Sadly, I DNF'd this book at about 15%. I was VERY excited to read this book because I absolutely adored Niven's earlier work All the Bright Places, but this just did not compare. It read both like a textbook and a diary (simultaneously), and neither gave any indication of Niven's normal prowess with words. Now, I say all of this with the disclaimer that maybe something extraordinary happened towards the end of the book, but I've come to the point where it is not worth it for me to struggle through reading texts anymore. And sadly, this one was a struggle. I put it down, intending to pick it back up, and read 10 more books instead. And that, more than anything, tells you what I thought of it.

(Disclaimer: the 2 stars, instead of 1, is because maybe things turned around. Maybe.)

Jennifer Niven has crafted another YA novel that will be tugging at readers' heartstrings.

Claude is looking forward to graduation, a road trip with her best friend, her first sexual experience, heading off to NYC to college, and writing her first novel. But when her dad drops the bomb that Claude didn't see coming - her parents' separation - the floor drops out from under her and nothing will be the same. When she's whisked off to a remote island off the coast of Georgia with her mom, Claude has zero expectations other than disappointment, isolation (no cell service!), and despair. Enter Miah (short for Jeremiah) - the snarky, secretive, and sexy island boy who's about to blow those expectations out of the water.

Niven fans will be ready for this release in September of 2020!

Claude finds out her parents are separating, and the floor seems to fall out from under her. She and her mother end up going to a small island (no cell service, mostly) to reset. Claude meets some new friends and a boy. Will she be able to put her parents' marriage/ separation into some kind of perspective? Will she be able to say goodbye to her new friends at the end of the summer? Will she be able to write her own story for the future? Teens will appreciate this narrator's questions, responses, and story.

Loved this book! It was real and it spoke to my inner teenager.
The main character was a bit of a brat but I grew to like her. I loved the history and the adventures of the island. The mother daughter time was nice. I would like a follow up book.

The prose is lovely, it's a coming of age tale, there's a believable romance plot between Claude and Miah, and it takes place in the south, aka all things that tick my boxes. However, I'm so not the person this book was written for and while I'm not annoyed with the MC nor am I unsympathetic to her situation (parents split up and she never saw it coming and then told by her parents not to tell anyone about it, and then she's sent away with her mama for the summer) ...Claud is angst ridden and hyper-fixated on sex and I have this feeling that if I'd read this book in high school I might have felt differently while reading. We spend a lot of time in Claude's head which isn't a bad thing, but for me who had to keep reminding herself that she's only 18 and acting appropriately like an 18-year-old....It was a bit of a struggle sometimes, hence my 3 star rating.

But I know this book is perfect for ppl/teens who need this story.

18 year old Claude is ready for the next chapter in her life - including falling in love and losing her virginity and Cumberland Island is the perfect place for it. If your teenager doesn’t read this you don’t have a reader...

I was very excited to be able to read this new book "Breathless" by Jennifer Niven. I adored her other YA books and felt so close to them. This one did not disappoint. It pulled at my heartstrings and reminded me of all my firsts as a teenager. I loved Claude and the way she viewed the world. I admired her for choosing the paths that she did and really doing things her own way. I loved her relationship with Miah. Jennifer Niven has a way of getting into my heart like she knows me. I highlighted so many passages in this book, because they spoke to me, there are things I would say to myself, she just put them into words. I loved all the references to books and quotes from authors. This book left me Breathless.

This is a story about first love, heartbreaks, and self-discovery; things everyone endures... and survives. It made me remember my own first love and heartbreak. I loved these characters and a piece of my heart was left between these pages.
Another great one from Jennifer Niven!

Claudine Henry's life is uprooted when her parents get divorced and her mother whisks her away to an island off the coast of Georgia for the summer right after her high school graduation. She is separated from her best friend and all that feels comfortable and familiar. This is a beautiful coming of age story about friends and first love.

My heart! Jennifer Niven has done it again. Breathless is a novel that you read and read, unable to put it down. It feels like a warm summer day, and love, and sunshine. Claude and her mother leave Ohio for an island off the coast of Georgia. Claude meets Jeremiah Crew, and her world changes for the better. Claude and Miah create a beautiful world together. They are a lovely couple. I read this in a hurry to see how it ended, then went back to re-read all the lines I loved. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to be an early reader. (This will make a perfect movie.)

It is always bittersweet when I absolutely love characters and I turn the final page of their story.
I savored every page, shed some tears towards the end, and am hopeful that there will be a book #2 one day.

This is a story about first love, heartbreaks, and self-discovery. Everything everyone endures... and survives.
I knew Breathless would not disappoint because Jennifer Niven knows how to write YA.

Great story of a family figuring where each other stands while going through a divorce . This a very frank book about sex and love. The girl spends her summer searching and helping her mom, and finds love. She also finds some good friends. There is some real truth with finding oneself and love during this summer.

It hurt, but I DNF.

This book...needs major rewrites. I made it to 20% in and felt nothing. It was incredibly boring. Not much dialogue and a lot of descriptions. A LOT of descriptions. And at 20% in, I still couldn't even tell you what the plot was about. As far as I could tell, it was about her parents getting divorced..and she wants to have sex? I think.

YA stories about divorce are very common, and for me, it just doesn't make sense the deep depression Claude falls under. Her world has changed, yes, but there must be something else going on to trigger her like that but we, as readers, get nothing. She was leaving for college, her world already changing, so I can't quite process why she was so deeply depressed because they were divorcing. I just couldn't connect with her or her mind, which defeats the purpose of a first person novel. So alas, I finally gave up.

I think some edits would help this novel. I loved Jennifer Niven's other two books, so I'm hoping I will end up loving this one too, in October.

I’m not sure how I feel about Breathless by Jennifer Niven. Let me start by saying a major theme in this book is sex and virginity. As a YA book, I enjoyed it and it was honest and real. Teens need a book like this!! As a teacher, I don’t think I’d use this book as a book club book. Students can talk about the book with each other, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable talking about some of it with my students. They have their lives and I have mine.
I’m a little disappointed in this book as a Jennifer Niven book. She does start the book by saying how personal it is to her and why she wrote it. All the Bright Places gutted me, and this read more like a Sarah Dessen book, and I love Sarah Dessen. They just aren’t soul crushing like I am sometimes looking for. The main character Claude has the floor ripped out from under her, as she states it, but as a reader I didn’t get the floor pulled out from under me like I wanted it to.
Claude is visiting an island off the coast of GA with her mother after her father tells her that he’s separating from her mother, “he isn’t ready for a family anymore.” Claude is just graduating HS and planning a summer road trip with her best friend Saz and really likes a boy named Wyatt. She has all these grand plans before college and now everything has changed.
On the island she meets Jerimiah Crew, not to be called J. Crew, a handsome shoeless boy who quickly steals her heart, mind, and virginity. Claudia has to figure out who she is now and who she wants to be after this summer. The days are counting down until the summer ends and Claude goes to school in NY, Saz goes to school in Chicago, and Jerimiah, also goes by Micha, is vague at first on where he will end up next.
For fans of Sarah Dessen 7/10

This book was a whole bag of mixed emotions. I found the main character to be infuriating but very real. I thought the romance was beautiful but heartbreaking. I wanted to know what was going to happen, so I didn't put it down, but now I miss them. I felt like they all seemed to be very mature - I don't know if I have had open conversations like that with anyone, but it wasn't unbelievable; it just made me want to find that. And that end! Ugh, it was unexpected but utterly perfect.

See what I'm saying! Mixed emotions. And maybe that is the sign of a truly good book. I think that fans of Jennifer Niven's books will find what they are looking for in this book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this one early!