If you’re looking for an enthralling, diverse YA contemporary that deals with meeting your heroes (and finding out they’re not exactly as you thought), finding yourself, and intersectional feminism, you might want to read Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera.

Goodreads synopsis: Juliet Milagros Palante is leaving the Bronx and headed to Portland, Oregon. She just came out to her family and isn’t sure if her mom will ever speak to her again. But Juliet has a plan, sort of, one that’s going to help her figure out this whole “Puerto Rican lesbian” thing. She’s interning with the author of her favorite book: Harlowe Brisbane, the ultimate authority on feminism, women’s bodies, and other gay-sounding stuff.

Will Juliet be able to figure out her life over the course of one magical summer? Is that even possible? Or is she running away from all the problems that seem too big to handle?

With more questions than answers, Juliet takes on Portland, Harlowe, and most importantly, herself.

My rating: 4,5 stars.

Review

When I started Juliet Takes a Breath, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Juliet goes to Portland for a summer internship with her feminist hero, Harlowe Brisbane – who seemed to be a prime example of a white feminist. If the main character had been white, I would have stopped reading right away. But since this is an ownvoices book about a Puerto Rican lesbian, I hoped the flaws in Harlowe’s feminism would be challenged. Which, luckily, they were. In the best way. It made me feel bad for ever doubting where this book was going!

It was wonderful to read Juliet’s journey throughout this novel. She starts out uncertain, but willing and wanting to learn. And learn she does, though not always from the people she expected. This is the perfect summer read – which is, of course, why I’m posting this in February. It’s summer in the Southern hemisphere! (But if you live in the cold North like I do and you’re longing for summer, you might also want to read this now.)

Whoa. This is one powerful book.

I have had this book sitting with me for the longest time, and I can't tell you why it took me so long to actually read it. Especially because a close friend of mine read this a while back and literally does nothing but rave at me about how good it is. Dang, she was right. I'm going to break it down into dot points because I feel like at the moment that is the only way I can gather my thoughts together:

-The character of Juliet. Such a great character. So full of questions, and not always getting the answers but she is Figuring. Stuff. Out. She is working out who she is, what she wants, what she strives for. Gabby Rivera captured her vulnerability beautifully. Throughout reading this book I felt like I was figuring stuff out too. I was learning thing along with Juliet, and it was beautiful.
-Harlowe. Such a frustratingly interesting character. She often made mistakes, she often did things that made me cringe, but she was multi layered and complex, and I loved the journey of Hawlowe love/hate/respect.
-The story. This was the sort of book where I feel like, though it was a powerful and moving coming of age story, it really didn't feel like that was what it was all about. This was a character journey. The story is really us following through Juliet's stream of consciousness as she flows in and out of intense learning experiences, and we learn along with her.
-There were times where I thought, "I'm finding this a little bit like a textbook teaching me in all sorts of feminist ways" - but I loved that! More often than not I found myself yelling out "YEAH!" and punching my fists in the air. This was an incredibly empowering read, and something I think adults and young adults can find power in. I felt like I learned more about my body and femininity from this book than from all my health classes at school combined!

I join my friend in highly HIGHLY recommending this book. Many a coffee discussion to be had from reading this.

I really enjoyed this book and one that I think can be read time and time again as there are important messages here.

I think this book held a lot of promise but I was never able to open it on a kindle of any sort

This book hit home. I was not expecting to come away with this sense of purpose or pride.

Juliet Milagros Palante has scored an internship with Harlowe Brisbane, the author of her favorite book. It's in Portland, Oregon, but Juliet has never left the Bronx. To top it off, she just came out to her family. Not sure if many will ever speak to her again, she escapes to Harlowe's feminist sanctuary for a summer of research and finding herself.
I've been wanting to read this one for a while, and it was a treat! I love Rivera's voice, and her characters are refreshing and fun. I couldn't wait to see what happened, and I will definitely be re-reading to catch some of the things I missed the first go-round, and also just to read Juliet's words again.

This book was such a positive surprise. I don't know exactly what I expected from it, but it wasn't this strong story, which left me open-mouthed at its freshness, its exploration of feminism and intersectionalism, its nonchalant gayness. I'm so here for it.

Juliet Takes a Breath is the story of Juliet, a girl from the Bronx who has just come out to her family just hours before leaving to Portland for an internship with the very famous author Harlowe Brisbane. Now she doesn't know where she stands with her mom, and if she still accepts her. Also her girlfriend isn't picking up her calls, and feminism is a big question mark.

This book was such a nice read - it raises questions that we need to think about if we want to become good feminists. What is being a white ally? Who are the women that history forgot? Why is it important to have a community of people just like you? This book made me nod, smile and pay close attention to it. There are lots of bits of wisdom on it:

“I understood 'microaggressions' to mean 'little bullshit acts of racism.”

I also loved that there is quite a lot about writing, about being a black woman writer, about the importance of them in the literary world and for their community. I simply had to add Kindred by Octavia E. Butler to my TBR after this!

“Reading would make me brilliant, but writing would make me infinite.”

I highly recommend this book! I wish the plot had been a little less rushed, it felt to me that Juliet grew as a character a bit too fast. But it was still a fantastic read!

This is such an important and fantastic novel. I devoured this novel in a few sittings and this one that will surely stick with you go a while. This is more than a story about being a lesbian and a feminist, this is a story about being true to yourself!

Title: Juliet Takes a Breath

Author: Gabby Rivera

Genre: New Adult/NA,* Contemporary**, LGBTQ+ (and polyamory; with F/F)

*crossover appeal with older Young Adult/YA
**ish


A few starting notes:

I received a free digital review copy of this book via NetGalley. NetGalley provides review copies from publishers in exchange for fair and honest reviews.




This is one I've seen around a lot in the diverse books community online.

So many people that I trust and admire loved it that I was like - ok! Have to read this! XD


I really do hope that this book can get more 'mainstream' support and promotion, 'cos it really deserves that recognition!




Premise:

Juliet's trying to work out her life. Puerto Rican, lesbian, New Yorker ...feminist?

The author of her favourite book - the one she credits with introducing her to feminism - Harlowe Brisbane, has offered her an internship.

Is this summer the one? The summer of her life? She hopes so, but things rarely turn out the way you plan.



Best bits:

This is a book that explores feminism, LGBTQ+ equality, and racial equality - and also how they interact with each other. Which is totally awesome!

This book tries to take intersectional feminism out of the realms of theory, and into the realms of practise, in all of its sticky, messy, real-world glory.

I love that. Equality and social justice aren't easy one-route things, and people are human.

And humans are fallible. That doesn't mean you give up on them entirely.

Basically, there's sh** that even good people pull which is NOT ok. You let them know that.

What happens after that is where the differences comes in. And I love the way that's handled in this book.




The characters here are strong, real, beautiful, messy people. They rock.

The prose in Juliet Takes a Breath is gorgeous and complex - with a rhythm like a heartbeat.

(And my synaesthesia would like to inform you that it tasted of chocolate chip cookies!)

This book is also #OwnVoices - remember to support diverse creators! :)



Not so great bits:


Potentially distressing content in this book includes:

- homophobia/general queerphobia
- racism
- sexism
- transphobia
- White Feminism
- coming out
- adverse reactions to coming out
- references to 9/11
- threat of sexual assault/attack


There's loads of swearing, and some sexy-times, but nothing that graphic.

There's reclaimed use of the slur 'dyke,' that might be offensive to some. As this is #OwnVoices, it's fine, but some people might not like reading it.




There's a lot of info in this book - which is fab - but sometimes it can come across as a little info-dump-y.

Also, the social justice terms used seem a little modern for 2002 - so much so that it took me a while to figure out what time period this book was meant to be set in.




This isn't a fast-paced, action-packed plot. This is character driven - so fans of lots of sh** happening in every chapter might wanna look elsewhere!

Also, there's a loooooot of hippie stuff! I was torn between 'Aww! My childhood!' and 'Ugh! My childhood!'*

So yeah, that stuff might irritate you - like it did with me; though my irritation was tempered by nostalgia.



*Long story short - my parents are v. hippie-ish.


There are a few problems with this book in regards to references to Native Americans, which you can read about in Weezie's review on Goodreads, which discusses the Native rep from an #ownvoices perspective.

There are also issues with equating female reproductive organs with being a woman - which is trans-exclusionary, bordering on transphobic, but this IS challenged within the book.

Whether it's challenged ENOUGH is another thing - and one that I'm really not sure on.




Verdict:

This is an amazing book - there are a few issues, but overall I'd personally say the importance of this beautiful novel outweighs them.

Read it, and see if Juliet can take your breath away.

Juliet Takes a Breath follows a young 19yo Puerto Rican queer woman finding and developing her sense of self, after coming out as queer to her mother and goes to New York to seek mentorship from a queer white cis woman to learn what this identity really means to her. Juliet asks the questions who's never had the space and permission to question her sexuality. She goes through heartbreak, love and healing, and self-discovery. Recommend Juliet Takes a Breath for those who are curious in learning and reflecting, are questioning what intersectionality means, and/or are ready to give themselves the same space and permission to question what queerness means, just like Juliet did.

This book dealt with a lot of issues that are very prominent in our time, and it dealt with them in a meaningful and helpful way. This book touched upon so many subjects that are important in 2018, nevermind in 2002, when the book is set. If someone went into this book being confused about gender pronouns or racism especially against people and women of color who identify as queer, they would learn so much. The way the book called out Harlowe for being a white feminist and not thinking about people of color while she was writing Ragining Flower was perfect. I am so glad it didn’t just let Juliet keep thinking that Harlowe was the sun and the moon and it showed her for what she truly was. I really enjoyed this book and it taught me a lot about struggles I hadn’t thought about in the past. Thank you Netgalley for sending me a copy!

To see I loved this book is simply not enough. I adore this book and I will have about this book forever! It's unique and while I don't know how great the representation is I can say I thought it was great to LGBT and POC characters in here. A change from what I usually see in books. This really opened my eyes but I will pass on representation of LGBT characters on to LGBT readers. That being said, I really enjoyed Juliet's character. She was fleshed out and had her flaws. She was funny and relatable. She's one of the best characters I have read about in a lon time! I highly recommend this gorgeous book.

I was really excited about the premise of a chubby, Puerto Rican lesbian feminist protagonist, but it turns out Juliet isn't... captivating. The book sems to be based on the writer's life which is cool in theory, but like reading through one's diary, it gets really, really boring after a while. Juliet is unbearably compliant; all through the book, people just tell her what to believe in, from white feminism to whiter feminism, from xe pronouns to hugging trees, and she does. Never once she starts to educate herself instead of being told what to believe in, and to be critical on her own. The rest of the characters are equally messy - not flawed, messy. It was a difficult book to finish.

I waffled on rating this a 3- or a 4-star read. It needed a much stronger edit for character, pacing, and dialogue, but I still really enjoyed it. There was a <i>lot</i> to love about this book, and I was super into it, though it took a bit for Rivera to really find her stride.

One of the best books I've read this year. Please write some more Gabby! It's not often I come across queer fiction that's this awesome.

*DNF’d at 4%.* I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I started reading this book and I didn’t like the writing style.

I wanted to really like this book and, while it did tackle some very interesting topics, I still think it was considerably flawed.
Maybe it was not for me, maybe I just couldn't relate to the message. All I can say is that it didn't really work. It felt like the author was trying too hard to make something different, to make something that stood out, that she forgot to make it feel real. It was more like a caricature or a parody of something that could be real.

This was such a powerful book. Focusing on Juliet, a 19 year Latina from the Bronx, the story follows her as she tried to figure out who she is and what she wants out of life. I personally loved that Juliet is both completely sure of who she is, and also totally confused by what that means for her. The book opens with her cold emailing the author (Harlowe) of her favorite book and remarkably getting a response and an offer to be Harlowe's summer intern. Taking a giant leap of faith Juliet come's out to her family and then promptly flies across the country to take the opportunity of a lifetime.

Harlowe's world in Portland, OR is a far cry from Juliet's in NY and author Gabby Rivera does a phenomenal job weaving the stories of all the people Juliet meets together to create a tapestry of humanity that allows the reader to look at the world we live in.

My only negative for this book is that the world Juliet is thrust into is full of new worlds and acronymns (like poly for instance). Initially Juliet doesn't want to admit that she doesn't know what all these things mean, afraid to look stupid in front of someone she looks up to. However, Juliet's lack of understanding can also represent the readers lack of understanding. While I was able to follow the vast majority of what was being referred to, there were still moments that I had to step away from the story to look something up, which killed the momentum of the story.

That aside, this book is such a worthy read and provides a look at what it's like to trust yourself and take a chance on a life you might never have experienced otherwise. That's a message that goes beyond the protagonist and her story and everyone can relate to.

A fairly average book, but still highly enjoyable.

It doesn't have a plot, per se, which meant that I was frequently bored. I do enjoy books where a character goes on a life-changing journey, but Juliet's was slow for me.

Juliet was a funny and relatable character, though. She was one of the bright parts of this novel. Reading her journey, as a queer woman of colour, was enlightening.

This book also focused on a lot of important issues, and did so in a very good manner.

The main issue was the pacing of the book - it was very slow and not a lot happens. Still enjoyable and would recommend.