Reason to Breathe (Breathing, #1)

Reason to Breathe  - Rebecca Donovan The fact that I read this in three days is testament to all the hair pulling and groans of 'oh come on'-s. Half the time, I felt like I was being manipulated to feel Something (sad? angst? empathy?) Which is technically, the job of any author. The thing is, I can't feel for Emma/Emily because I'm too busy not liking her (she calls her best friend 'stupid'. Who does that?! My best friend would've smacked me seven ways to Sunday) So instead of rooting for her I was rooting for.... The art teacher. I can't bring myself to root for Evan either because he talks like he's reading from a script. Actually everyone does. The evil aunt was so cliched and the circumstances on WHY the heroine allows herself to be beaten up wasn't explained (if this was the fulcrum of the novel, I'd want to know why these things are going on). It was torture porn to say the least.Important events happened out of the blue. Everything got ret-conned to pieces without preamble. Someone left then came back at a 'convenient' time. There was a lot of blurting and suddenly-s which is okay in average doses but not if it occurs at every pivotal conversation.Admittedly I read this book, spoiled. I knew what will happen in the end. But the thing is, I think even if I didn't know the ending beforehand, I would still have exhaled , 'Oh thank God'.