Breathless

August 1, 2020
An 18-year-old girl experiences a summer of self-discovery. At the end of her senior year of high school, Claudine "Claude" Henry is ready to lose her virginity to Wyatt Jones (who's unaware of this plan)--and then hopes to go on a road trip before college with her best friend, Suzanne "Saz" Bakshi. But when her parents reveal they're separating, Claude is devastated by her father's statement that he can't cope anymore with his life. So Claude goes with her mother for the summer to a small island off the coast of Georgia, where she befriends some of the locals. She's drawn to Jeremiah "Miah" Crew, a summer resident, and they agree that since they're both leaving the island in a month, they won't take their fling for anything serious. Claude and her friends share smart, candid thoughts about safe sex, consent, and pleasure, woven seamlessly into the emotional first-person narrative along with touching meditations on friendship and family. A storyline exploring Claude's great-aunt's history on the island ends up convoluted and uninspired, but overall Claude's journey is intriguing. Claude and Miah are White, Wyatt is biracial (White/Black), and brown-skinned Saz is a lesbian. A sex-positive summer romance that's worth reading. (Romance. 14-18)

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August 10, 2020
Claude’s family is a perfect unit of three, until, on the verge of her high school graduation, her parents tell her that they’re splitting up. She’s already filled with uncertainty—will she and her best friend, Saz, stay connected after school ends? Will she lose her virginity? Become the writer she wants to be?—and now the floor feels like it’s been pulled out from under her, even more so when her mother whisks her to a remote island off Georgia’s coast (“This is what it feels like to be exiled”). There, Claude tries to imagine being brave, even as she begins a potentially risky and exciting relationship with handsome, nature-loving Jeremiah, called “Miah.” Niven (Holding Up the Universe) describes this as her most personal novel, which comes through in both the book’s flaws and its strengths. The story begins slowly, and Claude’s torrent of emotions—wanting and not wanting Miah, hating and not hating her father, loving and resenting her mother and best friend—can feel overdescribed. But Niven intimately and sensually depicts Claude’s determination to know herself and her body, and to genuinely connect not just with Miah but with herself. Ages 14–up.

Starred review from September 1, 2020

Gr 9 Up-Claude is finishing up her senior year of high school in Ohio and making plans for an epic summer before going off to college. That's when Claude's dad drops the floor out from under her: Her mother and father are separating. Instead of her fabulous summer with her best friend, Claude is going to stay with her mother on a remote island off the coast of Georgia with no cell reception. She meets a group of misfit teens who quickly become friends. One of those misfits is Jeremiah. Soon Claude and Miah are exploring the island, new emotions, and each other in a dreamy, responsible, Sarah Dessen-like affair. Angry, whiny Claude is difficult to like at first but believable. Sun-bronzed Miah, despite his troubled past, is almost too perfect, yet readers will find themselves drawn to his wise-beyond-his-years optimism. He helps Claude begin to accept what her family is going through. As the last days of summer pass by, Claude and her mother find ways to accept heartbreak and face their new realities. This bittersweet summer romance is a change of pace for Niven, but it is easy to feel her connection to the story. Discussions about love, sex, family, and the conflicting emotions caused by change are refreshingly honest. Claude is white and some of the islanders are Gullah. VERDICT A recommended purchase for any YA collection where romance and/or realistic fiction circulates well.-Claire Covington, Broadway H.S., VA

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