It took me a minute to get into this book but then it smacked me in the face with all the angst and heartbreak. I loved Elle and Max being childhood best friends. The brother element in this book went dark and emotionally devastating.

This author has been one of my favorites and I have loved all her books. This one fell a little flat. Some parts felt like added unnecessary drama because everything was already soooo messed up. Yes you will have your heart pounding at times. Unfortunately the in between times I started reading faster to get through the slower parts. I guess it didn’t always flow well for me. Having said that I don’t regret reading this book which is always something that defines my reading experience and recommendation.

If you love this author then you should definitely read this one. It is important to stay true to beloved writers. You also might feel differently than I did.

Happy Reading Everyone!!!

I’m not sure what made me want to read this book after also disliking the only other novel I have read by this author, Still Beating. I think it is mainly because the characters in this book are closer to my age (I am a teenage girl) and the characters in Still Beating are much older than me, so I thought maybe I would give Jennifer Hartmann’s writing another shot. Although I definitely think Catch The Sun was better, it still greatly disappointed me.

For starters, the book was way to long - I practically skipped through the last 20% of the novel. However, the main thing that caused me to not enjoy the book was the MISCOMMUNICATION! UGH! It was so stressful to read and the only reason I didn’t DNF was because I had already wasted 2 weeks trying to get through it, so I thought I may as well finish it otherwise it would be a total waste of time (it was still a waste of time though).

What I find hilarious is that when I was seriously considering giving up on reading this, the FMC states this whilst she is talking about how she doesn’t like to DNF books:
‘’Nothing feels worse than an incomplete story, the characters dangling in limbo, the plot points collapsing into unknowns.’’
It’s almost as if the author knew how much I wanted to put the book down and she was trying to give me some motivation…

…I guess it kind of worked? Because I ended up skipping to the epilogue out of genuine interest for what did actually happen in the end. So clearly I did care about the characters and the story. It’s just a shame that it was executed poorly.

Thank you NetGalley, the author and the publisher
for the free digital copy💕

4.5 ⭐️ As kids, Ella Sunbury and Max Manning were self declared soul mates. When life pulls them apart, it will be years later until they are reunited - as broody high school students each dealing with their own struggles. As their relationship begins to blossom, tragedy threatens to pull them apart once again.

“You can’t catch the sun, but there’s no shame in chasing its light.”

I fell in love with Jennifer Hartmann’s writing earlier this year when I read Older and have been more and more impressed with each book I devour. While most of her books are steeped in heavier themes of trauma and grief, I think Catch the Sun, as a YA novel, strikes a balance of the heavier with the lighter (trauma juxtaposed with the hope of young love).

As always, her characters are richly layered and multi-faceted, complete with relatable flaws. Her characters are strong, and while faced with hardships, never lose their sense of self and I think this more than anything keeps me coming back to stories I know are going to break my heart. Sunny and Max are no exception.

Read if you like:
• emotional reads
• mature YA books
• friends to lovers
• coming of age
• healing from grief and trauma
• complex family dynamics

Thank you Bloom Books for the gifted copies.

Catch the Sun ☾𖤓
by Jennifer Hartmann
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

is a whirlwind of emotions that had me flipping pages like mad! Ella and Max, childhood friends who are torn apart and then reunited years later, are at the heart of this gripping story. The blend of first love, trauma, and raw, beautiful moments makes for an unforgettable read. Max is the ultimate swoon-worthy book boyfriend, and Ella's journey is both heart-wrenching and inspiring. Hartmann's talent for pulling you into her characters' lives is unmatched. Get ready for a rollercoaster of feels—this one will stick with you long after the last

Thank you to Bloom books for the eARC of this book in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own

Jennifer Hartmann is my favorite author, she is the Queen of ripping your heart out and putting it back together, and then repeating the process a few more times. This book is no exception to that, Ella and Max meet when they are 7 years old and promise to marry eachother, but one day Ella's father takes her away and gives her to her mother away from Max. 10 years later Ella and her mother move back to the town Max is in, when Ella's brother does the unthinkable and is charged with murder. Being back everyone is mean to Ella, because she defended her brother, until she runs into Brynn! Who becomes her best friend, and who is also dating McKay the twin brother of Max! Ella and Max get close again, but Ella has her guard way up and doesn't want to let anyone else into her heart, and Max is dealing with a lot as well. This book has so many ups and downs, it was so good! Thank you Net Galley for letting me arc read this!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

This author has such beautiful prose mixed with the perfect balance of sweet and bitter. We have childhood best friends, Ella and Max, who are suddenly separated and reunited a decade later. Both have lived lives filled with darkness, but their previous connection is still there, reigniting that special light the two find in each other.

There are some twists (admittedly, I saw coming) but the two manage to conquer everything thrown at them, eventually.

SPOILER: I do have to mention, the character shift of the twin brother felt a little extreme. He turned so quickly, and it was more than just alcohol and bad choices. It seriously was an evil, selfish choice...:(

I loved the friendship to something more aspect between Ella and Max but didn't need the additional "spice" to solidify their relationship in my eyes. I savored the sweet moments so much more and wish we had closed door romance! Still a solid read and was happy with the well-deserved happily ever after.

4 stars

Jennifer Hartmann sure knows how to write an emotional read, and she is amazing at it.

This book will give you all the feels. It has so much to offer, including childhood friendship, trauma healing, first love, heartache, mystery, and true love. It will have you flipping pages so fast, along with being on that endless emotional roller-coaster.

I really enjoyed the inspirational quotes in this one, along with the main characters and their connections.

I highly recommend giving this one a try. You won't be disappointed.

Jennifer Hartmann is an auto buy author for me & I was ecstatic to receive an ARC of Catch the Sun. This book is literal perfection from an amazingly talented author!!


Thank you NetGalley & SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was amazing. Heartbreakingly beautiful and electric. I wanted to swoon, laugh and cry for these characters.

Thank you to Sourcebook Bloom Books and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC of Catch the Sun by Jennifer Hartmann in return for my honest opinion.

WOW.. Catch the Sun is a brilliantly written coming of age romance YA by Jennifer Harmann. This book was an emotional roller coaster I just couldn't, and didn't want to, get off. Hartmann beautifully captures the angst, grief and love of our two teenage main characters in such a realistic and intriguing way that leaves the reader falling in love with both Ella and Max.

Ella and Max first meet and become friends at the age of 7 when Ella is living with her dad. A year later Ella is sent back to her mother and loses touch with Max. Until a tragedy involving Ella's brother forces Ell and her mother to move back to Juniper Falls, and Max. Due to her brother's very public trial, Ella is treated by an outcast by most of her classmates, apart from Brynn. Max keeps his distance at first, but his twin in dating Brynn, which leads Max and Ella regularly running into each other.

Despite Max and Ella both having the weight of pretty heavy family dynamics and trauma on their backs, they fall back into their old friendship, which then develops into something more. You cannot help as the reader but to root for these two to have a HEA, they have both been dealt some pretty rough cards, so they deserve to find happiness in each other. Unfortunately their road to a HEA is rough and painful, with several massive plot twists that threaten to tear them apart. But, after some time apart to grow come to terms with everything that happen, they do get their well deserved happily ever after. The character development of Max and Ella's characters is incredible, they are beautifully written characters.

Overall, Hartman absolutely kills it with this YA contemporary romance, would highly recommend this one, however please be sure to read the trigger warnings prior to jumping in this book because it does get dark!

Catch the Sun is a heartbreakingly beautiful story between two former childhood friends. Ella moved away when she was only 7, but after 10 long years, she's back in the same town as Max. Both Ella and Max are facing their own demons, and neither of them are the same happy carefree children they were a decade earlier. However, the connection they shared as children, is still there all those years later. Max's love and devotion towards Ella is everything. After all that they've both been through, he refuses to give up on her. I won't give away too much because I truly believe that going into any Jennifer Hartmann book as blind as possible is the best way to go. I will say that I never knew what to expect from this book, and I was completely immersed in this story from page one.

Jennifer Hartmann never fails to completely capture every single feeling I have when I'm reading. There's magic in every single one of her books, and no one writes emotional angst like Jennifer does. Catch the Sun was emotional, beautiful, tragically sad, and so angsty. This is one book you don't want to miss out on!

YA, Small Town, First Love, Childhood friends to lovers, Neighbors, Healing

Max and Ella's romance will have you reaching for issues as you flip the pages. Equal parts emotional and angsty the trials both Max and Ella face in their lives make the moments they are together all the sweeter. Plenty of twist and turns and emotional revelations.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

🌶️🌶️/5

“Young love…”

“The purest fucking kind.”

🧡Childhood Friends to Lovers

🧡First Love

🧡Coming of Age

🧡Found Family

🧡Romantic Suspense

🧡And much more….

CALLING IT NOW, THIS IS THE BOOK OF THE SUMMER !!!! 🤩🌞 A+, a million stars, no notes (jk I have lots), perfection, amazing, ALL THE THINGS! I sound like Brynn from the book with all this excitement 😅 

This book reminded me why teenage me loved reading and getting so engrossed into a storyline that you forget you’re reading. This book is very YA themed but has some very heavy topics (trigger warnings are at the beginning of the book) and does have some spice, so just be aware of that going in.

This book follows Ella and Max, who were childhood friends until Ella moved away unexpectedly. Now after something traumatic happens in her life, she’s back in town and struggling. Max and Ella find their way back into each others lives and start building a friendship. What follows is beautiful, tragic, and everything in between. The plot twists, the quotes, the Winnie the Pooh references, the color orange, the love, just everything. Everything Jennifer wrote in this book will make you feel with your whole heart.

“Romanticize your life. Don’t live every day like it’s your last. Live every day like it’s your first. Lasts are tragic. Firsts are exciting and full of celebration. Look at every sunrise like it’s the first time you’ve ever seen colors like that before. Listen to your favorite song like you’ve never heard such a precious melody. If you make every day a celebration, you’ll never get bored in your own story.”

🧡🌞🧡🌞🧡

Jennifer Hartmann always brings ALL THE FEELS! It’s been a minute since I’ve read a true YA romance, and I really enjoyed how Jennifer brought her keen and emotionally immersive depictions of love in the face of trauma to a story that’s also about growing up, and the big feelings of that first love.

Catch the Sun is the breathtaking love story of Ella and Max, former neighbors and childhood friends who reconnect a decade later after Ella moved away. Now she’s back in town, neighbors yet again with Max. But life has radically changed, innocence lost. Ella is confront the grim reality of her brother’s death sentence, and Max is facing his own demons as he deals with his father’s alcoholism and his mother’s absence. Raw and gutting challenges, all confounded by the pressures and trials and drama of being high schoolers. Particularly for Emma, who is ridiculed and harassed by her peers because of her brother’s actions.

Childhood friends to lovers always steals my heart, and Jennifer gives us a gripping and hearthitting love story while we also get to see Ella and Max figure out themselves in a big world that hasn’t always been kind to them. Both of these characters really captured me- they’ve been dealing with a lot, faced true tragedy and pain, and shown up for each other in ways that are really beautiful. I love how their relationship evolved, their connection, the tenderness between them. It gave me all the nostalgia of being a teenager- the big feelings, the big drama, the heaviness of the lows and the soaring of the highs. How important it is to have your person- someone who sees you and gets you and understands you. Their chemistry is just really pure and sweet.

The story did start a bit slow for me, and given the storyline of course the burn is also slow. I enjoyed the second half much more. And I loved how despite it being a book with younger characters Jennifer brings the full gamut of the emotional intensity she always brings to her stories. There is tragedy and pain, but there is also a healing and beautiful love story that traverses it all. And in the end, I found it really sweet and charming.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloom/Sourcebooks for this ARC in exchange for and honest review.

This is an emotional coming of age story that will have you feeling every emotion! I love the relationship between Max and Ella. I did wish for more information in a couple areas of the book but overall this was a heartbreakingly beautiful story.

Yet another book by the great Jennifer Hartmann that absolutely destroyed me!! She has this amazing talent for creating these deep characters with complicated storylines that have you completely captivated, falling in love with them, and breaking your heart all at once. Before slowly putting you back together piece by piece and staying with you long after you are finished reading.

Ella and Max are my new favorite characters! They meet as young kids and are inseparable until the day they are heartbreakingly separated for 10 years. Reunited again after Ella moves back after a terrible tragedy, the two are immediately drawn to one another again although it takes them a bit to rekindle their friendship.

Ella is carrying the terrible burden of her brother's actions and Max is the head of his household who has to take care of everyone. The burdens that heavily weigh on them are also one of the reasons they are pulled together. They really support and accept one another despite their present and past circumstances.

The ending of this book was a difficult and emotional one and definitely one that I felt Max and Ella deserved. The story was flawlessly written and another Jennifer Hartmann book that will stay with me for a long time. I cannot wait to see what she has in store for us next!

Jennifer Hartmann really knows how to evoke all the emotions in one book! She is brilliant and I always always look forward to her books.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

Jennifer Hartmann could never disappoint me. Her books always make me cry somehow and I eat up every word of them. I HAD to go out and buy a physical copy of it for my shelf. It was a NEED

This book was such a beautiful love story! Normally with romance and the characters still in high school, I tend to stay away from but with it being from this author, I knew it would be good to go. I was right. Once I started reading, I kind of forgot about the high school thing until it was mentioned by one of the characters. The characters are definitely unique.
With Max, he's a twin, the loner, the one that doesn't really get to enjoy life like his twin does. He doesn't go out and party or do most things teenagers do in high school. His priorities are focused on more of taking care of his dad and keeping the house together. He's never been interested in a girl until Ella came back into his life. He saw her when others didn't. He saw her sunny side even when she didn't. He has this charm about him that just makes you want to root for him and love him even more or at least I thought so.
Ella is a little more complexed than most teenager girls. She's the outcast and the one that no one really sees. Her brother's actions and where he is, hangs over her head. It's all anyone can talk about. She just wants to be left alone but that doesn't happen. Brynn is a happy cheery girl who makes sure you know she is always around. She pushes Ella to do things and with that, she gets to see Max. Max saw her when others were treating her like scum. He was patient with her and showed her how love was possible in her life.
This book will take you on roller coaster of emotions and keep you hooked on it until the very end! So many things happen in this book that you can't even believe it actually happened.. I seriously loved this book and the characters in it..I mean other then McKay and Jonah...

Jennifer….love…why must you hurt me like this? Why must you make me feel these feels? This is starting to feel like an abusive relationship after Still Beating, June First, and Older. Rude.
First off, I would categorize this one more as N/A than Y/A, because it can get pretty heavy/graphic/explicit. This one has a similar progression as June First, where they start out young and progressives from there. Be sure to check the trigger warnings in advance.
Max is so perfect and he loved Ella so hard and so well. I feel like these two could never catch a break, though. There were twists and traumatic surprises that were incredibly heartbreaking, so make sure you’re not in a really heavy place mentally, when you start this book. The first half of the story is a little slow, but it’s necessary relationship building and then the second half is warp speed. My only gripe is I would like to see more of their HEA, but that’s always my gripe with books like these.

Random thoughts while reading:
* F*** you, Dr. Pepper!
* I’m not sure if I like McKay
* My heart breaks for Jonah
* Ella is a feral cat
* Omg family dinner soothed my soul
* Kids, if you get an ominous bad gut feeling that something awful is going to happen if you do what you’re about to do, trust your gut
* I definitely don’t like McKay
* This book has a really great representation of trauma and healing. It doesn’t just go BAM, okay over it
***Spoiler ahead***



Okay, but DID Jonah kill his gf and that guy? It’s super ambiguous and just because he shot Mckay doesn’t necessarily mean he was capable of killing his gf. I think cheating gf and guy who tried to rape your baby sister and then let her fall off a cliff and left her for dead, are two drastically different levels of “motive”. JENNIFER. I need to know. Please.



Many thanks to Netgalley for providing me with the DRC and allowing me to provide my honest review