This Graphic Novel of Juliet Takes a Breath is stunning. The vibrant colors and art style stole my heart. This was such a brilliant adaptation of this story, Heartfelt, funny, queer, beautiful. Everything you loved about the Novel turned to picture.

Thank you to Boom Comics and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Available Dec 1st 2020

Gabby Rivera's Juliet Takes a Breath was one of the most memorable BIPOC coming of age stories I'd ever read & this adaptation certainly lives up to the promise of the book! When Juliet Milagros takes a chance to intern with Harlowe Brisbane, self proclaimed white feminist, she doesn't know what to expect. After all, Juliet is still learning about her own identity as a self respecting, Puerto Rican feminist and lesbian from the Bronx. Struggling with her relationships with her partner Lainine and her conservative mother, Juliet takes the chance to escape to Portland.

Colorful, inviting & entertaining, "Juliet Takes a Breath" is a book you have to read in one sitting. Much like Juliet herself, the story is larger than life and spills out onto your heart. Check it out today!

While this graphic novel struggles with plotting and pacing, it is a beautiful work of art and an ecstatic celebration of BIPOC queer love. The story follows Juliet, a Puerto Rican lesbian from the Bronx, as she starts an internship in Portland with a white lesbian feminist named Marlowe. Juliet struggles with her white girlfriend, her mother's lack of acceptance, and the racism of white feminism and allyship, but she also learns a lot about what it means to be brown, queer, powerful, and loved.
The art style of this graphic novel is luscious and gorgeous throughout. The art plays a huge part in telling the story, setting the mood, and expressing Juliet's emotions. I especially like the way the color and style shift when the location changes. Another big plus of this book is how full of queer love it is. Though Juliet is a newbie to the queer community, she is met with love and acceptance from everyone she meets, and she even comes to realize that she's not alone in being queer even within her own family.
Unfortunately, the graphic novel struggles with pacing—it goes at a breakneck speed, which I suppose is to be expected when adopting a full-length novel into a shorter form, but it can sometimes give the reader a little whiplash. The book also really struggles to balance education with plot. It spends a lot of its time educating Juliet, and through her, the reader, on topics such as queer politics, colonialism, womanism, feminism, and gender, and this can sometimes make it feel less like a character-driven story and more like an educational comic. Ultimately, however, this graphic novel is visually beautiful, a solid read, and covers some really important topics.

Thank you to NetGalley and BOOM! Studios for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Juliet comes out to her family in a big way. You know, when your main character is sitting at the dinner table and blurts, “I’m gay!” That night, she leaves the Bronx for an internship in Portland with “the pussy lady,” a super feminist who loves to stand for what she believes in... or so it seems. Juliet learns a lot about herself in Portland and kisses everyone. There were quite a few Vagina Monologues-esque scenes that were highly uncomfortable, though. Overall, I loved the color palette of this graphic novel, and I can see young girls enjoying this a lot.

Soft, queer, and heartwarming, this graphic novel follows Juliet, a Puerto Rican lesbian from the Bronx as she comes out to her family and moves to Oregon for an internship with her favorite feminist author for the summer. I especially loved that this story centered queer Black and POC voices/experiences, and it’s the first time I’ve seen a comic that specifically addresses problematic white feminism. Overall I was enamored; I caught myself smiling throughout, and by the end I felt so warm and happy! Moscote’s illustrations perfectly complimented Rivera’s words, and I eagerly look forward to seeing more works from both of them! I can’t wait until this is officially out and I can recommend it to my friends! Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy!

<i>arc provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review</i>

So, I’ll start this off with saying that I really enjoyed the art style and how colorful and vibrant it is and I feel like it captured each character so well!

I did like Juliet as a main character, I feel like her development was great and I loved how empowered, strong and capable she is by the end of this as she learned more about herself and the QPOC community.

I think it was more about the writing style that didn’t vibe with me and maybe it’s just because we get a lot less information in a graphic novel but I just felt like this was a very quick story. It is told over the course of a summer so I wish we could’ve had more time with it.

Harlowe Brisbane was so annoying and I was so glad that Juliet put her in her place after the racist bullshit she put her through!

Overall, I believe that this story is important and is a story that should be told. I’m really glad this story is out there and available for queer latina girls and queer poc in general! Stories about characters like Juliet impact so many and it’s so great that this exists.

Definitely check this out if you’re looking for a story featuring a queer latina girl as she learns about herself and her place in the world!
Just be cautious as this does deal with darker and heavier topics like cheating and a homophobic parent/family!

3/5 🌟

TW: homophobia, racism, cheating