Reviews

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera

finchthearcher's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

ashliesbooknook's review against another edition

funny informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Juliet was a fantastic MC. I adored her relationships with her brother, Lil'Melvin, and cousin, Ava, and loved how she was so curious to learn about herself and her communities. I would have liked more of her romance with Kira as she was such a good character. Most of the other characters annoyed me, with Harlow being unbearable from the start. 

I loved the writing style though. There were so many funny moments along with some really important messages. Will definitely read more from Rivera.

manonbo93's review against another edition

4.0

Great content, characters, and gifted by my dear friend so this is a treasure for me. But at points the writing style was more telling than showing, which made me lose some of the connection I felt toward it. Great, important book for me and my students to read.

bookshelvesandtealeaves's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really loved Juliet’s journey in this one. I loved that she was really at the start of her journey, that she was constantly learning and asking questions, that her mind was open to new and confusing things. I loved everything about her story. I really wanted to give her a hug.

I loved her summer fling with Kira, too. Kira was such a great character, such a great person for Juliet to fall into for a little while. She listened and she loved and she didn’t judge and they were just so good together. I’d have honestly taken another 100 pages of this book just for them.

I loved the overall message about feminism and in particular how damaging cis, white feminism is. I think this is really important and I feel like I learned something reading this book, which is always a win and something I hope I can take with me. But I do think the message got lost a little beneath a lot of hippy stuff that I couldn’t vibe with.

And that’s sorta why this isn’t rated higher for me. I didn’t really like any of the other characters. Harlowe drove me absolutely mad even before she bared her problematic soul. I couldn’t vibe with any of these characters. It was just…too hippy-ish for me. There was a superior air surrounding it all that went beyond Harlowe and her irritating brand of white hippy feminism.

I do still think this book is important and people should absolutely read it. It was just one I struggled to fully connect with at times.

__karin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

jenmangler's review against another edition

3.0

I really liked Juliet, and I enjoyed her journey. I listened to the audio version of the book, and I found myself really enjoying the time I spent with Juliet on my way to and from work.

dinah_yukich's review against another edition

2.0

I really wanted to love it… but I almost did not finish. One of the things that kept me from really getting into it was that it wasn’t a very believable early 2000’s. The world felt like the 2010’s or later.

Otherwise, the book may just be written for someone too much younger than me… Juliet just didn’t resonate the way I expected her journey to… she had too little introspection for someone self described as introspective. The last third of the book was a lot stronger.

Even so, the writing was too much “tell” not enough “show.”

threegoodrats's review against another edition

4.0

My review is here.

clowdywings's review against another edition

3.0

3 - Well done.

The narrative really drew me into this. The raw, unfiltered emotion from Juliet was so well done and it was clearly included in the narrative.

The two negative things that stood out for me was the miscommunication and Juliet’s cheating. Harlowe never really asks Juliet for her opinion for a lot of things, she just does things. That really frustrated me.

zachzakku's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This should be compulsory reading for 1) all high school seniors and 2) all aspiring politicians.

Apart from loving everything about the characters and the story, this is also just very, very well-written. It's so voicy! I was 100% with Juliet the entire time.