Hold Your Breath by Caroline Green

About the book

Hold Your Breath is a stand-alone young adult novel by Caroline Green. The book was published by Piccadilly Press on 1^st June and it is 240 pages long. Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy for review.

Plot Synopsis

Tara has a pretty unique ability. She is able to find lost things. This can range from keys, phones and even lost little boys. But, her ability has caused her nothing but trouble so far and her family thinks she should forget about it and never mention it again.

After moving to a new town, Tara has kept being able to find things a huge secret. No one knows about what she can do but when local girl Melodie Stone disappears, Tara knows she has to use her gift for good, even if she doesn’t want to. Are the people here going to think she’s just as crazy as everyone else or is she going to be able to convince people that she knows what is happening?

What I thought

Usually with review books, I know what to expect through the door. I don’t get that many random books anymore so I was surprised to see this one especially as I had never heard of it or the author. But, the plot synopsis grabbed me and I wanted to know what the deal was Tara and her ability.

Thrillers aren’t something I see enough of in young adult books and it really makes a change to read something so exciting. Hold Your Breath starts extremely well with a short prologue and then jumping straight into an explanation about what Tara can do. She isn’t like other girls her age… or any age really, because she can find lost objects. Early on it is explained that Tara’s family do not want her using her gift after things went terribly wrong where they lived before. I really loved the fact that Tara’s parents knew what she could do but not so much that they were against her doing it, even though the reasons why are explained later in the book.

Tara was a very interesting character, but not just because of what she can do. In the new town, Tara has no friends… at all. She keeps to herself, gets on with her life and generally just wants to be left alone. Even though she acts quite shy and reserved, this is only due to past experiences. She can be outspoken though when it comes to something she believes in and something that she thinks should be done. I really liked Tara especially because she tried to keep her family happy while doing the things she believed in at the same time.

The plot was extremely exciting for me. Small events lead up to the realisation that one of Tara’s classmates has gone missing, even though no one else seems to think that. Tara trusts her instincts about Melodie after finding one of her earrings and seeing visions of her in a bad place and decides to figure out exactly what is going on. Hold Your Breath has a slow lead up to the main events but this added a lot of tension and suspense. It was unclear as to whether or not Melodie would be saved and whether or not anyone would believe Tara in time.

As well as a kick ass plot, this book has some fantastic secondary characters and a little romance to boot. It was great to see Tara putting herself out there with Leo, a guy who works at the local pool and Melodie’s half-brother. The sweet romance was lovely to read about but it was also great to see Tara interact with someone other than her parents and brother. She definitely needed friends outside of her home life and she needed something to look forward to and to have some fun, especially with some serious stuff going on around her.

This book was pretty near perfect for me. There was a few too many mean girls for my liking but other than that, I really did love everything that was going on. Caroline Green writes a fantastic thriller story and still manages to put in aspects of other young adult books that I have loved.