Reason to Breathe - Rebecca Donovan (2012)

4 stars

I bought this book because my friend kept telling me how much I'd love it and then another friend told me they'd read it and I'd love it so I gave in.

This book is told from Emma's perspective which can be quite dark at times because she is being physically abused by her guardian. It was super engrossing I think because she is so sweet and it is hard to stop reading and not know whether or not she was going to be abused more or whether she could just be safe. I read this in two or three days because of how much I loved Emma, however I think it could be super hard for people to read if they don't deal well with abuse or are triggered by it. My favourite characters were probably Emma and Sara, I feel like if you enjoy this book it's because you love Emma as a character because it's kind of like Tully in a way that it is it's main character, and I liked Sara because she was always there for Emma and gave me peace of mind that Emma would be okay. I would recommend this book to any fans of teen romance and drama and can handle reading a book where the main character is physically abused pretty constantly.

Emma only has one friend, she doesn't want any attention drawn to her because her aunt physically abuses her and will use any excuse to do so. When Evan Matthews comes to her school he develops a crush on her he manages to become her friend and then once she realizes she likes him they start to date. Evan has trouble knowing that she is keeping a secret from him but he eventually works out what is going on and they continue on basically the same as Emma can't let any authorities know because she doesn't want anything to happen to her younger cousins if they do anything to Carol. After a particularly bad beating Evan wants Emma to run away with him, which she agrees to do until she goes home and her uncle, George, tells her that Carol is at her sister's for the night and that if she stays they can work something out and he won't let anything happen again. Emma wants to believe him so she calls Sara and tells her to talk to Evan because she wants to try and believe her uncle. She then wakes up in the middle of the night with her hands taped together, a pillow on her face and Carol trying to strangle her, she bangs her foot against the wall a few times and then blacks out.