Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Reason to Breathe

Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Reason to Breathe by Rebecca Donovan

8 reviews

vikart's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Reason to Breathe is the first book of the Breathing series. The book covers many heavy topics that can be difficult to process. From the passing of a parent, abuse, and alcoholism to friendship, love, and will.
I read the digital version of this book, and I did notice that there is some grammar being mixed like "your" and "you're" within speech once or twice, but I did not think that it was too much of a bother to the reading process to make me lower the grade.

Personally, I found this book very touching to an emotional level. I was able to understand the reasons why Emma, our protagonist, did what she did, and I also enjoyed her progress of slowly opening up to the idea of leaving. This book left off with an open ending that makes you come to a variety of conclusions. For that exact reasoning, I am looking forward to picking up the second book in the series.

Would I recommend this? Yes, I would. However, I would also advise to check all of the content warnings because it is truly a heavy read.

Content Warnings

niholealbod's review against another edition

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dark hopeful tense

5.0

Uncovering of abuse by first love.

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life_full_ofbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This has been sitting on my TBR for about 12 years and I finally got around to listening to it. I’m still not sure what to think. It’s a very tough subject matter and one those matters in which you can say what you would do if in it, but you truly don’t know unless you actually experience it.

Emma is a junior in high school and appears to lead a very quiet life. At school, she’s always trying to blend in to the background even though she’s a superior athlete (playing on three varsity teams), the editor of the school newspaper, and best friends with the most popular girl in school. Her life at home, where she lives with her aunt and uncle, is a very different story though and she’s trying to make it through to graduation without anyone knowing what goes on behind closed doors.

This book was a page turner from the get go. I listened to it and couldn’t stop listening! There were quite a few things that didn’t sit well with me, though. I really hated the way Emma refused help from those who knew her situation; I felt her reasoning for not wanting help wasn’t justified. Additionally, while the ending had me on the edge of my seat and I immediately downloaded the next one in the trilogy, I wish it had a better closing. I listened to the first 5 minutes of the second to find out what happened after the ending and called it a day.

I think Rebecca Donovan did a fabulous job at conveying emotion and tension. I wish she would have included how she did research for this book because the vast majority of it felt very cliche.

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lillywills's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

oh my god, hands down best book i’ve ever read!! i loved it so much. it’s so sad, so dark, but so unbelievably good. i was compelled to love and hate emma at the same time. i could hardly make up my mind about her. i read the second book and now waiting for the final book to arrive. iv never loved a series so much. i beg you all to read this🫶🏻🫶🏻

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