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Sarawak State Library

Read.Innovate.Excel

Reason to Breathe

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Call no.
: Call no. : 813.6 DON
Author
: Rebecca Donovan
Contributor
: Salina Zawawi
Summary
This 525 pages book is a story of a brilliant girl, Emma Thomas who had to face unspeakable cruelty. With her parents no longer in the picture, she was sent to live with her aunt; Carol, uncle and her two little cousins. Her aunt was cold hearted and brutally abusive in every way – physically, verbally and emotionally. She was a pure evil, and her random acts of cruelty were so poignant.

Emma’s ultimate aim was not to fight her aunt back, stay invisible and get beautiful results in school so that she could escape to college – away from the hurt, abuse and brutality. Her social life was devoted to her schoolwork and after school activities, and she only had one best friend, Sara that she cared to keep. Evan Mathews, her schoolmate was very determined to get to know Emma better which Emma decided to let him in despite knowing the repercussions if they were ever found out. Emma was terrified to start anything with him because of her need to keep her home life a secret but he was just so completely into her and willing to not push her to reveal more than she was willing to. There was also Drew who trying to get Emma’s heart.

Infatuation and love. Success, friendship, breakups were all collided in this story. The story was not all about pain and sadness but rather there was a giant cliffhanger when readers got closer to the end. To me, the book was beautifully written and brutally believable.