Juliet Takes a Breath [review]

**Note: I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. This in no way impacted my review.

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera
Published by Riverdale Avenue Books on January 18, 2016
276 pages.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
(cover from Goodreads)

Goodreads | IndieBound | Author’s Website

This girl made me lose my train of thought. I wanted to watch her eat strawberries and make her a mixtape.

Wow! Wow! WOW!!!! Y’all this book is SO GOOD!!!! Juliet Takes a Breath reeled me right in and didn’t let me go. The representation is excellent: Juliet is a chubby Puerto Rican lesbian and the entire book is chock full of non-white characters and lgbtqia+ characters–often intersecting. We get to see a lot of different dynamics at play, which is really cool.

I fell asleep with that book in my arms because words protect hearts and I’ve got this ache in my chest that won’t go away.

I’m white and don’t want to take up a ton of space with a review when there are plenty of ownvoices reviews that y’all should look at instead, so I’ll just say a few things that came up for me when I was reading it.

I try to be intersectional, but the callout against White Feminism was a good reminder for me to work harder to be more inclusive and to actively fight for folx who might not be within my specific demographic. I love how casually polyamory was discussed and how it was normalized within the story. I love how much Juliet loves her body and how much she talks about loving her body.

Juliet Takes a Breath is a tremendous read that I would absolutely recommend to everyone out there. It’s well-written with great characters, and is super easy to get through! If you’ve read it, please give me your thoughts in the comments.

You can also find me on Twitter and Goodreads.