Book Review - Don't Breathe A Word

Don't Breathe a Word - Holly Cupala
Release Date: January 2, 2012

Publisher: Harper Teen

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 299

Buy the Book: Amazon

Joy delamere is suffocating.

From asthma, from her parents, and from her boyfriend, Asher, who is smothering her from the inside out. She can take his cruel words, his tender words . . . until the night they go too far.

To escape, Joy sacrifices her suburban life to find the one who offered his help, a homeless boy called Creed. He introduces her to a world of fierce loyalty, to its rules of survival, and to love--a world she won't easily let go.

Set against the backdrop of the streets of Seattle, Holly Cupala's power-ful new novel explores the subtleties of abuse, the secrets we keep, and the ways to redemption. But above all, it is an unflinching story about the extraordinary lengths one girl will go to discover her own strength.

Synopsis and cover taken from Goodreads.   

My Review:

To be honest, I had no idea what this book was about when I picked it up and if I had known I'm not sure if I would have picked it up, simply due to the fact that I don't read a lot of dark YA. But sometimes you stumble onto a treasure and don't know what you have found until you open it. That was the case for me with this book.

The story surrounds Joy. From the outside you would think that she is perfect. She has a great family, a loving and dedicated boyfriend, Asher, but from the inside Joy is dying. She's slowly being smothered by her families overprotectiveness, Asher's unpredictably and her growing desperation. Not knowing who to turn to, she turns to the only person who has seen through her charade and offered to help, Creed, the homeless boy with music that is capable of stealing her deepest and darkest secrets. But, Joy can't just get up and leave, and expect everyone to forget about her. How long will her hard won solace last before he comes back for her? Asher.

Don't Breathe a Word was one of those book that sends chills down your spine but you still read on, not just because you want to know what happens next but because of Holly Cupala's incredible writing. She is capable of hooking you from page one and sending you on a serious emotional roller coaster. She had me biting my nails in fear and anticipation, laughing and smiling with the character and crying when something bad happened to them. By the end of the book I was emotionally drained but basking in its magnificence.

 My first reaction after finishing the book was my love for the characters. Cupala managed to create the most realistic bunch of characters. None of them were perfect, and I didn't agree with a lot of their decisions but I understood them. By the end of the book I was in love with some and the others I just wanted to wrap my fingers around their neck and squeeze, hard! 

Joy was a great protagonist, she was scared and confused, but brave and wonderful when the opportunity presented itself. She had me rooting for her and dying to find out what had happened to her to cause her to leave. As for Creed, I loved him just as much, he was such a wonderful person. But this isn't because he was a one diminutional male hero who was just awesome and thats it. Creed had his own story, we saw him grow as a character as his and Joy's relationship grew. 

One of the most endearing qualities of this book was the actual idea. I don't know about anyone else, but I haven't read many books about a similar topic. Homeless people is a truth all around the world, even in first world countries like Canada and the U.S. But I haven't seen many books about them. I'm grateful of Holly Cupala for getting up to the task and writing a book about a sad reality that some people face and managing to derive such a thought provoking story out of it. 

Holly Cupala's, Don't Breathe a Word is a master piece. One that should be shared so more readers can enjoy it. It's an original story of the reality that some people face and horrors that drive them to desperate measures, running away being one of them.