempts to kill himself. This sends Katie's world into a whirlwind. Her parents decide that it would be best if she lived as far away from her tiny hometown and her brother as possible. So they send her to boarding school where Katie is finally able to fit in and have real friends and a really good chance of going to good colleges. But, of course, the presence of her brother and her home situation is always at the back of Katie's mind. So, she deals with it by lying to everyone and immersing herself in her swimming--the one thing she's really good at.

One thing about this book that really impressed me was the fact that I had no idea where it was going to go. I mean, I had read the inside flap and usually those pretty much give away the direction of the story. However, I was surprised to find that I had no idea where the plot would take me or how a character would act. This book is definitely not predictable.

Speaking of characters, there are a whole cast of characters in this book that are wonderfully drawn. Katie is a very relatable and very real protagonist. Her voice really strikes a chord with me and I think it'll do the same with a lot of other people, too. She's just easy to sympathize with. However, she's not perfect. In fact, every character in the book is flawed. Even her seemingly "perfect" boyfriend. But they're flawed in a way that make them interesting, rather than annoying.

The best thing about this book, though, would have to be the writing. Even though this is Jessica Warman's debut novel, she establishes a very clear yet lyrical style. This is the kind of book where it's so easy to get overly dramatic and fill it with a bunch of flowery prose but Warman definitely keeps her writing realistic and sprinkles it with some really wonderful lines here and there that really get to you. Her writing also keeps you so absorbed in the book. I stayed up late finishing this one and once it was over I was definitely thinking about all of the characters for hours in bed. This is the kind of book that I think a lot of teens (and older people too) will really like. I'm just excited to see what this new author comes up with next. Definitely check this one out if it sounds interesting to you.

(also posted at my blog: sarareadsalot.blogspot.com)(less)

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Mar 07, 2010 Kari rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, read-teen

Throughout much of this book, I found myself to have mixed feelings about it. At times, I was bored and other times I was interested and other times I just wanted to smack several of the characters- but the last little bit of the book pulled everything together pretty nicely.

Will's part in this story was certainly the most emotional- the toll on his family because of his mental illness was hard to read, especially because of how young it all started for him. Watching how innocent he was despite...more

Throughout much of this book, I found myself to have mixed feelings about it. At times, I was bored and other times I was interested and other times I just wanted to smack several of the characters- but the last little bit of the book pulled everything together pretty nicely.

Will's part in this story was certainly the most emotional- the toll on his family because of his mental illness was hard to read, especially because of how young it all started for him. Watching how innocent he was despite it all made it even worse because he truly though he was protecting people and he honestly thought he was doing the right thing. This is a book that shows that while society would want to write him off- and Katie even tried to pretend he was dead while she was at boarding school for that reason- it is much harder for the family to do so, nor should they. I really felt bad for Will, particularly at the very end and everything that happened to him but I think his part of the storyline was beautifully done although Katie kept mentioning how she blamed the town for what became of her brother but apart from one incident, those reasons and events are never told which did bother me- she makes such a profound case but the evidence is never provided.

Katie was hot and cold for me- sometimes I sympathized with her and could understand her motives and other times I felt blindsided and confused. She jumped back and forth, particularly about Will- one thing happens and she still fights for him, then something else happens and she totally cuts him off. Enter another incident, and suddenly he's the only thing that matters to her. It drove me crazy and for awhile, I thought it was such a stereotypical, weak character but it isn't. Not really, at least, because I have plenty of friends who flip flop like that so much and so rapidly they could probably win an Olympic Gold. Katie is in high school, struggling to stay afloat in many areas of her life, with little support coming from home for it. By the end of the novel, I could see the profound change and development in her- the things she learned from all this and the ways she grew from it. Though some of the events seemed repetitive, cliche for these books, and even irritating, the effect it had on Katie was still clear.

Drew was a character that made me mad more than anything. Even at the end, I still thought he was really just a hypocrite, despite the good things he did. He devoted his life to God but still went overboard on trying to save everyone, having no qualms about condemning someone to Hell. It seemed like the part of the Bible about being humble missed him and I kind of feel like that particular facet of Drew was simply not done that well- his faith showed up at random times and disappeared at others.

The writing was good for the most part, though it seemed like every character licked their lips when they were either total horndogs or on the verge of telling some great piece of gossip to ruin their lives. It became very noticeable everytime a sentence was only 'He licked his lips.' It most definitely started to get to me and I would stop and just gawk at it towards the end when it kept happening, wondering why everyone seemed to have that habit but things like that always bother me in books. Warman had a few very great moments of explaining things that just made perfect sense, phrasing it on a way that was simplistic but fulfilling.

Overall, I give this one 4 stars because even though I did have some gripes about it, the ending was completely bittersweet and those always shine for me. Parts of the book did seem to drag but I do like that it covered 3 years and not just a semester or two. The changes and events that took place were not instant and rapid- they were spread out, fueled by the experience Katie earned just finishing out high school. That aspect most definitely made this story unique because she was definitely an immature idiot at the beginning of the book, starting her sophomore year, and became almost a new person by the time she graduated.(less)

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Aug 13, 2009 Ann rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, contemporary

Swimmer Katie and her older brother Will live in a hick town in SW Pennsylvania, but her family is wealthy in comparison to the rest of their neighbors. Katie blames her brother's schizophrenia (diagnosed as drug induced) on the bullying Will received because he was "rich" and therefore different. In order to distance her from Will, who has grown increasingly violent and erratic, Katie is sent to boarding school her sophomore year. She falls in with the beautiful people, and tells them her broth...more

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Feb 12, 2012 Lianne rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: best-bets-for-girls, ya

Sometimes these book descriptions crack me up. Mom is overbearing? The opposite--Mom is distracted, disconnected, and frequently drunk.

The parents in this story fall so short of adequate, they easily win my "most dysfunctional" parents award. Yes, their son suffers from a particularly difficult mental illness (drug-induced schizophrenia), but despite Dad the psychiatrist, they are floundering. The only thing they manage to get right is to send their other child, Katie, to a boarding school so sh...more

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Aug 28, 2011 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2011

Breathless by Jessica Warman, the reason that I read it was because I loved Between and I decided to read another book by Jessica Warman. While I did not love this book as much as I did between, I still enjoyed reading it.

This book takes place in a boarding school after an incident with Katie's brother where Katie starts to develop a new self (I guess thats how I see it...) After she gets to her school she becomes one of the in crowd and lies saying that her brother is dead. While I was not impr...more Breathless by Jessica Warman, the reason that I read it was because I loved Between and I decided to read another book by Jessica Warman. While I did not love this book as much as I did between, I still enjoyed reading it.

This book takes place in a boarding school after an incident with Katie's brother where Katie starts to develop a new self (I guess thats how I see it...) After she gets to her school she becomes one of the in crowd and lies saying that her brother is dead. While I was not impressed with how she handled the situation I know that the Author was writing the book in a way to make the characters seem real, and not perfect which makes it easier to understand and feel for the character. The other characters that you meet in the book are all unique in their own way, not one of them is the same in anyway which is nice to see how everyone reacts when they find out the truth because everyone reacted different when the news came out about her brother even if it seemed that they were the same.

This book from the character of Drew has a mention of a family that is very deep into there religion which is something that i respect, the only part that I do not respect is how he keeps pushing his beliefs on Katie. I do respect that he is honest to his religion and his personal beliefs.

Mazzie now that is a character that I found perplexing in the book at first you don't think that she will get along with Katie then you think that she hates Katie from all the times that she says it... to that she really does care for Katie by showing it in their own way. Wow reading about their relationship was like a roller coster ride!

While this book does have some controversial moments that come up it still is a good read, you can't help but find yourself completely addicted to reading the book, and even if you don manage to stop reading about the book you still find yourself wondering where the story is taking you. This is a book for a person that is looking for a deep real book where they can live the story with Katie and learn the lessons that she learned. If thats what your looking for in a book then pick it up and read it you might like what you read.(less)

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Jul 08, 2011 Jenna Anderson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult

Katie Kitrell is a sixteen year old girl who is having to deal with some tough family problems. After she is shipped off to boarding school she chooses to keep her families drama a secret. In doing so she lets it slip that he brother died recently, when in that is not true. Her older brother has some difficult psychological issues, her mother has a drinking problem, and her dad is a workaholic. Katie doesn't know how to deal with all of this so at her boarding school she decided to ignore them a...more

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Dec 21, 2012 Kabuto rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

Every so often you find a book which stays with you long after you've finished it. This is one of those books. The second I finished it I felt a sort of loss, like I was sorry it was over. Breathless is a very weird book and as a result is quite difficult to describe. Everything has a sort of dreamy quality to it, and it had a strong emotional impact on me. The best words I can think of are 'beautifully tragic'. A lot of this is down to the writing style, which is technically 'normal' but which...more

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Feb 04, 2012 Brittany Rehage rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm conflicted about this book. It was well written and covered a tough subject very well. But I still feel let down by it. There wasn't anything necessarily wrong with it, it just wasn't right.

The characters are well written and you can see the growth in most of them throughout the novel. They are realistic and I can see myself coming across people just like them in real life. I didn't really fall in love with Drew, but that's more due to personal reasons than the writing of him. He was a great...more

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Jan 29, 2012 Eilis rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Somewhere beneath all the upper-class-but-remembering-my-impoverished-youth nonsense is a story about a girl trying to come to terms with her brother's mental illness and the effect that it has on her family. The problem is that this story, which would have been far more interesting to read, is buried beneath so much classism that it's difficult to read the book without feeling a little resentful of the privileged lives of the book's characters. There were moments in the book where you could gen...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Sanjana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Breathless is a 320 page realistic fiction book by Jessica Warman. The main character of the book, Katie Kitrell, is a teenage girl who has always had some problems or the other with her family. Katie's passion is swimming and it is the only thing keeping her going. After a mistake made by her schizophrenic brother, Katie is sent to boarding school to try and get a new, deserved life. In order to take the opportunity of getting a new life, Katie hides her past from her new friends, telling every...more

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Feb 05, 2012 Emily added it · review of another edition

You would think Katie Kitrell was just your average teenager. She's a excellent student, an extremely promising swimmer, and lives in a big house with a nice yard and a family. However, when you look below the surface, you'll find that her life is anything but normal.
Katie has always been extremely close with her brother, Will, but when Will's mental illness turns him into a monster, Katie's parents send her off to boarding school so that she will not be around to watch as her brother tur...more You would think Katie Kitrell was just your average teenager. She's a excellent student, an extremely promising swimmer, and lives in a big house with a nice yard and a family. However, when you look below the surface, you'll find that her life is anything but normal.
Katie has always been extremely close with her brother, Will, but when Will's mental illness turns him into a monster, Katie's parents send her off to boarding school so that she will not be around to watch as her brother turns into a person she doesn't even know.
Off at school, Katie makes a lot of new friends that are considered to be in the " popular" crowd. She decides that not telling people about her brother and absent father and drunk mother is the best idea if she wants to keep her image at school. However, as Katie struggles through her sophomore, junior, and senior year of high school, she will find that being successful, pretty, and popular has its price.
Winner of the ALA Best Book For Young Adults, Warman approaches such difficult topics with ease and at times a humorous style of writing. I found the way she described the relationships in the book to be very detailed, as if I knew exactly what she meant when she talked about the way they acted in each others presence. For example, i know what Warman is saying when she writes from Katie's point of view"at least I've got one person who knows the truth about me and is willing to put up with me anyway" (99).However, the relationship between Mazzie and Katie puzzled me somewhat. The way they acted is somewhat similar to the way my sisters and I act, but it is not a way I thought roommates would act. I can't say I made it through the whole book without the thought of a kiss between Katie and Mazzie happening.
I liked the way Warman wrote the story, however I didn't find the story compelling for my taste. I love how it shows Katie's struggles and how she came out of it on the other side, but it was not a book that kept me hooked all the way through. However, I do love the message behind the text, that no matter what has gone wrong in your life, you can always change the outcome.(less)

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Nov 18, 2010 Melissa (i swim for oceans) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Breathless is the story of teenage Katie, a talented swimmer with the world at her feet, but she's hiding a dark secret and a painful past. Her older brother, whom she loves more than anything, is schizophrenic, and his disease is slowly consuming every inch of love and care he had for his family – especially his little sister. Katie discovers it's easier to lie about the past and pretend that everything is fine, her home life is normal, and there's no dark secrets hiding under her bed. The prob...more Breathless is the story of teenage Katie, a talented swimmer with the world at her feet, but she's hiding a dark secret and a painful past. Her older brother, whom she loves more than anything, is schizophrenic, and his disease is slowly consuming every inch of love and care he had for his family – especially his little sister. Katie discovers it's easier to lie about the past and pretend that everything is fine, her home life is normal, and there's no dark secrets hiding under her bed. The problem is that the secrets are catching up to her slowly but surely, and they're about to unravel all around her.

Breathless is one of those stories that I haven't heard much buzz about around the blogosphere. I think I've only read maybe one or two reviews for it, but they were pretty good, and I was already sold on the swimming premise (go figure) and the awesome cover. Breathless is the brainchild of author, Jessica Warman and combines a heart-wrenching tale with flowing prose, rich descriptions, and a setting that the reader can lose themselves in. It was very well-written and didn't lag, which I often find in books I don't know too much about.

I will, however, say that there were a few issues I had with Breathless. While it flowed nicely and had a great pace, I often found that the antics of the large cast of characters almost pulled me out of the story. Katie's personality had me somewhere between hating and loving her the entire time, and there were points where I was just indifferent. Then there's Drew. Drew is a character that I could potentially have loved in Breathless. He's a devout Christian with good morals and a strong standpoint, but I often found that he jumped on his religious bandwagon at only the most opportune moments, which I felt was a bit too convenient. Then, there were times when faith didn't drive his character, and I was left confused as to just who Drew really was.

I guess my verdict on Breathless is as follows. It's definitely not a bad read. I enjoyed a lot of it, and I thought the writing was very well done. While the characters have some flaws in my humble and honest opinion, I'm sure there is a big market for a book like Breathless. I give it a strong 3.5 out of 5, and I'd recommend it to fans of YA fiction, especially those who enjoy contemporary fiction.(less)

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Dec 02, 2009 Julia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Katie Kitrell's best friend has always been her older brother, Will- even when he is in various mental institutions he always believed in him. But, once Will attempts a public suicide, their parents send Katie off to a boarding school in Virginia, where Katie plans to start over.

Since the Kitrell's moved to a small, poor town in Pennsylvania they have been the envy and target of all the neighborhoods hatred. The classmates-and even the teachers of Katie and Will make their lives nightmares on a...more Katie Kitrell's best friend has always been her older brother, Will- even when he is in various mental institutions he always believed in him. But, once Will attempts a public suicide, their parents send Katie off to a boarding school in Virginia, where Katie plans to start over.

Since the Kitrell's moved to a small, poor town in Pennsylvania they have been the envy and target of all the neighborhoods hatred. The classmates-and even the teachers of Katie and Will make their lives nightmares on a daily bases, leading Will to drugs which makes him spiral into a drug induced schizophrenia.
Their father is merely a "Ghost" to them, a complete workaholic and devotes no time to his family and their mother turns to alcohol to ease the pain of it all. And Katie feels she has no control, and the only place she can actually breathe is in the water-swimming.
Swimming has always been her escape, making her a prodigy and a sure bet for the swim team at her new board school where she quickly befriends the popular girls and finds herself a boyfriend- the popular boys swim team captain. But Katie has a secret- her life is less than perfect. Whenever questioned of the motives of starting a new high school her sophomore year, she simply says her brother "was in an accident" until she allows her lie to slip and say he is dead. Filled with relief and pain Katie most overcome her brother's real existence, mean girls, and a roommate who'd rather not talk to anyone- especially Katie.
Though soon, Katie's roommate Mazzie Moon warms up a little after Katie talks to her about Mazzie's screaming at night from nightmares and her constant teeth grinding- Mazzie obviously has pain building inside of her though she is not allowing her guard to go down.
And then there is her boyfriend, who though is popular is not even close to what Katie expected.

A great heart-breaking and heart-warming story of a girl just wanting to keep things under control as her life spirals out of control.
It is well written though the fact that the years drag on, makes it quite confusing. When one minute she is a Sophomore and the next she is a Senior it is hard to keep up.
I enjoyed it though because it seemed real and impacted you all at the same time, you felt the need to hug and cry for and yell at Katie all at the same time. (less)

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Feb 16, 2010 Tessa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: yyay, boarding-school

As a bonus, this is partially set in Southwestern PA (although it is not an extremely favorable view of the area). I would have liked it anyway, though.

The jacket copy states that this is a "semi-autobiographical" story, and I could tell, but only in the best way. It wasn't meandering or digressive and it didn't present the protagonist in a weirdly heroic light. It read like it was adapted from very well-kept journals and very vivid memories, and then heightened with fiction. The story spans thr...more

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Dec 13, 2009 AnnaBnana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 10, 2012 Agatha rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 01, 2012 Michelle rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, family-drama, young-adult

This book didn’t really do it for me. It’s about a teenage girl with a mentally ill brother who is shipped off to boarding school. It is apparently very closely based on the author’s own life. I think the premise is good and the author does a great job of portraying the complexities and tension in the relationships of young girls. I loved that Katie had her one thing (swimming) that she's really good at and uses it to assimilate. I did feel like the brother’s illness was tied to a specific event...more

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About Jessica Warman

Jessica Warman is the author of Breathless, which received three starred reviews and was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and Where the Truth Lies. The idea for Between came from an incident in her childhood, when a local boy went missing after a party on a yacht (he was eventually found, alive).

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“I'm not mean, I'm honest. Nobody is ever straightforward. But sometimes people need to hear the truth.” — 48 people liked it

“You know, I believe that people need to find what they love to do most in the world, what they're best at, and then they need to use that ability to make the world better.” — 30 people liked it

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