Author: Holly Cupala
Release Date: January 3rd, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 299
Edition: Paperback
Source: For Review
Goodreads: Link
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 delectably dangerous Asher, who is smothering her from the inside out.
Joy can take his words - tender words, 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.
Don't Breathe A Word is an interesting book and definitely a quick read!
The story centers around a girl named Joy who has severe asthma and is constantly under watch by her parents until her brother moves out, her primary care-taker. Then, her boyfriend Asher starts to take over. And when I say "take-over", I literally mean take over. He's rude, abusive in both a mental, verbal, and eventually physical way, and you start the story with Joy simply unable to take it anymore, causing her to run away and become homeless.
Holly Cupala has the kind of writing style that packs a punch without being too flowery or over-descriptive. She alludes to the "incident" that caused Joy to run away in the first place any times, making it something Joy keeps thinking about in small pieces until you finally get the whole picture. As for Joy herself...I wasn't really feeling her. I felt like she grew a lot throughout the book but, especially with scenes that included Asher, I was like: GIRL WHAT ARE YOU DOING? She comes into her own in her own way though, which I can appreciate.
Something that did confuse me however was the fact that she had severe asthma and I kept thinking that this was going to be a major problem because you don't usually put SEVERE in front of something if it's not...you know, severe. And it's a problem, but it's not anything big. As long as she had her meds, even in the Winter, she was alright. I don't know how asthma works since I don't have it, but I felt that was just brushed over when it was supposed to be an important part of the story (in my mind).
Asher was a total asshat and I think that's what frustrated me the most about Joy. You get to see when she first meets him and he was...not appealing in any way. He's not charming or sweet in the beginning; he's pushy and arrogant and pretentious and I just have no idea what she saw in him. I understand the idea of Joy wanting something that was always in control in her life, because DUDE. NOTHING APPEALING.
On the other hand, I did love Creed. Tortured street musician that's sweet, caring, and a really friendly guy, he gave Joy the love that she needed.
As for the ending, that ALSO didn't rub me the right way. I'm a optimistic person guys, you know me. But the ending ties up in this perfect little bow that kind of just...didn't seem realistic at all. Some of the side-character gets into some pretty deep crap and suddenly, at the end, everything's okay! Nothing happened! Everyone's fine! Especially May? I was completely surprised.
Happy Reading!
