Don't forget to breathe by Cathrina Constantine
I'm giving this episode the Explicit tag for Language, sex, and drug
Published in Feb of 2015 it has 4.4 star average on 88 reviews.
Cover copy, blurb
Sixteen-year-old Leocadia arrives home from school to find her mom’s bloody body. Unaware that the killer still lingers, she rushes to her mother’s side, only to be grabbed from behind and then everything fades to black.
After a year of retrograde amnesia and battling personal demons, Leo’s dreams are getting worse—she’s starting to remember. More bodies are discovered and they seem to be oddly linked to her mom’s unsolved homicide.
When Leo allows her friend, Henry to drag her into the haunted Lucien Mansion, misty ghosts appear, ghosts that just might lead to her mother’s murderer.
Will Leo let her memories threaten her into a relapse or, will she fight to find her mother’s killer – only to become his next victim?
***2016 New Apple Medalist Award Winner for YA/Mystery-Thriller***
***Literary Classics 2016 GOLD AWARD***
***Received The Literary Classic's Seal of Approval***
*********READER'S FAVORITE************
***2015 INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARD***
~ In Recognition of Excellence in Writing ~
However, she loses all Excellence awards do to the Uncerimoniously clause, which states that using that 'word which will not be spoken' within the first three pages of any novel negates any and all excellence awards for said novel.
Not really. But if you've followed this podcast for any time, you know how I feel about that word.
The author has three other books listed on Amazon, two with reader's award symbols on their covers as well, and one that describes her as a best selling author. All of her books appear to have been published in 2015.
The Amazon preview has four full chapters and a bit of the fifth.
I'm reading you the first two chapters, about 17 pages.
(Read the chapters)
I'm giving this book four out of five stars, which is a good recommendation to read further.
I am not docking it a star for sex, language, or drugs. Realistically, the average teenage boy thinks of little besides sex. These are real characteristics of teenage life. If you don't want these things in your literature, you'll be glad you listened to this podcast so that you can skip this book.
I like the thriller aspects of the story--the unsolved mystery of Leo's mother's death, the subsequent murders, and the possibilities of ghosts--this sounds like it could be an exciting story. And what's up with Henry anyway, is he a werewolf or something?
What brought this down from five stars in my opinion is purple prose. Like the use of the word, "Unceremoniously", there were other phrases which sounded "cool" which upon closer evaluation left me less than impressed.
Such as: When he raised his head from my shouldered nook, I glared at his ambiguous silhouette.
I know what she's trying to say, I just don't think she is actually saying it. What is a 'shouldered nook'? And 'an ambiguous silhouette' doesn't paint me a clear picture of what she is glaring at.
Then there's: He gravitated his hand along my shoulder.
A resigned breath splintered the seam of my lips.
A blood curdling scream scraped into my bones.
Triggering tears to trample over my face.
An uneasy zing cramped my bones.
Dragging in a distended breath
He cuffed his hand into his pocket. I don't know how you cuff you hand. This may actually be a typo that was meant to say, cupped his hand, but a spell check wouldn't pick up cuffed as incorrect. There was another typo where the author says "His slips" instead of "His lips".
I googled the name Leocadia and found that it is an actual name dating back to the late Roman period. There was a Saint Leocadia who was a third century Spanish martyr. I guess the author likes her character names as obscure as her word usage.
Anyway, I like the characterization. I like Leo and I think we can grow with her as she discovers more about the murder of her mother and others in the neighborhood. I'd like to learn a little more about Henry. Is he as good a friend as he thinks he is, or is he really a little more than an acquaintance.
I think her father is a little more realistic than the overbearing father in "Dark Creations", though a touch to easy going, considering his wife was brutally murdered. Maybe there is a reason why that we will learn as we continue on with the story.
There's only one way to find out. Well, no, there are two ways. Someone who reads it can tell you, or you can read it yourself.
The choice is yours.
