I read the original novel this graphic novel is based on a while back and I'm pleasantly surprised that the graphic novel is basically the same. The art in this book is awesome and the art style was appealing to me.
I liked the story before and I still like the story now. The story flowed well, even through art.
The characters are relatable to many people because there's characters belonging to the LGBTIQA+ community and BIPOC characters.
The story is about finding yourself and doesn't gloss over things such as periods and body image. I loved it!


*thank you BOOM studios and Netgalley for an ARC*

This is a fun and accessable graphic novel adaptation of the bestselling YA novel Julie Takes a Breath. It's perfect for those who have already read and loved the original work and for those just getting introduced to the story.
Many thanks to BOOM! Studios and NetGalley for the advance review copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and BOOM! for providing me with an ARC of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review,

To preface this review, I have to admit that I haven’t read the original novel this graphic novel is based on - after reading this, it’s been added to my TBR, since I simply need more of this intersectional, queer, POC feminist story! The feminist conversation cannot be led exclusively by white women, and this should absolutely serve as a wake-up call for so called “feminists” who don’t include queer and trans women and WOC in their advocacy. If your feminism isn’t intersectional, it’s not feminism.
Given that this graphic novel is rather short, with only around 170 pages, it obviously doesn’t have the opportunity to cover a lot of theory, but I think it’s an amazing intro to the topic, discussing many feminists whose theory is worth getting into (which I definitely will as soon as possible!)

Obviously, that’s not all this is about, though - it’s about a queer, Latinx girl, trying to find her place in the world and within herself, struggling with her identity and slowly coming to understand and love herself and sharing this with the people around her. It’s about internalized homophobia, racism and sexism, and how we should never be complicit in those and always strive to do better. It’s about beautiful lesbian love and the grief that can come with it.

Also, I thought the style of this graphic novel was gorgeous - the color scheme was to die for and the illustrations were such a pleasure to look at!

My only two complaints would be that the pacing was a little odd at times, with location and time switching between panels without that being clearly visible, and some of the characters seeming a little too much like a caricature. Sometimes, I seemed to miss chunks of the story, which my mind managed to fill in, but it was a bit confusing at times. Especially the Portland crew seemed a bit overdrawn, which might be to blame on me never being to Portland and meeting a group of people like that, but it sort of came across as the kind of caricature super-conservatives like to draw of feminists. This was definitively much better in the second half of the book, where a certain character fell from grace, though.

All in all, I thought this was a lovely read and definitely one I’ll be adding to my shelves once it comes out!

I absolutely loved the art in this! I have not read the novel this is based on, but I still had a fun time reading the graphic novel, and I really enjoyed Juliet's growth and her journey.

I don't know why I thought this book would be any different than the novel. I wasn't the biggest fan of the authors writing style and I didn't like this anymore.

To be completely honest I read the novel of Juliet Takes a Breath for a reading challenge this year and I enjoyed it. The best thing was how lifelike the characters were and how important the river cleansing was. I was excited to see it formatted as a graphic novel until I started reading it. The characters felt like paper versions of the rich characters in the novel. It was a struggle to finish and really it felt emotionless. If I had picked up the graphic novel version first I would be very hesitant to read anything else Gabby Rivera has written.

I adored the art in this book. The art style and color pallete were gorgeous.
Heads up, I haven't read the original book so I can't compare this book to it.
Overall I liked this story and how it handled queerness and intersectional identities. I also loved the body positivity in this book. Sometimes the dialogue got a bit choppy, and it felt like some important scenes were cut out leaving holes.

I received an ARC through NetGalley from BOOM! Studios. First, let me state I have not read the YA book version this was adapted from, but I so want to now. This graphic novel was well done! The color palette and illustrations were enthralling and the story was great and flowed well! Juliet heads from the Bronx to Portland to intern for a white, iconic, feminist author. Will this author have all the answers for a young Puerto Rican, lesbian who is trying to find her way in life and love?
I think the graphic novel format opens the opportunity for more readers to access this LGBTQ+ story. I was surprised at how clueless Juliet seems, but it’s been awhile since I was a teenager. The audience is definitely for older teens, as some of the illustrations are a bit detailed. It is a 19-year-old main character.

Juliet moves to Portland for the summer to intern for author Harlowe of Raging Flower: Empowering Your Pussy by Empowering Your Mind after coming out as a lesbian to her family who deny her feelings as a phase. Juliet is so excited to be amongst queer women/femmes and learn all about feminism. However, Harlowe, a white queer woman, isn't all that Juliet has imagined her to be. Thankfully, Juliet has two fairy queermothers who are BIPOC and look after Juliet. She also finds a great girlfriend as well as an understanding and acceptance with her family.

I haven't read the original, so I can't say how close of adaptation it is, but while I really love the themes of this story, I didn't like all the language. It's there: glaringly obvious on the first page, and it doesn't diminish as the story progresses. I know teens use this language, but I think it would turn some off from this story who would be unwilling to give it a chance.

Diverse reads:
- Juliet is Latinx by way of Puerto Rico and a lesbian.
- Kira is biracial-- Korean and white.
- There are various other BIPOC and LGBTIQA+ characters.

Juliet Takes a Breath is a book that has been on my to-read-list for quite a few years, but as life goes and as endless to-read-lists go, I never got around to reading it.
So I was thrilled to see the book adapted as a graphic novel - a new chance to experience a story I was supposed to know for years.

And I am glad I got to read it in this format in the end. What I really love about it is the art style. I think the artwork looks amazing and all the ladies are stunning.
The representation is great, we get to see some queer spaces and I think the message about issues like white centered feminism comes across in its shorter form too.

The story itself and especially the character of Harlowe, I now feel, might have been a bit much and a bit too weird for me if I had read it in a full novel. Harlowe might have driven me crazy. But since the graphic novel format makes the experience a lot shorter, it was easier to not get into it too much.

But I am glad that Juliet is getting the security and support she is seeking from members of her family in the end.

ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley.
I didn't get the chance to read the actual book, as it's not available where I live, but when I saw the graphic novel adaptation being available to request on NetGalley, I decided to give it a go. And I was not disappointed.
With gorgeous art and a strong story, it was exactly what I needed, what I think every queer woman getting this would need. It was a book that educated me and also made me see a little of myself in the fact fact that Juliet, a plus sized queer woman, learns, among other things, to love and accept herself as who she is.

Juliet Takes A Breath is an enchanting and eye opening tale of a young woman's journey about finding her place after coming out to her family before flout of for the internship of her life. Unfortunately, like we all learn in life, not everything goes as Juliet hopes. Soon after arriving, she realizes the author and mentor she looks up to is far beyond what she expected, her girlfriend she'd been secretly dating for the past year breaks up with her, and to add to the compounding pressure, her mother believes what Juliet is experiencing is just a phase.

Juliet's character is beautifully written as a young woman who wants nothing more than to be herself and find where she belongs. There are a few things that I don't care for in the comic, for instance the way Juliet bounces from one dilemma to another. I feel like there should have been only two to three main conflicts to reduce the amount of resolutions that books goes through. Even though Juliet goes through heart break, she sleeps with at least one to two other people in the course of the summer. This seems a bit excessive especially since it doesn't touch base on her experience with her internship or explained what exactly the internship was about. It does however come full circle after the summer ends and Juliet returns home. While her mother isn't said to have come to terms with who Juliet it, it does it that the mother is trying by giving Juliet a token to express her voice.

While I do wish there were less conflicts and sidetracked experiences Juliet takes, I did enjoy the comic. Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read, review, and rate this book.

Juliet Takes a Breath follows Juliet Milagros Palante as she travels from the Bronx to Portland, Oregon for an internship with her favorite feminist writer. Before she left Juliet came out to her family, and she's pretty sure her mom isn't taking it seriously, as she calls it "just a phase." As Juliet arrives in Portland and gets settled into her internship, she begins to see that the person she has looked up to the most might not be the best role model. Juliet has to decide how to move forward.

I really enjoyed this read, as the graphics in this book are beautiful. I do think I should have read the book form of Juliet Takes a Breath first, as I felt I was missing some of the context, but overall a great rendition of this story!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy of this book.

I absolutely loved this. Without having read the original novel (which is now very much on my TBR), I went in completely blind. I am in absolute awe of the drawings. I thought the drawings were absolutely beautiful and seeing so many beautiful characters of all shapes and colours was amazing. Skinny was definitely not the default here and I loved to see it. I am in LOVE with the drawing style and kept grinning at the art like a mad person.

As far as the story goes, I thought it was nice. The story was lovely as a coming-of-age, finding yourself and your place in the world, finding your kinds of people moment. I did wonder at the complete lack of men in this story and at the fact that Juliet seems so very clueless about things like gender and pronouns. I even had a discussion about this with a friend of mine and they also felt that Juliet should have been more informed especially seeing as she's had a girlfriend for a while and is clearly familiar with the internet. And I had to agree with them. It does seem a bit odd.

Then again, I was positively surprised at how normalised topics like body, masturbation and periods were portrayed as I think that is very important (maybe at times it was overly positive but we were dealing with an overly excitable individual in the story, eh?)

While I would probably give the story alone a 3-3.5 rating, the art was so great and beautiful that I HAVE to bump my overall rating up to five. I love a good drawing.

This was such a beautiful graphic novel! Juliet is absolutely fantastic and I loved following her journey. This is such a beautiful exploration of self-love, self-acceptance, confidence and learning. I haven’t gotten round to reading the novel yet, but I enjoyed this and will definitely be reading the novel soon.

The art style was beyond gorgeous and the colour palette was so dreamy! I love the representation within this graphic novel, it is truly delightful. I am so happy I got to experience Juliet’s journey! It also touches on many important topics and conversations, and it was truly such a delight to read!


I have also attached a link to where the GoodReads review will be posted on the day of publication.

Juliet Takes A Breath by Gabby Rivera and illustrated by Celia Moscote is a graphic novel adpated from the best-selling book. Juliet Milagros Palante is living in Bronx and is headed to Portland Oregon for her internship.

This is a coming of age, queer graphic novel which also dealsneirh exploring race and finding her own self and identity. Juliet just came out to her father as lesbian and don't know whether her mother will ever talk to her again.

She flies to Portland Oregon to intern with her all time favorite feminist author - Harlowe Brisbane. But she doesn't have the answers to everything Juliet wishes to know. So this book is her journey to finding herself and understanding even when the world doesn't understand her.

Now, I liked the queer + POC representation in this book, but apart from that the whole finding your inner goddess and stuff was very annoying and did not make any sense to me. There was one problem and hugging the tree definitely is not the solution.

The pace of the plot wasn't constant with alot of other problems being unresolved, like Juliet's white girlfriend + the author, Harlowe Brisbane being not able to understand Juliet.
___

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC.
Releasing date - 25th November, 2020.

I adored this! The artwork was gorgeous and the colour scheme was perfect.

I loved Juliet’s story and her growth. She’s recently come out and exploring what it means to be a feminist.

The graphic novel was such a fun read and I recommend it.

***eArc provided by Netgalley & BOOM! Studios in exchange for an honest review***

I'd been eyeing the novel Juliet Takes a Breath for a long time. The elevator pitch was supremely good, and I was excited to pick it up. So, imagine my joy at seeing that my favorite comic publisher was doing an adaptation of it! I think this comic is lovely, beautiful drawn and handled in the confines of graphic novel standards.

I'm curious, though, if this story would have worked for me more if I'd read the novel first. It's not that I don't think it works, I think it does. It just wasn't quite for me, which is perfectly fine. It's a beautiful celebration of femme, queer BIPOC identity, but I felt like it needed more pages at the end to explore where Juliet ends up on her journey of self-love and acceptance. And maybe that's true to how the novel ends, I like this story enough to eventually find out.

This comic is going to be so important for so many people. And even though it wasn't quite for me, I know so many people I'm gonna recommend it to!

Full confession: I have heard of Juliet Takes a Breath, but I have not read the chapter novels. I saw this graphic novel adaptation and I am a sucker for graphic novels. So I read this without reading the base book. Whew. I feel better getting that off my chest. Now, I can freely tell you how much I loved this graphic novel! It is really rare to read about Latina LBGTQIA+ characters and when I find them, I treasure them. I appreciate this plot of this novel, but I did feel at times that I probably missed something significant by not reading the chapter book. It wasn’t enough to ruin my enjoyment of the graphic novel, but there were some huge jumps in events in the novel and some pieces were just added and a little glossed over.

What I love most about this graphic novel was the colors! The color palate for this graphic novel was striking and breath taking. I still go back and look over the colors. It’s so pretty! I got a very Latin American vibe from the colors and from way the characters were illustrated. Juliet is beautiful.

Highly recommend this one!

I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book. It was done in exchange for an honest review.

I read the original novel version of this book a couple of years ago, and I enjoyed it immensely. The author created a young woman who is multi-dimensional with a strong voice, and I enjoyed what she brought to the table. It was a bit heavy with lessons that might belong in a Queer Identities 101 class, and these lessons aren't as strongly delivered in the graphic novel, which may benefit it in the long run.

I liked the illustrations and the vibrant colors of the visuals, and I feel that works well with the character and the tone of the story.

I'm really glad that a graphic novel version of this book was made. I feel like for many people, graphic novels are a more palatable way to read because they are illustrated and quicker to read. Bringing characters of marginalized into the forefront this way is an excellent idea.