Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Barely Breathing (Breathing #2) by Rebecca Donovan

 
Barely Breathing  (Breathing #2) by Rebecca Donovan
 
This is a young adult contemporary romance novel (Rated R)
 
 ♥♥1/2
(Two and a Half Emotional Hearts)
 
 
Book Summary
 
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.
 
 
My Review

Wow, this book was very disappointing. I struggled with why the author went the route of cliché plotlines in books done before. There was really nothing unique about this storyline or told in a unique way. And that’s about all I can say before spoilers. So if you haven’t read, skip to the end of the spoiler to read overall opinion.
SPOILERS
There is just no way around it in order to explain.
First let me say YAY Drew. I really like him in the last book even with the drunken fight I couldn’t mention in my previous book review. I still didn’t understand after the fight, how the author didn’t even mention what happened in school that Monday. Evan would have been livid. And I don’t see Drew not saying anything. What the hell? Anyway, all that is explained now. But too late in my opinion.
One of my major beefs with this book is NEW GIRL. Really???? I mean we already had a NEW BOY in the first book, Evan. And if you think about it, there was no real reason this “conflict” couldn’t be a girl already at the school. It’s a tired storyline beaten to death by many authors before. And I get why Evan had to be a NEW BOY. No one else would have broken through to Emma already having preconceived notions about her. It took someone new to be the one she’d let in. But this NEW GIRL wasn’t necessary. Didn’t someone advice this author????
Another gripe, this author beats to death in this story. INTERUPTIONS. At every turn, there is an interruption as a means to further the plotline, create conflict, or hide truths. And it got old pretty fast.
First interruption. The sex thing. Emma had decided this is what she wanted. Hell, this isn’t my story. So I’m going with the facts laid out before me. They are interrupted once and sex isn’t thought of for weeks. Yet, Emma had been determined and talked to Sara about it. She told Evan and came onto to him hard. They spent much time alone after that one interruption, but nothing. Again, it doesn’t matter to me. The author shouldn’t have said Emma was so determined to do this. It wasn’t necessary. But since she did, she couldn’t avoid this storyline until it was convenient.
And when was it convenient, they choose not to go to his hotel where he could kick out his brother. But hers. So of course I knew it was a no go once he said hers. It was too damn obvious. And someone was there of course. Did they leave and find another place? NO. The way Emma and Evan wanted this, they could have done it. These interruptions made the story unbelievable. Again, I didn’t write that the characters wanted each other like rabbits. They had time and opportunity, the author choose flimsy interruptions and conveniently placed people when she decided they should act. It was a weak attempt.
Another big complaint was something happens to Evan in class. He leaves abruptly without saying anything to Emma. It is not Evan behavior. Emma is calling him trying to find out what was going on with him. When she finally speaks to him, he says he will tell her. Of course, they are interrupted. And yes folks, after the interruptions, she drops asking him what happened. REALLY? This happens early in the first half of the book. He doesn’t say I don’t want to talk about. I could have understood her leaving the topic alone then because that is how she handled things and couldn’t ask someone different. But he didn’t. He says will talk about it later. LATER is months. REALLY???? We don’t find out until nearly the end of the book the reason. Not believable.

Then there is this time when Jonathan is revealing something to her. And not using words no or yes, the author chose to have him “shake” his head three different times. Normally when an author doesn’t follow up with shakes his head yes or shakes his head no, you assume shake is no, nod is yes. However, on the third shake of Jonathan’s head, it becomes apparent he actually meant yes. So I’m left guess what the hell the other two shakes meant. It pissed me off to no end because he was another trick by the author to not give us information because she again reveals it later.

I could go on, but this review would go on forever. So I won’t. The Jonathan storyline really pissed me off. Emma’s choices with all that stuff just made this book a total downer.
END OF SPOILERS
Audio Review
Kate Rudd continues to do a fabulous job of making me feel the story.
Overall, the author still pulled on my emotional strings. Despite the tired storyline and plot holes, I still had to read this through. That says a lot.
Although I love Evan…
My book boyfriend is Drew.
 
View all my reviews

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