3.5 Stars

“The Breath Between the Waves” by Charlotte Anne Hamilton is a historical romance set on the Titanic.

Penelope Fletcher is upset to be sailing on the RMS Titanic. Her parents have decided to leave Scotland for better opportunities in America and she’s being made to leave with them. Once on board she meets her roommate for the weeklong trip, Ruby Cole. Ruby is visiting family in America and is happy to be sailing on the brand-new unsinkable ship. They become fast friends and then more once they admit their mutual attraction. Each knows they’re expected to get married and settled once their trips are over so they decide to take the week to be together and enjoy their freedom while they have it.

This felt a little like two different books. The first half is spent on Penelope and Ruby and their time together. I actually didn’t like this half as well because this is told in Penelope’s point of view and while we get to know her really well, Ruby stayed a mystery for the most part. The romance is mostly surface level as they’re more concerned with having a good time and touring the ship than having deep conversations. I wish we had gotten to know them better together than what we got. I feel like it would’ve made the second half pack even more of an emotional punch. I liked each of them but I just wasn’t convinced of them as a couple.

The second half was my favorite half. Hamilton was wonderful in writing the emotional turmoil of Penelope and Ruby not only getting separated from one another but from their families as well. This is one of those books where the setting feels like a character and it really worked here. Titanic is so big and there’s so many people on board that it’s easy to imagine the overwhelming fear of having to navigate it while on the hunt for loved ones, all while the ship is sinking.

Just a note for fans of books not filled with Americans and American lingo. With Hamilton and Penelope both being from Scotland, there were terms that aren’t common in the US and it was fun to see those and google the meanings.

Overall, if you’re a fan of Titanic, you’ll enjoy this. While the romance doesn’t exactly work, I found the end to be satisfying. Also, the rest of the novel is moving and emotional. It’s full of tragedy and I couldn’t put the book down.

I received an ARC from Entangled Publishing via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Breath Between Waves is a breathtaking Sapphic romance set against the backdrop of the sinking of the Titanic, an event well known for the immense tragedies left in its wake. I appreciated the fresh perspective this story brought to an otherwise conservative and stuffy era.
I adored the characters of Penelope and Ruby. They are incredibly sweet and when they meet each other on the Titanic quite literally sparkly, sapphic sparks fly. Their chemistry on the Titanic will take your breath away.

If you enjoy historical fiction or sweet sapphic romances with lots of sexual tension then this is the book for you. If you’re looking to add more diversity to your reading this is also the book for you. The Breath Between Waves was the book I didn’t know I needed until I dived in.

Thank you very much to Entangled Publishing for the review copy!

The story of the passengers sailing on the Titanic have been shared in multiple works of fiction and nonfiction; books, films, documentaries and television. Charlotte Anne Hamilton’s wonderful novel tells of the relationship between two female passengers, each traveling with their parents on this maiden voyage.
Ruby is from Ireland, Penelope from Scotland and they are about to share a room together. This voyage in many ways is their last look at freedom with marriage and a husband being the expected next step when they arrive in America. The experience of being together, talking, sharing and understanding one another quickly turns to a romantic attraction. This forbidden relationship occurring amongst the grandeur and extravagance of this majestic ship is told from Penelope’s point of view. Exciting, emotional and tragic, this is a powerful story told in beautiful prose that will stay with the reader long after this novel has been finished.
My thanks for an ARC is extended to NetGalley, Charlotte Anne Hamilton and Entangled in exchange for a book review.

I was nearly halfway through this book when I realized I didn't have the energy to finish it. It was a perfectly fine story, but the characters lacked life, and I wasn't invested in what was being built between them.

I saw this, saw it was a Titanic story with a sapphic couple, and still made the conscious decision to read it. The Titanic movie makes me sob and this was no different. That being said, I still really enjoyed it. The characters were likable, there was interesting conflict separate from queerness, and it felt like a thought out story. I am a little doubtful of the historical accuracy of some of the content, but hey! Penelope and Ruby weren't actually on the Titanic. Mostly, I'm relieved that this didn't fall to harmful tropes found in a lot of queer literature. The tragedy was 100% because of the events occurring, which is something that doesn't happen enough for queer characters.

This was a 3.5 rounded up to a 4 for me.

**I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher!

the breath between waves is a lesbian romance set aboard the doomed titanic. for penelope and ruby, the weeklong voyage to america is one last week of freedom before social and familial pressures force them into marriages they don’t want. rooming together aboard the ship, they bond and begin an affair—a few days to make happy memories before they part forever.

of course, they’re aboard the titanic, so nothing goes as planned.

this was a sweet, fast-paced romance; a bit insta-lovey, but it made sense given the circumstances. (i, too, would fall in love with a pretty irish lesbian if i had to room with her for a week before my dad picked a dude for mer to marry.) it was cute, but not particularly memorable—though i did tear up once or twice during the last ~30%.

Sapphic romance set on the Titanic? I was sold from the beginning honestly. This book is (unsurprisingly) heavy and melancholy and all of the early chapters are haunted with the foreboding knowledge of what you know is coming but it is beautifully written and engrossing and you feel everything alongside the characters.

I was hooked almost right from the beginning and invested in the relationship between Ruby and Penelope straightaway. Their romance was a little 'insta-love-y' but given the nature of the circumstances, I can overlook that. Naturally, this book is tragic, it's set during a devastating historical event that had a massive impact on the world at large and an earth-shattering one for those involved. I thought the author did a fantastic job telling such a compelling story over a very short space of time and a very confined setting.

The interactions of characters- particularly between Penelope and her parents were raw and felt natural but emotional and they added to the tension of the closing chapters. I also really appreciated that we got an epilogue, it felt like the perfect ending to this story.

This book was tough to read in places just because of the subject matter and prior knowledge but it was absolutely worth it and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced review copy of this book.

Sapphic Titanic retelling?! I didn't need to know anything else about this before requesting it. I ended up quite enjoying it, but also having somewhat mixed feelings. It was a very fast read, and a surprisingly fluffy one at times, and while the romance started pretty suddenly I did end up liking it. But also, knowing this would be a Titanic retelling, I was ready to be TORTURED. I was ready for drama, for tragedy, for pure devastation. I guess it's quite masochistic to want that from a book, but I did. But I didn't really get that here. That's more of a mismatch between the book and my expectations though, and it was still a good read, which I might give a reread eventually!

The Breath Between Waves is absolutely stunning. Beautiful, romantic, and heartbreaking; my favorite things in a book! I've been looking for a fantastically tragic queer read to utterly destroy me, and this one was just so perfect.

The Breath Between Waves knew exactly what to say to hook me: sapphic romance and the Titanic. Because not only do I seem to be looking for my heart to be destroyed, I seem to think that it might not be that emotionally wrecking. Wrong. Very wrong. The Breath Between Waves hit the emotional highs and lows for me. As Penelope and Ruby are prepared to come to terms with the prospect of marriage thrust upon them - even though they don't want it. How each of them represent a moment of freedom, love, and life.

But the pit of dread in my stomach never went away, because it's the freakin Titanic. The chemistry between Ruby and Penelope was so sweet. What ends up happening when I read Titanic stories is that I wanna just scream, "do whatever you want the boat is going to sink just live", but it's never like that. Because we so rarely think these are our last moments. The Breath Between Waves made my heart lurch in the ways their dreams are stifled and ambitions put aside.

I like a historical romance with no aristocracy in sight (or at least keeping them merely adjacent). Not only is this a sapphic romance, but our characters are refreshingly "second class" on board the Titanic. To be clear, the venue was not refreshing but rather looming and ominous and not-to-be-trusted.

The story follows Penelope, who is moving with her parents to America. She already misses her grandmother and fears the inevitable efforts to marry her off once she arrives. She takes up a fling with the vivacious Ruby, her bunkmate on the Titanic. The idea is for them both to enjoy the voyage together as a last hurrah before being forced into society's and family's expectations for them.

I'm struggling to put into words my reaction to this one. I think the main thing is that it felt like this book was trying to do too much, thereby not meeting its potential in any category. It reads like a romance in the first half, only interrupted by Titanic factoids delivered like zingers, feminist comments strewn about haphazardly, and indications of Penelope's strained relationship with her parents. The second half is The Sinking. It's told in detail, but at that point, I would rather read or see it in a non-fiction/documentary format. A fictional vehicle for a Titanic story offers the opportunity at an emotional journey, but the rush of the plot in the first half leading up to the ship's excruciating demise left me with not enough attachments to be particularly affected. Neither the good feels of the romance nor the horrors of the sinking could penetrate the fog of historical references. I went into this read so nervous about my potential emotional response to the unavoidable outcome of the voyage herein, but I came away apparently unscathed. An interactive museum experience growing up lent me more in terms of both facts and emotions about the Titanic, which made this book something of a disappointment.

If you are particularly interested in the Titanic or are excited about a sapphic historical in an uncommon setting, you might find what you are looking for here as long as you don't mind the other half of the book.

I was given a free copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

4 / 5 Stars

The second I read the blurb - and saw this absolutly stunning cover - I knew that I wanted to read this book so badly.
I was promised a cute sapphic couple X a sad historical event and that's exactly what I got.

I mean, I'm pretty sure it's not news to anyone, what happend with and on the Titanic.
Which means, if you're going into this expecting to read a sapphic story only, you'll be dissapointed. People are dying. A lot of people actually. It's not graphic, but the death is still happening. Be prepared for that.

The first 'part' of the book is dedicated to the sapphic romance. The second one to the tragedy. I loved the romance, but I have to say, that I enjoyed the second half of the book more, because I felt like it was stronger. The reason for that being is, that the love story isn't as developed as it could be. It's got a little bit of Insta-Love going on, which is understandable for the setting, but could have still been written better in my opinion. Give them more time before they get together. Or rather, maybe more time in general would have been nice. It's not like they don't spend a lot of time together already, but it's nothing that convinced me to a bigger extent of the powerful connection they apparently had. They did grow on me and I was rooting for them, but it didn't manage to become a 5 star book for me.

There are other characters, but we don't spend much time with them. Which doesn't mean that I didn't like them. I just felt like they got the shorter end of the stick. But I guess if you're just here for the romance, you won't be too unhappy about the kinda-lack of side characters.

This is by the way - once again - a book, that I wish had included a Content warning. It's not spoiling anything. You could argue that the Content Warning should be obvious, but I'd disagree.

All in all, I felt like this was a cute story that got better the farther we got into it.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

The Breath Between Waves has an intriguing premise, following a sapphic romance on board the Titanic. While it’s not a popular setting for romance (for understandable reasons), I was excited to see what Charlotte Anne Hamilton would do with it.

Given this is a real historical event, I appreciated the effort on Hamilton’s part to stick fairly close to the timeline and depict the environs faithfully. I loved little touches like witnessing the interaction between Ida and Isidor Straus when Ida refuses to abandon him to go into a lifeboat.

I also really liked the distinct cultural differences in Penelope and Ruby’s family dynamics, being Scottish and Irish respectively. The two come from different worlds (although not as drastic as the one from the most famous fictional Titanic romance between Rose and Jack), and I enjoyed seeing their adventures and getting insight into each other’s worlds.

However, most of this enjoyment was mostly theoretical, as my investment in the two never really went beyond surface level. My reaction to the stakes as things took a turn for the worse upon the ship hitting the iceberg was perilous in and of itself, but I didn’t really care much about their survival beyond the, “this is a romance, they better not die.” But other than that, I didn’t really care about them together, and felt the book was somewhat lacking.

This book was sweet and the rendering of the tragedy was well-conveyed. But as a romance, I don’t know if it was fully effective. But that’s just my opinion, and others have enjoyed it, so I’d encourage you to consult their perspectives as well.

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley. #netgalley

Not my normal read but I couldn't get away from how beautiful the pepper was and to give it a try. And I'm glad wonderfully written and very descriptive.

When you’re writing about the Titanic, it’s difficult to bring in something fresh and new. People know the story, they know what to expect. But as a Queer person who loves historical fiction, The Breath Between Waves was an absolute joy to read!

The Breath Between Waves is a tale of a Sapphic romance on the RMS Titanic’s tragic maiden voyage. Penelope is a young Scottish woman with dreams of education and of freedom to court as she so desires, but her parents have plans to marry her off, so Penelope plans on enjoying herself as much as she can before then. On the Titanic she meets her roommate, Ruby, a young Irish woman traveling with her family to be wed off as well. The two become fast friends, until they both realize that they both want something more than friendship…

This is a New Adult story that I am so happy to see! There’s a sense of adventure and freedom that these two women find with each other: exploring the Titanic, attending third class parties, sneaking into first class. There’s a sense of wonder and appreciation for the majesty that this ship had - and I think that even modern readers will get a sense of it through Hamilton’s rich and fun writing.

What I adored about Penelope and Ruby’s relationship, is that both women had been in relationships with women previously, so that their relationship power dynamic was very balanced. There was also a lot of communication between the pair so that they both knew where the other stood with regards to their relationships (we love to see it!). And the steamy scenes? Oh the steamy scenes were so very, very excellent.

What makes it tricky to write about the Titanic is that we all know what happens. But Hamilton really leaned into the countdown to disaster by titling each chapter with the dates leading up to the event. People who are already familiar with the story will feel a sense of foreboding as that tragic night slowly approaches. And while the first half of the book is dedicated to making that connection to Penelope and Ruby, the second half is the devastating follow up to that fateful collision with an iceberg. I won’t include spoilers here, but it was intense and heartbreaking and I’m very impressed with how Hamilton crafted this story.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who’s interested in the Titanic or to anyone who’s interested in an intense sapphic romance with very high stakes. I certainly look forward to reading more from this author!

CW: Disaster, sexism, homophobia, corpses, death of a parent, & sexual content

*Thank you Entangled Publishing, LLC and NetGalley for the ARC*

**I voluntarily read and reviewed the ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own**

Thank you Netgalley and Entangled Publishing, LLC for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for a honest review!

I have to say, loved this book! Enthusiastic 4.5 stars, rounded up.

I will start by saying that I have been in love with the story of Titanic since I was little...the tragedy, the drama, all the little stories that played out over it's slow sinking. I was interested in it even before the Jim Cameron movie, which I also enjoyed but kinda thought it woulda been better with two women as the love interest.

The Breath Between the Waves gives us a bit of that! This is not the same story as that film, but there are certainly some parallels here and there, especially towards the end. I quite enjoyed that the characters in this story were all situated in second class...you often hear about the disparity between first class and third, and it feels like second is often forgotten, even though it had some of the biggest differences in survival rate (where something like 86% of 2nd class women survived, but fewer 2nd class men then 3rd). The author has done an amazing job at making you feel you were right there on the deck, and has obviously researched her story very thoroughly, the ship and the time period feeling very accurate. The one exception to that being that I wasn't sure how likely it was that in the last 3rd class party where Penelope & Ruby are recognized as a couple by a gay man...that seemed like a modern recognition to me, but I didn't mind it, it was kind of nice.

Speaking of Penelope and Ruby, their romance was very cute. It happens pretty quick, it's true, but I liked their chemistry together. As a narrator, Penelope was interesting, balancing her sorrow at being apart of a cross-Atlantic move she wanted nothing to do with and her wonder at being on the ship, seeing France and Ireland, and the vastness of the ocean. Ruby was so bright and wonderful, and it was understandable that Penelope would have been drawn to her. She was was cute with her niece and younger brother, and I liked the silent communications she shared with her older sister, particularly in regards to Penelope. If I have any minor complaints, I would have liked to get a bit more in their heads, especially from Ruby.

The book is divided basically in half, the impact with the iceberg happening almost exactly at the 50% mark, so you're fitting 4 days into the first half, and the ships final three hours (plus the aftermath in the water and on the Carpathia), and so the first half can feel a touch rushed which is a little unfortunate, and so I can understand why some people think the romance is rushed. The second half of the book, the drama was certainly nail biting at times, and gave me so many feels. It was scary, you feel like you're on the deck, in the confusion of what was going on. And when the girls separate...oof.

All in all, I thought this was wonderful. Well researched, cute romance, harrowing when it meant to be. Great book!

Admittedly I am a huge Titanic buff, so any book about the ship whether fiction or nonfiction I will read, but this one was very enjoyable and entertaining. Would reccomend to anyone.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I love the premise of this book, set in the middle of one of the most historic and well-known events of the 20th century. I really had high hopes for this book because the possibilities were many for how the plot could unfold and it did not let me down. I came to adore Penelope and Ruby.

This hovers around a 3.75, as I love the representation in it, but I would have liked to see more interaction between them at the beginning. I understand that in this type of situation, the author has a very strict time frame to work within and she did a great job of making me feel like I was there with them as disaster struck, however, as stated, I would have liked more lead up to it within the natural time frame. A few more interactions, maybe more with their respective families as well.

Overall, a good book with solid representation and a very enjoyable read (even with the anxiety of knowing what was about to happen to the ship!). I look forward to reading more from this author.

This book had me from the very premise: sapphic romance on the Titanic?! Yes please. As someone who was lowkey obsessed with reading up on everything and anything I could about the sinking during my teenage years, this was a story that should have, at least in concept, worked for me — and in some aspects it did. The romance was very sweet and lovely, with all the yearning you expect between two young women of that time period, but pacing-wise, it felt like only about half the plot was dedicated to their tender love story before tragedy needed to occur, and from that point on it was a very dramatic shift and mostly dedicated to the events we all know from history. I almost would’ve liked to see Penelope and Ruby endure their circumstances together rather than be torn apart in the chaos and confusion, only to be reunited at the very end of the book. They definitely get a HEA, but it’s one that comes after reading a lot of tough stuff that they’re mostly separated for.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.