Breathless follows Claudine who after her parents split up is forced to accompany her mother to an island where she spends her summer, there she meets Jeremiah and starts a summer romance with him.

I did not really like the start of the book; it moves very fast and deals with some issues in a way that I did not like. It was not because they were handled badly, it just happened in a weird way because I hardly knew these characters and then all of a sudden there is a monologue on virginity and other related topics – it did not flow well and felt more like someone lecturing on a topic, it just felt rushed and the plot and characters were not developed enough for the issue to be addressed well. But, in the second half of the book, it does get better for example a character talks about not wanting to lose who she is and talks about wanting to have sex with other people/not settling down and that was done better – it did not feel forced and suited the conversation that was happening at the time.

The characters in the book were likable and the plot was a quick and an enjoyable read but I just felt like it is a very typical contemporary book and not that special, for me it does not stand out. Yes, the couple is cute and I liked them together but the plot was nothing unique and predictable and the characters were just likeable and I did not fall in love with them like I wanted too. I thought that the side characters especially the mum were interesting but there was too much focus on the romance in the book – I wanted to see more of Claud’s relationship with others. I did like how open the characters were with each other and how their romance developed – their interactions and the time they spent together exploring the island was my favourite thing in the book.

I feel in 2 minds about the writing, I think in the first half it felt like the book was trying so hard to sound pretty – the parts on how Claud was feeling and her emotions on certain things and yet I wanted it to be more raw/realistic, it felt a bit bland and there were parts were Claud would not stop thinking whilst something was going on, which was a bit annoying. The second half was better, and I enjoyed the writing style more – it felt more real and I related to Claud’s feelings and fear more because it was more honest. I also liked how independent Claud was, yes this is a book focused on romance but she also does things by herself and I think that is important in order for her to process everything going around her and her feelings.

The book is told in different sections but when it gets to the Island, the book deals with every day that Claud is on the Island with the chapters counting down until she leaves, I personally did not like the structure and the need to know about what she was doing every single day especially when most of it was very similar. The ending is something I predicted, it was expected because of the type of book it is and I liked it, if it had been different it would not have suited the book.

3/5

That’s what this book left me … breathless, it resonated with me and I loved every bittersweet minute of it. It’s a book you want to read slow to savour every word of it but you read it fast because you need to know more.

Claudine and her mum have been sent to an Island in Georgia where her ancestors come from this is not how she imagined her summer going, she was meant to be on a road trip with her best friend Saz before they both went off to different colleges.

Angry, hurt (especially with her dad) and scared that her life is changing too fast and not for the better she cuts her hair and decides to investigate the island and meets Jeremiah “Miah” Crew a reformed bad boy. They start a romance although they will only have 30 days together and quickly fall in love. They become each others best friends, confidantes and lovers. It’s a lovely story of first love, heartbreak and self enlightment. The island sounded idyllic and the characters are all relatable and real, with flaws and all.

I loved the authors style of writing the story just flows it’s beautifully written and one of the best books I have read this year.

It’s a book for all ages not just teens.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin for the ARC

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

My first Netgalley read of the month is Breathless, I requested this because the synopsis was very intriguing.

From reading the acknowledgements at the end of the book it seems this book is based on the experiences of the Author when they were 18. This made what I thought of it feel a little awkward if it’s based on genuine experiences. I did enjoy reading this book and got through it in around 4 days. I really liked some parts, other parts I struggled with and there were parts I just couldn’t decide what I thought on them. With that in mind, I wanted to make it clear that this review is based solely on my own opinion and experience reading the book it does not invalidate any reality this book is based on.

With that out the way, let's begin.

The story is focused on the experienced of 18-year-old Claudine after finding out her parents are divorcing and going to a remote island with her Mother. I’m still not sure entirely what I think about Claudine, I found her hard to connect with. She was quite childish in her views like she only saw the surface and didn’t think too deeply past her own needs. I’ll be honest though, it's been a while since I was 18 so maybe I’ve forgotten what an 18-year-old perspective is like. I am also an old lady at heart. There were parts of her I liked and could understand, the anger and hurt of her family unit falling apart, the feeling of the floor disappearing from under you. The moment she realised she was being egotistical and that other people existed and had feelings was when she started to warm on me. Before even then I did find her quite irritating and rash. Some of her actions I just couldn’t make sense of. But then again, I also understand that everyone reacts so differently.

Her love interest Miah I liked, I found him quirky. I found his backstory quite refreshing and loved that this representation was in the book and the impact it can have. The need for escapism. It’s like both Claudine and Miah are opposites in how they deal with difficult times. Parts of Miah felt a bit 2 dimensional and like he wasn't real but in a summer romance how much do you find out about the person to make them a whole and not just a construct of what they've presented you. There are some really interesting side characters, most notably for me is Claudine’s mum and friends Saz and Jared. I also wish there was more about the history of the islands and the strong women referenced.

I might have been uncertain about my feelings towards the MC but I did really like the relationships built between all the characters. That did remind me of being a teenager and making connections with new people.

I really enjoyed the pace of the plot. Breathless will be 400 pages long and I read it in just over 4 days. I was eager to understand Claudine and Miah’s summer together and what it meant. I’m also a sucker for some romance of which there was some. I didn’t know what to expect with a book about a summer romance. There were some sweet moments in the plot, some frustrating moments and some magical moments. There’s not much more I can without giving spoilers. Niven’s writing was smooth, easy to follow and bring out emotions in her readers.

The opening 20 pages were definitely not what I expected from the opening to a YA Novel to be. Like I’m not going to say any more than that cause it really will spoil the moment for you if you’re prewarned more than this. And the ending wasn’t what I was expecting, I found it quite emotional towards the end and shed a couple of tears.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book but it didn’t resonate with me. I liked the underlying themes on the impact on behaviour and peoples choices when experiencing traumatic or difficult periods in our lives. I enjoyed the story of young love but it got very serious very quickly and at parts maybe not realistic for me may be due to lack of build-up to their relationship becoming serious. But that could be the old lady in me talking. The writing does bring emotions forward and a tissue may be required at the end. If you like YA romance or want a sweet romance read then this is worth picking up.

I'm obviously going to be in the minority with Breathless - I really struggled with this one. I put it down for a few days to read something else, and actually had to force myself to pick it back up. I was expecting a lighthearted, summery YA read, but instead it was just lots and lots of whining and boring, long, self indulgent passages. I appreciate that I'm not the target audience by about 15 years (!) but I do enjoy a lot of YA novels. I also HATED the love interest, Miah. He was obnoxious, self centred and rude, and his way of leaving was awful. After reading the acknowledgements and realising how personal the story is to the author (it basically sounds like it might be autobiographical) I feel bad for saying how bored I was by it - but I was.

I really enjoyed this book, being a teenager I could totally relate to the story and characters. I had felt lots of emotions reading this story. There were times I felt I wouldn't have acted in that way or wouldn't have done the things the characters did, but I understand that everyone is different.

Claude has her world turned upside down when her parents separate and she has to move. Leaving what she knows and her best friend, she and her mum move temporarily to a remote island. I felt for Claude as I know how it feels to move away and leave your friends. All is not lost though, as it's not long before she meets Jeremiah (Miah) and soon her world that was upside down begins to right itself.

I would recommend this book, but definitely for a more mature teenager due to the content, but I also feel that I have actually learnt some things that I will remember for my future relationships.

'I open my eyes and I am tanged in the sheets, books upside down on the floor'

There are books you know you will love from the first sentence. Breathless is one of them.
Two years ago I adored All The Bright Places. Last year I started Holding Up The Universe and I meant to finish it on the plane, but with all the rush around packing my luggage and hurrying to the airport, I forgot the book at my mom's. (She is coming for Christmas and will bring the book with her) I was hyper excited about her new book and she didn't disappoint me.

Claudine Henry is an ordinary girl from Ohio. She is just a few days away from her graduation from High School and she can't wait for the summer to fulfil all the plans she has with her best friend Saz. She is going to university in NY and her biggest dream is to be a writer like her mom and to write her own story. And there is this boy Wyatt. She is so into him, she keeps her virginity for him and wants him and only him to be her first.

She has all these great plans until her father pulled the floor under her feet by telling her that he doesn't want a family anymore and he and her mom are doing to divorce. The thing that hurts the most is that her father is sending them away. Claude and her mom are supposed to leave after her graduation and to stay on an isolated island in Georgia for the rest of the summer.

‘Please bring my dad back because I don’t recognize you, this person who’s decided to leave my mother and me. I don’t even know you anymore. I don’t want to know you anymore.’

This island is where her mom ancestors come from. A family with a tragic history turned into a local legend. There, on this island with no Internet and mobile service, she meets Jerimiah Crew known as Miah. The boy who changed her, the one that obsessed her mind and helped her to discover herself. He steals her heart, her mind and she quickly forgot about Wyatt and even wondered what she saw in him. Miah stole her thoughts to such extend she decided to give him her virginity.

‘Doing the things I want to do, whatever those are. Not thinking about anyone else because no one is thinking of me. I see flashes of myself as the girl I think I used to be—happy, secure, a floor beneath my feet. Fuck everyone, I think. Fuck them all.’

This book is not for everyone. It touches a really sensitive topic as sex and virginity, the standards placed by the society when is the best age to start leading sexual life and all the taboos around this. Also how the virginity is put on the pedestal as something sacramental and how your life will change after you lose it.

‘The little death. Three words that could also refer to losing your virginity. Not in a morbid, tragic way. Not in a sad way. But in a this-is-the-end-of your-childhood kind of way. Even though I still feel stupidly young.‘

Also the divorce situation. I felt the book so close mainly because I can relate with Claude and her mom situation. My dad sent us away a few years ago and not because he didn’t want a family but because he didn’t want us. Since then I hear from him twice a year - a text message for my birthday and Christmas. I know how it feels to lose the floor under me.

‘Sometimes things end, even if you don’t want them to.’

I love this book and will promote it however I can and try to convince as many people as possible to read it. I was stuck in a reading slump since May (that’s another thing for another post) and this book pulled me out of it and I’m so glad it happened. I couldn’t put it down. I woke up in the midst of the night to feed my baby and I was looking forward to doing this so I can read a few more pages. I was literally glued to my Kindle and this book.

There are few downsides of course. I wanted to see more of the mother-daughter relationship and how they are coping with the situation. Also, I wanted to know more about people on the island. Their stories. More about the Outward Bound campers. How Claude fit with her new friends and became one of them - The Misfit Toys. The thing I got the most pissed about is the ending. Come on - such an open and disappointing ending. I wanted more. Seriously - why that ending? It’s so bloody out of place. Made me bloody mad, tho 

“So what scares you most? With us?” I give this a little thought. “That you’ll be really into me one day and the next day you won’t be, and I won’t see it coming. Because apparently, feelings can change overnight. Maybe it’s me. Maybe I’m too much. Or maybe I’m not enough.”

But anyway, thank you so much, Jennifer Niven, for pulling me out of my reading slump. I’m 19 books behind the schedule for my Goodreads challenge, but hopefully, I’ll make it as close to my target as possible.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

While I enjoy young adult fiction, I tend to steer clear of the ones just about romance as they can sometimes feel very cliched. However, Breathless was exactly what I needed on a rainy bank holiday weekend! Divorce is a delicate topic and it was good to see it dealt with sensitively with reference to the impact it would have on a young person's life. And the romance between Miah and Claude was very well done, avoiding too many obvious cliches. The discussion of the importance (or perhaps non-importance) of losing your virginity was also an important area, as this is an issue that concerns many teenagers. I also appreciated the way the relationship between Claude and her mother was drawn, as the progression of their understanding of each other made perfect sense in the context of the story.

This is the most coming-of-age story I've ever read. I enjoyed All the Bright Places so knew at the very least this would be well-written, and it certainly was. It reminded me in ways of Sarah Dessen's books, a time of self-realisation and growing into oneself for the MC. The characters were excellent and I didn't want to put it down. The ending was just perfect, too.

Thank You to NetGally and Penguin NZ for allowing me to read an ARC of this novel.

Breathless is a coming of age story, it follows Claude who moves to stay on an island during the summer after her parents choose to seperate. This book follows Claude on her journey of self discovery, while dealing with thoughts on sex and virginity.

These topics were dealt with really well, especially in a YA book. I personally wasn't a fan of Claudes character, I often found myself frustrated with the choices she made, making it hard for me to get through the book. This is also probably related to the fact I'm a little older, it may be a better suited book for a slightly younger advice such as teenagers as apposed to adults. If you're a teenager I'd recommend you give this book a go, this explores important themes that not a lot of YA novels tackle.

An auto-buy author of mine is definitely Jennifer Niven; All The Bright Places is one of my favourite books of all time, and she's very talented at creating such real characters that you can't help but warm to and empathise with.

Whilst Breathless isn't my favourite of Jennifer Niven's books and wasn't as gripping as her previous two novels, I did really enjoy it and would recommend it. I think the main thing holding me back from rating it higher is that I found it to be a bit of a slow starter and the characters weren't as engaging as I'm used to with Jennifer Niven's books which made it harder to keep reading. I definitely want to give Breathless another read though to give it a fair chance and see if I change my mind a bit!

Breathless is a slow simmer of a book - it's like the first moments of summer break where you've got weeks of endless time stretching out in front of you, it's like the sea dropping off into the horizon, or the endless hours of sunlight before nightfall. It becomes the sudden flurry of activity and the scramble to do things before normalcy returns, and the change in pace is so subtle it's like a ripple in the water. We follow Claudine - Claude - who's family dynamic has shifted by her parents' impending separation, who spends the summer in a remote island in Georgia with her mum. Having just graduated, this summer was meant to be about one final adventure with her best friend before starting college in different states, instead she spends her time in a far-off disconnected place - both figuratively and literally. The book really tackles the emotions Claude feels, especially when hearing about change, she says it's as though the floor has be taken out from underneath her. This is is quite fitting considering this becomes her summer of change, but not in the way she expected.

I compulsively sunk into the descriptions of the weeks spent languidly on the island, her routine, and the people who Claude now orbits in this strange in-between phase. As she's cut off from everything she's familiar with, she becomes more open to the possibility of new experiences. There's a solace to be found in the bug-infested heat, and a calm to be found in the turtle breeding grounds, and an excitement to a tepid summer romance with a boy, Miah. As you know there's an expiry date on the pair, it makes the descriptions of their budding, blossoming feelings to be raw and heartbreaking from the very offset. It's like there's a melancholy taint, like floating in the sea - it's calm at first, but soon a wave comes to disturb that peace.

The main themes of sexuality and virginity are tackled well - and the descriptions are not far apart from those of the warm summer days and the hazy heat. There's no earth-shattering moment, there's no hyped up fantastical element to the concept of virginity and it's certainly not a ritualised moment like in other YA fiction. Instead we see it through Claude and her inherent disconnection from the world and society not only in her literal location, but in that it's just a societal construct. She can choose having sex for the first time to define her if she wants to, just like how she can let her summer on the island define and change her if she'd like it to.

Reading this story is bittersweet, especially with all that Claude endures from first-love, self-discovery and struggling to make friendships go the distance, it really struck a cord with me. This is a poignant story, and one who's moments I savoured as I knew all too soon they were going to end, yet I couldn't stop myself from reading just a few pages more.

Reading this book had me feeling nostalgic - it feels like the kind of book I'd read on my own summers away from school or during university, and it had the same cosiness and 'sink-in' moment I associate with summer romance films like The Last Song and Safe Haven. It's emotional, and heartfelt and a modern take on female sexuality, growth and adulthood. This coming-of-age story is unlike anything I've read in a long while, which I think is part of its charm. Certainly Niven's best piece of work

Thank you to @turningpagesnz @penguinbooksnz and #netgalley for giving me an advanced reader copy of Breathless by Jennifer Niven.

18 year old Claude is about to graduate High school, she has her Summer all planned out and then she will be at college, far away from home but then her life and plans are unexpectedly turned upside down and she ends up spending the Summer on a remote island, staying in the home of a distant family member. The Island has very limited cell phone reception and internet access.

Cut off from her life, her closest relationships fracturing Claude discovers nature, a family history she never knew and starts to make real connections with her fellow humans.

This novel was a raw roller coaster of emotions and it often made me uncomfortable. Claude is kind of a mess which made the story feel all the more realistic, I frequently wanted to yell at her. I didn't really relate to Claude's personality or her behaviour but I did also go through a huge upheaval just as I was finishing High school though not for the same reason as Claude. Sadly I didn't get a trip to an Island but I did end up in a fairly isolated situation with most of my closest relatives in different countries to me which was a rather abrupt entry into adulthood without a support network so I connected with the themes of this novel.

Thank you @turningpagesnz , @penguinbooksnz and NetGalley for sending me a copy of Breathless in exchange for an honest review!
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- Wow! What an amazing book! Breathless is about Claude, an 18 year old who days before her graduation has her whole world shaken up. Her parents are separating and has to spend her final summer being a "teenager" on an island with her mum, instead of being with her best friend Saz. She is completely cut off from the world, with limited cell service and WiFi. With all this change, she is lost and overwhelmed. Claude slowly begins to open up to new including love. It brings up a lot of emotions which were very real and the story itself was so intriguing and well written, I could not put it down.
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- This is a story which was very relatable for me growing up. While none of the above actually applied me to, the points around self discovery and worth was something which struck a nerve with me. It's a book I wish younger me could have had the chance to read. Romance aside, this is something I think all young people should read. It normalizes those sometimes difficult topics of virginity, loss, anxiety and just feeling overwhelmed and lost. Many emotions we all struggled with growing up. It also encourages you to be open about all the possibilities that life will throw at you (both the good and bad). My only negative is I craved more backstory from Saz, Wednesday and the rest if the crew.
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- It is quite clear this is a very personal book to Niven and one which I feel like all young people, especially women can relate to. I would highly recommend this to anyone who loved All The Bright Places or needs a bit if help discovering themselves.

Before: With graduation on the horizon, budding writer Claudine Henry is making plans. College in the fall, become a famous author and maybe finally have sex. Then her Dad drops a bombshell: he is leaving Claude’s mother. Suddenly, Claude’s entire world feels like a lie and her future is anything but under control.

After: Claude’s Mom whisks them away to the last place Claude could imagine nursing a broken heart, a remote, mosquito-infested island off the coast of Georgia. But then Jeremiah Crew happens.

As soon as I found out there was a new Jennifer Niven book on the way I was incredibly excited. And that excited continued right until the very last page of the book.

I’ll be honest with you, it took me quite a bit of time to get into this story and in turn to be invested in the characters. At the start of the book I just didn’t care for the characters and didn’t actually care for their story. I think this is mostly down to the beginning of the book being a large information dump. Once I got past all the information dumping I quickly got really into the story.

This book is heavily based around the themes of sex and virginity. It is such a wonderful book that explores sex and the thoughts surrounding sex and virginity and it left me feeling really sex positive. The way in which sex and virginity is discussed in this book is so positive and incredibly important especially in YA books. Breathless weaves these themes into an overall incredible storyline. It discusses virginity being a patriarchal construct and explores this as an issue and also how early sexual experiences can feel monumental.

Jennifer Niven once again handles trauma in Breathless excellently. It shows how we are all influent and shaped by our past. As well as, how we have to take responsibility for the present and the future. One thing which I really appreciated was the way in which Miah’s history as a carer is explained really well and I feel it is extremely valuable in a YA book.

I loved Claude and Miah. I loved them both and they are characters I’d do anything for. Both characters are also well-rounded and complex in a good way and I love them. I was also a huge fan of Claude’s Mom and her storyline. Again, she was well-rounded and didn’t fall flat.

Jennifer Niven continues to be a favourite author of mine and I’m sure she will always be. At the start of this book and at the end Jennifer mentions how personal to her this book is and you can tell. There is a lot of thought given to all the storylines in this book and Jennifer’s writing is still incredibly beautiful.

Overall, Breathless is an intimate, personal and beautiful book that makes you long for summer. It is different from previous Jennifer Niven books but it is still incredible. I highly recommend this one if you are looking for a book with heavy themes of sex and virginity and makes you long for summer!

Claude meets Jeremiah on a remote island where she has been forced to move due to her parents divorce. Although she is only there for a little over a month, her and Miah strike up a bond that they are bound to remember for life.

When I started this I was expecting a cute romance over a summer break and instead I got a haughtingly beautiful tale of first love. Ever since I've finished it, my mind has wandered back to this love story many times. The thing that makes this book so good, is that you know that there can't be a traditional happy ending since it's made clear from the beginning that living on the island is only temporary. But as the story builds and builds you can't help but hope that somehow Claude and Miah can stay together - which is exactly how I imagine the character's felt themselves.

Moving to other aspects of the plot, the romance is a quick burn in terms of how fast Claude and Miah get to know each other. However, I think it's done in a way that exemplifies true love and I truly felt swept off my feet. The discussions about virginity, divorce and race were also done really well; with the virginity chats being quite feminist and empowering for women. The writing style was poetic. I really noticed myself picking up on the use of hyperbole and simile (perhaps because this is what I'm teaching at the moment haha) to enhance the world building - which for me is a big tick. There's also a gay best friend and lot's of racial representation , another big yay!

Honestly, I could rave about this book for a long time. I recommend it if you like quite intense emotional contemporary books, summer love stories, and being along for the ride of an 18 year olds first love whilst she goes on island adventures.

Triggers: divorce, depression/intense sadness, self harm

In a world that doesn't stop moving, Breathless is a beautiful reminder to stay grounded and centre yourself.
A little different from your usual coming of age story and refreshing to have a strong female character choosing her own place in the world, rather than trying to measure up to where society dictates she should be.
I have never read a bad word from Jennifer Niven and I very much look forward to reading many more of her books to come.

Beautiful

A fantastic coming of age story, of first love, of losing yourself and just maybe finding the real you.

I can’t wait to add this to my school library collection

Not that she grew up here, of course - she's visiting an ancestral family home with her mother, in a summer when her life is about to change more than she could know. So it's a new experience for Claude; like many teenagers, this is an opportunity to try out being someone new.
Conceptually, this feels a lot like a Sarah Dessen book - main character goes to a new place for the summer, meets a ragtag group of teens, develops connections with them, discovers new things about herself, and there's a boy who plays a large role. And honestly, that is in no way a bad thing. I love Sarah Dessen, and have read all of her books.
It's just not... it's not quite what I expected here. I'm not sure what I did expect. But there's not a huge amount of emotion coming off the page for me in this book. Claude and Miah are sweet together, yes, and Claude's relationship with her mother is nice, and Claude's frustration with being unable to contact her best friend back home, Saz, and the inevitable change of dynamic when your best friend gets into a relationship are all dealt with admirably. But there's something missing from this book
I can't put my finger on it, but it lacks depth of feeling somehow. Or at least, I really struggled to connect with it. Looking at my goodreads, it took me three weeks to finish this, and that's not even fully accurate, because I don't think I marked it as 'currently reading' the day I first opened it up. I think a lot of that delay was because I didn't connect with this book at all. It didn't hold any real emotional resonance for me, so I was reluctant to go back to it.Perhaps it's because I don't have the kind of experiences that would make this book resonate for me. I'm far from a teenage girl (I'm thirty...) and I never had the kind of summer romance described here. I also never had the other life-changing experiences on the horizon as Claude does - I lived at home with my parents to go to uni. So it could be that this just isn't the book for me.
I don't have any quibbles with how it's written or plotted - Niven is a fantastic writer, her scenery is lush, her characters are totally believable, and the development in it is solid. I really think that this was a me problem, not a book problem.But nonetheless, for me, it was a problem, so I couldn't feel justified in giving this book any more.

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?!).