Juliet Takes a Breath

This is the spark that lit me on fire and showed me that all the features of queer adolescence I thought were impossible to write about in “books for teens” are totally possible to write about.

Juliet, Puerto Rican teen from the Bronx, feels the weight of her community’s and family’s homophobia, and attempts to build her resume and find a wider world by interning for her favorite feminist writer—a thirtysomething eccentric, woo-woo white Oregonian, who despite having friends and exes of color and apparently genuinely hoping to offer Juliet wisdom, care, and research opportunities, is lackadaisical, irresponsible, and more… show more.

Rivera has a fun and snappy style of writing and brings to life Juliet, a 19-year-old Puerto Rican student from the Bronx who falls in love with another young woman her first year of college, then struggles with their separation when the school year ends. I enjoyed how Rivera wove a feminist self-empowering guidebook written by a White lesbian into the narrative that inspires Juliet to talk her way into a summer internship with the author who lives across the country. Rivera addresses issues of race and class in the story and seamlessly entwines these dynamics. I especially enjoyed Juliet’s… show more.