Head Over Heels by Hannah Orenstein Book Review. Thank you so much to Atria Books and Netgalley for the free eARC; all opinions are my own.
Summary from the publisher…
The past seven years have been hard on Avery Abrams: After training her entire life to make the Olympic gymnastics team, a disastrous performance ended her athletic career for good. Her best friend and teammate, Jasmine, went on to become an Olympic champion, then committed the ultimate betrayal by marrying their emotionally abusive coach, Dimitri.
Now, reeling from a breakup with her football star boyfriend, Avery returns to her Massachusetts hometown, where new coach Ryan asks her to help him train a promising young gymnast with Olympic aspirations. Despite her misgivings and worries about the memories it will evoke, Avery agrees. Back in the gym, she’s surprised to find sparks flying with Ryan. But when a shocking scandal in the gymnastics world breaks, it has shattering effects not only for the sport but also for Avery and her old friend Jasmine.
Review…
*This review contains what some might consider minor spoilers. I think given the serious nature of some issues in the book, I can’t not mention them in my review.
I enjoyed following along with Avery’s journey from feeling adrift and without purpose to learning more about who she is and what she can accomplish. Even more than that though, what she doesn’t have to accomplish- perfection. This book is literary fiction, not a romance, so Avery’s story is the main focus, but there is still romance…
The romance between Avery and Ryan started really great for me. I appreciated that the characters communicated instead of there being a lot of unnecessary misunderstandings. However, as the book went on we lost that. Ryan doesn’t believe Avery, or take her seriously enough, regarding allegations of abuse. This conflict was important to the story, but I wish Ryan’s character was given more dimension and internal struggle instead of so easily choosing his own goals over Avery. It would have made me feel a lot better about how the book continues.
As mentioned before, this book does cover some very difficult issues. These mirror what have horribly happened within women’s gymnastics in the last few years. I think it’s an important story to tell though. Trigger warnings: emotional and sexual (no explicit details given) abuse. Body image and eating disorders.
It felt so odd to be reading a book that is taking place in the spring and summer of 2020 that is so different from the one we are facing in reality. Since we don’t get to watch the Olympics this year, it was fun to experience them (or at least the period that leads up to them) in this book!
You can go into this knowing almost nothing about gymnastics and still enjoy it. What’s necessary for you to know is explained, but what’s unnecessary is not, so you don’t feel like it is droning on. I do think you’ll enjoy it more if you are a fan of gymnastics, even if that’s only every four years.
The details…
Publisher: Atria Books
Rating: I would say 4 stars, if it wasn’t for my one big issue mentioned previously. Outside of that I thought it was a great and engrossing read.
ISBN: 9781982121471
Get the hardcopy at: Bookshop.org or Amazon or Book Depository
Get the audiobook from: Audible or Libro.fm (use my code lfm122316 to get your first audiobook free from Libro.fm!)
Publication date: June 23 2020
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Head Over Heels by Hannah Orenstein Book Review. Thank you so much to Atria Books and Netgalley for the free eARC; all opinions are my own.
