Book Review: Breathless by Jennifer Niven.

 

Product details:

Publisher: Penguin.

Release date: September 29th 2020.

Paperback, 400 pages.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Ages: 14+

Source: Received from publisher for review.

The much anticipated new novel from international bestselling author Jennifer Niven, author of All the Bright Places.

You were my first. Not just sex, although that was part of it, but the first to look past everything else into me. Some of the names and places have been changed, but the story is true. It's all here because one day this will be the past, and I don't want to forget what I went through, what I thought, what I felt, who I was. I don't want to forget you. But most of all, I don't want to forget me.

For her last summer before college, Claudine Henry and her mother head 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 . . . 

 A visceral coming-of-age tale, Breathless by Jennifer Niven is as raw and real, as hopeful and heart-breaking, as only first love can be.

Eighteen-year-old Claude Henry, commonly known as Claude, has got the summer before she leaves for college all worked out.  Plans include losing her virginity to her number one crush, Wyatt Jones, and embarking on a road trip with her best friend, Saz. However, as parents often do, Claude’s throw a spanner in her summer plans, when they announce that they are separating.

Instead of road-tripping with her best friend, Claude finds herself accompanying her mother on a work trip to a remote island off the Georgia coast; an island so remote that the Wi-Fi doesn’t work and cell-phone service is almost non-existent. Nightmare! Claude thinks she might just about die of boredom, but then one day she meets Jeremiah Crew – Miah to his friends – and suddenly summer stuck on a remote island doesn’t seem so bad.

Sparks fly between Miah and Claude from their very first meeting. Their physical attraction cannot be denied, and their subsequent relationship, which goes from zero to zoom in record time, reflects this.  Miah and Claude’s summer fling, it’s fair to say, is a sizzling hot romp when compared to the sweet slow-burn romances synonymous with many coming-of-age tales. No fading to black here, people.

Claude is consumed by thoughts of Miah; she’s distracted by him. He helps her forget about all the bad stuff that’s going on in her life - mainly that her dad seems to want out of their family unit. How do you deal with something like that? How do you come to terms with it? This is the summer when Claude grows up in more ways than one; it’s the summer she finds herself, loses herself in somebody else, comes to terms with her new reality, and looks to the future, a future without Miah because, though Claude loves Miah and the feeling is mutual, they both know that what they have can’t last. They have their own lives to lead; their own futures to build.

Breathless is bittersweet in the way that summer romances often are; burning bright under the summer sun and fading as the leaves turn golden-brown. It’s the natural order of things, and as such, Claude and Miah never really envisage a future together. Their time together on the island has a strict time-limit, making for a relationship that is intensely passionate and all-consuming. This passionate duo do make time for other things; adventuring and exploring, delving into Claude’s family history, and even finding time to hang out with some other friends, but these distractions eventually fade into the background, and in the end, all they see is each other.

Like all the very best summer romances, Jennifer Niven’s Breathless will sweep you off your feet and leave you wanting more. Honest, heartfelt, and sweetly seductive, this is a worthy addition to any ‘Summer Reads’ shelf.

Reviewed by Arianne: All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven.

Product details:
Publisher: Penguin.
Paperback, 400 pages.
Release date: January 8th 2015.
Rating: 4½ out of 5.
Ages: 14+
Source: Received for review.
Reviewed by: Arianne.


The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park in this compelling, exhilarating, and beautiful story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who intends to die.

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister's recent death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.

All the Bright Places is an incredible, painful, beautiful, heart-wrenching supernova of a book. 

A movie adaptation is already in the works with Elle Fanning attached to star as leading lady Violet, while fans still eagerly await news of who will play the book’s other narrator, the indomitable and unforgettable Theodore Finch. More importantly, however, the kind of powerful, stunning novel that blindsides you not once, not twice, but in every single chapter. It’s an emotional rollercoaster and it’s not for the faint-hearted. There’s a delicate brutality to the narrative that both dares you to look away and challenges you to read on.

Violet and Finch are very different, but what counts is what they have in common (to start with, that’s being on the same precarious ledge at the same precarious time and somehow both walking away to fight another day). Trauma and loss has made Violet a shell of the person she once was. She’s given up on her dreams and finds herself wondering what she really has left to live for. Thankfully as the book goes on we get to see her more mischievous, inventive side, which you’ll really enjoy if you’ve found issue books a little lacking in personality or character in the past.

Finch, on the other hand, is passionate, dangerously clever and utterly chaotic, each mood swing almost as self-destructive as the other. Torn between despair and recklessness, many readers will recognise that it’s bipolar disorder which plagues Finch, while many more will simply hope against hope that he will somehow find help and be able to reclaim his existence from its greedy hands. It’s a timely reminder that while many of us are lucky enough to be understanding and aware of as well as educated about mental illness, many people, particularly teens, suffer not in silence but from sheer lack of resources - and compassion. 

Rather brilliantly, one of the most memorable things about Violet and Finch’s story is that it isn’t about ‘moving on’ or ‘finding a cure’. It’s about learning to live with what you’ve been given, and trying to find moments of joy in the most turbulent of storms. Needless to say their relationship isn’t exactly conventional, and the odds seem stacked against their unlikely partnership, but it’s impossible not to root for them. I loved their romance and only wish we could have seen more of it, but with such big themes to conquer and such flawed characters to explore, the book is positively brimming over with other details that keep you reading.

This is a book that demands to be noticed. It’s designed to touch readers on a deeply personal level. It provokes discussion as well as emotion and I can guarantee that once you read it — for better or for worse — you won’t be able to stop thinking about it. Filled with searing clarity and messy, confusing love, it pierces the heart and captures the imagination.

Unfortunately, five star reads are hard to come by on my shelf, and I’m going to have to be just as tough on All the Bright Places as I am on any other book. For one thing, seasoned YA readers will probably be able to tell that this is the author’s first foray into young adult fiction, and I would have loved to have seen a stronger, more prominent plot on occasion. Sometimes the sheer tragedy of the book can seem exploitative, while the breakneck writing style, particularly in Finch’s chapters, can take some getting used to. Comparisons to Jodi Picoult and Hilary T. Smith are probably more apt than misleading comparisons to John Green and Rainbow Rowell, because while All the Bright Places is likely to cause a worldwide shortage in Kleenex being released, there aren’t as many tender or heart-warming moments as I would have liked. However, it is still a fantastic read, which is why it gets 4.5 stars and huge acclaim from me. 

In short: All The Bright Places is everything I’d hoped it would be and more. It’s a courageous and hard-hitting tale of love, loss and survival, set against a backdrop of tough issues and a stunning writing style. It’s so close to perfect, I think I’ll be recommending this one for years to come. I can't wait to see what Jennifer Niven has in store for us next.


--Arianne.