WOW! This book blew me away.

This was an incredible story packed with so much emotion.

✨This is a childhood friends to lovers, second chance YA romance.

Max & Ella have had a connection since they were best friends at just 7 years old. They became separated by distance and are reunited again in high school.

These two are dealing with heavy stressors in their home life. This causes Ella to want to hide from the world and go through life under the radar and unnoticed, but Max is determined to change that. He knows the true Ella that is full of life and sunshine ☀️

I couldn’t help but feeling so drawn to the characters in this book and wanted only the best for them. Life continued throwing punches at Ella, Max and their families.
I was physically hurting at the tragedies they faced in their young lives.

The heartache and passion was so well written, there is no question that this is a top book of the year for me!

📣 I’m screaming that this is a MUST read because I want everyone to experience this love story! 🧡


Thank you Netgalley for this ARC 🫶🏼

[arc review]
Thank you to Bloom Books and Valentine PR for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Catch the Sun releases July 16, 2024

<i>“Like two sides of the same coin, we’ve both mastered the act of keeping the world at arm’s length, turning solitude into our shield.”</I>

I was really excited to see that Hartmann was entering the YA genre, but this didn’t quite grip me like her other titles have.

Ella is stuck in the shadow of her older brother who is on death row for murdering two people, and is constantly bullied at school.
Max, her next door neighbour, struggles to come into his own since all of his time and energy is spent being the caregiver of an alcoholic father.

As a coming-of-age fiction, I liked seeing how they navigated the hardships of their lives, but as a romance, it lacked the emotional depth that Hartmann is known for and I think that had a lot to do with the fact that both Ella and Max didn’t <I>want</I> a romance to begin with.
The strongest part of the book was everything after the NYE incident; the tension and groundwork to get there though could have been better.

From a writing standpoint, something that really bothered me straight away was the stylistic choice to have Brynn’s name written as <b>Brynn!</b> throughout Ella’s pov chapters.
A lot of the dialogue/quotes felt overly cliché as well, and the use of Pooh Bear/Piglet brought down the maturity level.

cw: alcoholic parent, physical violence, gun violence, murder, attempted rape, mention of trypophobia, sexual content

📖Catch the Sun
✍️Jennifer Hartmann
🗓️Jul 16 2024
📝 SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books | Bloom Books

I literally screamed when I got approved for this ARC! I wanted it THAT badly! 🧡 now that I’ve read it… I’m speechless. This was amazing. 🧡

Genre:
Contemporary romance
and apparently YA but I personally strongly disagree with the publishers decision to mark it as YA. that’s not because of the open door spice. I am all for tasty spice in YA novels, but I just think this is for a more mature audience because of other content. It’s really heavy at times though it’s written beautifully. More of that later though.

Series or standalone:
Standalone

Tropes:
🧡bullying
🧡 childhood friends
🧡brother on death row
🧡 found family
🧡 lists
🧡 slow burn
🧡 he falls first

⚠️: murder, violence/blood, sexual content, bullying, alcoholism, depictions of chronic illnesses, attempted assault, guns, underage drinking, attempted suicide

POV
Dual, first persons POV

💭 Summary 💭
Childhood friends Ella and Max got separate when Ella’s father whisks the family away. Then tragedy strikes and Ella returns to the place she’s once been happy at. But happiness is a strange, strange thing to her. The brother she loves is on death row. The media ridiculed her grief and the bullies are never far away.
Max has his own demons as well. Can these two heal each other?

Cover:
The cover is absolute perfection! So fitting, perfect colours, a true eye catcher.

Heroine:
Ella Sunbury (17)
Hero:
Maxwell “Max” Manning (18)

I really loved the character of Max and what he turned out to be. I initially got the wrong impression of him and I am glad he didn’t turn out to be the bad boy I expected!

Side cast:
Max’s twin brother McKay, his girlfriend Bryan!, their father
Ella’s mother and her brother Jonah (21)

Diverse cast of characters?:
I loved everyone in this book. They fit and work so well with each other. The thing is, Jennifer created incredible real and relatable characters, even the mean ones you want to hate.

character development
It was quite the journey to see Ella come back to life. The girl who was broken, humiliated, brought back to life by the friendship of her estranged childhood friend. This is so Slow burn, it almost hurts. And believe it or not, I mean that in the best way possible. The chemistry and tension was tangible, I felt it. This book put me through all kinds of emotions.

Location:
Juniper Falls, Tennessee, USA 🇺🇸

Fluency/Writing:
This touched me the right away. The prologue did it. It set the theme for the book brilliantly. I knew I’d get my heart broken.
I am usually not the biggest fan of high school characters, but here? This couldn’t have been any better. It’s a perfect example of how to do it right. Jennifer lets us watch the characters development. She inflicts emotions where they feel natural. Had my heart breaking for Ella as well as for Max. But she also made me see the other side of the coin, the ugly side, let’s say it like that.
This was such a heartbreakingly beautiful story, I loved it from the very first page.

What I admire about Jennifer’s writing is, she’s not afraid of the ugly. She’s not afraid of the dark side of human beings. She turns tragedy into a beautiful masterpiece. Most important of all, she brings my emotions out, and that’s not easy for me. I am usually the type of person that reads, understands and moves on. But in each of her books, Jennifer Hartmann has brought out the tears and all the feels. There’s beauty in the ugly, if you just choose to find it. At the same time, this had so sweet moments all I say is the crayon in the pot 🧡🧡🧡 the thing is, there are so many cute scenes. So many scenes that are burned into my mind forever.
- Pooh sticks at the bridge
- The concert
- The crayon pot flower
The last 25 per cent? Killed me. Killed me! My jaw seriously dropped to the floor. I should have seen that coming a mile away. I did not.


Range of emotions:
😬😔😓😭😍🥕😳🥺😱
🌶️: 1,5/5 it’s more sweet than spicy
😱: 4/5
😭:4,5/5
❤️: 5/5
⭐️: 5/5

Do I recommend:
Oh hell yes!

⭐️Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my advanced copy. All opinions are my own, I was under no obligation to review.

Ella and Max are childhood friends who are next door neighbors until Ella moves away suddenly. 10 years later, Ella moves back to town right across the street from Max, but a lot has changed in both of their lives making them completely different people. Ella is having a hard time coming to terms with her brother's recent sentence to death after he murdered two people. Max is battling his feelings of his mother's abandonment and his father's alcoholism. When Ella returns to high school in the small town, she is met by ruthless bullying and embarrassment by her peers for her brother's actions. Her saving grace is a new friend Brynn and her once best friend, Max. But, tragedy seems to follow Ella wherever she goes and so does Max.
Review:
4.5 stars.
Catch the Sun is a beautiful love story of childhood friends to lover (one of my favorite tropes!). I absolutely adored Max and Ella. Their resilience upon never ending tragedy is something to be admired. The quotes in this books were superior! So beautifully done and you can't help but fall in love with these characters. This is a character driven story, so it is more of a slow burn especially at the beginning. I think that it could have been shortened a little and I would still have felt that same connection with the characters. But, once it picks up in the second half, it does not slow down! The tragedy in this book is intense and I did not see it coming, but it was very well done! I teared up a couple of times, but didn't cry like I thought that I would. Regardless, this a beautiful love story filled with overcoming LOTS of obstacles within themselves and their families. And in my opinion, Jennifer Hartmann never misses!
Catch the Sun publishes on 7/16, and I highly recommend picking up your copy! I already preordered this masterpiece for a trophy on my bookshelf!
Thank you to NetGalley, Jennifer Hartmann, and Bloom Books for this ARC of Catch the Sun in exchange for an honest review!

Cue the tears! I could not stop reading this book! The plot twists were so amazing and the color orange will never hold the same meaning for me again. This book was both heartbreaking and beautiful. And I loved every single second of it! It's a must read for everyone!

Overall: 4.25-4.5


It wouldn’t be a Jennifer Hartmann book without some heartwrenching situations on the way to the happy ending — Catch The Sun is no different. I was cautiously reading, waiting for the moment where I’d be broken to then speed through to the resolution. The story was so heavy, I forgot how old the MCs were supposed to be, and yet they carried on, not letting their current situations hold them back.

Right away I was falling for Max. With his persistence, befriending Ella, and not holding her brother’s sins against her. I couldn’t help but empathize with Ella, having to go through adolescence is a challenge in itself, but to have to do it in the shadow of her brother’s crime? Brutal. Yet she brushed it off and was able to make some loyal friends along the way.

I also enjoyed the side characters — Brynn! being the light Ella needed which she in turn used to befriend Kai, her dads and their eternal optimism, Chevy acting as the big brother. I couldn’t help but feel bad for her mother — I know she was in a tough spot and it took a toll on her parenting Ella.

Holy crap!!

Talk about heart wrenching.

This love story we as sweet and innocent, but also full of trauma and sadness.

It has me HOOKED from the very first page.
I was so entranced learning about Max & 'Sunny'

Knowing the beginning was really the end (WOAHHH. Just realizing the author had been telling us that, literally the entire time throughout the book), that was heartbreaking.

And the ending, ugh.the waterworks it brought my eyes was unimaginable.

This book was SO damn good.

This book was phenomenally written! I cant tell you how many times I was in shock or balling my eyes out. The story will have you so deeply invested you cant put the book down.

Catch The Sun was such an emotional and heartbreakingly beautiful story that will have you crying one moment and smiling the next.

This was my first time reading anything by this author and I can absolutely say that her writing was quite captivating and filled with so many complex and intense emotions.

While, this book is categorized as YA, I personally felt like this was more of an NA especially during the second half of the book.

It’s dual POVs of the main characters, Ella Sunbury and Max Manning, and there were some great tropes like childhood friends to lovers, a first love romance, close proximity, and found family. I would highly recommend checking the content and trigger warnings before reading though, as there were some very heavy and dark elements.

The overall premise was unique, heartbreaking, intense and just beautifully written. Ella and Max’s healing was such a powerful but difficult journey filled with so many complex emotions. This was not an easy book to get through by any means, as there were some very heavy moments that made me cry. But there were also so many hopeful, lovely and heartfelt moments that made me smile as well.

Ella and Max’s romance was so beautiful despite everything they experienced. That first innocent love between them was just so heartwarming. Their romantic development was filled with so many tears, laughter, angst and love. This author had an extraordinary ability expressing and conveying the deep and profound love Ella and Max had for each other.

I will say, while the first half the book was a bit slow-paced the second half was amazing and just filled with so much tragedy and heartache. This was definitely a book where you’re put through the wringer to get to that happily ever after at the end. The epilogue just made everything worth it and I’m happy that Ella and Max get their new beginning.

Overall, this was just a beautiful book that will tear you apart and then heal your heart.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"Your eyes," I murmur, cupping his cheek with one hand."They make me feel seen."

5 out of 5 stars
3/5 spice

Firstly I wanna thank Valentine PR for the ARC of Catching the Sun. It's always a pleasure and a great opportunity when getting chosen by them.

Catch the Sun is written by the talented Jennifer Hartmann. This is the fifth book I have ever read by her and I believe third time doing an ARC for her. This is however first time reading a young adult novel hence why my spice rating.

Jennifer brings us the story about Ella Sunbury and Max Manning childhood friends who were separated only to come back into each other's lives later in their teens. Even with these two living across the street from one another it still took them months to start talking to one another again.

At school, Max is known to be cute and kind while Ella is known to be the odd one out, the one everyone picks on because of a traumatic event that had occurred in the past. Something she is not to blame for but still is seen as guilty by association but Max takes notice that the girl he once knew as a kid is still in there.

Oh my Lord, this story was so heartbreaking. And if we know Jennifer, she is so good at writing heartbreaking stories yet even with heartbreak, Jennifer knows how to mend our broken hearts and again shed tears but tears of joy. And trust me there are tons of tears in this book. I love how she brought them back together and had them realize they needed one another to heal and grow.

Please read trigger warnings before reading, there are heavy topics in this book that may trigger some. Happy Reading.

Max + Ella

-small town romance
-second chance
-first love
-childhood friends to strangers to lovers
-allll the angst
-double the heartache

jennifer. fckn. rekt. me. & i will never forgive her for this 😭😭😭😭 but fr ALLLLL the stars 🥹🥹🥹 max manning is the love of my life!

Jennifer Hartmann can do no wrong. She never fails to write the most beautiful, gut wrenching, complex stories. I was hooked from the first sentence, but I’m not surprised because I LOVE her books. I will say, I don’t think this book is YA. It does have less spice than most of her other stories, but I would still say it leans towards a mature audience. 10/10 recommend you pick up this and every other Jennifer Hartmann book ASAP!

Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a lot. I haven't read a romance in a while so this was a refreshing read. I found myself cringing a little at some parts of the book, at some of the things that Max said (which I also found a little unrealistic for a 17 year old boy) and a little at Brynn's character set up. Her character was epitomised within the first couple pages of meeting her and I think her energy was captured beautifully but sometimes the emphasis on her 'pink, bubblegum, unicorn' personality was a bit much for a senior in high school. There were a few twists in the story that I didn't expect which was great and I enjoyed their ending.

This was my first book by Jennifer Hartmann and OMG it was so beautiful 🥺

I cried like a baby! I felt all the emotions as the characters were feeling them, my stomach dropped multiple times and I had to walk away from my kindle because my heart couldn’t take it!

This book was so beautifully written that I can’t get over it. It had so much tragedy linking Max and Ella together🥺 I totally recommend this book to anyone who doesn’t mind crying like a baby!!

Tropes:
- First love
- Friends to lovers
- Second chance love
- Boy next door

Thanks Netgalley for sending me the ARC of this book. It was a 5 stars read for me!

"Kissing you feels like catching the sun..."

This book literally made me cry several times and melted my heart. It's so beautifully written, with fantastic banter among smart teen characters I would have wanted as friends.

Ella and Max were best friends at age seven, until life separated them. Ten years later Ella has returned, living in the home across the street from Max, but now she is traumatized and guarded after her beloved older brother was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. She is tormented by classmates who view her only as the murderer's sister, making her want to disappear. But Max still sees her, sees who she truly is.

All I would like to know is where the boys like Max were when I was a teenager, with his thoughtful gifts full of effort, his complete loyalty and care. I absolutely loved both of these characters, and my heart broke for the pain they went through. I loved the dual points of view, and how well you get to know each one's side of the story. I felt like I was holding my breath through the drama and tragedy, hoping for them to have a happy ending. There are so many passages in this story I won't forget, just beautifully done overall.

Thank you so much to Bloom Books and Netgalley for this ARC!

Put another check in the Jennifer Hartmann made me sob column. This book was so amazing, a review can’t do it justice. As always, Jennifer took my heart, crushed it, stomped on it, then lovingly put it back together again. She is the queen of angst and anguish for a reason. I can’t even begin to express how magnificent this book was, but I’ll try.

The characters in this story were perfectly broken. I adored Ella and her journey with trying to find comfort and happiness in life again. She has experienced so much heartbreak and is just trying to get by until she graduates and can leave. She is treated so cruelly by her peers and just wants to hide away. And Max is the literal most perfect specimen on this planet and I want to protect him at all costs. He has so much heart and cares so much for his people. He deserves everything in the world. Their story is so beautiful. The world keeps knocking them both down, but they keep finding the light. The trauma they both go through and healing they experience is worth ALL the tears I shed (and I shed a LOT).

This book deviates from JH’s norm being a young adult novel with teen protagonists, but don’t let the label fool you. This book is just as gritty and heartbreaking as any adult Jennifer Hartmann book, maybe even more so as now it is occurring during the innocence of adolescence. (It does also contain spicy scenes, so it hovers a little more in the NA category in my opinion.) The depth and complexity to the scenes is there, and it still touches on emotionally heavy topics for being YA. The way they are handled and how the characters experience them fits within the YA genre, but in no way is this book “lighter” than her adult ones. It has all the grit and anguish we’ve come to expect in Jennifer’s writing.

There were so many turns this book took that were unexpected. There were SO many tears shed. I also smiled at the sweet innocence of teenage love. This book will take you through it all with anguish, heartbreak, resilience, and love. You cannot go wrong reading this one, but prepare yourself and make sure you’ve got your tissues!

R E A D I F Y O U L I K E
☀️ Childhood Friends to Lovers
☀️ YA/NA Romance (with spice)
☀️ Found Family
☀️ He Falls First
☀️ Slow Burn
☀️ All the Heartbreak with a HEA

Thank you Valentine PR and Jennifer Hartmann for an early copy of this book!

5⭐️ 2🌶️
- MF
- Friends to Lovers
- Slow Burn
- He Falls First
- Small Town
- Angst
- Trauma and Healing
- Found Family

This book got me out of a reading slump only to send me right back into one because I know my next read won’t be nearly as good.

Jennifer is the queen of breaking my heart and putting it back together again. This book had all the trauma, angst, heartache and deep emotional connections I have come to love and expect from her books. I stayed up until 2am to finish it and I have zero regrets.

This was a book about two friends who are united in friendship by their shared past and the struggles they face at home. While their circumstances are completely different, both feel so defeated by the world and find comfort and joy with each other.

I couldn’t have loved Max more. He was so kind and selfless to a fault. Always putting others first leaving little left for himself. He sacrificed so much to care for his father and protect his brother. It was such a relief when he found joy in his friendship with Ella. Even in their friendship he was always taking care of her. Giving her rides, getting her a bike, sticking up for her to her bullies. He remembered the smallest details because he CARED about her.

Poor Ella has been through so much. It’s no wonder she felt so defeated. Luckily for her, Brynne! and Max were determined to be her friends. But she was so strong and a survivor.

I loved Max and Ella’s journey so much! Even as my heart broke and I thought I might drown in all the angst. But it was still t filled with beauty and so much love.

This book was dark and dealt with a lot of heavy subjects. It wasn’t anything unexpected from Jennifer, however I think the publisher really missed the mark when they decided to categorize this as YA. I think this was firmly in NA territory.

This was hard to read for me. The struggles that teenagers go through really hurts my mom heart.

It makes me sad to see Ella struggle through while living in the light of the wrong her brother does. I wish people wouldn’t see others for something someone else does but it’s so true!

This was a wonderfully written YA book about early love and really second chance romance for youth. This book deals with some heavy topics and does have some open door romance but it is YA.

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy of Catch The Son.

Jennifer Hartmann has done it again! I loved this book. It was a fast read and I was able to connect with the characters. And wow the cover is beautiful!

4 stars ⭐️ In true Jennifer Hartmann fashion, my heart was put through the wringer with this one.

Catch the Sun is a story of shattered innocence and two friends who are united by their shared past.

Ella and Max have that special young love that warms your soul. I absolutely love Ella; her character is devastatingly beautiful, and her quirky personality was perfect. Sweet, sweet Max; he embodies his protector role so well. He is patient, kind and is always listening. The book spans over 12+ years, with them as childhood friends and rekindling that friendship years later until it grows into something more.

YA is not usually my go-to, but if Jennifer writes it, I’m reading it. This book deals with some dark, and triggering topics.

It will take a bit to trudge through the front end, but the second half of the book builds into action, mystery and suspense. If you are looking for a love story between kindred spirits that span’s years, this beautiful story is for you.