3.5 stars

I think I'll forever be a Jennifer Niven fan, so I was definitely going to be reading this one.

I loved how personal this story felt. The sex-positivity is always going to be something I'm thrilled to see. And my favorite thing might actually be the setting.

I did struggle a bit with the romanticism of the relationship. While I get the connection, I also didn't quite understand the connection and Claude's need to share secrets, etc. I wanted more from them, more FOR them and somehow I feel cheated from that aspect.

Oh, and I definitely wanted more from the ending.

**Huge thanks to Knopf for providing the arc free of charge**

Such a powerful read about changes, grief, and finding yourself. Claudine is looking forward to her last summer before college - spending it with her best friend Saz and roadtripping. Unfortunately all that gets put on hold when just before her graduation, her father tells her that her parents are separating. Now, Claude and her mother are going to spend the summer on a small island off the coast of Georgia, where distant relatives have lived for a long time. Claude is not looking forward to this: no best friend and the island is completely off the grid. As the days go on, Claude meets some of the teens and young adults who work on the island who help Claude see that she isn't truly as broken as she feels. This is especially true for Jeremiah, the boy who Claude finds herself falling for even though there is no future for them.

This story of grief and healing is wonderfully introspective. A great read.

Breathless by Jennifer Niven was a wonderful depiction of how family tragedies can effect you at such a young age. Dealing with the ebb and flow of life is not easy by any means but learning how to adapt to the changes and build a life from that is the real lesson here. Something that is so important to you one day can seem like nothing but a drop in the bucket the next. I think that was what is so important here. Accepting life as the ever changing thing that it is and figuring it out as you go.

The consummmate Bildungsroman. Claudine is ready to be an adult. She knows where she wants to go to college. What she wants to become and us trying to gain as much autonomy at the moment as any teenager who lives at home can— losing her virginity. Everything is goal is set for get to check off her list until reality hits, and she realizes, maybe, that not everything in our lives is within our control. Her father leaves her mother, and she has to spend the summer and deal with her grief on the Georgia coast. It’s there that she meets Jeremiah, a guy with his own plans. Claude is smitten by Jeremiah because he is beautiful, and he gets her. So, despite a lesson learned, she decides he’s the guy to help her reassert her power over herself.

The story is simple and timeless and deeply affecting. Claudine us written in a way that reveals all of her flaws and humanity. I want her to live and love and win and grow. I was completely invested. The problem with reading a novel like that is that it’s easy to be devastated. This vicarious devastation happens in All the Bright Places. Niven does it well. She pours out lyrically laced emotions by the cupful and make me desperate for more until I’m waking up the next day hungover and heartbroken. I both love and hate this feeling: catharsis. I also highly recommend it instead of having real first hand trauma. If you’re into heartrending fiction, I
recommend Breathless.

Breathless is an apt title for this book. Jennifer Niven does a wonderful job conveying that breathless feeling of early love and the lack of surety you feel as you start to grow up. However, the story felt quite slow and I didn't feel like the love interests were particularly compelling. So while it was a beautifully painted picture, it was hard to make it through the story.

Claude is making plans for graduation, summer road trips, her relationship, and college when her Dad drops a bombshell on her. Stunned and devastated, all of Claude’s plans are put on hold when she and her mother spend the summer on an island to give her father some space. There she meets new friends and a potential new love named Miah. Armed with her family’s new secret that she isn’t supposed to tell anyone, Claude struggles to keep her heart safe from Miah.

Although this was enjoyable, it was pretty predictable and expected. Though I do appreciate that this story is based loosely on the author’s own life, it just wasn’t very memorable. Furthermore, I know sex in young adult books is very common and pretty much expected, but this just more new adult with the amount of descriptive sex.

Fan of Jennifer Niven's other book. Purchased this YA/middle grade novel for my middle school library. Superb character development, elegant world building, and compelling plotting.

This moving story moving is frank, sex positive and honest about the confusion young people experience in dealing with sex and relationships. The fact that Claudine, the main character, was unmoored from the things she depended on for stability added to the realism. This book will resonate with many teens

Breathless by Jennifer Niven
Rating 3.5 / 5 Stars
Publication Date - 9/29/2020

** Thank you to Netgalley, Knopf Books, and of course, Jennifer Niven, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jennifer Niven is an author I have always known would be a must read with whatever books she releases. All The Bright Places was pure magic, a book I read over and over again until the pages began to fall out (literally, the title page fell out). Holding Up The Universe was another magical book with themes I connected with. With Breathless, I believe Niven is trying to recreate that magic she once created in these two worlds. I’m giving this guy a 3.5 Stars out of 5 - It does come close to creating said magic, but at the same time it does falter a little.

Breathless forms around themes of love, trust, friendship and family. Claudine is a high school senior, set to take on a road trip with her best friend Saz before heading off to college in the fall. Jeremiah is a cocky mystery with secrets deep in his soul. When Claude’s life is changed and she ends up in Georgia for the summer, she meets Miah, and it is not long before the two fall for one another. What happens when what was supposed to be a summer thing, has a longing to last longer?

Pros - Niven is fantastic with writing and her prose really does add to the book.
Cons - I left the book feeling confused, and kind of lacking - I wanted more understanding.

This book will be a definite purchase for our high school library! Thank you so much for allowing me to have access to the digital arc!

Breathless is the beautifully emotional story of Claudine, who is torn from her home and summer plans with her best friend, and moves with her mother to a remote island for the summer. Claudine is dealing with the fallout from her parents' separation while learning who she is. The relationship between Claudine and her mother is tough and Niven develops the nuances of their relationship incredibly well. When Claudine meets Jeremiah (Miah), she finds someone who sees her for who she is without bias from her past. He allows her to be herself and their relationship is refreshing and open. They bring out the best in each other which helps Claudine get through this difficult summer. This beautiful novel is emotional and raw. Readers will connect to the characters through Niven's beautiful words and storytelling.

This book was just "meh" for me. It started off strong, but then went downhill. To many themes and events happening at once, in my opinion.

I've liked some of Niven's other titles, but I felt like something was missing with this one. Maybe it's just me, though, and my tastes have changed. We'll still definitely be buying the title for the library. Thank you for the chance to read early.

Jennifer Niven has a way with storytelling that not many authors do. I'm such a fan of hers, and Breathless has only solidified my fandom.

Claude's world is turned upside down when she finds out her parents' perfect marriage isn't perfect after all. In fact, her father is leaving her mother, wants her to keep it a secret, and she has to cancel her graduation plans. Nothing is the way it's supposed to be. Part of keeping it on the down low means heading to a remote island off the coast of Georgia with her mother for the summer.
While on the island, Claude meets Miah who is a bit of a mystery, who makes her feel new things, and who challenges her perspective on things.

I enjoyed the book overall, but felt like some of the intimate scenes were a smidge on the gratuitous side. That said, I'm also typically reviewing for my middle school library. If I was in a high school I may add it to my collection, but would still give it serious thought first.

Another hit by Jennifer Niven. While this novel focuses on mature themes, it will resonate with young women who are coming to terms with their sexuality and what it means to make choices for themselves. This book is beautifully written.

This one was just ok for me. Not sure if it’s because of my age, but I just didn’t connect with the characters. And the focus on virginity and sex was a little much for me, although maybe the author wanted it to be focused on that, I didn’t read anything about this book prior to reading it so I went in blind. And the ending - I personally didn’t like it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Claudine Henry’s life is upended when her father declares he wants a divorce. This results in Claude and her mother leaving their home to stay at a cabin on a small island off the coast of Georgia. There she meets an enigmatic young man named Jeremiah Crew. He’s mysterious and seems to pop up at the most unexpected times.

There’s a lot of teenage angst about sex and it diverts Claude’s attention from her distress over her father’s rejection of their family. Miah (Jeremiah) is such a fascinating character; a boy with a dark past who is irresistible. It’s not surprising that Claude is drawn to him. But there is a time limit to the summer on the island and the clock is ticking.

Niven has written a highly personal novel that explores some of the trauma she experienced as a teen when her family lived through a similar breakup. Even Miah’s character stems from someone in Niven’s life. Like her amazing book All the Bright Places, the author has once again incorporated events from her own life story into the narrative, making the book have an authentic feel. Many teens will relate to the divorce storyline as well as the relationship angst. Niven has another hit on her hands.
3.5*

I don’t read too much young adult fiction anymore but I’ve enjoyed some of Niven’s previous novels, especially All The Bright Places, so I decided to check out her newest and I loved it. I was soooooooo excited that it was set on Cumberland Island, Georgia, which is one of my favorite places. It is a romance/coming-of-age story about a teenage girl named Claude who is dealing with her parent’s divorce, graduating high school, going off to a different college than her best friend, and falling in love. I liked the positive sex and body messages in the book, as well as how consent was mentioned several times. I also liked that they referenced another one of my favorite YA books, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and even included my favorite line: “We accept the love we think we deserve.” I’ve been a bit emotional lately, so it might not be my typical reaction, but I cried like a baby at the end.

I would to thank PRH Global for provding me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts expressed are my personal opinion.
Description Summary: A letdown of a YA book that touched on great familial themes but was ultimately not a great book.

Score: 2.5

Here's what Nevin got right: her portrayal of family, separation, divorce, and the loss of identity that the child or teen feels after. The parts where these themes are pervalent are my favorite parts of the book. Then comes the love interest, the coming of age, and the whole teenage dramatics of falling in love; and here where she misses the point and I feel spaced out of the book. It's just comparing it to her other work, it's not a great book.

The ending was poor in my opinion. I felt it was cop out and an easy way out, though I understand why it happened I just didn't like it.

Quite frankly, I do not understand this obsession with sex that Niven has throughout the entirety of the book. Claude comes across to me as self obsessed, sex obsessed, and sometimes too into herself.

While her melodramatic writing worked in All the Bright Places, here it had the opposite effect. Instead of having that melachonly feeling you over dramatic writing that is sometimes unnecessary.