I was surprised at how much I actually loved this book. Although I am obviously not the intended audience I felt like i could understand and relate to this book so much.

This book is about Claude. Who's world turns upside down at such a crucial time in her life, her senior year. She ends up on an island with her mum for the summer and yeah she meets a boy and falls in love.

For me the story was so nice because it was more about self discovery than the romance. Although I didn't agree with the realisticness (not a word lol) of all of it I did throughly enjoy it. I really enjoyed all the side characters too.

I loved that it was set on an island. Island settings is one of my favourite things in books. I loved the historical aspect to it with claudes mums work and the islands history and i so so enjoyed the writing style. I highlighted alot! Of sentences and wee paragraphs that really stood out to me.

Would 100% recommend to anyone who is slightly intrigued by this synopsis

My most favourite book in the whole world is I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith). I really don't do favourites or top ten lists, especially when it comes to books, but somehow ICTC made it. I tell you this because, when I say that the ending of Breathless reminded me of I Capture the Castle, I want you to know that that is one of the biggest compliments I could even imagine, never mind give.

Breathless is... well, it left me breathless. It is full of stunning prose, and heart-capturing characters, and intricately woven stories. It's one of those books that will completely ruin you, because you can't imagine reading anything set in any other world, with any other characters.

A word of warning, that Breathless is kind of the definition of a character-driven novel. That isn't to say that nothing happens, quite the opposite, but the things that are happening kind of fade into the background compared to the journey of the protagonist, Claudine. The book starts with Claudine's last week of high school: her friendships, particularly with best friend Saz; her excitement and fears about the next chapter of her life; the guy she's dating, and the guy she's long been in love with. The summer is about to start, and she's ready to make memories with Saz, to maybe maybe have sex for the first time. And then- and then her dad drops a bombshell, and she and her mum head off to a far-flung Georgian island to try and mend their broken pieces. On the island, Claudine tries to make sense of all that's happened, and to find a way to continue knowing how easily the floor can be taken away from beneath her. At the same time, she and her mum find out more about their distant relatives, the Blackwoods, a lineage of strong women who faced incredible hardship; and she meets Miah, who she promises not to fall in love with.

Something that really stood out about Breathless is how it seems somewhat predictable, yet feels anything but. I could never have predicted the ending, nor could I have predicted the route it took to get there. Without getting too spoilery, there are multiple plotlines that feel left unfinished at the end, but that was one of the things I liked most. It's not about the ending, it's about the journey, and it's about what might come next. Another element that really stood out was the intertwining plots: I loved finding out about Tillie, and about the first Claudine, whilst the rest of the novel was still unfolding.

One of the main themes of Breathless is sex, particularly sex when you are just discovering what it's all about. I haven't seen any other book, ever, that has handled this in such a phenomenal way as Niven. The theme of sex is explored in a truly exceptional way, with a great deal of nuance. I really hope this book makes it into every school library possible, because I think so many teenagers would benefit from reading this. That virginity is a patriarchal construct is discussed and explored- but, equally, there is great consideration given to how early sexual experiences can feel momentous. This level of nuance is applied across the novel to all kinds of aspects. I also really appreciated how Claudine's less positive feelings about sex were given space and time, without judgement. I remember, as a teenager, experiencing all kinds of unpleasant feelings following even the loveliest of intimacies, and being confused and distressed by feeling them. Seeing Claudine have these same difficult and bewildering feelings was a healing for myself, and a representation I really hope as many people as possible are able to access.

I also loved the way that Niven handled trauma: the ways we are shaped and influenced by the past, but also the ways we have to take responsibility for the present and the future. Miah's history as a carer was explained really well, and again there was some incredibly valuable and refreshing representation in this. Yet another reason for every school librarian to get a copy of this (or several copies of this), because I know all too well how this book could be exactly what some young adults need.

My main critique, I think, is of the way that Claudine talks about Saz's relationship with her parents. I can see where she's coming from in this, but it was still quite privileged, and ignored the difficulties LGBTQ+ young people can face, particularly in relation to their families and feeling understood. It's also key to note that I am a white reviewer, so cannot speak for any of the racial representation in this novel.

Lastly, it feels utterly inappropriate to review this book and not give a nod to the gorgeous, gorgeous prose. My Kindle copy is full of highlightings, and I'm sure many people's copies will be the same. Niven truly is a beautiful writer.

Overall, a fantastic novel, and a great addition to the world of YA (have I mentioned that all school/college librarians should be pre-ordering this already?!).

I loved Jennifer Niven's 'All the Bright Places' when I read it years ago so was excited to read this book and it didn't disappoint.

Sometimes I found it difficult to motivate myself to pick it up but I think perhaps that is due to not reading many YA books anymore. However, once I got into I found myself enjoying it even more.

The story and characters was relatable and this is something I always look for in a book.

I found the plot of this book a little odd. I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to feel, and I really didn't relate to the characters.

The plot seemed to be all over the place for me. It was going down the 'teen high school' drama route at the beginning, with graduation, love and road trips. I was beginning to think I had read this before, as it just didn't feel very original. Then when the dad comes in with his news, the book changes. It then feels more like a holiday book, then with the mums research I thought it would turn into a mystery book. Then it became a romance again. I just didn't connect to any of it.
I found the central character of Claude incredibly selfish too. Also, considering she was supposed to be eighteen, I found her incredibly young.

The only positive I can take from this is the beautiful imagery of the island. I fell in love with the location more than the characters!

Thank you, Jennifer Niven, for writing the book that I needed as a teenager, and showing that, even though the results may not be exactly what you want, you have to be open to the possibilities life offers.
Breathless starts slowly, and while I was enjoying it I didn’t think it was going to cause the emotional gut-punch it did. It’s a book about love, learning to accept yourself and to have the confidence to take risks as they hurt but can bring wonderful things.
The main character in this, Claude, is a curious character, who definitely grew on me. She starts the book in a fairly safe place with certain expectations, then learns that things don’t always go to plan...but it can be okay. She is definitely feeling uncertain as she’s about to head to college, her best friend has started a relationship she didn’t know about and things are changing/she’s losing control of the things happening around her. Her summer begins in an unsettling way, with her parents announcing they are going to split up and she is expected to spend the summer on an island with her mother.
Cut off from everything she knows, this actually opens Claude to the possibility of new experiences. She takes solace in the immediacy of the wonderful natural environment around her, she learns to ride a bike and she starts a relationship with someone who changes her in ways she couldn’t imagine.
It would be so easy to reduce this to a summer romance category and make what we watch between Claude and Miah seem trite. That would, I think, be missing the point. It might not be exactly what we’d wish for either, but in its own way it’s beautiful.
I will be urging everyone to read this upon its September 2020 release, and would like to thank the publishers and NetGalley for letting me read it early.

I highly recommend this story which I think is best suited to a teen audience. It is about an 18 year old girl; Claudine who is about to graduate from High School and spend the summer with her friends before going to College in New York. However a shattering event in her family means a change of plans and she is forced to spend summer with her Mother on an island in Georgia where her Mother's family come from. The island and it's past provide a fascinating and mysterious setting. It is here that Claudine meets Jeremiah and the fireworks begin. This is a modern day romance and also involves Claudine growing as a person during her time spent away from her friends and finding out how to deal with challenges in life. I was pleased to read that there are autobiographical aspects to the story from Jennifer Niven's own life. A fantastic story that was hard to put down.

From the outset I liked the main characters and thought the readability of Claud and Saz would be enjoyed by young adults. The various relationships explored throughout including dealing with parental separation and friendships as well as first sexual experiences was depicted perfectly. The tone for young adults was just right and I know the young people I teach will enjoy reading about these characters. It was nice to see same- sex relationships not treated like something rare or revolutionary but just as another normal part of being a person and I think this is important for our young pupils to see.. I felt this book was moving and compelled me throughout and I will be recommending to my pupils in September, and to staff teaching PSHEE too.

Breathless was the perfect book to see me through this heatwave! I have been in a bit of a reading slump during lockdown but YA romances have really pulled me out and this one was no different - so many swoon worthy moments! I have read Holding Up the Universe and All the Bright Places (both of which I adored) but this one has become my favourite!

Quite by accident I was flicking through my Netgalley offerings a few weeks ago, and selected a random handful of YA coming of age titles I’d not heard of. Jennifer Niven’s BREATHLESS review is here because of that happenstance.

I’m not sure I can convey how much I love this book. Except to say that I never wanted it to end. And I love that it didn’t.

Remember Judy Blume’s Forever? How, for an entire generation, it was a groundbreaking book which actually tackled being a teenager, walking us by the hand through an honest experience of first love, first sex, and all the loaded emotions that went alongside?

My BREATHLESS review? Well. It’s a new generation’s Forever. Except it’s better. More inclusive, more mature, more balanced, more insightful, more joyful, more wild, more honest… It’s a beautiful, wonderful, exciting breathless bike ride through a baked hot summer crammed and bursting with friendship, first love, adulthood, nostalgia, family… and so many beautiful words.

In fact, it’s far far more than my pre-teen self reading Forever all agog. It’s older, deeper, more joyful and more visceral.
In 1988 I sat at the start of the summer holidays with my friends and watched Dirty Dancing on VHS. It was a pivotal moment in my teens. I watched Baby coming of age, finding out who she was, what she wanted, standing up for what she believed in, saw her and her sister discover each other again, and of course the wonderful sizzling hair-standing physical chemistry.
All through that long hot summer I watched it again, and again, and again; always smiling, angry, breathless, anticipatory.

And that’s the exact feeling I got this week, thirty years later, reading BREATHLESS.

Claudine’s summer is a lot. Like, really a LOT.
Jennifer Niven seamlessly winds the tangled threads of Claudine’s relationship with each of her parents, her best friend far away, the new life she is suddenly thrust into, and of course The Boy. (Oh, Miah).
There’s no sugar-coating any of the stress. There’s no hiding the angry, sullen teenager. Nor the deep, aching pain as she navigates this strange new world. My heart ached for Claudine as much as I zinged with joy for her. Breathed the lightness, the exhilarating freedom along with her. There’s no annoyingly neat answers and no easy endings. It’s as perfectly, wonderfully, beautifully messy as real life gets.

The experience of ‘the first time’ is quite brilliant. Funny, tender, and imperfectly perfect. I wanted to quote a scene at the end of that chapter, but it would be a spoiler, so I can’t. Just know that I actually cheered out loud at her parting shots as she left.

As an adult, BREATHLESS made me feel again the anguished whirl that is the shedding of childhood, the painful acceptance of how the world is versus how you want the world to be. I felt again the tingling secret smile of first love, the first time you feel way down deep inside the difference between a teen crush and the actual thing. The certainty, the rush of power – and the simultaneously terrifying vulnerability. The bone heavy pain of heartbreak – and not just the pain of being broken by The Boy.

Oh, and I loved her relationship with her Mum. Properly loved them every time they were together.

And I’m shoving BREATHLESS into my teen daughter’s hands as hard as I can. Because here is a book which not only deals with all those important issues in a way she’ll relate hard to, but does so from the viewpoint of a wonderful, strong, flawed, vulnerable, overthinking, impulsive smart girl. A girl I’d be thrilled for my daughter to emulate.
Claudine knows her own worth. She makes up her own mind. She’s unsure – and though she’s in need of advice and help, ultimately she understands she’s writing her own future, and she remains beguilingly honest with us, her readers.

The whole book rings with the solid truth of a huge bell* . Anyone with friends or family far away will cry a little inside when Claudine is on the phone to her long-distance best friend. Claudine’s broken, and desperately needs her friend, who assures her

“You’re not alone, I’m right there with you”.

and Claudine notes “…it’s what you say to your best friend when you don’t know what to say, and all you want to do is be there for them and make the bad things go away”

Which, as a person with a tight group of the very dearest online friends, scattered across the globe, I felt the truth of as a sharp stab, remembering all the times over the years I’ve felt and said the same.

So the sum of my BREATHLESS review? It’s simply this:

Mums – read this, and remember.
Teens – read this; listen, learn, know you’re not alone, that it’s okay. And that you get to choose.

“…open yourself up to love and possibility, to almostness and maybe. Use your voice. Let others in. Choose your future. Choose your body. Choose yourself. And go out there and write your life.”
Jennifer Niven


*(unsurprising when you read the Jennifer Niven’s acknowledgements. Which everyone should do – it’ll make you love this story even more)

I’m not sure what to make of this book. I loved the setting, and the actual storyline itself was great, but it didn’t make me feel it, like I wanted it to. I never quite got the emotions particularly deeply as I have with Jennifer Niven’s previous titles. Maybe just not for me - to be honest, I’m not the right age for the target audience. 😀

Breathless is one of the most beautifully written novels I have read in recent memory, managing to tap into the breadth and depth of emotions in young people in a way that few have been capable of. The novel brings to light so many issues that are too rarely discussed in young adult fiction and evokes the pain and passion of teen love, as well as the real emotional heartache of it, like nothing else. Niven should be praised endlessly for her capacity to write and immerse us in our emotions and is one of the finest authors in the genre right now.

A beautiful and timeless tale of first love and heartbreak, learning through living and a lesson in romantics.

Another brilliantly written novel by Jennifer Niven.

Breathless is a coming of age story set on a remote island off the coast of Georgia. Claude tried to navigate her way through the summer after graduation. She and best friend, Saz, have plans for one last road trip before going their separate ways. All that changes when Claude finds out her parents are separating and she has to travel to a remote island with her Mum, leaving her Dad, home town and best friend behind.

Whilst on the island (such a beautifully described place, I think I could just live there!) Claude meets a boy: Miah and this is where romance begins.

I love that this book addresses so many difficulties faced by young people. It's got difficult friendship, relationships, trust, parent separation, sex and virginity. The storyline beautifully weaves in these themes which are completely relatable. There is so much going on in this book but it's easy to follow and definitely realistic to life. I enjoyed reading lots of Claude's internal thoughts as she processes and works out how to deal with everything that is thrown at her.

I adore the relationship between Claude and best friend, Saz - which isn't perfect, but that's life.

I didn't think any of Jennifer Niven's books would top All the Bright Place, but I really think this is a strong contender.

I read this as an ARC in return for an honest review.

A powerful YA coming of age novel dealing with some powerful issues facing today's young people: Divorce, sex, anxiety and suicide to name a few. Set on a beautiful remote island that forces the characters to move away from the pressures of modern technology and connect with real humans. Jeremiah and Claudine were special characters and the ending is heartbreaking. Don't think I could read with students as i'd be in floods of tear but definitely one to recommend they read on their own.

This was a sweet and modern take on the 'summer romance' novel - I enjoyed it! It felt grown-up yet still age appropriate for a younger audience. I loved the setting - I could see and feel the island - Jennifer Niven's writing took me there fully.

I loved it. A perfect summer read.

As a YA novel I really enjoyed it and loved the romance and all the other plot points. As a teacher, I wouldn't be able to recommend it to my students.

TW: divorce, cheating, mentions of suicide, anxiety & panic attacks

Jennifer Niven does it again with another fantastic novel boy did I love this one. It was incredible the writing was superb. The characters were likeable. I could not put the book down.

So we follow the story of Claudine, planning ongoing a road trip with her best friend Saz after they graduate to spend the last summer together before they both go to different colleges across America. Things are going well on the plan until a few days before graduation, Claudine's father drops a bombshell that changes everything. Unexpectedly Claudine is taken away to an island resort in the coast of Georgia with no wifi or cell phone signal. Claudine gutted she can't go on the road trip and dreads the island more and more.

When on the island, we follow Claudine and her mothers' journey on becoming better and getting over the divorce. We follow Claudine's change and her meeting new friends and our love interest Jeremiah. The bond between Jeremiah and Claudia was great. I loved them both together they likeable and mostly realistic conversations. I wish we had more scenes with Claudia and her new friends when they were together they had great chemistry. Also, I think making up between Claudia and Saz and her father would have been great. The ending was heartbreaking worth it.

Sometimes things end, even if you don't want them to..."

This is how I felt about this book. I love it more than words and it's one of the best books I've read, ever! I've never highlighted so many passages in a book before.
I feel like I was meant to read this book, that somehow the universe knew I needed it. I only started NetGalley a few weeks ago and this popped up. I loved All the Bright Places but I didn't expect to get approved for this review.
When I finished I was a mess. Emotionally and literally - with tears, snot and body-wracking sobs. My heart was sore; it's still sore. I've even pre-ordered my own copy because I need this book on my shelf.

As Claude graduates high school she finds her world is suddenly turned upside down and the floor has been yanked from beneath her. She's feeling lost and ready to just spend the summer coasting on a remote island with her Mum. What she doesn't plan for is Jeremiah Crew, a boy that will make her reevaluate and face her problem whilst also teaching her how to fall in love with life again.

A fantastic five-star read that's so very relatable. I love how much this book means personally to Jennifer, as she explains in the acknowledgements, and reading that made me ball all the more.
It touches on many relatable issues, such as virginity, sexuality, divorce, adultery and choice. It doesn't portray the characters as perfect but instead as human - mistakes and all.
I'd recommend this for young adults, new adults and even us older readers. We can all find something in this book for ourselves. For me it was a nostalgia, so effortlessly brought to life by Jennifer's favoulous writing style.

This was my first Jennifer Niven book but I can already see why she is a hit with young adult readers. The plot is about Claude, our protagonist who was supposed to be going on a road trip with her best friend Saz after graduating. Instead, her parents are getting a divorce and Claude is stuck on an island off the coast of Georgia with her mother for the summer. It is only when she meets Jeremiah Crew that she is able to find a way through her grief and mature in her approach to family, love and sex.

Niven has a nice writing style and vividly portrays the island, illustrating it as an isolated paradise. In the author's note, she comments how this place is based on her own experiences which is why Niven is able to bring island life alive so beautifully for the reader.

At first, Claude is self-centred and quite infuriating in her immaturity. However, this allows Claude clear character development, particularly as she explores sex for the first time. There are some important messages in here for teen readers about virginity, consent and what it means to be in a sexual relationship. I found the portrayal of some of these discussions very on the nose but are written in a way which will hopefully resonate with younger readers.

Overall, Niven's book has some nice messages which will be important for teen readers to hear but the story was not compelling enough to really hold my attention. A large portion of the narrative is Claude contemplating her feelings in place of driving the plot forward. This, along with the disappointing lack of closure at the novel's ending, made this a pleasant but 3 star read for me. I will still be recommending this for my older students.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I started this book. I didn't really think I would like it. And then boom it hit me, I didn't love claude at the beginning but by the end she had me in tears. I badly want another book to see if Miah ever comes back - how fab would that be if they met again on the island. I loved the fact we didn't get a great goodbye - I loved the way it was left open. I guess I just want more!