Reviews

Juliet respira profundo by Gabby Rivera

martereadsbooks's review against another edition

funny hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

kim_j_dare's review against another edition

4.0

From what I can make out, Juliet was (self)published by Riverdale Avenue in 2016, and can I just say how thrilled I am that Penguin/Dial realized what a treasure this story is, and is republishing it much more broadly next month?

So many teens are going to connect with Juliet’s self-searching and humor and insecurities and love. Her journey from the Bronx to Portland, Oregon, where she has a summer internship with the author of Raging Flower: Empowering Your Pussy by Empowering Your Mind brings her opportunities for more self-growth than she ever thought possible. And a lot of that self-growth comes from the realization that intersectionality between feminism and racism isn’t so clear-cut.

Not only is this a wonderful story of LGBTQ+ discovery, it’s a great primer on micro-aggressions and the well-intentioned idiocy of white folks (myself most definitely included).

The only reason it’s a 4 instead of 5 is that *occasionally* the conversation is laid on a little thick. Never pedantic, but not always realistic.

Thank you, Edelweiss, for the electronic ARC!

anjolaslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-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

4.5

noa_ashley_'s review against another edition

3.0

" You don't have to fit into anyone's definition of who you should be. You define yourself. "

I listened to the audiobook version from this book. This book has a lot of information, Juliet leans a lot of new things but then again it felt like she didn't do anything with that information. There are characters that tried to teach her things about gender identity and sexuality for her to stil be somewhat closed minded at the end of the book. It's a whole new world for her. I felt like this book missed something, The characters were not likeable, there were also to many characters, the book felt very messy because.

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.