The Next Breath: An Angsty & Uplifting Love Story (Robin Bricker Novels)

The rain pours down, plastering his hair to his head and his shirt to his body. He takes my hand and puts it over his heart.

"See? Still beating."

Pounding is more like it...

How do you let go of your first love when his memory still owns your heart?

Ten years ago, Robin’s world was cracked open by Jed—a brilliant, complicated young man who told her not to fall for him. But she did. She gave him everything, only to lose him to a chronic illness that was always waiting in the wings.

Now, Robin is finally rebuilding. She has a new career, a small but solid circle of support, and Nick—a funny, passionate, infuriatingly earnest guy who sees her for who she is. He doesn’t know about Jed. Or the play Jed wrote for her. Or that Robin has agreed to star in its long-overdue debut.

As opening night nears, Robin is haunted by what could have been—and by what still might be. She’s caught between honoring the past and claiming her future, between the person she was and the person she wants to become. And the more she tries to move forward, the more she wonders: is letting go an act of betrayal… or the bravest kind of love?

A deeply moving novel about grief, second chances, and the stories that shape us, The Next Breath will resonate with anyone who has ever tried to love again without forgetting where they started.

Winner of the 2024 Kindle Book Award (Romance)

"Sincere storytelling and heartfelt revelations will lull readers and then wrench them from the inside out...a love story you won't be able to forget."
--Indies Today (five-stars)

"A captivating tale of love, loss, and self-discovery...with heartfelt moments and gripping revelations."
--The Book Commentary (five stars)