Barely Breathing Paperback – June 18, 2013

** spoiler alert ** If you have not read Reason to Breathe . . . STOP NOW! This will have spoilers from the first book. Go read the first book. Run. Don¡¦t walk. Hurry! It¡¦s that good! Here is the link to my review to get the ¡§gist¡¨.http://www.amazon.com/review/RYBAR5LGMO5JR/ref=cm_cr_rdp_permOK. Ready? 3-2-1. Did you hear it? Did you? That was the sound of my head exploding. Oh. My. God. I don¡¦t OMG much, really, I don¡¦t but this is the second time I have had to use it with Rebecca Donovan and I am pretty sure that I will have to use it in the third book as well.Let me start by saying that I thank my lucky stars that I had this second book was readily available after Reason to Breathe. Not that it helps with the ginormous whole she left in my heart for the third one. Seriously, Rebecca you are a remarkable writer. Your story lines are just . . . mind-blowing (ha). No seriously. Wow.This story starts off about six months after the horrid night that we were left with after that monster of an aunt almost killed Emma. Time has gone by. Carol is in jail, George and the kids went on to live with his mother. (Also Emma¡¦s grandma) Emma went on to live with Sara and her parents, Anna and Carl, who have custody of Emma until she turns 18. I If you didn¡¦t fall in love with Sara and her parents in book 1, you will in book 2. What an amazingly loving and caring set of parents. They love Emma as if she was their own. She is playing basketball, too and trying to have a social life. Life went on. Recovery... healing... time... and surrounded by her loving friends, Emma got herself to a better place. Things began to change and for once there was a glimmer of hope that maybe things might turn out okay. And Evan, of course, who is the most perfect boyfriend and is there for her every step of the way.I shook my head and mouthed, "Where did you come from?" "What?" he laughed."How did I end up with you? I mean, my life's so messed up and then... And then there's... you. I couldn't have made you up if I'd tried." ~Emma¡¨You are amazing.¡¨ I could feel my cheeks changing color and my lips stretched out into an embarrassed smile. ¡§What did I do?¡¨ ¡§Just you, everything about you ¡V you¡¦re amazing.¡¨ He stated simply. ~ Evan *sigh* *Swoon*"I'm here, Emma. I'll never let you go," he whispered in my ear, holding me tighter." ~Evan *Swoon*"We can contemplate the meaning of your life all you want, but know that you're my meaning¡K the reason behind just about everything I do - and I would never want to change that." ~Evan *sigh* *Double swoon*"I breathed for you¡K I begged for you to breathe with every breath I gave to you. I kept pleading for you to breathe over and over again. And then¡K then you did." ~EvanPut a fork in me. I¡¦m done. Heart melted. Head. Over. Heels. In. Love.Moving on. Emma has A LOT to deal with and she doesn't talk about it to anyone, she keeps it bottled up which leads to nightmares as well as a strain on her relationship with Evan because she doesn't let him in. He is the most understanding patient boyfriend ever and she just won¡¦t let him in. Then we get hit the curveball, despite how she feels, she finally decides to move in with her less than responsible mother, Rachel, who has come back into her life, thinking that it would be a chance to ¡§fix¡¨ their relationship before she heads out to college. Being the overachiever she is, she dove right in with the decision instead of getting to know her first. That may not have been the smartest decision she makes but let¡¦s face it, this book is based on a lot of Emma¡¦s bad decisions. And boy did she make a good amount of them!Well, starting with the decision to move in with her mother. Emma soon realizes this will not be easy because her mother is an alcoholic who likes to get drunk and crazy and then brings home random guys from bars for sex. Even though she is clearly not in a good situation again, Emma begins to hide things from Sara and Evan but they are not easily fooled. Another bad decision. Things get a little more complicated when Rachel hooks up with a younger boyfriend Jonathan, who befriends Emma. They spent many nights talking, avoiding their nightmares. Jonathan and Emma soon realize they have a few things in common that includes being abused by someone who should love you instead of hurt you and nightmares that haunt them filled with pain. They understand each other. They feel each other¡¦s pain. They make a connection because he is the only one that can truly relate to what her nightmares are all about. A relationship starts to build with Emma and Jonathan that she can't explain and doesn¡¦t even try to. More bad decisions. I hated this part. She seeks him, confides in him. I hated Jonathan because I felt as if he was taking Emma away from Evan. No. No. NO! There was something about Jonathan I didn¡¦t like. He gave me the creeps. He felt like a very dark and twisted character that is going to mess everything up between Evan and Emma."I like this," Jonathan said suddenly, before I could walk away, "talking to you. I feel like I can tell you things¡K things I usually keep to myself. Most people don't understand." ¡KUntil that moment I hadn't realized what was happening. I was able to share the demons that wrestled with me in the night, and Jonathan understood in a way that no one else did. He was fighting with them himself, and that had drawn us together. ~Emma.¡§You asked why I stayed when I had every reason to leave ¡V I stayed for you. I was drawn to you almost instantly without really understanding what was happening. I will always be here for you Emma.¡¨ ~JonathanGrrrrr. No! I refuse to accept it. And of course, Rachel never takes the initiative to make things better! She gets drunk, creates a scene, apologizes and repeated the same pattern the next day! You will loathe her, want her to disappear once again from Emma¡¦s life when you realize the things that she did! She is no good. Poor Emma. She can¡¦t catch a break. Her bad decisions coming back to bite in the you know where. Things get worse as more bad decisions are made and Emma continues to leave Evan out in the dark and she finds herself getting much more than she ever bargained for and not in a good way.This book, like the first one, was full of angst. I found myself cussing at my iPad, mainly at Emma for making bad decisions and getting all riled up for the things that were falling into place. The emotional rollercoaster took on a whole new aspect with this book. Rebecca Donovan's famous cliffhanger, the mother of all cliffhangers, gave life and meaning to the phrase . . ."left hanging" for the first one, but she absolutely destroys you with the total shocker ending of this book. I never saw it coming. And I knew that waiting for the third book was going to be pure torture. At this point, you are so emotionally invested in their lives, that the cliffhanger for this book rips your heart out. We've become somewhat greedy with these characters and we want more!!!!I literally stared at my iPad for a good half hour after I read the last word. I didn¡¦t know whether I wanted to scream or cry or laugh in pure hysterics because I literally thought I would lose my mind waiting for book three. I had a major book hangover and couldn¡¦t write about or even talk about it for days. I replayed it in my head over and over and the more I thought about it, the more it drove me nuts. I don¡¦t think that I have EVER been so emotionally invested in a series the way I have with this one. It was so aptly named, Barely Breathing. Emma wasn¡¦t the only one whose breath it took away and I loved every angst-y minute of it. A-ma-zing.Lucky for you all, Out of Breath is already out, so hurry on over and check this series out. I promise that you won¡¦t regret it. Rebecca, you did it again. Brilliant. It¡¦s a powerful, solid 5 stars for me . . . again. º

God, I really want to fangirl all over this series and jump up and down and scream and cry about how amazing I find these three books and how amazing I find Rebecca Donovan at the same dang time.She is so sweet and nice and yeah I probably will blow her head up but hey we all need our heads blown up a bit, especially if your name is Rebecca Donovan and you wrote the amazing Breathing Series.This series touched a part of my heart and soul and I haven't been the same since. If you have been following me you know that Rebecca Donovan is THE REASON I started reading indie books and authors. At the time I was reading Nicholas Sparks, Stephanie Meyers (over and over and over again), and other mainstream authors who are just as incredible but I wanted something different, I needed something different. So I was browsing through Amazon and landed on Reason to Breathe, it called out to me, I don't remember why I finally downloaded it but I did, and I have been WOWED from the very first chapter in the first book to the very last word in the third one.So lets get started so I can blow up Rebecca Donovan's head and fangirl over this because let me be honest and tell you that there is no way I cannot write these reviews and not gush over them.. its just not possible..Ok, if you have not read the first book in this series DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW, it will give away what happened in the first book and I'd hate to ruin the book for you..When Barely Breathing begins, Emmas dirty little secret is out and everyone knows it now.She has been physically and emotionally abused by her aunt since she started living with her, nobody knows why her aunt did it other than the fact that she is just plain ******* evil.Emma is now trying to get over the fact that her aunt nearly succeeded in killing her and if it wasn't for Evan literally breathing life back into her, she probably would be dead by now."I breathed for you... I begged for you to breathe with every breath I gave to you. I kept pleading for you to breathe over and over again. And then... then you did. ~ Evan"You'd think that after the first book that Evan and Emma would ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after but of course that is far from what happens.Emma goes to live with Sara and her family after her aunt was put in jail for attempted murder. Her uncle leaves town with the children to go live in Florida with his mother. But there was a curveball thrown at us and Emma's mom comes back into her life and wanting to be apart of her life.Since Emma has wanted nothing but her family to love her, she decides to move in with her mom and see what happens.God, I wanted Emma to finally get the love that she obviously deserved from her mother but of course that didn't happen. And you are again left heart broken for this poor girl who just needs love and acceptance from the people who were suppose to love her unconditionally. I am not going to go into details about what happens because it is so bad and I don't want to ruin it for all of you. Just be prepared to be outraged and broken for Emma.Evan and Emma are still going strong but she is also very closed off towards him as well, she doesnt let him in completely because she is afraid, which honestly she has every right to be but she is having nightmares and she is barely holding it together. She is closing herself off instead of getting the help she needs.You are frustrated with her and everything she was doing to Evan and herself."But you can't keep him in the dark when everything starts falling apart. You're not protecting him, you know. You're pushing him away."Sara and Emma are still BFFs and you love Sara even more in this book because of her love for Emma and how understanding she is. No matter what, Emma always had her in her corner and everyone needs a friend like that.We are also introduced to a new character, Johnathan.I wanted to hate Johnathan because I was so in love with Evan I couldn't see straight but I couldn't, I just couldn't hate him.He was just as broken as Emma and Emma meets him because he is dating Emma's mother.They get close because they have similar histories but come on EWWW he was banging her mother, how could she even think about trying to get close to him??But she saw a lot of herself inside Johnathan and she couldn't leave him alone, just like he couldn't leave her alone."You asked why I stayed when I had every reason to leave ~ I stayed for you. I was drawn to you almost instantly without really understanding what was happening. I will always be here for you, Emma."Evan of course hates it and Sara is concerned but Emma just keeps everything to herself until the very end when **** blows up straight in her face and she..she..she...UGGHH I can't say it because I don't want to ruin it for you..I effing lost it when I read the end and then found out that the next book wasn't out until spring/summer 2013 (you have to realize I read both of these books in Summer 2012) I was so mad!!I screamed, I cried, I asked God and the AUTHOR why they hated me so much, I needed to know what happened and I needed to know NOW..I was on a mission..I went on Facebook and found the page dedicated to these books, found Rebecca Donovan's author page, blog, website and checked them religiously.I'd like to say I wasn't that crazy but I would be lying.I read almost every dang status about Out of Breath (the final book) that I could.She was still writing it and I found out more about this author which made me <3 her even more.She was a lover of Mountain Dew (any flavor and umm yeah SAME HERE.. YUM), she had a bad*** writing space, she was so sweet to her readers, and she was working just as hard as I was stalking her, writing this last book.Her books were also picked up by a publisher and I was so happy for her and her books because they deserved it, she deserved it!!Umm Are you scared yet Ms. Donovan?? Is your head blown up enough??I waited and waited for the next book but while I waited, I discovered more authors.You know that part of Amazon where it suggests books similar to the book you just read??Well, I started exploring and found:Abbi Glines, Colleen Hoover, Jamie McGuire, JenniferArmentrout, Samantha Young, Jessica Park, Tammara Webber, J. Sterling...You get the picture but I could go on and on and on..All these great books, this great community with all of these authors loving and supporting one another, it was amazing.Then I found out what book bloggers were and I just had to be apart of this great community, it was a passion I shared with others and I had to get more indie author's work out there.Twilight and Stephenie Meyers might have started my love of reading but Rebecca Donovan fueled this passion to start my blog and reading about more indie authors..I take my bra off to you Ms. Donovan( sorry I don't wear hats ;)..Has your head blown yet from all this butt kissing?? haha.. Sorry..like I said I am fangirling all over this (and a lil embarrassed that I am admitting this LoL)..So eventually we get a date for Out of Breath and to say I was excited would be an understatement, I was ******** THRILLED..which leads me to my final review ofthe rest of this review is on my blog: thebooktrollop(dot)blogspot(dot)com

It's really hard to write this review without spoilers, so let me just say that I hated Emma's decisions in this book and I spend most of the book angry.No only it is way too intense and depressing for my liking, but the author left us with yet another cliffhanger!

It was amazing! I've read this book twice already and it like the first time I read it! Brilliant! I recommend this book to anyone!

Oh my 2nd book in 2 days Fantastic read!

I loved and hated this story. Emma seems to be determined to torture herself, making the wrong choices or just not thinking clearly. The first story was so dark and bad things happened that were not her fault but in this story where she should be enjoying her life she just seems to turn trivial things into major issues. Rachel coming on the scene was a big issue, but Emma didn’t want to see the truth until it was too late. Jonathan on the other hand wound his way in with his own issues and caused more problems. Just when things seemed to going right it all came crashing down. Poor Evan in all this, what did he do except love Emma.

Please bear in mind that this is book 2 in the series and may therefore contain spoilers for the previous book.I just have to say right at the start there could not have been a better title for this book as I quite literally held my breath while reading it, the air of tension a tangible presence within the narrative. My stomach was twisted in knots and my heart felt as if it was being squeezed in a vice, Rebecca Donovan's writing is beautifully heartfelt and heart breaking in equal measure.Set 6 months after the cliffhanger ending in Reason to Breathe all of Emma's abuse is public knowledge, Carol is in prison and George has moved away with the children. Emma is living with Sara and her parents while still dating the amazing Evan. She has 6 months left before she is set to go to college, having been accepted to Stanford alongside Evan and Sara. Emma's mother, Rachel, has been in contact and appears to have changed, wanting to be part of Emma's life. Against better judgement, Emma agrees to move in with her until college. She is still always putting others ahead of herself and never fails to look for the good in people.Rachel, is extremely needy, she gives women in general a bad name believing that she needs a man to make her feel whole. She resorts to drink and drugs when she doesn't get her own way. She is self-absorbed and selfish, it is hard to believe that she could be related to such a lovely person as Emma let alone be her mother. Emma has suppressed her memories of childhood, there is so much she doesn't know about her fathers side of the family. Revelations are astonishing in both good and bad ways. The story cannot be taken for granted, nothing is predictable least of all the characters. The balance between plot and character development is tantamount to the Einstein of writing.Rachel is dating a much younger man, Jonathan, who also has an abusive background, he is deeply damaged carrying his own demons that haunt his dreams. As Emma is still having nightmares about that fateful night, she has problems sleeping. Emma and Jonathan connect on an emotional level that only 2 people that have suffered such abuse can possibly understand. However, there is always an undercurrent of unease where Jonathan is concerned.There are so many variables mixed into the plot that it kept me tied in knots. The sense of unease builds as the story progresses. The plot and characters suck you into their world and refuse to let you go even after the last page.New characters, Jonathan as well as a perky, friend of Evan's - Annalise, whose mother works for Evan's mother (I hated her instantly). Their introduction really threw the balance of the relationships out of sync. Exasperated by Evan's fathers dislike of Emma. The only reason for his dislike is the difference in social standing between them, making me want to rant and rail against him. I absolutely hated that people made Emma feel that she didn't deserve to be with Evan, especially his father and Annalise. Evan's mothers support of Emma is wonderful and managed to reignite my faith in humanity.Emma's life is still controlled by the incidents of other people, for the most part she has no control over the direction her life takes. At times it is overwhelmingly devastating. Yet Emma feels guilty for the things that happen even though she isn't at fault. However, her guilt is understandable due to the fact that she has been brought up with constant negativity as opposed to positive re-enforcement. It is difficult to know how Emma is going to be able to overcome all of these things.The ending of this book almost crushed me with emotion, to say I am anxiously waiting for the third book would be an understatement.