It’s All in How You Fall | Blog Tour

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 also 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…

This book was a sweet sports romance that featured the brother’s best friend trope and a healthy dose of moving forward-ness. I liked that this book took place in the same world as Throw Like a Girl without focusing on that book. We saw some familiar characters from that book from afar and were able to meet many more new ones.

I’m not usually a big fan of the brother’s best friend trope, but I oddly liked this one. It felt milder and not so intense and dramatic as most books usually represent them. Nat was cool and caring as a big brother, and the trope wasn’t the focus of the book so I didn’t mind. And thank goodness Nat wasn’t a meatball jock, but was aware of his surroundings and the feelings of people around him. I loathe when the brothers are clueless and just carry on with their lives as if nothing happened, but that wasn’t the case with Caroline’s brother. 10 points for Nat!

Moving on…Alex, our leading man, was so stinking nice and cute. We need more nice boys in books! He was willing to do anything for Caroline but still kept a level head on himself. I loved that for him. And Caroline was pretty cool herself. She was going through a tough summer having to give up her future and dreams all at once, but she had a great support system. Watching her progress towards a new future was inspiring. She still had some things to figure out by the end of the book, but things ended hopeful and happy. I found myself rooting for her on multiple occasions.

Overall, this was a sweet book. It featured excellent life lessons, a lovely romance, and all the sports references you could ever ask for!

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed a gifted and advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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