The one word that kept going through my mind as I read Juliet Takes a Breath and later tried to compose my thoughts on it is "authentic." Juliet Takes a Breath is one of the most authentic books I have ever read, and that authenticity is what makes it truly fantastic. I'm guessing that the author drew heavily from her own experience, and it shows in a very good way; Juliet's voice is incredibly clear and incredibly real. At the core of it, she's just a young person trying to figure things out, and that is something that so many other young people can relate to.

Readers who share experiences and/or identities with Juliet (being latinx, queer, working class, growing up in the Bronx, etc) will find that her story resonates even more. As a young queer woman, I found myself tearing up several times because Rivera captures so perfectly that experience. It took me a while to get hooked into the book because the beginning part when Juliet comes out to her family evoked so many emotions about when I came out to my own family, and it was a little overwhelming, but in a good way. The characters, too, were incredibly relatable. I have met people who are a lot like Harlowe, like Lainie, like Maxine, even like Phen, bit player that he is. I felt a connection with the characters and the situations in a way that I don't with most realistic fiction; even though it was fiction, these kinds of people do exist, and these kinds of things do happen, and furthermore, people like Juliet really do grow and deepen their connection to their own identity and to others. For young queer folks who haven't gotten to that point yet, this book could be very inspiring, even hopeful.

But even if readers do not share the same experiences as Juliet, this book is still incredibly valuable, as it tackles issues like race and sexuality in a very honest way, introducing concepts that some people may not be familiar with and tackling tricky situations (the role of race in an interracial relationship, for example) using the characters as a proxy. The characters teach us about a range of different things-gender pronouns, what the word "queer" means, how polyamory can work-but it never feels like the characters are just spouting off a lecture at us because Rivera weaves it in seamlessly in a way that makes sense.

When I first began the book, I was a little apprehensive because Harlowe's brand of feminism that caters to white cis lesbians was a bit off putting to me; I've seen it in my own life, and I even used to subscribe to it until I realized how exclusionary that kind of feminism is to women of color and trans women and basically anyone who isn't a white cis woman. But rather than espousing Harlowe's feminism, Rivera tackles it head on, and uses Harlowe as a way to point out the dangers of white feminism and the pitfalls that white allies can fall into. Impressively, I find that she also strikes an impressive balance; the characters who make mistakes are not immediately forgiven or pardoned, but neither are they uniformly vilified. People are complex and relationships are complex and the interplay of personal relationships with race and gender and sexuality is complex, and Rivera portrays that with care and honesty.

As a side note, I was very impressed at how well Rivera wrote about the (view spoiler) I'm also impressed at the breadth that Rivera covered in a relatively short book. She took us from Juliet's home in the Bronx to the queer community of Portland to Ava's world in Miami (and the chapter about the party that Ava takes Juliet too is really one of the highlights of the novel for me). Juliet's relationship with her family-particularly Ava and Lil' Melvin-was also absolutely fantastic.

I only have two very minor gripes with the book, and they're really not full-on gripes as much as they are things that I was confused about. The first is that I'm still confused (view spoiler) The second is that I think that at times, Harlowe is written as such an extreme hippie that she borders on being a caricature. However, I do think that there are probably people like Harlowe out there, and my feeling on this is mostly a product of the fact that I live in an area very different than Portland where I don't meet many Harlowes.

On the whole, I think that Gabby Rivera has really written a fantastic novel; the cast is diverse in the way that the real world is diverse, and the way she draws on her own experience as a queer latina makes the novel shine. Many LGBTQ+ books tend to showcase one particular narrative; in particular, a white, usually middle class narrative. Alternatively, they are written by people who are not a part of the community that their characters are, and they fall into stereotyping and/or fetishizing (white authors oversimplifying the experience of LGBT people of color, or straight white women writing fetishizing fiction about two cis white gay men). But with Juliet Takes a Breath, Rivera has given voice to a different narrative that is just as valuable and just as authentic, if not more so. When people say that we need diverse books by diverse authors, this is exactly the kind of book that they mean.

This book is very refreshing since it takes the experiences of a queer latina woman to the forefront of the story it’s particularly important because even though I enjoy reading (and in general consuming media) that reflects on other type of experiences seeing a lot of what I live or feel being talked about and shed a positive light is rare and priceless especially because there are not many stories exploring the intersectionalism between queerness and being a latinx.

The beginning is amazing because we start with Juliet writing a letter to to author Harlowe Brisbane — a famous feminist and lesbian — as part of an internship application. Harlowe’s book is named Raging Flower: Empowering Your Pussy by Empowering Your Mind. So that should show you the tone of the coming pages and just a beautiful way to show you how Juliet sees and relates to the world.

“But now I’m writing to you because this book of yours, this magical labia manifesto, has become my Bible. It’s definitely a reading from the book of white lady feminism and yet, there are moments where I see my round, brown ass in your words. I wanted more of that, Harlowe, more representation, more acknowledgement, more room to breathe the same air as you. “We are all women. We are all of the womb. It is in that essence of the moon that we share sisterhood” — that’s you. You wrote that and I highlighted it, wondering if that was true. If you don’t know my life and my struggles, can we be sisters?”

So when Juliet finally comes out to her family just before going into her internship to Portland, to a big city to meet her hero and be herself (10/10 can relate to this because even though I moved to my country’s capital to be myself and not to meet my hero) she is shocked by the cultural changes and the feel of the city.

I don’t want spoil more but it’s important to note this is a wonderful read exploring feminism in an intersectional lense more than the usual white feminism that’s been going around in media, and it’s not preachy if you’re fearing that, it’s just natural and reflective.

FINALLY- A book with likeable characters, great person of colour representation, queerness, feminism...and it's brilliantly written with a super heartwarming story that'll suck you in so you can't put it down. Brilliant!

Juliet Takes a Breath is the coming-of-age story of Juliet Palante, a Puerto Rican teenager who lives in the Bronx with her madcap family. She discovers feminism through the book 'Raging Flower: Empowering Your Pussy By Empowering Your Mind' by Harper Brisbane (which she reads to freak people out on the subway) and, after writing to the author to tell her how much she enjoyed it (despite not really recognising herself in the text) lands an internship to help Harper research her next book. Moving to Portland, Oregon gives Juliet a total culture shock and living with Harper exposes her to a completely different way of life. She uses the opportunity to learn about being gay, being a person of colour, being female and being a feminist, all whilst trying to figure out who she is and trying to get her family to accept her. Nothing major then.

I really loved reading this book. There's such great, positive representation and a brilliantly written story which taught me so much about other cultures, history, oppression, feminism, my own body... I could go on. It's really well written, interesting, funny and sweet without being overly saccharine or having a happily ever after ending that ends up in so much current YA literature.

I loved the main character Juliet, who was bold and strong but also scared and vulnerable at times. She felt very 'real' to me and despite our many differences I identified with her as a chubby, queer nerd girl who finds safety in the confines of a library. Her family members were all amazing, especially her brother cousin and aunt and I loved reading about how close they all were and supported each other no matter what.

I initially really liked Harper, the hippy writer who acted as a kind of queer feminist Yoda to aid Juliet in her voyage of discovery, but my opinion of her changed as the book went on. I loved the way that the two characters were so different and the way that Harper exposed Juliet to so many new experiences, but I hated the way that she made so many assumptions about Juliet and in the end I thought she was actually quite self centered.

Through Juliet's journey (literally and figuratively) the reader gets to learn so much about topics that you were afraid to ask about - from periods to polygamous relationships to white privilege. Every topic is handled sensitively and the writing is never preachy, only informative.

There is an awful lot in the book about racism and the differences between being a white feminist lesbian and a person of colour feminist lesbian which I hadn't really considered before. I'm not sure if this is my white privilege or because I'm British but I'm not used to people talking about their race all the time or referring to themselves expressly by their heritage. Some of the ideas discussed made me a little uncomfortable, like a racist slur said about Juliet's white girlfriend and a POC only party but through the character of Juliet the ideas are often questioned and both the positives and negatives are discussed.

Because the main character is Latino it was really interesting to view feminism and lesbianism through her eyes - how it fitted in with her religion, her traditional family, her views on men, her experience of privilege, her sense of self etc. This was a viewpoint that I hadn't read from before and I thought it was executed brilliantly.

My only criticisms of the novel would be that I think it's a little unrealistic for almost every character that Juliet encounters or knows to be gay and that perhaps a few straight people would have added another dynamic. I also felt that the negative way in which every white person was portrayed was a little unfair - although heaven knows there's enough books out there where the only black character is a villain/token gesture/non-existent so maybe the author was just trying to redress the balance.

Overall I loved reading this book and would recommend it to anyone looking to explore feminism and queerness from a different perspective, or just anyone looking for some great intersectional YA.

I LOVED this book. It started off as a love letter to the white lesbian feminist scene of the early aughts: Ani DiFranco, the thinly veiled novel celebrating genitalia, mix CD's. From there, the book truly blossoms into a coming of age novel which examines who your heroes are, Whiteness and language, who your allies are, how you deserve to be treated, Puerto Rican identity, and who you are. This is a book I wish was around when I was younger. I highly recommend any feminist or activist to read it.

Thank you for this book. It looks good, but I am probably just not the right audience for it. I could not get into it and I will not post a review. Good luck with it.

This book has been on my TBR for months. I loved it. It is so intersectional it makes my little heart so happy. Juliet is Puerto Rican, brown, chubby, lesbian, and writer. She is beautiful and if you want to read about someone figuring out what it means to be who she is, then this is for you.

Juliet grew up in the Bronx with her Puerto Rican mother, father, brother, and assortment of aunts. Juliet feels her life change when she reads Raging Flower by Harlowe Brisbane, a feminist extraordinaire that encourages women to explore themselves (physically, emotionally, and socially), just what Juliet needs to encourage her to come out to her family and make public her relationship with Lainie. Now Juliet has landed in Portland, a place full of white hippies that worship Harlowe, the women who offered her an internship for the summer. Juliet hopes this summer will magically help her find herself. It just doesn’t happen as she expects.



Diversity: +21
Race/Ethnicity: +1 (Author), +3 (PoC main characters)
Culture: +3 (Puerto Rican)
Gender: +1 (Author), +3 (Women and feminism), +1 (Discusses Trans and Cis)
Physical Disabilities: +1 (Glasses)
LGTQ+: +5 (obviously)
Socioeconomic status: +3


What I liked:
-Juliet is Puerto Rican. She’s Latina. Even though we’re different kinds of Latinas, so much of her family dynamic reminded me of my own. The food, the family, what a beautiful brown, Latina life. I loved how she found her roots and not once felt bad about her heritage. I loved how she tried to balance the values she grew up with and who she is. Her relationship with her mother made me want to call my own mother. Beautiful.
-The intersectionality. Seriously, I found myself cheering out loud every time someone got called out for their insensitivity. I love how Juliet learns about feminism, and white feminism, and queer people of color, and how it’s not the same kind of movement. She is learning how she fits within her family, her (small liberal arts) college life, white-hippie-Portland, and empowered-Miami-cousin. Juliet isn’t perfect, she’s learning which makes this that much more poignant.
-Descriptions of positive, healthy, relationships of all shapes and sizes without shying away from negative aspects. There are monogamous relationships and polyamorous relationships. Lesbians and bisexuals. Trans people with proper pronoun usage. Unabashedly sex positive. First loves and crushes and kisses under the stars.
-Body positivity. So many different bodies and all beautiful.


-One day, we’ll read books about PoC and queer characters that don’t spend time explaining terminology because we’ll all know it. One day, we’ll just get stories where they exist and thrive. I’m excited for that day.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review (and boy am I glad they let me have this book). It did not take me long to get through it but I wanted there to be so much more.

“All the moments where I was made to feel like an outsider in a group that was supposed to have room for me added up and left me feeling so much shame.”

Juliet Takes a Breath is an unapologetic, beautiful book about a young Puerto Rican queer woman from the Bronx who spends a summer in Portland, Oregon interning for a hippy queer white lady who wrote her favorite book all about “the power of the pussy”. But fear not, there is some major calling out later in the book about cissexist thinking. So anyone worried about that, it turns out good.

I’d also like to just get it out there that while I am a queer lady I am a queer white lady so just keep that in mind with my review of a very PoC centric book.

First of all, I’ve never felt so represented as a queer lady who is completely useless when I see a pretty girl. Just to get that out of the way. When I see a pretty lady I can’t articulate or really talk at all and Juliet is just like that. I love her.

This book really emphasizes the importance of PoC only spaces, especially within the queer community. Juliet is super new to the queer scene, and it really comes through in the writing. There are a couple points in the book where she gets overwhelmed with all the new information being thrown at her and she feels like she shouldn’t be asking what terms mean because all the people around her are “fluent in queer” (the words of a good friend of mine, not the book).

I also really loved how the book was written. Stylistically, it sounds a lot like how people talk and I really dig that. Although I could have done with less “yo’s” at the end of sentences, yo.

Some of my favorite moments in this book included “sacred period ritual kits,” an entire chapter titled “Ain’t No Party Like an Octavia Butler Writer’s Workshop,” all the wonderful girl flirting, and really at this point I’m going to list the entire book so I’ll just leave you with a few of my favorite quotes to tide you over while you go get your copy of this book.

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

“Always ask first and then kiss the way stars burn in the sky.”

This book started kind of slow but became very good once the story started. It is an important book to read for every young woman to better understand what feminism is why it is so important. The author drew such a great picture with the characters and made them each very personable.
However, I think my favorite part of the book was how "love" was portrait. It didn't just describe romantic love but also friendship and family love. Gabby Rivera has a special way to talk about love and what it means to the characters.
I would definitely recommend this book.

Let’s get the negatives out of the way first: this book is fairly plotless. Despite Juliet Takes' A Breath's short length, I found myself bored for most of the first half.

However, my disapointment at the plot was outshined by my love for pretty much everything else.

The character work here is sublime. Juliet is a funny but believable protagonist. Her emotional journey was easy to connect with, and I’m sure it will be for anyone who feels disenfranchised in society. This is Juliet's specific journey as a lesbian woman of color, and the author makes that very clear. It’s amazing that Rivera managed to make this journey so specific yet so universal.

The side characters shined here too. All were complex and developed, even in very little pagetime. I feel like I know these women. I feel like Gabby Rivera knows these women. I was just incredibly impressed by the amount I connected to this story.

The integration of social issues here was also amazing. I’ve never read a book that represented so many issues so well! There’s a focus on lgbt issues, on women’s issues, on how women’s issues and trans issues need to be connected, and on racism issues. It’s revolutionary that this book got published by an agency. Juliet would be proud.

I almost wish Juliet’s brave women heroes had been integrated more into the latter half of the book. It seemed like an amazing concept that almost got abandoned. I understand why it happened, though; there was a lot to resolve in the latter half. Again, the pacing needed a little editing.

This book definitely comes highly recommended, and thanks again to the publisher for sending me this arc!

Reading about a thick brown queer feminist was a joy to behold! She painted vivid imagery into that world! And her growing understanding of white supremacy was illuminating.

This book was "bad azz" (and I mean that in the best way possible)!!! Funny, so real, and chock full of real emotions. I really enjoyed reading this book and I couldn't put it down until I finished. I want more from Gabby Rivera!

This book was seriously laugh out loud funny. I want to be friends with Juliet, her voice was so funny, poignant and compelling.

Our protagonist is a young Puerto Rican woman from the Bronx who travels to Portland to intern for a crunchy, white hippie who wrote a Cunt-esque, pussy-power manifesta, and it is through this mentor's fairly limited but ultimately "well-meaning" perspective that Juliet begins to identify with and define her own feminism.

The limitations of privileged, white feminism are portrayed really well through the novel, not just through Juliet's mentor but through Juliet's own experiences in an exceedingly white city. When Juliet is introduced to spaces carved out purely for people of color she is allowed to flourish and experience herself more freely without being blinded by whiteness.

This was a quick read, and a really fun one. I really want to continue to follow Juliet and experience her growing into herself as described by the author's vibrant and critical language. We need so many more Juliets in our books.

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

Though this is the opening of the book, it sets a tone that defines the rest of the novel. It is a rare book that from the very beginning I can feel it sinking into my bones, but that is exactly what this felt like. And despite the fact that I kept worrying maybe that feeling would go away, I was entranced from beginning to end, and sobbed through the epilogue. This is a book that has power. And a book that will stay with me.

Juliet is a 19-year-old Puerto Rican lesbian from the Bronx who goes to be an intern for a hippy white feminist in Portland, and who also happens to have written Juliet's favorite book. It is a book about pussy power. But fear not, those worrying (as I did) about the cissexist nature of that book: it is called out frequently in the latter half of the novel! Just as so many other things are. In Portland, Juliet is part of an incredibly queer community. The number of queer women around at all times in this novel was impossible to ignore and it made my heart sing. Queer women of color, specifically, were essential in Juliet coming to understand the terminology she needed to define her own identity and to help offer new definitions of feminism and queer identity that can feel more inclusive to her.

It feels rare to experience such visibly queer spaces in books. Not just queer spaces that happen in one scene, but a constantly queer environment that is full of support but also critique and questioning of white feminist structures. Beyond the presence of queer spaces, there is also so much emphasis on POC-only spaces and the importance that they have. Over and over again, the bullshit complaints of white feminists are shot down and intersectionality is emphasized, explained, and made the most important part of the feminism Juliet is trying to learn. A feminism that includes her, in all her Puerto Rican lesbian glory.

Not to continue gushing, but some of my other favorite moments include: an entire chapter dedicated to making the period a celebrated experience, the strained but intensely loving relationship between Juliet and her mother, the entire chapter entitled "Ain't No Party Like an Octavia Butler Writer's Workshop", girls flirting, close family relationships, mini history lessons about amazing forgotten women of color, and about a hundred other things.

OH OH OH and I almost forgot: the almost embarrassing amount of realism that queer women become completely useless in the presence of other beautiful lady-identified individuals. Every time Juliet saw a fabulous queer lady and lost the ability to speak or spit out coherent sentences I was on another planet of joy.

This is the coming of age story of a fierce, funny, nerdy, chubby, intelligent Latina. It was breathtaking and sharp, full of so much goodness I know I'll be able to find new things again and again. It acts as an intro for those who don't know queer and feminist terminology, but also serves as a critique of the whiteness of those structures if you already do. It is ownvoices and vibrant and incredible. I'm begging you to read it.

3.5
I’m conflicted about this book. In so very many ways I loved it. I loved Juliet. I loved her family (once the ones that needed to come around came around). Special shout outs for how much I loved Melvin and hope he gets his own book when he’s a little older and the Miami branch of the family. I loved the Portland crew, problematic as some of them were. I liked the way white culture and people were othered in a manner only a non-white author could write them. I loved the way Phen’s use of words highlighted how language, even inclusive, social justice language, could be used as a weapon and/or to alienate someone. I appreciated the themes of the book and the engagement of White Feminism. I loved the diversity. There is so much to appreciate here.

But I found that while reading the book, I wanted more. But any time I set it down, I didn’t want to pick it back up again. I had to sit on this review a little while to figure out why. And I think it’s just that, as much as I appreciate the themes of the book and the journey Juliet takes, the book itself is too heavy handed with them. It often felt didactic. Rivera had to make Juliet too clueless to be believe for a 19yo, brown, lesbian in a liberal arts college, taking Women’s History classes in order to impart lessons to the reader through Juliet. I felt battered by them and it took a force of will to subject myself to more, even as I thought, ‘hell yeah’ about most of them.

The writing is beautiful, though there is an awful lot of telling involved. All in all, however, I’d be up for more of Rivera’s writing. I loved a lot more than I didn’t.

This book was simply amazing. I wasn't sure, after reading the description, if it would fall a bit flat, given that it is set in 2002, or if it would seem a bit preachy. It was neither. Juliet is a well-crafted character, full of life, wonder, curiosity, and hope. She popped off the page, asking all of the questions I had as a young queer woman just a few years before her. Her quest to find the intersection of feminism, gender, sexuality, and race was realistic, heart-wrenching, and emotionally fulfilling. The characters, situations, and dialogue never seemed forced; even the unexpected-but-once-it-happened-totally-expected "twist" didn't seem out of place, rushed, shoe-horned in, or otherwise "written" - this was a text that will feel real and authentic to the students who encounter it, and it is one that I will recommend wholeheartedly. I look forward to more from this brilliant author!

https://bibliophilefeminist.wordpress.com/2017/03/02/juliet-takes-a-breath-review/

Already looking forward to Gabby Rivera's next book. The main character Juliet Milagros Palante takes readers on a journey from her home in the Bronx, where she just came out to her family, to an internship with a hippy author of a Pussy Power book in Portland, OR. Juliet is a great character and takes a lot in, meeting new people and learning new things (What respecting one another means in intercultural relationships, being lesbian/queer, what polyamory is, and what it means to feel at home and affirmed.) There is a lot of she learns about the world and communities (Intersectionality specifically regarding race/ethnicity and LGBTQ) and about herself as it is happening. Not only is she kick ass, but the other characters is the book grapple with their relationships and the challenges they experience without blowing up and cutting others off. There is a lot of respect, which gives this book a feel-good tone, even if you suspect in real life people wouldn't have been so civil.

From page one I knew that this book and I would become friends. I can't describe it better than that it feels like a warm hug!

This story follows Juliet Milagros Palante, a Latina asthmatic lesbian with anxiety problems. There's a special place in my heart for characters who are allowed to exist with more than one label. Because sometimes us disabled lesbians need to be able to read stories about other people like us, instead of having to choose a disabled or a lesbian character.

On top of being entertaining and moving, Juliet Takes A Breath is a highly informative novel. It is definitely going to widen many readers’ minds, and educate them on queerness, religion, race, gender, intersectionality, polyamory, and the importance of proper communication in relationships.

Great book for teens struggling with self love and conflicting feelings of acceptance with friends, family and themselves. Empowerment is a strong heady feeling which should be shared by all