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goodeyreads 's review for:
Head Over Heels
by Hannah Orenstein
NOT WHAT I WAS EXPECTING.
The cute rom-com cover hides the fact that this a lot closer to women’s fiction (nothing against the genre, just now what I was expecting upon picking it up). When I was looking for a contemporary romance I found a bit more and it ended up being alright.
I really loved all of the gymnastics aspects. I think coming off of watching the Olympics recently really had me stoked for a book along the same lines. I liked learning more about training aspects, coaching and other pieces. From that world it dove deeper into the abuse and mistreatment of gymnastic athletes. That took over a good portion of the plot and didn’t always connect back to the main characters.
That lack of connection made the scenes where Avery and Ryan were together not mesh well. They didn’t have great chemistry, just kind of started dating, then not, then dating, then not. And it was wishy-washy nonsense for most of the book.
While it brought awareness to many important topics the addition of the romance actually didn’t fit in. I think it should have leaned one way or the other more and would have been a more solid story.
Overall audience notes:
- Contemporary Fiction + Romance
- Language: a little strong
- Romance: kisses to little detailed open scene
- Trigger/Content Warnings: sexual abuse, emotional abuse, bullying