A review by annexelizabeth
Holding Her Breath by Eimear Ryan

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

this novel attempts to tackle multiple weighty themes, and though i thought eimear ryan handled grief and coming of age quite nicely, some of the other focuses of this book felt like they were taking away from the stronger narrative threads. in particular, i was dismayed by the amount of time we spent with justin rather than exploring the intriguing and complex family dynamics at play between beth, her mom alice, and her grandma lydia. while, on one hand, beth's relationship with justin shows her exploring different selves as she matures and experiences more of the world, one could also argue that justin is a a cipher of a character who takes valuable page time away from more interesting characters and themes. i felt that the messiness of coming of age was already depicted nicely here and that we didn't really need a cursory romance thrown in.

i did quite like the ending, though, and didn't totally mind the lack of closure in some areas, as it felt like it made sense with beth's character arc. the family stuff there was solid, and i also quite liked beth's friendship with sadie and thought it was sweet. overall, a solid read, if a flawed one