Book cover of Juliet Takes a Breath

Book description

A People magazine Best Book of Fall 2019
An Amazon Best Young Adult Book of 2019
"F***ing outstanding."--Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author

Juliet Milagros Palante is a self-proclaimed closeted Puerto Rican baby dyke from the Bronx. Only, she's not so closeted anymore. Not after coming out to her…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Juliet Takes a Breath as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This is the spark that lit me on fire and showed me that all the features of queer adolescence I thought were impossible to write about in “books for teens” are totally possible to write about.

Juliet, Puerto Rican teen from the Bronx, feels the weight of her community’s and family’s homophobia, and attempts to build her resume and find a wider world by interning for her favorite feminist writer—a thirtysomething eccentric, woo-woo white Oregonian, who despite having friends and exes of color and apparently genuinely hoping to offer Juliet wisdom, care, and research opportunities, is lackadaisical, irresponsible, and more…

Rivera has a fun and snappy style of writing and brings to life Juliet, a 19-year-old Puerto Rican student from the Bronx who falls in love with another young woman her first year of college, then struggles with their separation when the school year ends. I enjoyed how Rivera wove a feminist self-empowering guidebook written by a White lesbian into the narrative that inspires Juliet to talk her way into a summer internship with the author who lives across the country. Rivera addresses issues of race and class in the story and seamlessly entwines these dynamics. I especially enjoyed Juliet’s…

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These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

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