Barely Breathing (Breathing Series #2) - Rebecca Donovan (re-read)

"I've spent most of my life trying to make it to a future that still hasn't happened, or avoid a past that won't let me go. I don't remember when I've ever just stopped to live in the present, to hold on to the seconds I'm in."

Emma Thomas’s struggle with an abusive home life came to a heart-pounding conclusion in the final chapters of Reason to Breathe, the first installment of The Breathing Series— Rebecca Donovan’s bestselling romantic-thriller (USA Today). Now her secret life has been exposed, and her tormentor can’t hurt her anymore. Yet some are still haunted by that night. The bruises may have faded, but scars and fears, remain. How will she reclaim her life when she's barely breathing?

(Updated Cover)

"Six months ago, I was dead.  My heart didn't beat within my chest.  Breath did not pass between my lips.  Everything was gone, and I wad dead."

If you have read the first book in the Breathing Series, you know the tragedy that was Emma's life for the years she lived with her Aunt & Uncle.  You know how she died, you know what brought us to the second book.  If there was a girl who deserved a sequel - it was Emma and Rebecca Donovan didn't hold back when she gave us Barely Breathing.  

Now everyone knows what was happening to Emma, and they all have to figure out where to go from here.  With a reappearance from Rachel, Emma's mom...it's a whole new world of drama for Emma.  Can she face a past she has since blocked out? Can Rachel now be the mom she's wanted and needed for so long?

Emma is still reserved in sharing the things that happen to her, but she does open up a little more about her feelings for Evan, "How did I end up with you? I mean my life is so messed up and then...And then there's...you.  I couldn't have made you up if I tried." 

Evan is still amazing, "The things you do get to choose, you put everything you have into them - school, sports, protecting the people you care about.  And you chose me."  I love this boy.  This boy who stands up for his decisions and wants to be with Emma, no matter what...but still has trouble getting Emma to open up to him about everything else in life.  

This book has some normal teenage drama, parents disapproving, ex-boyfriends, new girls in school and the will they/won't they have sex...but because Emma's life is never just that simple we are introduced to a whole new world of drama for Emma Thomas.  

"I want to promise you that I will never do anything to hurt Evan, and I will not come between him and his family.  I love him, but I would walk away before I'd ever let anything jeopardize his happiness."  

This amazing follow up to Reason to Breathe will keep you moving through the last year of high school for this group, and leave you wanting more.  The cliffhanger may not be as bad as the first book, but the wait for the third book has been killing me.  If anyone deserves a HEA, it's Emma and I truly hope Rebecca gives her one...and of course because he's one of my FAVORITE book boys - I hope she finds it with Evan!