A Must Read For All

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Juliet Takes A Breath is about a “new baby dyke” Juliet going from the Bronx, New York to Portland, Oregon to intern for her favorite author, Harlowe Brisbane. During this summer Juliet finds more out about feminism, women’s bodies, the gay community, and how she defines herself as a Puerto Rican lesbian.
I’m so thankful for the representation Juliet Takes A Breath has. It absolutely opened my eyes a lot wider about the struggles Women of Color still have in the LGBTQ community as well as things that I may very well be unintentionally doing. White people who consider themselves allies can still hurt and offend even if it’s not intentional. The biggest thing is to own up to it, apologize, and learn from it. Juliet struggles throughout the book as to how exactly to call out someone she cares about for saying problematic things.
The history of amazing women you learn through Juliet’s research is fascinating and like Juliet, I was shocked that I had never heard of them before.
The novel is beautifully written and talks about topics of racism, identity, awareness, and community. Gabby Rivera’s writing style is so personal that it allows you to be in Juliet’s shoes as Rivera writes the “partially auto-biographical’ time in life where everyone is trying to figure out who they are and what they want to be.
I strongly feel this is an important, diverse, coming of age novel about diverse characters from a diverse author that needs to be read by all.