This is a really lovely coming-of-age story about looking for your community and realizing it was with you the entire time. I happen to be a little (ok more than a little) too old for it but it’s wonderful to have a book depicting that college-age struggle where it seems like everyone else somehow knows things about adulthood you don’t but nobody is telling you what they are or where to learn them. I don’t know Portland queer folks but I recognized bits and pieces of the older lesbians at my church when it was growing up! I love how grounded in a particular time period Juliet Takes a Breath is.

In a compelling coming-of-age novel, 'Juliet Takes a Breath' takes readers on a poignant journey of self-discovery and acceptance. As Juliet Milagros Palante leaves her Bronx home and embraces her identity as a Puerto Rican lesbian, she heads to Portland to intern with her favorite author, Harlowe Brisbane, a feminist icon. Throughout one magical summer, Juliet grapples with the challenges of coming out to her family, finding her place in the world, and navigating her identity. The book beautifully captures the complexities of self-exploration and the courage it takes to confront life's biggest questions.

Funny + realistic teens + feminist theory 101 = a decent read. The story is about rediscovering and learning, and the protagonist for sure grows. However, I think it could've been edited better for stronger narrative coherence.

This one wasn't quite for me, I didn't like all the stuff based around the book and felt it pulled me out the story

A story that has lingered on my shelf for far longer than it should've, this tale is perfect for those becoming introduced to feminism and intersectionality. The characters are familiar and the plot truly gives the weight that coming to your own as a young adult deserves.

I absolutely love this cover and would have it as a poster on my wall. I found much to enjoy and admire in this novel, and I’m glad I read it. I think at the grand old age of 37 I’m a bit tired and jaded to properly appreciate coming-of-age journeys any more, but I know if I’d read this as a teenager I’d have been obsessed, and I’ll be recommending this to many young people in my life. If there’s one thing the world needs more of, it’s positive representations of queer characters - and this book has plenty of that.

Juliet takes a breath is a great debut novel, a mainly character-driven story about our main character Juliet, as she embarks on a self-discovery adventure. A very worth read full of intersectional feminism, lgbtq+ and racial issues, and exploration of identity.

I will be buying MULTIPLE copies of this book for my classroom and I anticipate that LOTS of my students will find themselves in this text.

This book was good, but I didn't love it.
However, I think that it is a very important read and that own voices reviews of this would add a lot more to the conversation. What I did like, was that it taught me a lot about the LGBTQIAP+ community and about intersectional feminism.

"Juliet Takes a Breath" is the story of a girl from the Bronx that moves to Portland for an internship with her favorite author, a white lady who thinks is the ultimate feminist. To not give too much away from the story, Juliet discovers what the true definition of feminism is (not only what she has read from her "favorite author") and that she has a long road ahead of sexual exploration.

I loved how real the novel felt and how important everything that was talked about was, especially the highlight given to minorities and the fight against stereotypes that have been harmful to us since day 1. Although sometimes the novel may seem to drag on the side of the story, it remains consistent in the informative portions and delivers the message in a clear and concise way. Totally recommend it.

I was given this book as an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Juliet, a Bronx-raised Puerto Rican, leaves her family after her coming out to complete an internship with the author of her favourite feminist book, Harlowe Brisbane. She embarks on a journey of self-discovery in a quest to understand feminism, sexuality and through those life itself.

The stream of consciousness narration presents the events closely linked to Juliet’s point of view, favouring her inner dialogue over an abundance of plot development. Often the prose felt simplified to introduce ideologies, in the same way the dialogues often came across as forceful and too constructed. Throughout the reading experience, I was very aware of the author’s intensions and I could see that the use she made of her characters and scenes was serving very definite scopes. The overly hippie characters were planted to represent types. In particular, Harlowe often purposefully behaves as a token white feminist. Since the characters are clearly functional, it was difficult as a reader to grow fond of them.

However, I could see a lot of potential in this book and I believe I would have identified with it more if I were a few years younger. The light-hearted and fast paced tone makes it an ideal book for young readers who are keen to discover more about feminism and LGBTQ+ theory and it might inspire them to deepen their knowledge on the subject.

I requested this book last year I believe and just last month I decided to read it. This is a very overdue review but I still want to give my feedback. The main thing that motivated me to read it was because it was pride month and I was going through my books to see what I own that I can read for that month. I totally forgot about this gem. It seemed well fitting with the topic everyone was discussing, pride month and reading about a Latina was also a plus. I try to read about Latinx authors or characters at least once a month so this fit quite well.
So Juliet, the antagonist of this story. She is unique let me tell you that lol. I know quite a lot of puerto rican girls and they are no Juliet. Let me rephrase, puerto rican girls are known to be very opinionated and have no trouble expressing themselves. Juliet has trouble expressing who she is. This is quite a change in my opinion. It's refreshing to see a kind of uniqueness from what they are usually known for. I know most of you are saying I'm stereotyping here but you will understand if you got Puerto Rican friends lol. Like I said it's refreshing, in a good way. You don't get see that much often especially in a diverse community. Juliet seems to be the girl you can easily get along with. I like her.
Coming out in a latino culture is very different from America. You always get looked down upon and worse case scenario, you get disowned. Every culture has a different opinion and a matter of how to handle this. Juliet was braved enough to come out to her mother. That's never easy so I give her props for that. She still doesn't quite feel like she's a lesbian since she barely found out that there's different types, which may I add, what? lol Yup I basically learned a few terms and definitions along the way.
You can say this was a 101 of feminism and being a queer. It's enlightening to see how this subject felt for me. It's laid back and more opportunistic to make you feel like you can learn more about the LGBT & GLBT community. I didn't know much about it to be honest, just a few things here and there so this was something great for to know the basic stuff and it motivated me to do some research of my own afterwards.
I really enjoyed this book because Juliet came out and started to start her new life by finding herself and what does it mean to become queer. This is a 4 out of 5 stars and it is a book i would recommend for all of you :)

DNF at 30% read. I did enjoy at first but is no longer my age rage to read YA. May someday come back to the republished version. I did enjoy the Latinx representation.

Thank you so much for letting me review this title. Unfortunately this just was not the book for me and I only made it through about the first 80 pages. I don’t write reviews for books I don’t finish as I feel this would be unfair.

I really enjoyed reading this book - it was really enjoyable immersing myself in a positive LGBTQ book that made me feel seen.

This was a very genuine read. Adam Silvera was the one to recommend it to me, and I see why. If you love contemporaries that display humor and tons of emotion, pick this one up. Also, a great protagonist. 4/5 stars.

I had trouble getting into it at first but once I got into it, I really enjoyed it. It was a beautiful story and as a lesbian, I could really relate.

Queer Latinx novel. Cute story of one girl's coming out and coming into her own. Race relations, the shortcomings of "well-meaning" white people. First love, past power, revolutionary politics. A bit heavy handed and reads very much like a first novel (and the young lesbian's primer), but there definitely need to be more books like this--by and for young queer folks of color.

This is one of my favourite queer books. It gives some awesome representation and addresses a lot of difficult and controversial topics within the LGTBQIA and feminist community (racism, transphobia, etc.)

“Feminism. I’m new to it. The word still sounds weird and wrong. Too white, too structured, too foreign: something I can’t claim.”

Juliet Takes A Breath is a must read, not just for women, but for everyone. I will admit that it might be more relatable for women, and in particular women of colour. But, I think this book and the character of Juliet is what makes the book so special. She learns so much in this book and I think that is the point. She makes the story relatable for some readers and she makes it a slap in the face for others.

This story handles feminism and what it means to be a woman. Juliet goes through every feeling under the bus in this book and learns so much throughout her short journey in the novel. She learns some really helpful tips and tricks on how to make your period easier to handle, which I’ll be honest I had never heard before but, will definitely be trying out in the future.

“You control the energy in your body. Never forget that, Juliet.”

This book is fantastic and I think everyone should read it. Juliet is a really interesting character and I think there is definitely something to learn from her and her experiences, no matter who you are. What I loved most about this book was that it took me for a total learning curve. I have very little in common with Juliet. I am white, straight and share pretty much none of her experiences, I also don’t live in the US.

“None of the clothes were made to fit me. None of the people shopping in there look like me.”

On that note, what I learnt from this book was something particularly interesting about the store Banana Republic. I have never really heard of the store so learning about its history was quite interesting and very disturbing. It’s actually kind of horrible that I had never heard about their history but, I guess that is the kind of world we live in now.

Juliet Takes A Breath also goes into the education system and how we are often not taught about our own histories. We are rarely ever taught about the “bad side” of the history of our own countries and that often leads to ignorance. I personally related to this because I know that Australia’s past is certainly not squeaky clean, but we really don’t learn about it at all in school.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and couldn’t recommend it enough. if you’re looking for a short and bingeable modern contemporary to put on your tbr, this is perfect!