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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
God, I really want to fangirl all over this series and jump up and down and scream and cry about how amazing I find these three books and how amazing I find Rebecca Donovan at the same damn time.
She is so effing sweet and nice and yeah I probably will blow her head up but hey we all need our heads blown up a bit, especially if your name is Rebecca Donovan and you wrote the amazing Breathing Series.
This series touched a part of my heart and soul and I haven't been the same since. If you have been following me you know that Rebecca Donovan is THE REASON I started reading indie books and authors. At the time I was reading Nicholas Sparks, Stephanie Meyers (over and over and over again), and other mainstream authors who are just as incredible but I wanted something different, I needed something different. So I was browsing through Amazon and landed on Reason to Breathe, it called out to me, I don't remember why I finally downloaded it but I did, and I have been WOWED from the very first chapter in the first book to the very last word in the third one.
So lets get started so I can blow up Rebecca Donovan's head and fangirl over this shit because let me be honest and tell you that there is no way I cannot write these reviews and not gush over them.. its just not possible..
When I bought the first book it didn't have that fancy door cover or the fancy girl looking out the window cover, it was the cover that showed half a girl's face and she's wet from rain? Who knows, it didn't matter, the cover is not what sucked me in to read it, it was the description, I just FELT like it was going to be an amazing book, and I was right!
In this book we are introduced to the lovely, broken, funny, smart, courageous, kind, Emma.
She is probably my favorite chick character because of the amount of shit she has been through in her life and she still came out on the other side, frail but alive.
Emma is a high school student who lives with her aunt, uncle, and two little cousins.
Her aunt is a royal bitch who literally destroys almost everything good about Emma but Emma just keeps quiet because she doesn't want to destroy her little cousin's lives. She holds it all in and doesn't tell anyone what really goes on inside that house.
Her only escape is when she is in school, playing sports, or when she is granted permission to stay with her best friend, Sara.
Sara is Emma's best friend and everything a best friend should be. Sara's parents are also everything you hope your own parents are. They are kind, compassionate, sweet, loving and Emma loves being with them.
Even though school is an escape for Emma, she doesn't have friends besides Sara because she keeps to herself, she just glides through school in her bubble not letting anyone in. Not that she doesn't want too but she can't, she can't explain to them that she isn't allowed to do anything outside of school like normal teenagers, she is always on permanent house arrest with no chance of parole.
She was "fine" with this life but all she was really doing was surviving the best way she knew how.
“I survived by keeping my emotions in check – by maintaining my composure and tucking it all away. I managed to stay under the radar, skating through school without anyone truly remembering I was here. My teachers acknowledged my academic successes and my coaches depended upon my athletic abilities, but I wasn’t important enough to make a recognizable social contribution. I was easily forgettable. That’s what I counted on.”
That is until Evan shows up and totally throws her life in an upside down whirlwind.
All of a sudden she is wanting more, she wants to experience life like a normal teenager and not like the recluse she has been.
Evan... OH EVAN.. my first ever book boyfriend....no lie.... I may cheat on him from time to time with other characters but he is my original love.
I LOVE how the author made his character. He wasn't a bad boy needing to be fixed, he wasn't a whore athlete with a bad temper needing to be tamed. He was just Evan, a smart kid who had a passion in photography and surfing. He was also infatuated with Emma from the very beginning and didn't know how to get through her bubble.
Emma didn't stand a chance when he was near.
He broke her and fixed her all at the same time. He was her protector and he tried to save her from herself and her home life.
He never pushed too hard but pushed enough to get her to respond and then back off. Emma didn't know what to do with him but she knew she had to keep him.
“We were engaged in a very intricate dance of touching without touching, knowing without saying, and feeling without expressing. We were friends walking along a ledge, a very thin ledge - and I was too caught up in my heightened awareness of his existence to realize how close the ledge was to crumbling beneath my feet.”
Of course the only problem was her aunt wanted to make sure Emma's life was as miserable as possible and she made sure this happened every chance she got.
God it was so bad, you have to read it to know what I am talking about but just know you are cringing and broken for Emma and realizing how scared but brave that girl is.
“Well let’s get you back to hell before the devil realizes you’re not home.”
There were many nights while reading this that I had to put it down and just let the tears fall because it was so heartbreaking and just plain awful.
The saddest thing is that I knew there were kids who dealt with this kind of thing all the time and I just couldn't take it, I was so torn up inside.
Then the plot gets even more crazy and you are holding your own breath, not taking your eyes away for even a second. You are so full of nerves not knowing how this is going to end, screaming at her aunt for being such an evil cow, and then crying buckets until the epilogue. Then the ending comes and you are screaming
WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPEN????
I was left in tears, totally heart broken for Emma and needing a Zanax for all the emotions running through me.
THANK GOD the second book was out already because I just had to know what happened next.
It was midnight when I finished Reason to Breathe but I didn't care I dove straight to Amazon and DL the next installment. I had to know what happened, I just HAD to know!!
Which leads me to the next review for
The rest of the review is on my blog thebooktrollop.blogspot.com
She is so effing sweet and nice and yeah I probably will blow her head up but hey we all need our heads blown up a bit, especially if your name is Rebecca Donovan and you wrote the amazing Breathing Series.
This series touched a part of my heart and soul and I haven't been the same since. If you have been following me you know that Rebecca Donovan is THE REASON I started reading indie books and authors. At the time I was reading Nicholas Sparks, Stephanie Meyers (over and over and over again), and other mainstream authors who are just as incredible but I wanted something different, I needed something different. So I was browsing through Amazon and landed on Reason to Breathe, it called out to me, I don't remember why I finally downloaded it but I did, and I have been WOWED from the very first chapter in the first book to the very last word in the third one.
So lets get started so I can blow up Rebecca Donovan's head and fangirl over this shit because let me be honest and tell you that there is no way I cannot write these reviews and not gush over them.. its just not possible..
When I bought the first book it didn't have that fancy door cover or the fancy girl looking out the window cover, it was the cover that showed half a girl's face and she's wet from rain? Who knows, it didn't matter, the cover is not what sucked me in to read it, it was the description, I just FELT like it was going to be an amazing book, and I was right!
In this book we are introduced to the lovely, broken, funny, smart, courageous, kind, Emma.
She is probably my favorite chick character because of the amount of shit she has been through in her life and she still came out on the other side, frail but alive.
Emma is a high school student who lives with her aunt, uncle, and two little cousins.
Her aunt is a royal bitch who literally destroys almost everything good about Emma but Emma just keeps quiet because she doesn't want to destroy her little cousin's lives. She holds it all in and doesn't tell anyone what really goes on inside that house.
Her only escape is when she is in school, playing sports, or when she is granted permission to stay with her best friend, Sara.
Sara is Emma's best friend and everything a best friend should be. Sara's parents are also everything you hope your own parents are. They are kind, compassionate, sweet, loving and Emma loves being with them.
Even though school is an escape for Emma, she doesn't have friends besides Sara because she keeps to herself, she just glides through school in her bubble not letting anyone in. Not that she doesn't want too but she can't, she can't explain to them that she isn't allowed to do anything outside of school like normal teenagers, she is always on permanent house arrest with no chance of parole.
She was "fine" with this life but all she was really doing was surviving the best way she knew how.
“I survived by keeping my emotions in check – by maintaining my composure and tucking it all away. I managed to stay under the radar, skating through school without anyone truly remembering I was here. My teachers acknowledged my academic successes and my coaches depended upon my athletic abilities, but I wasn’t important enough to make a recognizable social contribution. I was easily forgettable. That’s what I counted on.”
That is until Evan shows up and totally throws her life in an upside down whirlwind.
All of a sudden she is wanting more, she wants to experience life like a normal teenager and not like the recluse she has been.
Evan... OH EVAN.. my first ever book boyfriend....no lie.... I may cheat on him from time to time with other characters but he is my original love.
I LOVE how the author made his character. He wasn't a bad boy needing to be fixed, he wasn't a whore athlete with a bad temper needing to be tamed. He was just Evan, a smart kid who had a passion in photography and surfing. He was also infatuated with Emma from the very beginning and didn't know how to get through her bubble.
Emma didn't stand a chance when he was near.
He broke her and fixed her all at the same time. He was her protector and he tried to save her from herself and her home life.
He never pushed too hard but pushed enough to get her to respond and then back off. Emma didn't know what to do with him but she knew she had to keep him.
“We were engaged in a very intricate dance of touching without touching, knowing without saying, and feeling without expressing. We were friends walking along a ledge, a very thin ledge - and I was too caught up in my heightened awareness of his existence to realize how close the ledge was to crumbling beneath my feet.”
Of course the only problem was her aunt wanted to make sure Emma's life was as miserable as possible and she made sure this happened every chance she got.
God it was so bad, you have to read it to know what I am talking about but just know you are cringing and broken for Emma and realizing how scared but brave that girl is.
“Well let’s get you back to hell before the devil realizes you’re not home.”
There were many nights while reading this that I had to put it down and just let the tears fall because it was so heartbreaking and just plain awful.
The saddest thing is that I knew there were kids who dealt with this kind of thing all the time and I just couldn't take it, I was so torn up inside.
Then the plot gets even more crazy and you are holding your own breath, not taking your eyes away for even a second. You are so full of nerves not knowing how this is going to end, screaming at her aunt for being such an evil cow, and then crying buckets until the epilogue. Then the ending comes and you are screaming
WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPEN????
I was left in tears, totally heart broken for Emma and needing a Zanax for all the emotions running through me.
THANK GOD the second book was out already because I just had to know what happened next.
It was midnight when I finished Reason to Breathe but I didn't care I dove straight to Amazon and DL the next installment. I had to know what happened, I just HAD to know!!
Which leads me to the next review for
The rest of the review is on my blog thebooktrollop.blogspot.com
I LOVEDDDD it. Just the right amount of everything! This book deserves more than just 5 stars! Simply AMAZING!
This book hooked me right away and was once again a book where I could not go asleep until I finished it! It's heartbreaking and haunting.
Proper review to follow :)
Proper review to follow :)
This was another one of those books that I had heard about from a few different people but for some reason couldn't bring myself to read it. I'm not sure if it was the books description in Goodreads, it just didn't grab my attention enough to set aside a different book. Now that I've read the entire series I know that I must've been psychic and knew that there was no way I could've waited for each book to come out. It would have been pure torture.
This book truly blew me away. I immediately fell in love with Evan and the way he pursued Emma. He was always just the right amount of pushy and careful at the same time.
"I'm just trying to figure this out." "What out?" "Us," he said.
He always knew the right things to say like he knew her already like nobody else could.
"I guess you just don't pay attention. I think you're too busy attempting to fade."
I was also happy reading about the friendship between Emma and Sara. I can't even imagine being put into the situation of having to keep a secret like that about someone I cared so much about. It was great to see Sara trying to push Emma towards anything and everything that might put a smile on her face and just make her happy and Sara was smart enough to know that Evan was just that thing.
"But I really want you to kiss him."
It was, at times, pretty hard to read about Emma's pain and the way that the people around her dealt with it. I was so emotional throughout this book, I just couldn't even imagine. Just when everything seemed like it could have been getting better....BAM! I was hit with the ending. What. The. Fuck.
I'm so glad that I had book two on my Kindle ready to go because I would have been pissed if I had been one of those people who had to wait so long for what comes next.
See full series review
http://fortheloveofbooksbyjaime.blogspot.com/2013/07/review-breathing-series-by-rebecca.html
This book truly blew me away. I immediately fell in love with Evan and the way he pursued Emma. He was always just the right amount of pushy and careful at the same time.
"I'm just trying to figure this out." "What out?" "Us," he said.
He always knew the right things to say like he knew her already like nobody else could.
"I guess you just don't pay attention. I think you're too busy attempting to fade."
I was also happy reading about the friendship between Emma and Sara. I can't even imagine being put into the situation of having to keep a secret like that about someone I cared so much about. It was great to see Sara trying to push Emma towards anything and everything that might put a smile on her face and just make her happy and Sara was smart enough to know that Evan was just that thing.
"But I really want you to kiss him."
It was, at times, pretty hard to read about Emma's pain and the way that the people around her dealt with it. I was so emotional throughout this book, I just couldn't even imagine. Just when everything seemed like it could have been getting better....BAM! I was hit with the ending. What. The. Fuck.
I'm so glad that I had book two on my Kindle ready to go because I would have been pissed if I had been one of those people who had to wait so long for what comes next.
See full series review
http://fortheloveofbooksbyjaime.blogspot.com/2013/07/review-breathing-series-by-rebecca.html
Emma always felt trapped until Evan shows up and opens her up to a world of love and friendship. I love how the relationships are portrayed in this novel and how easy it was to understand each character's intentions. I was intrigued throughout the whole novel and it left me wanting more. I would definitely recommend this novel and series by Rebecca Donovan as it gives insight to the emotional situations that are actually happening in today's world.
I was a steady 4 stars for most of the book but the events at the end have me so breathless (ha) to find out what happens, that I'm tempted to give it more. Will probably wear off after my post-book hangover so I will finish my review/consolidate my notes later.
I have deliberated whether or not to go ahead and actually write a review for this book because I know beforehand that this is going be ugly. Reading this book made me angry. Abuse is such a delicate, serious subject matter and this novel failed to highlight the difficult situations that abused people go through. Don't get me wrong, the physical and verbal mistreatments that Emma went through was graphic and hard to take but what it failed to show was that ANY victim has hope and the ability to help themselves.
This book was drawn-out. In spite of all the abuse, Emma still found it in her to go to successions of parties - even, take note, A HOOK UP PARTY. It offended me that Emma's story focuses more on her inner struggle to stay away from the hot guy when her life was in danger on a daily basis. Then, when she got mad because the hot guy was finally getting wind of what was happening to her, she turned to another guy and decided that this other guy was better for her than the one who actually cared. WHAT.THE.EFFITY. It's so messed up. Why did I keep reading, you ask? Simple. I wanted to know that Emma actually found a way out of her miserable life - but she didn't.
Emma Thomas is probably one of the most irritating characters I've ever read. Her weakness and naivete made me furious. Her reason for not reporting the abuse? Weak at best. She was trying to protect her cousins from the reality that their mother (Emma's aunt) was a monster but heck, they already know. She even said it in the beginning of the novel. The other reason was that she was terrified that the kids will be taken away from their home - okay, I'll give her that. But who's to say that her aunt is not capable of doing the same thing to her kids? Wouldn't it be better if she'd cried foul now and save her cousins from perhaps, an inevitable fate? She had a way out but because she's blind and naive, she believed the best of the monsters that she called her aunt and uncle. And really, this is what I don't get. There's to be a sequel. I'm asking WHY, when the entire book was wasted on stories about parties, makeovers and jealous, petty teens? The abuse just kind of took a backseat.
I also don't get how her so-called best friend knew about the abuse and yet she was more worried about Emma's anger than perhaps, Emma's life. This girl was beaten with any object her aunt could get her hands on. She's taken blows to the head, she's been poisoned, and thrown against a glass door, cutting her everywhere. I'm pretty sure her parents would gladly take Emma in if she moved out. But she chose not to do anything about it. Is this really the reality of the people related to an abused party? Do we really just stand by and watch it happen over and over again? I hope not. We report animal abuse, for pete's sake. When do we actually stop and say, I'm sorry but you're not that clumsy. You don't hit the door or fall down the stairs, or trip over air on a regular basis?
This review is difficult to write. I hate offending people simply because I wanted to express my opinion. I don't know the author's background. I don't know if she's speaking from experience and I meant no disrespect, but this novel failed completely. The way Emma's story was told made light of her situation. It was a waste of my time and my anger. What is the whole point of this book? What is the moral lesson I can take as I walk away from this? The answer is NOTHING. I walked away furious because Emma was in a more perilous situation than when she started. The abusive aunt didn't get what she deserved.
I am a part of a minority who didn't like this book. You can take this review for what it is but at the end of the day, the only opinion that matters is yours.
This book was drawn-out. In spite of all the abuse, Emma still found it in her to go to successions of parties - even, take note, A HOOK UP PARTY. It offended me that Emma's story focuses more on her inner struggle to stay away from the hot guy when her life was in danger on a daily basis. Then, when she got mad because the hot guy was finally getting wind of what was happening to her, she turned to another guy and decided that this other guy was better for her than the one who actually cared. WHAT.THE.EFFITY. It's so messed up. Why did I keep reading, you ask? Simple. I wanted to know that Emma actually found a way out of her miserable life - but she didn't.
Emma Thomas is probably one of the most irritating characters I've ever read. Her weakness and naivete made me furious. Her reason for not reporting the abuse? Weak at best. She was trying to protect her cousins from the reality that their mother (Emma's aunt) was a monster but heck, they already know. She even said it in the beginning of the novel. The other reason was that she was terrified that the kids will be taken away from their home - okay, I'll give her that. But who's to say that her aunt is not capable of doing the same thing to her kids? Wouldn't it be better if she'd cried foul now and save her cousins from perhaps, an inevitable fate? She had a way out but because she's blind and naive, she believed the best of the monsters that she called her aunt and uncle. And really, this is what I don't get. There's to be a sequel. I'm asking WHY, when the entire book was wasted on stories about parties, makeovers and jealous, petty teens? The abuse just kind of took a backseat.
I also don't get how her so-called best friend knew about the abuse and yet she was more worried about Emma's anger than perhaps, Emma's life. This girl was beaten with any object her aunt could get her hands on. She's taken blows to the head, she's been poisoned, and thrown against a glass door, cutting her everywhere. I'm pretty sure her parents would gladly take Emma in if she moved out. But she chose not to do anything about it. Is this really the reality of the people related to an abused party? Do we really just stand by and watch it happen over and over again? I hope not. We report animal abuse, for pete's sake. When do we actually stop and say, I'm sorry but you're not that clumsy. You don't hit the door or fall down the stairs, or trip over air on a regular basis?
This review is difficult to write. I hate offending people simply because I wanted to express my opinion. I don't know the author's background. I don't know if she's speaking from experience and I meant no disrespect, but this novel failed completely. The way Emma's story was told made light of her situation. It was a waste of my time and my anger. What is the whole point of this book? What is the moral lesson I can take as I walk away from this? The answer is NOTHING. I walked away furious because Emma was in a more perilous situation than when she started. The abusive aunt didn't get what she deserved.
I am a part of a minority who didn't like this book. You can take this review for what it is but at the end of the day, the only opinion that matters is yours.
This book surprised me and was emotional for me. I knew nothing about the book really just that I had read another book by [a:Rebecca Donovan|4907787|Rebecca Donovan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1367506048p2/4907787.jpg] and enjoyed it so I read this book.
The abuse scenes were what really had me tearing up. I dont know why because I've never experienced this in my life, but my heart ached. I feel like the scenes were pretty graphic so I would warn people about that just in case you are easily triggered.
I enjoyed her relationship with Sarah and Evan and how nothing moved to fast. You could feel their frustration with Emma, but at the same time you could understand Emma's side of things. I think this is a powerful book. I get why this book ends in a cliff hanger, there is so much that is developed and if it were all to be wrapped up in just one book it would feel rushed or too easy. I dont know if i'm going to jump directly into the next book, I sort of feel like this book was heavy and may need to read something lighter before I can continue.
I would recommend.
The abuse scenes were what really had me tearing up. I dont know why because I've never experienced this in my life, but my heart ached. I feel like the scenes were pretty graphic so I would warn people about that just in case you are easily triggered.
I enjoyed her relationship with Sarah and Evan and how nothing moved to fast. You could feel their frustration with Emma, but at the same time you could understand Emma's side of things. I think this is a powerful book. I get why this book ends in a cliff hanger, there is so much that is developed and if it were all to be wrapped up in just one book it would feel rushed or too easy. I dont know if i'm going to jump directly into the next book, I sort of feel like this book was heavy and may need to read something lighter before I can continue.
I would recommend.