Reason to Breathe

Some days Emma is thrilled to be alive. Some days she struggles to find a reason to breathe.

Emma Thomas is every parent’s dream. She’s an excellent student. She does her chores without complaint and helps with the younger kids at home. She’s a star athlete and a talented artist. Her best friend, Sara, is one of the most popular girls in school. So why then does she live her life in a perpetual state of fear? Emma has a dark secret about which no one, not even Sara, knows the truth. Emma is not looking for someone to rescue her. She keeps a safe distance from those around her, never wanting anyone to get close enough to discover what she’s hiding. She is barely coping with the terror, but telling someone the truth would have devastating consequences.

Emma’s plan is simple: survive the remainder of high school, go to college and never come back, stay “under the radar” at all costs. Emma lives her life virtually undetected by most of the people around her, or so she thinks until Evan Mathews comes along. Evan not only sees the invisible girl, he boldly pursues her, even though her defenses are numerous and fierce. Emma finds herself inexplicably drawn to him, but letting her guard down could mean losing more than she’s willing to risk. She is faced with a choice between what she wants and what she believes is best. In her mind they are two completely different things. The escalating danger makes it that much harder to decide. Should she risk everything to find the happiness she never expected or stay safe in the stronghold of secrecy she’s been building for so long?

Rebecca Donovan is an enormously talented storyteller, and I’m not just saying that because she let me view this novel in its infancy. When she first asked me to read her work, I was nervous. I’m a fairly critical reader, and I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. But there was absolutely no reason to worry because I was completely engrossed in the story after reading the first few pages.

The story is an electrifying page turner from start to finish. Reason to Breathe is one of those rare stories where the love story is just as gripping as the danger. The reader wants so badly for Emma to find happiness. She’s been denied any kind of love for so long, and Evan seems like the perfect person to offer that chance. But the reader also wants Emma to survive the story unscathed, and it quickly becomes clear that it will be next to impossible for Emma to have both happiness and safety.

The antagonist in this story is so well written that the reader is put on edge by the malicious character’s mere presence on the page. The main characters (and even some of the minor ones) are so consistent, so well thought out; they feel as if they’re people you know. You could predict what they would do in a given situation. I was particularly drawn to the friendship between Emma and Sara. It feels very real, and it demonstrates the yin and yang connection that so many best friends have. It was very easy to believe in their bond; the two girls complement each other perfectly.

One criticism I often have of teen books written in first person is that they don’t really feel like a teen is the narrator. That is not the case with Reason to Breathe. I felt I was very much inside Emma’s head. She second guesses herself. Sometimes she reads people incorrectly, and she misjudges the situations she’s in fairly often. I could see things coming that she perhaps didn’t understand yet, but every event was explained from Emma’s point of view. Sometimes there was missing information, and it made the narration all the more believable.

There were times when I was so frustrated with Emma. She really has no idea of her worth. And she truly believes her survival /escape plan will work. She is clueless and naïve at times, and anyone who has read my book reviews knows those are character traits that sometimes rub me the wrong way. But Emma is different for two reasons. One, she is a teenager and that naturally puts her in a perpetual swing between self doubt and overconfidence. (Anywhere else those would seem like conflicting ideas but not in world of adolescence.) Two, Emma has a very good reason to have absolutely no self confidence. Her life has been permeated with a steady stream of belittlement and cruelty.

I was hopelessly captivated by the story. It’s the kind of book you can’t put down until you know the final resolution. It’s intense! But equally impressive is the author’s attention to detail. I was in the middle of the book when I started to realize how carefully the groundwork had been laid for the events that were to come. I read this book twice, and when reading the story a second time, I loved discovering the small clues and foreshadowing scattered throughout the book.

I think that teens will absolutely eat this book up. How could they not with such an intoxicating combination of danger and romance? But parents, teachers, and sensitive readers need to know that there is violence at this story’s core. It would be a book I would want to read along with and discuss with my child or students. There are some powerful lessons for teens in this story. Not the least of which is how keeping a secret and thinking you can handle a dangerous situation on your own can lead to horrific results.

Reason to Breathe is one of those teen books will appeal equally to adult readers. I highly recommend the book to those who love a good tortured romance and aren’t afraid of some pretty dark, disturbing material. It’s completely captivating and original, a unique tale of life-changing love, unspeakable cruelty, and one girl’s fragile grasp of hope.