“I’m right here. We’re right here. I can’t tell you what the point of this is except that I’m so fucking happy I met you, and I can’t tell you what’s going to happen… But I do know that right now, in this moment, on this island, I’m where I’m supposed to be, and that’s with you.”
Why Did I Read This Book?
I was able to receive an ARC of this book through NetGalley and the reason I requested this book was because I had heard wonderful things about Jennifer Niven’s previous book, All The Bright Places. So I decided to give her new book Breathless a try to see what all the hype was about…
What Did I Think?
I read this book after reading quite a few dark, heavy and spooky reads and I hoped that this book would give me something light to read. I hadn’t realised that it was ‘young adult’ novel and I really loved the ‘coming of age’ element of this story.
If you are unaware, Breathless follows Claudine Henry’s final summer before moving to college. But instead of spending this time with her friends, she and her mother head off to a remote island off the Georgia coast. There, amidst the wild beauty of the place, she meets the free-spirited Jeremiah Crew. Their chemistry is immediate and irresistible, and even though they both know that whatever they have can only last the summer, maybe one summer is enough…
What I really loved about this book is the story about how Claudine goes from hating the little remote island to loving it. It gave me flashback to when I used to go to a little Welsh island for the weekends with my grandparents and absolutely hate it until I grew older and it became a place of sanctuary and quietness.
Claudine experiences the teenage dream of having a summer romance whilst staying on the island. This is where she meets the mysterious and island-hottie, Jeremiah Crew, who will make her experience on the island one she won’t forget. I also love the part that Jeremiah plays in the development of Claudine. We go from witnessing a very torn, emotionally distressed young girl to a girl comfortable in who she is and what she wants to be.
Overall, I enjoyed it as it provided me with the getaway I needed (even if it was only fictional) but I feel like the ending was missing something…
Breathless
Published: 2020
Publisher: Penguin
# of Pages: 400
Genre: Young Adult, Romance
Trigger Warnings: Separation, divorce, loneliness, sex
Links: Goodreads, Amazon, Blackwells
Stuck In The Book 