Breathless... By Jennifer Niven

One of my favourite books of all time is All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. I have never read a book that left me in pieces and yet whole at the same time. Once I finished ATBP I told everyone I know to read it, I signed up for GERM newsletters, I spend hours listening to the song All The Bright Places by Haley Jonay who wrote it based on the book. I even contemplated getting a Finch and Violet tattoo (I'm kind of still considering it). When I followed Jennifer on social media and saw that she loves Harry Styles as much as me, I was destined to buy and read every book she would ever write. So here I am, I've finished Breathless and have become an ever bigger fan. 

Blurb:
Before: With graduation on the horizon, budding writer Claudine Henry is making plans: college in the fall, become a famous author, and maybe--finally--have sex. She doesn't even need to be in love. Then her dad drops a bombshell: he's leaving Claude's mother. Suddenly, Claude's entire world feels like a lie, and her future anything but under control.

After: Claude's mom whisks them away to the last place Claude could imagine nursing a broken heart: a remote, mosquito-infested island off the coast of Georgia. But then Jeremiah Crew happens. Miah is a local trail guide with a passion for photography--and a past he doesn't like to talk about. He's brash and enigmatic, and even more infuriatingly, he's the only one who seems to see Claude for who she wants to be. So when Claude decides to sleep with Miah, she tells herself it's just sex, nothing more. There's not enough time to fall in love, especially if it means putting her already broken heart at risk.

My thoughts:
To be completely honest I don't really know where to begin. I loved All The Bright Places and I thought I would enjoy Breathless, however I didn't think it would impress me as much as it did. 

The story is mostly based on a small island off the coast of Georgia, just turned 18 year old Claudine Henry moves to an island for the summer with her mum after her dad drops the bombshell that he no longer wants a family. Cue the heartbreak and confusion. Claudine would rather be literally anywhere else but preferably on the road trip she had planned with her best friend Saz. 

Not long into her stay Claude makes friends with a few island workers and becomes interested specifically in Jeremiah Crew, who is also eighteen and screams bad boy. Claude and Miah embark on a summer romance, typical in that they both know there is an expiration date, non-typical in that it completely changes the both of them forever. The connection they have is one that stays with you and has you wistfully dreaming to be a teenager again and falling in love for the first time. Of course things aren't simple and don't come easily, both have major issues they have to deal with personally before being in a healthy, functioning relationship. But isn't that always part of the charm, when you find someone who is as broken as you are?

Claude talks a lot about the concept of 'virginity' and what it means to have sex for the first time. I think how Jennifer wrote about having a sexual relationship for the first time and the pressures of that (particularly for girls) brilliantly. I would have loved to read this story as a young adult and be presented with an alternative idea of virginity, rather than it being something you give to someone and taking a piece away from yourself. Obviously first time sexual experiences are different for everyone and mean different things to people but to have a young protagonist talking about it so openly with her peers and her partner was refreshing. 

One thing I related to throughout was Claude's struggle to deal with her parent's impending divorce. Although my parents' divorce didn't happen in the way Claude's did and I have a great relationship with both parents, I still felt a comradeship with her and understood the protection she felt towards her mum at different parts of the story. The feeling of partnership they had with each other in their heartbreak was familiar. 

I've seen some mixed reviews on Goodreads for Breathless and I'm not sure if they read the same book I did because I adored it. I thoroughly recommend for everyone to read it if they enjoy themes such as coming of age, feminism, family and sex. 

While I'm off planning my move to an island off Georgia's coast you can buy Breathless here and learn about Jennifer's other stories here. 

Thursday's Favourite: The Love of Her Life.. by Harriet Evans

There's so many books out there that I've read which I think deserve to be reviewed and shared. So, from now on I will be posting up a review of a book, every Thursday, which I've read and that isn't necessarily seen as 'newly released'. And today marks the first.

If you asked me to list my all time favourite books this would be up there for sure. I read this a few years ago and really think it deserves a review.

Here's what the blurb says:

Like every woman, Kate thought she'd never meet the love of her life... Until she did. But are the destined to be together?

Kate Miller has lived in New York for three long years. Now, with her father ill, its time to come home and face everything she left behind...

Her friends: Zoe and Francesca, bound to her forever as a result of one day when life changed for them all. Her family: her adored father and his much younger wife. The job: she abandoned on a glossy woman's magazine. And, the man she thought was the love of her life, whose heart she has broken.

What really happened before Kate left London? And can she pick up the pieces and allow herself to love again?


Here's what I thought:

I'm not going to lie, it took me a few chapters to really get into Kate's story. It was a bit frustrating because all you are given is little snippets and hints - which meant it was a bit slow and you weren't really understanding the information you were being given. Like, why was she so distant and uncomfortable around her supposed "best friend"? BUT all these questions get answered so in the end I loved it.

Towards the half-way mark, there comes a massive twist and you learn of the event which took place and made Kate flee London. Everything suddenly becomes clear and makes so much more sense - I even found myself reading back through some passages and enjoying them so much more because I fully understood everything and why Kate and co. were acting the way they did.

The reason that this is one of my favourites is because it brought out such strong emotions in me. I laughed, I cried, I got angry and exasperated, and at some points I just wanted to scream. I was there the whole way through with Kate, and felt the pain and love alongside her.

This story is not a casual, forget it after you read, story - it will stay with you for a very long time. It's what Harriet Evans is best at. There's love, romance and laughter, but there's always a twist - and that's what I love. You never know what's coming next.

You can buy The Love of Her Life here or at any good bookshop. You should follow Harriet on Twitter and check out her website to learn about her other books.

The Kite Runner.. by Khaled Hosseini

This is a book that has been on my reading list for a long long time. I'd been recommended it countless times and so I finally took the time out to read it..

Here's what the blurb says:

1970's Afghanistan: Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the local kite-fighting tournament and his loyal friend Hassan promises to help him. But neither of the boys can foresee what will happen to Hassan that afternoon, an event that is to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family are forced to flee to America, Amir realises that one day he must return to Afghanistan under Taliban rule to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him: redemption. 

Here's what I thought:

Firstly, I think I should tell you that before picking up this book I had absolutely NO IDEA what it was truly about. I had heard that it was amazing and that it was one of those stories that stayed with you forever. I didn't even know why it was called 'The Kite Runner' until a few chapters in when I had one of those 'ahhhh' moments.

The incident that takes place and which haunts Amir for years is definitely not what I had expected in any shape or form. Its brutal, hard-hitting and, for the boys, life changing. Something that cannot be easily pushed aside or forgotten.

When Amir began his return to Afghanistan I thought that it would be quite a basic ending, although thrilling, however I was completely wrong and there was still more twists and turns to come - right up until the very end chapter.

Everyone who recommended this book and told me about it was 100% right - it is still pushing to the front of my mind frequently and I doubt I will ever forget what happened to Amir and Hassan. Khaled Hosseini writes this book brilliantly, I was gripped the whole way through and was empathising with the characters from the very beginning.

A must read for everyone.

You can buy The Kite Runner here and check out Hosseini's website to learn about his other novels.