Wednesday, March 27, 2013


BreatheBreathe by Elena Dillon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A great new YA book by Elena Dillon - 3.5 Stars!

I was immediately drawn into this story from the first page.  Heck, the first line: "Most days I can almost forget someone murdered my sister."  I mean, who can resist finding out what happened after that kind of opening?!

I liked the main character Jasmine a lot.  She had an inner strength and beauty that she did not recognize. Her family is starting over in a new town on the opposite side of the country. Jas had to deal with fitting in to her new environment, going to a new school and making new friends.  She had taken on a lot of responsibility for her younger brother and sister as well.  Her relationship with her siblings Caedan and Lily was funny and realistic.  I liked her Mother and the dynamic they had as a family - especially a family that had gone through what they have.

Jasmine ended up falling (literally) for one of the hottest guys in school, Easton.  He was a gentleman...and sweet, gorgeous and very swoon-worthy. His brother Trenton, was adorable and their entire family is large, loving and loyal.  (I would hope that Dillon would explore more with these characters - as Chase and Trenton surely have stories to tell!) OK, Jas and Easton's relationship  was a little on the insti-love side, but I was willing to look past it in this case and still enjoy the story. Easton was protective, honest and very understanding with Jas.

This book had a little of everything - the 'new girl' finding her way, good friends doing normal high school stuff, parental relationships and sibling rivalries, romance ... and a darker element of suspense and mystery involving sinister text messages, phone calls and flowers.  Jasmine discovered her nightmare of the 'Monster' was also to become her reality.  Could she save her family and friends?  Could she save herself?

I had not read much YA with suspense and mystery, but I did enjoy this book very much. I liked Elena Dillon's writing style and character development.  I look forward to reading more from this author in the future!

*An ARC was received in exchange for a fair and honest review.*


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1 comment:

  1. Thank you for the lovely review and having it here on your blog. I appreciate it so much.

    Elena

    ReplyDelete