“My troubles are all over, and I am at home.” 🌅🧡


Young adult novels are always a hit or miss for me but when I saw that Jennifer Hartmann’s next book was YA, I decided to give it a shot and boy, am I glad I did!

I absolutely adored Max and related to Ella much more than I had anticipated. There were, as per usual in Hartmann’s books, a lot of heart breaking moments but the ending made up for all the emotional damage you get throughout the book.

Like with all her books, I strongly advise you to look up the trigger warnings before diving in.

It's been awhile since I've been so affected by a story. While this is advertised as a YA book it felt anything but.. they're young when they met, but their lives and hardships are intense. If triggers are something you need to look out for, please do so first. But if not, go into this beautiful book blind and have your world forever changed like mine was.

Jennifer has such a beautiful way with words.. it's truly a gift. The way she captives your heart and consumes your emotions. I never thought I would cry over a brisket or Eeyore.. but here we are, tears streaming down my face because of the beauty these moments possess. There were so many little moments in this book, along with so many big ones that impacted me greatly. I felt all of the emotions. Happy tears, sad tears, as though my heart was being pulled from my chest and shattered, only to be put back together again. Because as much as Jennifer likes to destroy us, she always mends us and leaves us thanking her for it.

Max Manning. He is the blueprint. Everything about him was complete and utter perfection. His words and his actions... the epitome of if he wanted to, he would. It doesn't get better.

Ella. If I could have reached through my Kindle and hugged this sweet girl and protected her from the world, I would have. The world was so cruel to her, but she was so resilient and seeing her find her light again made my heart so happy.

Together, their young love was quite literally the love you write books about. I'm in love with their love. And I'm so thankful Jennifer wrote their story. It is absolutely a new favorite, one that I didn't want to end.

I hope everyone reads this book on July 16.
Make sure you have tissues. Because there will be tears.. but I promise you, they're worth it all.

I absolutely loved this book! Another great read from this author. This is a YA romance about tragedy, heartbreak, first love, and healing.

Based in Tellico Plains, TN (a town 1 hour from where I live) made it feel like I was transported into the book by the sights, smells, and places described.

Max and Ella are trying to navigate friendship after both of them have had some tragic things happen. Ella’s brother is in prison for double homicide, and Max’s dad is an alcoholic and unstable. They find solace in each other and a home when they feel like their home is in shambles.

There are so many twists and turns once you get about 50% through that had me gasping and feeling so many emotions. That’s one thing this author will do - make you go through all the feels.

The grand gesture at the end of the book had me swooning for Max and I think everyone should read this book!

☀️Favorite Quote: “I’d feel you in any lifetime, in any version of reality. And I’d know, without a doubt, without any shred of hesitation… that your souls was meant for mine”☀️

I absolutely loved this book. I think it might just be my favorite one I’ve read by Jennifer. It was such a wholesome book that left you wanting more. The love in this book was the purest kind. Catch the Sun is a sweet yet tragic and poignant story of young love and finding your way amongst hardship and heart break. I don’t know how she does it but I’ve loved every book she’s written. Max is a major green flag, he works so hard to break down the walls Ella has put around herself & her heart. He’d do anything for his Sunny Girl and it’s shown so so many times. This story tears you apart at the seams and then heals your heart.

4.5 stars

Catch the Sun is a super intense and heart wrenching read about a girl named Ella whose brother is on death row for supposedly murdering two people. When her mom moves her to a small town in Tennessee, she reunites with Max, her best friend from when she was seven.

This is a story about grief, first loves, difficult family situations, and learning how to live again. There are a lot of heavy topics in this book so definitely be aware of that before you start. I really loved Ella and Max and how innocent yet intense their relationship was, and Max was just the absolute sweetest. I really did not expect the story to go in the direction that it did and I actually had anxiety at times waiting to see what would happen. It has a well deserved HEA after taking you through an emotional wringer. I’m looking forward to reading more from Jennifer Hartmann!

Thank you to Bloom for the ARC!

4.5 stars

Jennifer Hartmann’s “Catch The Sun” is one of the most stressful YA novels you’ll ever read - I mean this in the best way possible. Please take the time to read the trigger warnings to ensure you are in a good headspace when you go into this book —

From the get-go this book starts off with a BANG and jumps right into it — and just when you think you’ve been utterly traumatized even more shocking chaos continues to unfold one after another. This book is not a lighthearted romance, although the slow burn romance that unfolds is precious. The love between siblings, parents, friends, romantic partners, and the self is analyzed through the pages of this book… begging you to question does love really conquer all?

Ella will remind you of Wednesday Addams, she’s been through so much and continues to be kicked while she’s down. Max and her were the best of friends at age 7, before she moved away…before her life was turned upside down — he still remembers the bright little girl that he swore he’d marry nearly a decade ago. She’s back now, and she’d rather just hide away from everywhere as she’s processing the fact that her brother is serving a sentence on death row for committing a high profile murder in the name of love. Ella and Max continue to have something in common - they’re both kindred spirits trying to survive and taking it a day at a time.

I am so grateful to NetGalley and Bloom Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I would highly recommend this book to readers of all ages looking for a tragedy with a happy ending — be sure to grab your copy when this book hits the shelves on July 16, 2024. I look forward to reading more from Jennifer Hartmann.

✦What to Expect✦
•He calls her Sunny
•Winnie the Pooh references
•Tragedy
•So many tears
•The most pure & lovable FMC & MMC
•All the orange

✦Characters✦
•Ella Sunbury
•Max Manning

✦Fav Quotes✦
It’s heartbreaking how this boy is everything I could ever want and more, and yet…I can hardly look at him.

“I’d feel you in any lifetime, in any version of any reality. And I’d know, without a doubt, without a shred of hesitation…that your soul was meant for mine.”

“Go live, Sunny Girl.”

Do you still love me? Are we passing ships, or am I anchored in your heart?

Today I fell in love with a boy who finally caught the sun.
And he never let her go.

✦Thoughts✦
Absolute perfection🥺

So many tears shed, full on sobbing
All the tissues were needed
Several crying breaks occurred.

This is going to be a 2024 favorite 100%

This book has tragedy & heartbreak and it’s going to wreck you. But Ella & Max… oh my god these two are too pure and good for this world.
I loved them so f’ing much, and their hand holding moments had my heart bursting🥺.
The way I am obsessed with these two and their connection. Max is the biggest PGOM and I will forever love him.

This book isn’t just going to be a 2024 favorite… I lied before lol. It’s going to be an all time favorite in general.

This book absolutely destroyed me and I loved every minute of it

Thank you again to Jennifer Hartmann, Netgalley and Valentine PR for the ARC of this. Catch The Sun had me in a chokehold the entire time I read it. I finished this book within HOURS. 350+ pages of love, heartbreak, trauma, finding yourself and so much more. Jennifer Hartmann does a fantastic job of making you go back to the days of young love and finding yourself among all the chaos. I never wanted this book to end and I just know that this book has left me with a gaping hole in my chest that can never be filled. This is my first time reading a book of hers & I am immediately looking for more. “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.”

"She’s my light and I’m hers. My sweet Sunny Girl. From that first glance in the schoolyard, her smile peeking out from behind a book in the golden afternoon light, I felt it deep inside my soul—she was, and always would be, my sun."

Rating: 4.25/5

- Small town
- YA romance
- High school setting
- Childhood friends to strangers to friends to lovers!
- Neighbours
- First love
- Check TWs
- Dual POV
- 🌶️.5/5

Premise: your brother is on death row, so your mum moves you back to the small town you lived in when you were seven… next door to your childhood friend. You become friends again, then more, until more trauma threatens to tear you apart.

What to expect in Catch the Sun:
- An FMC dealing with the fallout of her brother’s decision, which includes bullies and loving and hating him simultaneously. I really liked Ella as an FMC – she was sarcastic and strong but also vulnerable and tender.
- An MMC dealing with his own father’s issues and a distant twin. Max has my whole heart. He was so sweet with Ella (the crayon! the stone! the flowers! the playlist! the book! 😭) and incredibly selfless. I just wanted to hug him 🥺.
- A slow-burn romance with all those first-love, it's always been you feels. "I’d feel you in any lifetime, in any version of any reality. And I’d know, without a doubt, without a shred of hesitation…that your soul was meant for mine." Ella said that Max saw her when no one else did, which is so true 🥺. He cherished every part of her.
- Jennifer Hartmann plot twists (yes, plural!) you won’t see coming that’ll break your heart and hurt your stomach (your heart slowly gets put back together).
- Lots of emotions and conflicting feelings about certain side characters 👀.
- The perfect ending for them.

"Kissing you feels like catching the sun."

Thank you to Jennifer and Valentine PR for the early copy!

What can I say about a.book that I devoured in about 4 hours….I think it is safe to say that I adored it. I devoured it it in one sitting. I sat down and didn’t get up.
Ella has been through a lot. She found her brother covered in blood. He was accused, tried and found guilty of a crime you will later find out in the book so I will leave you to find that out yourself. Now her mother and her have pretty much sold everything and have moved back to a town that she lived in for about a year when she was younger. A year where she met Max. A boy she was best friends with.. A boy who was really her everything…did I mention they were like 7 years old.
Now they are 17 and 18 and everyone pretty much thinks that Ella is the outcast do to her brother conviction. She is bullied by multiple people, but one girl who is has befriended her who happens to also be Max’s twins brothers girlfriend.
I thought the character development in this book was amazing. I loved the plot I thought it was very well thought out and that Jennifer Hartmann writing style is the kind that flows very well and is easily read.
The only disagreement I have is that while the beginning of this is within the age range of YA this IMO should not be classified or categorized as a YA book as it has detailed SPICY scenes in it. The end of the book they are in their early 20’s. I am not one who believes that new adult is really a thing. I think it’s either YA or adult and I would classify this as more adult material. But overall, I absolutely adored this book. It’s going to be a top book of the year for me at the end of the year. And I can’t wait to see how it ends up p[acing!!!

Jennifer Hartmann has my whole heart.
This book is technically considered a YA novel, but… there’s so much trauma in this book!
I don’t know that I’d recommend it for anyone under 18 because it deals with some heavy stuff.
The main characters are teenagers for a majority of the story and their love does feel like that giddy, young love. But MAN do they get put through the ringer 😭

Max and Ella have a childhood friends to lovers that blossoms so beautifully but the plot twist in this threatens that bond in a way you couldn’t imagine. I was sick over the plot twist, and admittedly, quite mad about it at first. I kept thinking she could have gone about this some other way. But by the end, I couldn’t have imagined it differently. That’s what I love about Jennifer’s books/characters. They’re real, authentic and flawed, just like life. But her characters always find the silver lining and come out on top.

Jennifer truly knows how to rip your heart into pieces, just to sew it back together seamlessly by the end of her stories. She has a fan for life in me 🫡

Catch the Sun-a standalone

by Jennifer Hartmann- I read Still Beating and gave it 5*

Rating: 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Publication 7/16/24 Read 7/5/24

Format: e-book, 457 pgs.

🌎Setting: Juniper Falls -Tellico Plains, TN

🙏🏾Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks/Bloom Books for this ARC☀️ ! I voluntarily give an honest review and all opinions expressed are my own.

✔️ YA
✔️female/male friendship
✔️ coming of age
✔️ family drama
✔️tragedy

⚠️ murder, SA attempt, parental disability, parental abandonment

💭Summary: Ella and Max were once BFFs but ever since her brother Jonah "allegedly" murdered two people Ella has been a social pariah. Max is the caretaker for his alcoholic father while his twin brother McKay refuses to deal with any family drama. Ella and Max slowly reconnect but the odds are against them.

🤔My Thoughts: Ella and Max were tragic characters dealing with too much for a seventeen-year- old. Ella is conflicted about loving and hating Jonah, her mother Candice won't talk about what happened, and her father cheated with Ella's 1st grade teacher. Candice was a horseback guide on their equestrian farm in Nashville. Now she can't get a job because the gossip about Jonah. Ella was bullied at school and she kept to herself to avoid being hurt. She gradually opened her heart to Max, but it turned bad quickly. McKay's jealousy and complicated feelings with his father Chuck fuel his anger and withdrawal. Max cared for Chuck and wouldn't get up on him like McKay. I loved that regardless of the trauma(and it's a lot), Max and Ella do get their HEA.

Jennifer Hartmann has quickly become synonymous with “rip your heart out, tragic stories”. I’ve read quite a few of her books at this point, and believe me when I tell you, Catch the Sun ranks right up there with June First, Still Beating, and Lotus, just to name a few.

Ella Sunbury is only seventeen when this story begins but her life has already been turned upside down by several events that have happened over the past ten years. First, at seven years old, she’s ripped away from her best friend, Max. And now, ten years later, she’s dealing with the fallout and aftermath of her brother being sentenced to death row for a double homicide.

Enter Max Manning, the same boy she was best friends with when she was seven. But Max’s life has changed dramatically as well, and he and his twin brother McKay are just trying to survive their senior year of high school.

Jennifer really puts her readers through the wringer with this one. To say I felt despair multiple times while reading this book would be putting it mildly. The title, Catch the Sun, resonated with me, as Max constantly tells Ella that she is his sun. He even calls her Sunny and keeps telling her she is his light. But there is a lot of dark in this story too, and for me, I think the dark much outweighed the light and it didn’t quite feel balanced for me. I craved more light, which we eventually got at the end and I loved it, I just needed there to be a better balance of light to all the dark along the way.

There was quite a bit of teenage angst, with Max and Ella, and some with Brynn and McKay. But mostly Max and Ella, as he tried so hard to get her to open up, only for her to constantly run from him when it got too intense for her. There is a great supporting cast of characters that really go above and beyond to love and support both Max and Ella.

Readers, prepare for the emotional rollercoaster ride with this story. You will run the gamut, so hold on tight and get ready for the experience!

♾️⭐️ - I never expected a young adult trauma romance novel to have the power to move me to tears. Yet, this book did just that, leaving me in tears on five different occasions.

This novel is nothing short of extraordinary—perhaps one of the best I have ever encountered.

Jennifer Hartmann has firmly established herself as the unparalleled queen of trauma romance. Her ability to weave heartache, heartbreak, love, laughter, and healing into a single narrative is truly remarkable.

The story of Max and Ella is unique, achingly sad, and heart-wrenching, yet it also beautifully depicts growth, love, and acceptance.

SHE BROUGHT THE BRISKET YOU GUYS😭IYKYK. I’ve never had brisket bring me to tears, but I can confidently say that if anyone brings me a brisket, I’ll probably start crying on spot🫠

If you want a story that will leave you speechless & make you feel every emotion possible, I highly recommend grabbing a copy of this book on July 16th.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
🔥

I knew.
Knew this would break my heart.
It did. In the best way.
Anything written by Jennifer will and we all go in knowingly.
This was absolutely beautiful. A journey of love and loss and grief.
Everything, every story and detail, weave perfectly.
There is just something about reading fictional healing from trauma.
Is this YA? I don’t know, it’s pretty hard hitting.
Please give me a Chevy story.

-Childhood friends
-Trauma / Healing
-First love
-Small town
-Neighbours

Where to start? First off, this book is considered a YA book. The only thing YA about this book is their young age the majority of the book but the things that happen in this book…. Don’t let YA fool you if you have any interest in reading this book. It is young love, it had me kicking my feet giggling from the true YA moments, but it was dramatic as heck. There was SO much drama. The plot twist had me sick to my stomach at the realization what was happening. So much TRAUMA. Lots of trauma bonding for sure. I remember before starting this book telling my friend I can’t wait for a cute little YA book, I need a cleansing break… WRONG!!!

In true Jennifer fashion, I was a crying mess throughout the thick of it. She legit had me emotional and tearing up over BRISKET at home point. I swear 😭🤣

I binged 60% of this book in one day because it was so good. I would say up until about 85% it was an easy 5✨ for me, however the ending felt unrealistic and fell flat. I had to sit back and actually remember these characters ages. They were SO mature for their age you kind of forgot they were still so young 🥹 overall, I love anything Jennifer puts out there, this included.

4✨
1.5🌶️

Tropes:
🧡small town
🧡bookworm x popular guy
🧡childhood friends to lovers
🧡neighbors
🧡first love
🧡angsty and emotional
🧡trauma healing

Catch the Sun by Jennifer Hartmann is a book you'll need time to recover from because it is so beautifully tragic and healing. It's hard to put into words just how amazing this book is to read. The emotional rollercoaster but in all the right ways. Max and Ella are too young to have been through everything they have on their own. And when life brings them back together as seniors in high school, things are good and yet different. The struggles surrounding them pull them in every direction leaving them to pick up the pieces. This author continues to write some of the best stories. I've learned to go into them open as you will experience all the feels and emotions through her writing. I highly recommend this book along with everything this author has written and continues to write!

I hope that I can put my feelings adequately into words and give this book the review that it deserves.

Wow. My poor heart is not going to recover anytime soon from reading Ella and Max’s story. I can’t think back over what they have gone through without tears.

I need to review this book in two halves. The first, I felt, was a very slow burn story. At times I wished for a quicker pace to the storyline, however, once events started happening, I realised not only just how much Max and Ella had worked their way into my heart, but by having a full understanding of what they both had been through and the effects this had on them, served to make certain events more tragic. The second part is where my attention was fully grabbed and my emotions were raw and real. The storyline went in directions that I never expected and I especially loved those heart stopping moments. I cannot help but love being put through an emotional wringer.

I absolutely adore Max and Ella, and their storyline is strengthened by incredible supporting characters. I’m not going to go into any details as I would love for you to experience this narrative without any prior knowledge of its content. If you should find the first part of the story a little too slow, there is a reward for persevering, and I am certain you’ll be thankful that you did.

I award Catch the Sun by Jennifer Hartmann 4.5 stars. Overall, for me, I feel this narrative is more New Adult genre than Young Adult. The characters do go through some dark and traumatic events - should you have any triggers. One thing I am certain of is that I wouldn’t have missed this story for the world.

5 stars

JH you ripped my heart clean out and then taped it back together.

The queen of trauma writing if there is 1 thing I could say is this book is definitely not YA there are some heavy subjects in this book and a considerable amount of spice.

Keep doing what your doing because your writing will touch alot of people's hearts in the best wsy possible

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Catch the Sun by Jennifer Hartmann

Welp, I’m a little saddened to have to write the review. I adore Jennifer’s books but this one just didn’t do it for me.

The story is broken into 3 or 4 parts (I can’t remember.) The first part and last part were terribly slow. Basically, I was bored at the beginning, invested in the middle, then bored with the end. I did not care for the resolution at all.

She had the trauma-drama romance down pat like she typically does, but the rest of the story felt flat, long-winded, and the ending felt forced. As I was reading I went from 2 stars, to 4 stars, to 2 stars. Additionally, her character development was a little spotty. I couldn’t quite get a grasp on Max. I couldn’t tell if he was weird, popular, outsider, insider, loner, well-liked…it was like she couldn’t quite decide where he fit either. The relationship between Ella and Brynn was sweet, but developed in an unnatural way. And Brynn’s reaction to something that happens later in the book was, well, it was just missing.

Hartmann is one of my automatic reads (no matter what she writes) author and that still stands. I am a high school librarian and unfortunately feel that this book was too sexually graphic for my library. It is marked as “young adult” but I feel like it should be marked as “new adult.”

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this title for review.