Breathing Series by Rebecca Donovan
Genre: YA-NA Romance
****** Six stars (Only life-changing books get this rating) 
Goodreads Blurb: In the affluent town of Weslyn, Connecticut, where most people worry about what to be seen in and who to be seen with, Emma Thomas would rather not be seen at all. She’s more concerned with feigning perfection while pulling down her sleeves to conceal the bruises – not wanting anyone to know how far from perfect her life truly is. Without expecting it, she finds love. It challenges her to recognize her own worth – but at the risk of revealing the terrible secret she’s desperate to hide.
Reason to Breathe is an electrifying page turner from start to finish, a unique tale of life-changing love, unspeakable cruelty, and one girl’s fragile grasp of hope.
Review:
First off, this is a book that once you start to read it you will not want to put it down. The name of the book tells it all – Reason to Breathe and Barely Breathing – because you are holding your breath the whole time. So now that I’ve warned you, here is the review of the two books. I am sorry I did not have two separate reviews, but I did not have this blog until after the two books were published. I will do a review on the last installment of this series – be prepared to be glued to it.
This book is about a girl named Emily who is a total overachiever and hangs out with one of the most popular girls in school. Her classmates thinks she’s stuck up because she gets good grades and is a great athlete but never shows up to any social event, little do they know that Emily has a huge secret of living with abuse in so many ways physically, mentally, and neglectfully. Only one person in her life has an idea of what is going on with her, but has no clue the enormity of the issues she deals with. Her focuses on getting into her Ivy League dream school and to be unnoticed in school fails when a new kid join her school: Evan (Swoon)
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Evan is a breath of fresh air. You fall in love with Evan; he is not the typical kinda rich kid who looks for the other rich kids, he has substance and wants substance in his life and looks at Emily as such a person. Evan is kind, thoughtful, and all around loyal guy in which you can read what he is going to do before he does it. On the other hand, there’s Emily – you have no idea which way she is going to go and what decision she is going to make which makes this book stand out from the rest. I am on the fence about how I feel about Emily, I know she is going through things, but she keeps pushing her friends and Evan away; you are on the edge of your seat the whole time waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I really felt for Emily, I mean she was trying to not be noticed because she did not want anyone to know what was going on and she had this really bad view of herself because of the people in her life. So I don’t want to give away the book… you go through some major ups and downs and in’s and out’s, then you get hit hard at the end. THE END of the FIRST BOOK is going to make you lose your breath and want to get the second book ASAP.
I was lucky enough to have started reading this book after the second book came out, I did not get any sleep because I had to get my fix of the series. When you find out what happens to Emily, you are happy for her at first, then you get mad at her, then Jonathan comes into the picture – I can’t say how and why because I will give away what happens in the book; let’s just say my heart was beating double time once he entered the picture. Don’t think you know what I mean by what I just wrote, because you’re probably wrong – you have got to read it to believe it.
I loved her best friend Sara even more in this book, so supportive and a true friend. I could not stand Emily’s hot mess of a mother and I hope that the author does not bring Analise (the new girl) back for the third installment. That girl was trouble with a capital T, I just wish Emily was more assertive about her, and Evan was hip to her game, but guys will be guys – clueless as usual.
In the end, she leaves you with another cliffhanger, making you want more. You want to know why this book get’s my life changing rating, stay tuned for Rebecca Donovan’s third installment of the Breathing Series; I am sure it will not disappoint.
I can’t wait – July 2th 
can’t get here fast enough…
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