Reviewed by phyllish on
My rating is 4.5 stars
Reason to Breathe follows the journey of Phylicia, known as Phee to her family, as she attempts to make sense of her life after the death of her mother and what felt like abandonment by her father. As she and her sisters did the best they could in the situation, they had to rely on each other in a new way.
Quinn is put in the precarious situation by Phee’s father, of becoming the girls’ advisor. I loved that not only was he twelve years older than Phee, but that he was in his early forties and had never married. Somehow that endeared him to me even more. His maturity and patience made him quite a hero in my eyes.
There were a few specific things I loved about the story.
The way Quinn knew when his police friend described the middle of the night call they had that Phee and Britt were the women he was talking about
That Quinn refused to refer to Phylicia as Phee and why he began to refer to her using that nickname
The choice of chaperone and the fact that Quinn cared enough to feel the need for one
The overall tone of the story is serious and yet not somber. There is hope amid the pain. There is a subtle and appropriate humor interspersed to keep the tone from becoming sad. While it isn’t the kind of story that has sentences jumping off the page begging to be highlighted, the writing is tender and lovely.
This review was originally posted on Among the Reads
I was given a copy of this book for free. I was not required to give a favorable review nor was any money received for this review. All comments and opinions are my own.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- Finished reading
- 6 December, 2018: Reviewed