Just Remember to Breathe...

There are some books that I find that are so personal to me or a situation that I am in and I after I read it, the book will stick in my brain for a long time. A few months ago I was browsing through Amazon and  looking for a different type of book to read when I stumbled upon Just Remember To Breathe by Charles Sheehan-Miles. 

This is the description of the book from Amazon...

Alex Thompson's life is following the script. A pre-law student at Columbia University, she's focused on her grades, her life and her future. The last thing she needs is to reconnect with the boy who broke her heart. 

Dylan Paris comes home from Afghanistan severely injured and knows that the one thing he cannot do is drag Alex into the mess he's made of his life. 

When Dylan and Alex are assigned to the same work study program and are forced to work side by side, they have to make new ground rules to keep from killing each other. 

The only problem is, they keep breaking the rules. 

Background on ME:

I never heard of this author before but the description sucked me in because of the mere mention of Afghanistan. Let me give you a little background on me, my husband is a Marine and he has been to Iraq three times and Afghanistan twice. While my husband came back as normal as he could, going through something like that, a lot of his buddies did not. The reason I am studying Psychology is because I want to be able to work with veterans and work on their post traumatic stress disorders because there are too many suicides resulting from this disorder... So that is why even after reading this story it stuck with me because it talks about the things in life that I will be studying and trying to help others with... 

My take on this book:

Dylan is an Army war veteran coming home from Afghanistan, he survived but was severely injured not only physically but mentally. He was injured by an IED (improvised explosive device) which killed his best friend and managed to take out chunks of his leg, resulting in multiple surgeries and physical therapy. While he was recovering from surgery he decided to do something useful with his life and go to college but knew it wouldn't be easy because he also suffered from PTSD. The author does a great job in describing what a person with PTSD goes through on a daily basis, which made my heart ache for him! While attending school at Columbia he happens to run into the one girl who broke his heart and not only that, this girl was in his work study so there was no escaping her!

Alex is a pre-law student at Columbia that couldn't get over her first love Dylan. While going to her work study assignment she discovers after years that he is not only alive but he is also assigned to the same work study she is and her heart breaks all over again, knowing they would have to work together. Knowing that the work study would be unbearable if they didn't set some ground rules they decided to do just that. 

The only rule that was continually broken was the "Do not talk about the past relationship". With so much unresolved issues between them, of course all they could ever think about was the past and their past relationship. Especially since their love started by a mere chance meeting in high school on a trip to another country. 

The love between Dylan and Alex is so raw and emotional that I could feel it deep within my heart. I rooted for them to be together from the beginning of this story. Even with Dylan's issues, I still thought they could make anything work, if they really wanted too! 

I recommend this book to anyone who loves a great love story filled with complications and drama. Also, the secondary characters in this book gave more life to it and made it a bit more humorous! I liked them almost as much as Dylan and Alex!

HERE ARE SOME TEASERs:

Pg 217:"I love you, Dylan Paris. But sometimes love by itself...it's just not enough"

Page 263: "Alex, I don't need to keep myself safe from you. I don't want to keep myself safe from you. You mean too much to me. I'd rather have a lifetime of heartache, from you breaking my heart, than even imagine my life without you. Because a life without you wouldn't be a life at all" 

*Go out and read this book if you haven't already, it is definitely worth reading!!!!!*