Don't Breathe a Word

location: home

mood:  sleepy ( have you noticed I've been sleepy for quite some time)

watching: Felicity season 4 ( only 20 episodes left! )

music: none

Don't Breathe a Word by Holly Cupala

Release Date:  January 3, 2012

Publisher: Harper Teen

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 320

Format: ARC
Source: borrowed
Intrest: Young Adult
Challenge: 2011 Reading Challenge
Buy the Book: Amazon

Joy Delamere is suffocating...

From asthma, which has nearly claimed her life. From her parents, who will do anything to keep that from happening. From dangerous Asher, who is smothering her from the inside out.

Joy can take her cruel words until the night they go too far.

Now, Joy will leave everything behind to find the one who has offered his help, a homeless boy called Creed. She will become someone else. She will learn to survive. She will breathe…if only she can get to Creed before it’s too late.

Set against the gritty backdrop of Seattle’s streets and a cast of characters with secrets of their own, Holly Cupala’s powerful new novel explores the hurt of bullying, the meaning of family, and how far a girl will go to discover her own strength.

Don't breathe a word is the story of Joy who suffers from asthma, and has been hospitalized several times. Her parents are overprotective, and treat her like a fragile piece of glass that will break. Her boyfriend, Asher, is posessive and smothering her. Joy feels like she is suffocating and can't breathe anymore. So she decides to run away from her family, her friends, her life, and her problems. As she tries to navigate life on the streets of Seattle, Joy soon realizes she can't make it on her own. Accompanied by her new street name, and some new friends, Joy finally feels like she can breathe! But life isn't always what it seems.

Holly Cupala did an amazing job writting a gritty, powerful YA novel. Don't Breathe a Word is all about struggling to find your voice, and to breathe. It's about family, friends, relationships, love, tragedy and finding yourself!

There were so many times in the story when Joy could have easily given up and run back home to her parents, after all, compared to the other street kids her life was a piece of cake. But Joy never gave up what she was fighting for the entire time, her freedom, and her space, to just breathe!

I love how the characters in this book, especially Joy, empower themselves. Life on the streets didn't have to end in tragedy. Joy rises above everything surrounding her, and finds her inner strength to survive and do the things she never thought that she could!

Don't Breathe A Word is a moving, emotional story about dealing with struggles and learning how to believe in yourself!