⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
𝙂𝙚𝙣𝙧𝙚 🎭: high school/NA romance
𝙋𝙖𝙘𝙚 🏃🏼‍♀️: mixed
𝙎𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙚: 🌶️
𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 🖤: breaking & rebuilding
⚠️: there's a lot of trauma and hard themes including unaliving, alcoholism, abuse

I can always count on JH's books gutting me over and over. Her writing is beautiful. The story is beautiful. And hard. So very hard. Max is the greatest boy to ever exist and the way he never gives up on Ella will clench your heart. The concert scene may be one of the best tension/heart throbbing fluttery scene I've ever read.

Young love is amazing. Ugh. Max. I want the world for you.

It gets a little long in the middle, so stick with it if it starts feeling slow. It picks back up full steam. Even the most tough and unemotional readers will probably cry or at least tear up several times in this story. I sobbed in the middle of the night both at the happy scenes and the sad ones.

Please check the content warnings for this one. But I promise it is worth it.

THIS BOOK - this angsty romance broke my heart and put it back together. While this is billed as YA because the characters are in high school, this books deals with a lot of very heavy topics and I would highly advise checking out trigger warnings on this one. Ella and Max wormed their way into my heart and won’t be forgotten.

"Dear Jonah,

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

This was my *200th* book of 2024 and once again, Jennifer Hartmann effed me up (I read Still Beating for my 100th book last year...she is clearly the right author to read for these milestones).

I absolutely loved this story - the way we fall in love very quickly with the two main characters. They are hellbent on not letting their past or their situations define them, not now...not ever. The little cutesy moments throughout the book (e.g., Sunny Rose Farm, Winnie the Pooh references, and chasing/catching the sun moments) were perfect. This was another book that ripped my heart out, stomped on it a little, put it back together, stomped on it some more, and finally put it back in to heal.

Thank you to NetGalley, SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books | Bloom Books, and Jennifer Hartmann for the opportunity to read and review an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest opinion.

Jennifer Hartmann has done ti again! I love all her books and this one is no exception. She knows just how to write these. Such an emotional read like her other books but I LOVED it!

Even though I haven't read anything by Jennifer Hartmann before, I'm obsessed! Reading books usually doesn't make me cry, but this one did. Jennifer truly has a gift with her words. She has the ability to evoke strong emotions in you through her characters.

I was immediately drawn in by Catch the Sun. I really liked the two main characters. Ella and Max were both incredibly well-written and relatable. Max was really kind and considerate, and Ella had just the right amount of adolescent angst mixed with humor. They are both recovering from trauma and going through the process of recovery. However, their obvious and exquisitely shown chemistry is strong.

This book is so much more than a romance. It has many highs and lows, as well as some tragic and frustrating moments, as well as some corny and sweet ones and a few extremely dark events. The darker parts were really excellent.

This was definitely a five-star read for me! This novel makes you feel everything at once and has it all. It's a heartwarming tale of having to make difficult choices in order to move past your past and find healing.

If I tried, I couldn't recommend this book enough. I am now an immense fan of Jennifer Hartmann, and I am eager to read more of her writing.

Lovely writing. Max and Ella are just broken souls who find solace in each other .
Also brynn! And McKay are sooo vibrant !!
The writing is good and the character development is perfect.

This is my first YA book by Jennifer Hartmann and I’ve not been enjoying YA recently so I was excited to read it because of Jennifer but not sure what I’d think about it. Walking out of reading it I was pleasantly surprised. Although the characters are very YA (as they should be) the plot is still beautifully written, with many sensitive topics explored and has that perfect suspense romance feel that Jennifer always manages to execute.

I really enjoyed Catch the Sun, Ella and Max are just the two sweetest kids, both so afraid of not being good enough for their families and friends and the years their friendship spans adds huge depth and nostalgia to this story. This world felt as fleshed out as I’ve come to expect from Jennifer, and honestly I hope we get some of the stories of the other characters we meet in this town as I loved them all.

My only main thing that irked me a bit is unless you’re max, Ella is a pretty shit friend 😅 she lost a little bit of humanity for me as her love for Max felt literally world consuming (as it does) but it felt like this meant everyone else important in her life got left behind whereas Max still managed to navigate his other relationships. It may be because that is how teenage love feels and we don’t have the maturity to balance our lives as well, but it was something that was notable to me.

All in all a great book - thank you to the author for allowing me the opportunity of ARC reading - I loved this and will continue to read anything Jennifer writes 🧡

Hang on, excuse me while I go blow my nose again. Wow, just wow this book was really a journey. Ella has really been through some things, but Max has always loved her and always will. From a beautiful orange flower on the playground to a sweet Little pony on their new ranch, he has always been right behind her. And he has had his own rough life, but she has always been his sunshine. This book will stick with me for a while, and I can’t wait to recommend it to more people. One caution is to be very ready to not put this book down once you start it. I finished it at 3:30 in the morning. Enjoy!!

Ugh this book wrecked me, like utterly and completely destroyed me! Max and Ella met as little kids and basically became best friends and soulmates but were tragically forced apart, though they never forgot about each other. Ella moves back to town during their senior year of high school, both have hella traumatic family issues and are both kind of loners just trying to get through but once Max sees Ella again he can't let go of how he felt about her back then and tries to win her heart now! Max is utterly perfect, he takes care of his alcoholic dad, and has twin brother who does literally nothing to help and I hated him... so much, like I can't even begin to tell you how much! The way he talks to Ella is so sweet and perfect and the kinda quotes that stick with you long after you finish reading! Ella is closed off and distant, which it totally understandable when you have a brother convicted of a brutal double murder and if on death row! I don't want to spoil anything but I do think at the end there is some stuff that comes up with her brother and I don't love how she reacted, I do understand why but I also reallllyyyy understood his side and don't love how that resolved. I was literally on the edge of my seat at the end of this book with all the twists and turns and wondering if they would get the HEA. Safe to say I bawled throughout this book!

If you would have walked in on me while I was reading this book, you may have seen me with my hand covering my mouth, holding in my gasps. You probably would have seen me with tears streaming down my face. I did those two things a lot while reading Max and Ella's story: gasped in horror and cried my eyes out.

The prologue of this book is one of those that just grabs you and this story never lets go. Even now, hours after I turned the final page, it hasn't let go. Not even a little bit.

I truly believe that it's best to go into this story blind, so I'm not going to tell you much here. This story starts with two innocent children and ends with two adults who have endured so much throughout their young lives. This is a tragic tale and it's heartbreaking. It is gut-wrenchingly heartbreaking, but it's beautiful at the same time. My heart hurt for Ella. My heart hurt for Max. They both earned my tears and they both deserved a HEA.

There are definite triggers in this story, so please read with caution. I read much of this book with my breath held, with my heart in my throat, and with tears filling my eyes and falling over at the worst of it. I also smiled, and laughed, and loved...oh my, how I loved these characters and their love story.

This will undoubtedly be one of my top reads of this year and it will definitely be one of my all time favorites.

Jennifer Hartmann does it again! She has singlehandedly destroyed me and put me back together again.

The book gave me all the feels. I cried, I laughed, and I loved this book so much. Ella and Max went through so much trauma together and separately.

I was in absolute shock during certain points in the book, empathizing with Ella and her situation. Max is the boy every mother wants for her daughter. He was patient, kind, and always putting Ella at the forefront of his priorities (in a healthy way).

Catch the Sun is a coming of age love story, Ella and Max are each other's first everything. It was sweet, it was tragic, and it was a very hard faught happily ever after.

It was a little slow to begin with, but after a certain point it was impossible to put down!

This book is advertised as YA, but it does have on page spice and very dark themes. If you're looking to give this to a younger family member or friend, be aware! If I was reading this without knowing ahead of time, I would have never thought it!

Trigger warnings:
▪️On page parental violence
▪️Alcoholism
▪️Gun violence
▪️Attempted SA***
▪️Mention of murder


I know it's late, but I appreciate the opportunity to ARC read this through Netgalley!

This book was perfection for me. It broke my heart. Then healed it in the way that Jennifer Hartmann does. Such a great story of love and loss and love. She has a way of making you feel her characters in all ways.

Every book I’ve read by Jennifer Hartmann has been so beautiful!! This one is just as beautiful as every book I’ve read!

The most beautifully raw young-adult novel from Jennifer Hartmann. Such a beautiful book that I enjoyed every second of.

If Jennifer writes it it's for sure a 5 star read. The amount of emotion she puts in her books, her storytelling skills, the rawness of her stories. Everything is just perfection and this book was no exception. This book teared me apart, made me laugh, cry, mad, it made me feel every single damn emotion. Just as Jennifer always done she put it back together gracefully.

This book is love, loss, and everything in between. It’s emotional, devastating, but also redeeming, and peaceful. There’s so many “moments” in this book that it keeps you captivated literally from page one.

Jennifer Hartmann is an auto buy and an auto read author for me and that will NEVER change. She’s quickly become my favorite author and if you know you know.

Her books have triggers, they aren’t light and fluffy reads, but they always come out on the light side, even through all the trauma, devastation, and emotional crap the characters suffer through.

Thank you so much for Catch the Sun. It was perfection in a book.

Where do I begin?

If you remember the first time you met a special person in your teen years and how much joy and pain it can bring into your life, then this book is for you.

I love books that break my heart and shed tears, and I was teary-eyed during parts of Max and Ella's journey. I also felt joy and love during this beautiful story.

I love that life brought Max and Ella together several times. Their friendship was genuine, and I appreciated all the little things between them.

“I made you a list.” I freeze. My throat rolls as his words register and I slowly turn around to face him. “A list?”“Yeah. You said you love lists, so I made one for you.”

But life throws an incredible amount of hurt into their lives and the people surrounding them. I had to stop myself from flipping ahead because the anxiety and tensions were high.

There were many swoon worthy moments - Max was so freaking pure. From notes to listening, he was a dream. He brought of the absolute best in Ella and vice versa.

A five-star read for me. If you need me, I'll be over here thinking about this book.

This was a cute story. I really liked it, However i do think it was too young adult for my tastes but the characters were intriguing and I was sucked into the story

jennifer hartmann has a true gift with words, and i am grateful to experience them 🫶🏻

her characters have so much depth, and she never fails to make me cry in the best way

Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for an ARC of this book.

I have never read a book by Jennifer Hartmann that I didn’t enjoy, and this was no exception. My heart was in my throat for the majority of this book, on edge with the relationship between our two main characters and the battles they face.

I loved both Ella and Max. They were so good together and for each other, and I read the book in one sitting because I just had to find out if everything turned out how it should.

There are some really heavy topics in this book, much like Jennifer Hartmann’s other books. She handles these topics well, and doesn’t shy away from the characters living in their hurt.