I was lucky enough to receive an ARC for Every Stolen Breath and I dove right in! The story's fast, energetic, and keeps the reader turning pages with its sharp prose and chapter-ending cliffhangers. Gabriel brilliantly matches the pace of her main character's faulty breath with her sentence structure, proving a deft sense of how to subtly affect a read while also keeping the action on the page driving the story forward. As the protagonist gets breathless, so do we. Sentences shorten. Paragraphs condense. Action leaps forward. So often when I read, I find my inner editor wanting to slash irrelevant or repetitive content, but nothing's wasted here.

Though I'm a big fan of love stories, in this particular case, the romance took a back seat for me, and I think intentionally so. This is a story about a girl driven to uncover truth. That's the engine, and one I think readers will thoroughly enjoy following. There are just enough characters to build a suspect list while the story never gets bogged down with too many names to sort out. We always have visuals to anchor to and yet not a page goes by without something happening.

As a long-time Chicago-ite, I also loved seeing the city play such a huge role in the story. It's not just background. It's a character all its own. ESB is a great read for lovers of suspense and political intrigue. A strong-willed but flawed heroine. A hint of romance. A corrupt but compelling city. And a constant uncertainty about who's an ally and who's an antagonist. Great stuff. Look forward to seeing what Gabriel writes next!

I was really looking forward to reading Kimberly Gabriel’s debut novel.

It did NOT disappoint!

In fact, it had me turning pages well into the night and reaching for it at every opportunity.

The story follows teenager Lia Finch as she puts everything on the line in order to pull her father’s killers out from the shadows. Despite struggling with the loss of her father and some health challenges, Lia is determined to do what it takes to outsmart the Death Mob. She is smart and focused. She's also naïve and stubborn. These traits combine to make her a great character who is relatable, who you can’t stop cheering for, and who will take you on an adrenaline-fuelled adventure.

EVERY STOLEN BREATH is expertly paced. It has rich characters and a plot with countless action-packed twists and turns.

I hope this book marks the first in a long series for Gabriel! My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and Kimberly Gabriel for an ARC of this fantastic book!

Scary, fast paced story. Reminiscent of the Purge. Enjoyed it very much and would recommend to students looking for a thrill. Look forward to reading future books by author

This book was pretty compelling. Lia's lots of her father is felt throughout the book along with her urge to do something, anything to prevent further attacks

This is a novel whose blurb far surpasses the actual story.
The story is based off real life events. It is interesting but at times feels as if the writer is trying too hard to leave you guessing about aspects. Some of the characters were a little bland and one dimensional and could do with fleshing out more.
There were a few unanswered questions which leads you to believe there maybe a sequel which would be worth reading just to see if some questions get answered.
This is one of those books you read and forget it. would I recommend it yes as it's a way to pass the time.

I wanted to like this, I really did. But somewhere between the repetitive plot, the flat characters, the rampant use of ableist language (including some truly troubling references to mental illness), the protagonist's not-like-other-girls attitude, the racial microaggressions, the fat-shaming, and some baffling decisions at a sentence level.... I mean, it's not good. This is not a good book. This is not an entertaining book, this is not a well-written book, this is not a book that I felt good reading.

1. The plot is just a bunch of, "They're after me! They're coming to get me! I'm about to die! I'm having an asthma attack because they're going to get me! Oh wait no they're not they're after that other person. Huh..." over and over and over and over again. I never felt like Lia was in danger because, despite telling us several times that the Swarm was after her, she was NEVER the target they were actually after whenever she felt threatened. Also, people caring about her so much that she was a news/gossip fixture after being present at an attack? Not realistic. I don't care who your father is, someone was DYING! And the media is like "WHAT IS LIA DOING?!???! WHO IS SHE DATING??!??!??" and not "Yo this dude is dying that's pretty bad right?" Never mind that the Chicago news cycle is very rarely dominated by anything -- so much happens here, and no one would care for as long as is depicted in the book if they would even care at all.

2. None of these characters were well-rounded! Lia has asthma, PTSD, a dead dad, a dead sister, and she thinks she's better than everyone else. (Why was the dead sister there?? It didn't add anything to the story, and she was never relevant to the plot, and a few times there were these stories about her that took away from the rising action, and I was just confused.) Adam is your run-of-the-mill emo nonconformist who likes computers and is also gay apparently. Katie is... well, she has her own section of my review pretty much. Ryan is the mystery man who is buff with gray eyes and a lot of angst. The mayor is your run-of-the-mill corrupt politician. Just like in the plot, there's no complexity here.

3. Lia uses the word "spastic" like it's going out of style. I know the word is considered an extremely derogatory slur in the UK, but it's becoming increasingly recognized as inappropriate ableist language in the US as well, and Lia clearly means it as a derogatory descriptor for jumpiness and erratic movements. Additionally, her usage tends to accompany references to mental illness or mentally ill people, and those references are awful. According to Lia, people suffering from (and even seeking treatment for!) a mental illness are: faulty, broken, wrecked, and I think she used ruined once or twice too. Like, what?! She also constantly puts down treatment options and it just comes across like accepting help when you're suffering means you're weak, which is like... no. Just no.

4. Lia is supposed to be an outcast, and I'm pretty sure that's because she's a straight-up unpleasant person to be around. When she's not thinking about how awful it is to accept help when you're having mental health problems, her inner monologue is constantly judging other women and girls for their aesthetic choices, girly personality traits, and bodies.

5. This book is very clearly written by a middle-aged white woman living in the want-to-believe-they're-progressive suburbs of a diverse urban center. She tried to make the book reflect Chicago's diversity and call out the racial inequities and corruption, and on a surface level she totally succeeded: the conversation Lia had with Emi about the issues and violence that Latinx Chicagoans are facing after the latest Swarm attack was blamed on them made sense, and I wasn't mad about it -- even though it was never mentioned again after that scene. But she also described a cornrow hairstyle as "tiny french braids swirling in intricate designs around [a background character's] head" and I just.... am confused? Why not just say cornrows? Does she.... not know what cornrows are? This was a very small part, but it was so weird that I spent about 20 minutes googling tiny french braids to see if there's a hairstyle that would describe that isn't cornrows (spoiler alert: they're all cornrows). So, that's weird, but what about those racial microaggressions I mentioned earlier? One word: Katie. Katie is one of our protagonist's two friends, and she is Asian. The fact that she's Asian is stated explicitly a few times later in the book, but Katie is, in fact, coded as Japanese-American the first time we meet her... because she likes anime and packs her lunch in a bento box. This isn't a stereotype, but it made me uncomfortable because it felt very reductive, like the author decided Katie is Japanese and pulled out the two things she knows about Japanese culture as character traits. If Katie were a well-rounded character, it wouldn't feel gross to me, but... she's not. All we know about her is that she likes anime and drawing, she eats her lunch out of a bento box, she can drive, she is shy and meek at school (which IS a racial stereotype), she's tan with "dark silky hair" (mentioned repeatedly, unlike any of the white characters), and she protests the Lakefront project. None of the characters are fully developed, but the way Katie is depicted is gross to me.

6. There's a lot of nonsense in the sentences here, folks, but I want to specifically mention "a poorly pixilated [sic] photo" because I hate it so much. If a photo is rendered in poor quality, then it's pixelated. Poorly pixilated is nonsense, especially because pixilated means confused or befuddled and not broken into pixels. (I spent WAY too much time looking into it to make sure I haven't been spelling pixelated wrong all these years, and Merriam Webster + every other source I could find backs me up here.) And that happened a lot in this book; I would read a sentence, and then I would reread it because even taking figurative language into account, the sentence did not make sense. The grammar isn't exactly bad, but it's kind of clunky at times. The repeated sentence fragments are a stylistic choice that is supposed to heighten the tension and reflect her inability to breathe correctly (or something) but it just seemed overwrought to me. Some people will like it, and I think part of why I don't is that I hated the rest of the book so much that I was just side-eyeing everything the author chose to do, but for me the sentence fragments only heightened the soap opera feel.

7. Of all the underdeveloped, instalove romances....

8. Adam is murdered by the swarm and it's dismissed as a hate crime because he's gay. He is the only major character to die in the events of the story, so I'll count it as bury-your-gays.

Anyway, I have a lot of serious problems with this book, and I think a lot of other readers will have the same problems. Would not recommend to anyone, and I am actually a little bit angry because I know it's going to be popular at my library.

I could not put this book down! It was a thrilling, heartbreak of a ride. A complex web of characters kept me guessing until the end, though I did have to go back and reread some sections that felt a bit too complex and vague. I love the author's writing style though! It fits the cover--atmospheric and tense. It works as a standalone, but I really hope there's a sequel.

I wanted to like this; parts of it felt original. However, much of it didn't. It tried so hard to keep you guessing that it was more frustrating than intriguing. I made a note to myself at one point, "plot-stupid move." In other words, either the author (and editor) tripped themselves up and allowed something to be included that was just too obvious or cliche, or the author envisioned an eventual movie. Since it's based on a real-life event, it is a shame that the fictionalization of the event got muddled in its retelling.

I enjoyed the teen portion of this novel, just not so much the adult pompous political baloney. The two main characters' relationship (Ryan and Lia) was fun an engaging journey to follow, but the politician's son, Cullen, was quite a stereotypical arse.

Since I wanted to like it, I'm curious to see what my teens think of this book and if I'm just having an adult reaction to it.

I would like to thank Kimberly Gabriel and Blink publishing for approving me to read an ARC edition of Every Stolen Breath via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review of her book.
The cover drew me in, but it was the story that hooked me at chapter one.
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Would I recommend this book: Yes! If you enjoy young adult thriller mystery novels, then yes, I would recommend.
Every Stolen Breath is a story told from Amelia (Lia) Finch's point-of-view. She's a high school student who suspects her father's death was murder, regardless of what the press and politicians of Chicago say. She believes a death mob called the Swarm killed her father. City officials and law enforcement are in denial about Swarm's existence and insist that her father was unfortunately caught in the crossfire of gang-related violence.
Lia is determined to save the city of Chicago from any more deaths by the Swarm and bring her father’s attackers to justice. The odds are against her as she tries to survive being a Swarm target herself and battling severe asthma attacks during moments of fear and panic.
It's a story with a mystery to solve while anxiously waiting to see what happens to Lia as she evades the Swarm. Plenty of WOW and OMG moments in the last quarter of the book!

Interesting concept and a fast-paced read, but a few questions have been left unanswered. Second book?

Right off the bat, Lia is sitting on Navy Pier waiting. She's trying to spot members of the Swarm. She has an idea of what they'll look like. They'll be loners, their faces partially covered at least to hide their identities. And right before the attack, they'll all be looking at their phones as they are alerted to the identity of the newest victim.

Suddenly, phones light up all around her and people she hadn't even noticed seem to rush out of nowhere . Civilians scatter, everyone seeking shelter and safety, everyone except Lia whose trying to video tape as many members of the swarm that she can. She tipped off the police but, of course, they didn't take her seriously and no there is no one here to help their victim, currently in the middle of a mass of human bodies, being beaten to death.

As she's huddled behind a bench recording everything a member of the swarm rushes her. Ever since her father was murdered by the Swarm two years ago, she's waited for this moment. But she won't go down without a fight.

Then Lia washes up on the Mayor's backyard.

Lia has all the questions and hardly any answers but she's determined to get justice for her father, and all the other victims this death mob has claimed. What follows is a heart-pounding, action-packed story of perseverance and strength.

I give this book 4 out of 5. It kept my attention well. It sucked me in immediately. I feel like so much happened that it was almost hard to digest. I can't post why I didn't give it 5 stars because it's definitely a spoiler, but it doesn't have anything to do with the entertainment value, or the author's writing style, both are top-notch.

*This review will be posted to my blog on November 1, 2019*

This book was original, it was suspenseful....it was redundant and boring... How can it be all of these things? Well at first it was truly different. Then I felt like it went in circles and the actions kept repeating. I went from amazed to bored to annoyed....

I do want to thank the publisher and #netgalley for the advance copy. It didn't affect my review.

Where to even start? First off, this book is the definition of redundant. I felt like I was reading in circles, the same things repeated. It was cliche with the gay best friend and other ethnicity best friend. MC was being passed off as having PTSD but the symptoms described were nowhere close. Instead of something common, like flashbacks, the MC would hallucinate something that had nothing to do with the situation.

Every Stolen Breath begins with a compelling concept based on real-life “flash mob” violence that took place in Chicago. The story is propelled forward equally by character and action.
Having lived in Chicago for 7 years, I loved the reminders of the city’s fun tourist spots and architectural treasures. The descriptions brought me right back. As a fan of thrillers, I found the action scenes fast-paced and gripping.

But what really pulls the reader into the story is Lia, a teen girl struggling with both asthma and PTSD in the wake of her father’s murder. Lia is driven to find out more about the killings by the swarm and to prevent another one from happening.

I felt Lia’s stress at not getting enough oxygen into her lungs at the moments when she was in jeopardy and learned a lot about her conditions. The fact that Lia struggled to keep up with or get away from the bad guys and while also struggling for breath added to the tension.

I also loved the fact that teens were the center of a thriller encompassing politics and murder rather than a typical high school setting.

I’d recommend Every Stolen Breath for fans of YA thrillers, those looking for a book set in Chicago, and readers who’d like to cheer on a teen girl with asthma but not letting her illness stop her.

Highly Recommended.

The review is scheduled for October 8th on TheWingedPen.com.

I liked this in many ways. I thought the premise was original and engaging, and the opening was solid. It was a little convoluted in places, but the ending seemed to bring everything together nicely, and I liked the twists and turns along the way. All in all, a solid 4 stars from me. (And I thought the MC was a sympathetic and likable heroine, as well.)

Ooh ooh ooh! Where do I begin with this awesome book! Great debut novel by Kimbererly Gabriel! Fast paced and completely different story then what I've read in a while. The story is based around Lia's drive to stop the swarm (a group of teens who swarm around their prey and beat them to death) .

The name of the book, comes from Lia's asthma. The asthma doesn't define her, but its weaved into her character in such a wonderful way and became one more layer of her. Lia has issues and she over comes those issues in a real and admirable way!

Clear your day when you start to read this one. You won't want to stop!

Thank you so much NetGalley for the ARC!

This book was excellent! Totally kept my attention and I wanted to find out what would become of the main characters. Highly reccomended.

This book was a pleasant surprise in a number of ways, though I don't understand the author's obsession with her main character's hair...

Every Stolen Breath is an incredible story of a young girl fighting to prove that her dad was into something huge. The “Swarm” is a group of teenagers that are controlled by an unknown source that target and kill, young Lia is a detective in the making, she finds out who is part of the swarm and attempts to expose them while her life is becoming in greater danger the deeper she explores this group of kids. Eventually the head guy or right hand man is caught and Lia can finally take a moment to breath but how much did it cost her ? You’ll have to read it to find out, but let me tell you this book captures you and keeps you turning page after page because your so wrapped up in the story and the lives that are lost throughout this journey!

I love when I pick up a YA book and the main character is a girl/young women who is a bad-ass. I really enjoyed Lia as a lead character and really enjoyed reading her story. It was emotional, exciting and fast paced. I would definitely read more from this author.