Juliet Takes a Breath speaks the the power of identity and experience that can be captured in a graphic novel. The book is beautiful in terms of its story, visual style, and potential for sharing a story with a wide range of readers. Bravo!

I received an eARC of Juliet Takes a Breath via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a gorgeous adaptation of one of my favourite sapphic stories. The artists did a great job at keeping the essence of the original novel, and their stylistic choices enhanced the narrative.

I loved the illustration style, and the way all of my favourite characters were designed - it's great to see Juliet drawn in all of her fat latina lesbian glory!

The only downside to this adaptation is that (because of the nature of adapting a novel into a graphic format) it is an abridged version of the original story. A couple of my favourite scenes were missing and I think the characters' depth and development were more obvious in prose than pictures.

Even though I think overall I do still prefer the original novel, I still loved this in its own right. I highly recommend this adaptation to anyone; I think it could be enjoyed regardless of whether you've read the original novel (though I do recommend reading that too!)

Content warnings: sexual assault, racism, homophobia, transphobia, nudity, sexual content, menstruation, alcohol use, marijuana use

Wow, just absolutely wow! This took my breath (hah, get it?) away. I haven't read the original novel yet and somehow I think that was the best choice? Because now I can't wait to buy the novel to "see" the scenes happening in my mind in this stunning artwork!
I loved this graphic novel adaptation and I can't wait to get more description and inner monologue of such a rich story.
Juliet is a new favorite character for me.
Whether you have read the book this is based on or not, I think you're going to love it if you appreciate fierce, badass characters and gorgeous artwork!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my early access of Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera and BOOM! Studios. All opinions in this review are my own honest opinion, this graphic novel I would recommend. The graphics are beautiful and just fun. The main character is empowering.

plot: after coming out to her family as a lesbian, juliet takes an internship with a white feminist in portland.

3/5🌟: in theory, i should have loved this: a lesbian latina mc, anxiety rep, bisexual rep, poly rep, non-binary rep and lots of rep of bipoc. in practice, i didn't like the execution of those quite that much. juliet seems to be the most clueless character ever written. even though she is a huge fan of the white feminist and is obviously somehow interested in queer and feminist things, she doesn't know what asking for pronouns means, she has never heard of the concept of gender and is stunned by a huge amount of vegan milk options. the fact that other than her having a few revelations there is next to no plot, doesn't help. her cluelessness feels like a stylistic device, there's a better way to explain these kind of things though. there's characters using they/them and she/they pronouns and a trans woman, but honestly, as a non-binary person, i still didn't feel good about some things. there was so much talk about spaces for women and vaginas and periods but never once was a trans boy mentioned. it makes you think. it certainly didn't give me a good feeling. i was also negatively surprised that even though juliet is in a relationship, she lusts after every girl she sees and even meets a cute girl, when she knows that said girl thinks it's a date. at last, the illustrations were beautiful and finally (!) characters with different body types were being shown. skinny was definitely not the default. i also liked that mastrubation and sex were shown as something that juliet didn't have to be ashamed of.

thanks to netgalley i received an early digital access copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

Overall, I thought this was a super quick but enjoyable read. The pacing of the story felt a little odd and the narrative jumped from scene to scene a little sporadically for my taste, but all in all, I felt like this was a good, empowering story with lovely art.

[Thanks so much to the publisher for this Net Galley ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Expected release: 25th November 2020]

In this graphic novel, adapted from the book of the same title by Gabby Rivera (which I'll be honest, I haven't read), we follow Juliet, a young gay Puerto Rican living in the Bronx, NYC. She is planning to come out to her parents and move to Portland, Oregon for a summer internship with a famous lesbian author that she admires.

This is a great coming-of-age and coming out story! I flew through this in one sitting and absolutely loved it. The art style is bright and engaging, the dialogue is well-paced (which can be difficult for graphic novel adaptations) and the representation in this story is INSANE. It follows gay, queer, non-binary, trans, BIPOC/BAME, mixed-race, fat, femme and butch characters and it delves into important topics such as cultural homophobia, the issues with white feminism, and anti-racism vs 'reverse racism.' It takes away the taboos from female pleasure and queer sex, and mostly importantly, it does ALL of this whilst still being a fun, light-hearted story, with likeable characters and beautiful art.

If you're interested in queer lit you will love this, but even if you're not, I recommend you give it a chance. I don't read a lot of graphic novels but this has made me want to try more. I am white, but finally seeing queer love, especially such an inclusive form, being represented authentically is exactly what I needed growing up and what young queer folx need now 🏳️‍🌈

First of all, thank you to Netgalley and Boom! Box for the ARC!

I haven’t read the original book, so I cannot say if this is a good adaptation or not. All I know is that I had no problems following the story. It did not feel like an adaptation.
I’m also in love with the art style and the color scheme! Stunning!

I also cannot talk about the poc representation, but what I can tell you, is that I loved the queer representation.
Juliet is a gay teenager who knows almost nothing about what it means to be one and doesn’t have the support of her girlfriend and family.
She doesn’t have the right words to explain how she feels, she’s just trying to find herself in a world that keeps telling her that what she feels is not valid.
And, as she opens up, she finds support, she finds love, she finds people who accept her for who she is, no questions asked. She also discovers that, by being herself, she might open the hearts and minds of the people who have a difficult time understanding her. It was beautiful.

Juliet growth was deep, authentic and emotional. It’s so important to have these stories, I hope someone who needs it might find it soon. 100% recommend this!

this is a great story and a good message
i like that the proraganist is a bit on the larger side,
i also like the familie side of this story
the art is pretty, and love the orange/pink tones

TW: Racism, implied racism, homophobia, implied homophobia, cheating

This graphic novel blew my mind and it paints a beautiful picture of how many young, queer people I know got into feminism and then had to unlearn and recenter to a conversation in the process.

A quick disclaimer: I can't speak on the Puerto Rican or Black representation in this novel.

Juliet is interning for her favourite author. A white woman, Harlow Brisbane, who seems to be one of the leading author's of feminist and queer theory. Which Juliet is excited for even with the heaviness of coming out to her family, especially her mom, who thinks her identity is a "phase".

There are so many glorious moments in this book: Juliet finding a community who loves her as is, the very many characters we get to meet (each with their own journey into figuring out and accepting their queer identity), and the very many struggles of someone who is trying to figure all this out for the very first time without a fully supportive biological family.

While I have not read the actual novel, the graphic novel does a great job in portraying the story through the pictures used. Celia Mascote's art definitely ties the story together in a gorgeous way and the colour palette used was a feast for the eyes.

Some may find this book to be an overtly feminist read, and I think that is kind of the point. Until very recently feminism has been framed in mainstream media by white voices and many times the advocacy that white voices lend to poc-ones is incredibly flawed. Harlowe doesn't get a pass because she is trying to be a good feminist and I love that. It shows that as a society we still have a lot of work to do when it comes to allyship and how marginalized voices seem to need to be given permission before they can speak on topics that affect them.

My absolute favourite bit was framing how queer people step in for one another, especially queer POC. How our families of choice, are just that. Families, deeply flawed, but usually there when our biological ones no longer want to understand or need a moment to understand. The fact that this book centres BIPOC queer experiences and journey's reminds me that we don't often get these stories of joy in mainstream media and that these stories of joy, understanding and self-love are vital experiences that must be celebrated.

I shouldn't have been surprised that I love Gabby Rivera's story as much as I did because I definitely adored her Marvel hero "America Chavez".

Thank you to NetGalley and BOOM! Studios for allowing me to read an arc of "Juliet Takes a Breath". All opinions stated are my own.

This graphic novel was a treat! Love the novel. Love the graphic novel. Great art. The story pulled me in just like the first time I read the novel.

I received this as an eARC to read for free in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and BOOM! Box for giving me access.

At first the story was a little off putting. Too much lesbian-white lady way of things. I was definitely on Juliet's side.

As the story progressed, it turned into a story about Juliet finding herself. A Puerto Rican Lesbian. Once that part of the story took over, I flew through this. I just wish there was more to this side of her story and less of the other.

I received an e-arc from NetGalley in an exchange for an honest review.

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera, illustrated by Celia Moscote was more than I expected. I read the novel in 2018 and I felt it was okay. By adapting the story to a graphic novel, it brought the story to life with its vibrant colors and amazing art style. I finished it in a few hours, and it made me happy. It was nice to see a lesbian Puerto Rican woman discover herself.

CW: sexual content, sexual assault, racism, blood, homophobia, internalized fatphobia

** A copy of Juliet Takes A Breath was provided by the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

This book is everything I wish I had when I was growing up! It's feminist, it's POC-centered, it's intersectional. It's about found families, love, identity and acceptance. It's beautiful, poignant, funny in bits, and so amazingly illustrated.

A literally and figuratively colorful graphic novel with a multiethnic cast and thought provoking ideas about intersectional feminist/womanist/mujerista thought. Juliet grows through disappointments, joys, and new acquaintances and experiences from a naive young Latina lesbian to a young woman developing wisdom and a stronger sense of self. Some characters seem two dimensional, particularly Juliet's white, mercurial New-Agey, flawed 'mentor,' but there's a fair bit of reality in here. Sometimes painful to read for me and I'm sure for other white people as we are represented by a single person in a telling turnabout of the traditional situation where there are many white people and only one or a few people of color.

I attempted to read the traditional novel setting of "Juliet Takes a Breath" a few months ago and wasn't able to finish. I am very glad that I took a risk on the graphic novel! This was an excellent story and I plan to revisit the traditional novel in the future.

Juliet has accepted an internship from her feminist and sexuality guru, Harlowe. Before departing, she comes out to her family and shares that she's been in a relationship with a girl. Her mother reacts incredibly poorly to this news and doesn't even say goodbye to Juliet.

Will Juliet be able to stand up to adversity about who she loves, how her family views her, and who she is at her core? This book is a celebration of found families, coming out, and remaining true to yourself. Overall, 5 out of 5 stars!

This graphic novel adaptation follows Juliet as she takes an internship with a white feminist after coming-out to her family. There's a lot to digest in this book. Intersectionality, bigotry, womanism, feminism, racism, and I'm sure I'm leaving something out. This book is definitely "woke". I loved the diverse representation and I'm for more books covering these topics. It was overwhelming to have all these topics addressed in this short format, and many of the topics were not fully fleshed out. This was probably not a problem for the original work.

Truthfully, I'm not sure how I fel about this book. I haven't read the novel, which I hear is great, and I have been wanting to give it a try so when I saw the graphic novel adaptation on NetGalley and I knew I'd want to give it a try! I loved the representation, I think the coming-of-age and coming into oneself story is really sweet and likely, many folks would find validation and acceptance within these pages. I also loved the art style! And besides the story feeling a bit rushed and awkwardly paced (which is likely because of the conversion of novel to graphic novel) I thought the book was cute (even with the mildly steamy sexual content) and I can definitely see the charm of it,

I think I'm just not the demographic for this book. It felt too forced for me in a way that I probably wouldn't have felt when I was in my teens - I think I would have been the queer teenager that would have reveled in this book. It's something younger me would likely have identified with. It didn't strike that chord with me now, as an adult, though, and I think that's because of the content I have consumed that does representation really well.

With this book, its heart is in the right place, and the conflicts it portrayed were very real and likely parallel to those of LGBTIA2S+ women of colour. The art and writing style captured emotion and character dynamics really well. It was so wonderful to see Juliet find her own queer community after feeling isolated and ostracized. It was great to watch her come into her own, despite it feeling like it happened so quickly. I did genuinely like this book, it just wasn't my favourite. But I have no doubt it is and will continue to be well loved, and extraordinarily validating for other readers, and I'm glad it exists in novel and graphic novel form (the latter for its accessibility), for that reason.

This graphic novel follows Juliet, a 19-year-old, gay, fat, Puerto-Rican girl from the Bronx. She's moving to Portland for an internship with the writer of her favourite book, the white famous feminist Harlowe Brisbane, who turns out to be a cunt later on. Just before she leaves, she comes out to her mom, who doesn't react most positively.

Juliet gets thrown into this new world as a baby queer who only recently learnt about feminism. We see her grow as she learns more and meets people like her. She slowly finds herself and even falls in love.

The thing I loved most about this book was the fact that it focused on QTPOC, an often overlooked group. I know so many people will (maybe even for the first time) see themselves in beautiful, badass Juliet. I also adored how sex-positive this way, showing both female masturbation and a sapphic encounter.

While tackling issues like white feminism, toxic allyship and white saviorism, this book taught me stuff I wasn't the most aware of since I am white myself. I'm grateful for that and always wish to educate myself even more.

And of course, I can't talk about this graphic novel if I leave out the incredible art style! The drawing style was stunning and worked in perfect harmony with the story that was being told. Celia Moscote did an amazing job, brought these characters to life with a simple colour palette. I also have to applaud how well she draws plus-sized characters.

I haven't read Gabby Rivera's novel 'Juliet Takes a Breath', which this novel adapted, so I can't tell you how well that part went. Sometimes the story felt a bit too fast or not as in-depth as it could've been, but adapting a whole novel into a shorter graphic novel just has that side effect, so I didn't mind!

I'd like to thank BOOM! Studios and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I absolutely LOVED this graphic novel!!! This was a very feminist story about a queer POC. This story taught me a lot about being queer, the issues women face in the world, and how to be a good ally as a white person to POC. Juliet's story was so inspiring and emotional and just so great. I absolutely loved the artwork as well. I seriously highly recommend this to everyone 😍