Barely Breathing (The Breathing Series #2) Review

Barely Breathing (The Breathing Series) by Rebecca Donovan

Book description...
Emma’s struggle with an abusive home life came to a heart pounding conclusion in the final chapters of Reason to Breathe. Now everyone in Weslyn knows Emma’s secret, but Carol can’t hurt Emma anymore. Some are still haunted by the horror of that night, and some must face the repercussions of their choices. Fans of Rebecca Donovan’s debut novel will discover there’s still much to learn about Emma’s life

Before you read anymore of this post make sure you have read Reason to Breathe as this review will give away spoilers to the first book.  You can check out my review of RTB on Goodreads Here


So first things first.... when you finished RTB what was your reaction?  If you're like me, you ended up reading the last chapter a few times before you finally came to your own conclusion... which I think is what Rebecca had originally intended.  I patiently waited for this book to come out... okay so I was anxious as hell once I found out there was going to be a second book and I bought it the moment I saw the link go up on Rebecca's Facebook Page.  I started it Monday evening and I finished Tuesday morning... Yes, that means that I pulled another all nighter to finish a book that had my attention span devoted to every word... needless to say I'm still running on caffeine fumes from yesterday and the adrenaline of how this book ended, which I will get to later....


Emma.... sweet, beautiful Emma... I absolutely LOVE her but at the same time I wanted to yell at her so many different times for some of the decisions she was making.  Granted if she would have followed my thoughts this book would not have been nearly as interesting.... but still, I couldn't help the thoughts that would run through my head about how she's already been through so much tragedy...  Emma is starting to find herself after having lived in hell for 5 years and she's doing it with the help of her amazing best friend Sara... who by the way throws the BEST anti Valentines Day party EVER!!!!! and her sweet as pie and hot as can be boyfriend Evan...

"So your life is not messed up..." Evan paused, placing his forehead on mine, demanding my attention.  "You've actually done a pretty amazing job at living it."

Even with these amazing people in her life who have cared for her deeply for years, Emma decides it's time to give her mom a chance at reconnecting and she moves in with her..... and that's when everything starts to go down hill.  Don't get me wrong there were still happy times for Emma but she seemed to have more confusing thoughts and emotional battles while trying to find herself again, and this is where I really struggled while reading this book.....

First, is her mother.... what a whack job, I mean seriously that woman is a master manipulator and I pleaded to Luke that Emma would catch on and get out, but..... she just breaks my heart and tries to "deal" with the emotional confusion her mom is throwing around... I swear that woman changes moods faster than I can change a dirty diaper and unfortunately that dirty diaper probably smells better then the funk that women spits out of her mouth when she's hitting the bottle!

Then you have Jonathan... I honestly did not know what to think about him, I kind of had a bit of a crush thinking to myself....

"Wow, they really do have some sort of intense connection."

And then I got on Facebook and saw a post from my girl Gitte.... which I have to admit I saw this after I changed my mind about the crush, well I changed my mind about 90% at that point.....

Gitte: "Help, I'm cheating on Evan with Jonathan!!!  That's all I'm going to say..."

Uh, yeah sister.. I felt the same way until...... I didn't anymore and there is a very big reason on why I didn't feel that way.  As much as I felt that intense bond between Emma and Jonathan, I couldn't help but think.... Thank God, she reacted the way I hoped for or I was gonna be peeved!!!!

Next, is Emma herself.  Her mental struggles with trying to find out who Emma is again while still trying to please everyone in the process... and I mean she tried to please everyone in a way that she was trying to "fix" whatever was wrong in her relationship with them.... and that was when the lies began.  I understood her reason for telling them, for years she had to protect herself and she was living on instinct but I couldn't help but get down right mad at the poor choices she was making.... mad at her for the lies she was telling the people that love her most and would understand whatever it was she should have come clean about.  Instead she began telling so many lies that they eventually caught up with her and she nearly loses everything....

Last, is the freaking ending.... I don't know if I want to laugh and pat Rebecca on the back for totally hooking my brain all over again, cry because I want answers like 5 minutes ago, or be mad that I now have to patiently wait (*snort, yeah, yeah... I'll so be anxious and I know it) for the next book... I will say, THANK YOU JESUS there will be a third book and I pray that Rebecca does not leave us with another cliff hanger ending..... but I'm starting to wonder if she likes leaving us hanging....  Here's a little facebook conversation that I have to share....

Sam: "Rebecca Donovan why must you torture me?"

Gitte: "I had a crying fest already... and not even that far in yet."

Me: " Don't you dare tell me that the ending is a big cliff hanger..... I had someone tell me on my blog FB page that it wasn't that big but it sets it up nicely for the next book! So far I am loving it but only about 40% in"

Sam:  "I finished it around midnight and that is all I will say until you guys finish."

Jenny: "Cliffhanger????"

Sam: "Yes"

Me: "OMG!!!! I just finished.... Seriously?  I need to vent on this, like bad!"

Sam: I wanted to scream when I finished last night.

So there is your warning.. there is a cliff hanger..... granted it's not nearly as heart stopping as RTB but if you're anything like me you'll read that last page thinking WTF?

Barely Breathing (The Breathing Series) by Rebecca Donovan is another emotional read that will keep you on the edge of your seat waiting to see what will happen in Emma's life next...  Rebecca did an amazing job at creating a story that shows the struggles abuse victims face when the abuse finally stops.... just because the abuse stops doesn't mean the pain does, it doesn't mean the emotional damage will be healed, it shows how deep the scars really are and how difficult it is for a victim to face life with out the painful reminders of what they had to live through... My heart goes out to abuse victims around the world!

Happy Reading!