Title: It’s All in How You Fall
Author: Sarah Henning
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date: May 31st, 2022
320 pages
4/5 stars
Goodreads Synopsis
Gymnast Caroline Kepler has three state balance beam titles, a new trick even most elites can’t do, and chronic, undeniable back pain. While she might never be an Olympian, she has dreams of leveling up to elite, making Nationals, and competing in college. But when one epic face-plant changes all that and Caroline’s back pain goes from chronic to career-ending, her dreams are shattered and her life is flipped upside down.
Enter Alex Zavala, a three-sport athlete who’s both incredibly cute and incredibly off-limits. He offers to give Caroline a crash course in all the sports she’s missed, and she has an offer for him in return: For every sport Alex teaches her, she’ll play matchmaker for him. Deal done, Caroline “dates” new sports with Alex for the rest of the summer, which is loads more fun than wallowing in despair. Just as Caroline starts to see herself as more than her past athletic successes, she picks up something she didn’t bargain for: a big fat crush on Alex. Turns out life was way easier when it was just layout-fulls and beam burns….
A contemporary young adult romance about moving on, finding your place, and recovering after life falls apart.
Review
Young Adult sports romances are an elite subgenre I fully believe that. It’s All in How You Fall is about Caroline, a young gymnast ready to take the world by storm when an injury ends her career in the blink of an eye. After grieving the loss of her dreams and future plans, her family and friends force her to find another hobby to take up her time and attention. Enter Alex, her older brother’s best friend and mega athlete. He helps her spend the summer trying the sports she never did before to try to find one she might be interested in. Too bad she finds a sport AND a guy she is interested in…
YA sports and brother’s best friend is a chef’s kiss fabulous combination. The angst and tension is for double the reason and it really shows in side glances, lingering touches, and a few close calls with kisses. The problem? Caroline is trying to set up Alex with her best friend while ALSO crushing on him. Ya’ll the inner turmoil was leaping off the page. So good.
Truly enjoyed my whole time reading this book and it made me fall in love with the YA genre all over again. Such a wholesome, feel good story with a tinge of seriousness due to the injury Caroline sustained and the loss of her passion. Also I just love gymnastics themed books/media because it’s a sport I always wanted to do but was absolutely horrid at.
Thank you to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.
Happy reading, folks!
Baltimore Bibliophile 