Reason to Breathe

Title: Reason to Breathe
Author: Rebecca Donovan
Format: E-Book, Kindle for PC
Year: 2011
Series: Breathing #1 of 3
Genre: Romance, YA, Contemporary, New Adult

Plot Summary: Emma Thomas wants nothing except to blend into the background of her life. She has exactly one friend (and likes it that way), a 4.0 GPA and is an excellent athlete. Emma does this because she counts down the days until she can leave the home of her Aunt and Uncle. Emma's Aunt Carol lets Emma know at every chance how much of a burden she is, how worthless she is, and she even on occasion hurts Emma for the smallest reasons. Not wanting to destroy the lives of her younger cousins, Emma endures all of this pain in silence and separates herself from her peers. That is, until the new guy at school Evan enters her life, and things begin to change for Emma.

Opinion: This is one of the most horrifying and touching books I have ever read within the YA and New Adult genre. The level of physical and emotional assault that Emma endures throughout the book is heartbreaking. This book is listed on Goodreads.com under a list called Best Book Boyfriends, and it's totally justified. Evan enters Emma's life and sends it into turmoil, but his refusal to let her sink back into the shadows is what changes her life and makes it better. This book gave me angsty and intense feelings while reading it, because as a reader you want Emma to confess what happens to her at home, but at the same time we feel the same fear that she does by exposing her most shameful secrets. But when Emma was happy it emulated through the book and made the reader happy, because it did not happen often. The only part of the book that I really didn't like was the very strange period of time when Emma started dating Drew. That was about 20-40 pages of me sitting there going "WTF is this?!?!" in my head. But after that weird couple of chapters the book picked up and got much better. This book reminds us that there is evil out there in the world and that we need to protect those who fall victim to it.

Overall, a 4 out of 5 stars! Please read when you get the chance!