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poppyjessica 's review for:
Breathless
by Jennifer Niven
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.
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.