Book Review: The Deepest Breath

Can you tell I’m trying to play catch up with my reviews? The Deepest Breath is an utterly gorgeous novel in verse by Meg Grehan, which came out in…May. I mean, at least it was this year, right?

Stevie is eleven and loves reading and sea-creatures. She lives with her mum, and she’s been best friends with Andrew since forever. Stevie’s mum teases her that someday they’ll get married, but Stevie knows that won’t ever happen. There’s a girl at school that she likes more. A lot more. Actually, she’s a bit confused about how much she likes her. It’s nothing like the way she likes Andrew. It makes her fizz inside. That’s a new feeling, one she doesn’t understand. Stevie needs to find out if girls can like girls – love them, even – but it’s hard to get any information, and she’s too shy to ask out loud about it. But maybe she can find an answer in a book. With the help of a librarian, Stevie finds stories of girls loving girls, and builds up her courage to share the truth with her mum. 

I adored The Deepest Breath. I read it so long ago now, but it’s stayed with me since. I definitely remember that it made me cry a lot, in the best possible way of course. It’s written from Stevie’s point of view as she tries to understand her feelings for Chloe, a girl in school. She doesn’t know if it’s ok for girls to like other girls like that, but she doesn’t feel like there’s anyone to ask. And Stevie likes to understand things. She asks questions. She reads huge non-fiction books, full of facts, because understanding things makes life that little less scary. So not knowing what the way she’s feeling means is terrifying for Stevie. And no matter how hard she tries, she doesn’t seem to be able to ask her mum, or make her understand.

The relationship between Stevie and her mum was one of my favourite things. There’s a bit towards the end of the book when the loveliest librarian ever written thinks Stevie’s mum has rejected her because she has feelings for a girl, and I wanted to shout no! She just hasn’t understood what Stevie’s trying to tell her! Because Stevie’s mum is not the sort of person who would reject her daughter for anything. Their closeness is evident in every line, and you can see that they mean the world to each other. They get each other through the tough times and it was just lovely to see that sort of relationship on the page.

The writing in The Deepest Breath is just gorgeous too. It’s a stream of consciousness from Stevie, full of feelings and sadness and questions and, maybe above all else, love – for her mum, for her friends, for Chloe. It is really quite breathtaking how much of Stevie we get to see in a relatively short book, and I love all of her.

I really can’t recommend The Deepest Breath enough. I am so thankful for the gifted copy because I know it wouldn’t have crossed my radar otherwise, and it’s one of the best books I’ve read this year. It’s also one of the most important – I don’t think there’s enough LGBT+ fiction aimed at this age group (the younger end of YA), especially this well written. Please do yourselves a favour and pick it up. I promise you won’t regret it!

5/5

Many thanks to Nina Douglas and Little Island Press for the gifted copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: Girl Squads

Girl Squads was sent to me for free in exchange for an honest review.

I’m going to be honest with you: when Girl Squads by Sam Maggs (illustrated by Jenn Woodall) arrived on my doorstep *cough*last year*cough*, I had absolutely no memory of requesting it. I still don’t know if I requested it or was sent it unsolicited, but I don’t really care, because this is a fab little book, full of real-life women making a difference in a range of fields. I like to think I’d have picked it up at some point if it hadn’t been sent to me – it’s exactly the sort of thing I like, and goes very well with my copies of Rejected Princesses and Bygone Badass Broads – but it probably wouldn’t have been top of my wishlist and I might not have noticed it.

A modern girl is nothing without her squad of besties. But don’t let all the hashtags fool you: the #girlsquad goes back a long, long time. In this hilarious and heartfelt book, geek girl Sam Maggs takes you on a tour of some of history’s most famous female BFFs, including:

• Anne Bonny and Mary Read, the infamous lady pirates who sailed the seven seas and plundered with the best of the men
• Jeanne Manon Roland and Sophie Grandchamp, Parisian socialites who landed front-row seats (from prison) to the French Revolution
• Sharon and Shirley Firth, the First Nations twin sisters who would go on to become Olympic skiers and break barriers in the sport
• The Edinburgh Seven, the band of pals who fought to become the first women admitted to medical school in the United Kingdom
• The Zohra Orchestra, the ensemble from Afghanistan who defied laws, danger, and threats to become the nation’s first all-female musical group

And many more! Spanning art, science, politics, activism, and even sports, these girl squads show just how essential female friendship has been throughout history and throughout the world. 

My favourite thing about Girl Squads was the way we didn’t just get stories about “important” women. We had athletes, artists and scientists, as well as activists and warriors, and there was a wide range of countries and cultures represented as well. I also liked that it wasn’t all historical, there were some very modern entries that readers might not have heard of, such as the Zohra Orchestra. There were a few people that had come up in other books of this type, but a lot of them were new to me, and I love learning new things.

The one thing that really, really bugged me though was the insistence of using terms like squad and BFF and the like everywhere. I know I sound like a grumpy old woman, but it really pulled me out of the text. I get that that’s probably just me though, and I’m sure the younger audience at which Girl Squads is aimed don’t get annoyed at it.

I did also find some of the entries a bit too long, and they felt like a chore to get through. However, most of the entries held my interest and I certainly finished the book with a better knowledge of the people featured, even those I’d previously heard of.

I defnitely recommend Girl Squads if you’re looking for a light, non-fiction book. It’s easy to just read one entry if you have limited time, or pick and choose according to what interests you.

It’s not my favourite of these types of books, but Girl Squads is definitely an interesting read and well worth picking up!

3.5/5

Many thanks to Jamie-Lee Nardone and Quirk Books for my gifted copy of Girl Squads