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A review by bethstuartx1
Breathless by Jennifer Niven
4.0
In the authors note, Jennifer wrote that this book is the most personal one she’s written yet, even more than “All the Bright Places” and it truly feels that way. The first 30% was a struggle for me to get through and I think that’s because I’ve not been reading as much YA lately, especially not the coming of age kind. However, as I continued reading I slowly became invested with the story and Claudine’s relationship with Miah.
My biggest and probably only complaint is that one minute Claude would be saying that sex doesn’t matter to her and it’s not that big of a deal, but then completely contradict that on the next page, obsessing over every single boy and imagining what it would be like to get with him. I kid you not, she was literally having a conversation about turtles with someone, all the while in her head she’s thinking what it would be like to sleep with that person, it was almost like she was unhealthily obsessed with the idea of sex.
That being said, I thought the writing was excellent and that Niven truly captured what it was like to be in young and in love for the first time (and other first times...) I also found the book actually quite sad, but in a completely different way than ATBP. It was bitter sweet and realistic, but I won’t go into much more detail because spoilers.
After I finished the book I went on Jennifer’s instagram page (I don’t know why, it’s just something I like to do when I finish someone’s book) and learned just how much the story was based on her and how her husband met, and I got a bit teary-eyed looking at their wedding pictures as I had basically just read about their relationship and love story in a fictionalised book, which made me realise that I connected to these characters more than I thought.
Overall I would recommend if you are interested in it and have liked the authors previous books ❤️
My biggest and probably only complaint is that one minute Claude would be saying that sex doesn’t matter to her and it’s not that big of a deal, but then completely contradict that on the next page, obsessing over every single boy and imagining what it would be like to get with him. I kid you not, she was literally having a conversation about turtles with someone, all the while in her head she’s thinking what it would be like to sleep with that person, it was almost like she was unhealthily obsessed with the idea of sex.
That being said, I thought the writing was excellent and that Niven truly captured what it was like to be in young and in love for the first time (and other first times...) I also found the book actually quite sad, but in a completely different way than ATBP. It was bitter sweet and realistic, but I won’t go into much more detail because spoilers.
After I finished the book I went on Jennifer’s instagram page (I don’t know why, it’s just something I like to do when I finish someone’s book) and learned just how much the story was based on her and how her husband met, and I got a bit teary-eyed looking at their wedding pictures as I had basically just read about their relationship and love story in a fictionalised book, which made me realise that I connected to these characters more than I thought.
Overall I would recommend if you are interested in it and have liked the authors previous books ❤️