Reason to Breathe by Rebecca Donovan

Emma is invisible. Okay, not really, but sometimes she wishes she could be. All she wants is to keep her head down and disappear until she graduates high school and can escape the ruthlessness of her aunt. Ever since her mother dropped her off at the front door four years earlier, Emma has been struggling to breathe in the house, around her so called family, she can barely make it day to day.

This is a dark book. It addresses the very serious issue of child abuse, and to be honest it was fantastic. At what I believe to be around 400+ pages, it's long, but I wouldn't give up a page of it. The length enables true character and relationship development, something that is often missing in so many YA books these days.

Emma is a great main character. For the first time in my life–or at least in a long time–the heroine didn't bother me. She's smart, strong, and a grounded person, and her reactions to things are perfect, so great I wish I could be more like her. When she's first being pulled into the social realm she navigates it with her sharp personality easily, and it's great to see her remain strong under the watchful eyes of her peers.

The storyline is interesting, and not once did I get bored. The scenes are fun and exciting, and you never know what's going to happen next. Emma is a kind person, but she doesn't let anyone walk all over her the way a lot of book girls do these days.

Emma and Evan's relationship is one of the best I've read. He isn't in any way abusive, he's just a nice guy that recognizes something in her. They start out as friends–though he wants to be more–and they develop a real connection, this ain't no love at first sight nonsense. Their time together is funny and really sweet, so when the plot twist strikes a little more than halfway through the book, I warn you–brace yourself!

I'm not certain whether or not this is a self-published indie series, and if it is, the editing is fantastic. I did not find one mistake, and that hasn't happened in what feels like forever. This book is the quality that all authors should strive for, indie or otherwise.

The one thing that could have been done a bit better was the actual abuse. While her aunt was clearly cruel and it was sickening to read what she does to Emma, there was something lacking. A big part of abuse in households is often the psychological aspect of the terrorization. That wasn't addressed here as much as the physical part was, and I wish that had been dealt with, because while bruises heal, the psychological warfare is permanently scarring.

A dark story about a girl lost, only to be found by a boy she never thought even knew her name, Reason to Breathe is a breath of fresh air. Get out of that self-published reading slump, hike up your adult pants, and settling in for a stay-up-all-night read.

Five Stars

Rosalie Williams

Reason to Breathe on Goodreads