Thanks Atria and Netgalley for my gifted copy of Head Over Heels!

Are you sad or disappointed that the Olympics got pushed to 2021? Look no further for a little relief!

Head over Heels is about a retired gymnast named Avery Abrams who has had a hard time since she had a career-ending injury at the Olympic trials seven years prior to the present day. She moves home to Massachusetts, and receives a phone call from Ryan, a new gymnastics coach. He wants her to help coach a young Olympic hopeful. What follows is a beautiful story of hope, hard work, and determination.

I absolutely adored this book. It was an easy, relaxing read. All of the characters except for one were extremely likeable, and you found yourself rooting for all of them! I loved how supporting characters, like Avery’s roommate Sara, had significant roles in the main plot.

What I truly love and admire about this book is that Orenstein brought in an additional storyline similar to what several gymnasts recently dealt with in the Larry Nassar scandal, but gave it the full attention it deserved. It wasn’t glossed over - you saw how it affected Avery and Hallie, along with their thoughts and actions because of it. As I have discovered since I began reviewing books, doing something like this isn’t easy.

Plan to grab this book when it comes out in June! I know I’ll be checking out Orenstein’s other books soon. Do you have a favorite Olympic sport? Mine are gymnastics, skiing, ice skating, swimming, and all of the equestrian events.

Hannah Orenstein has a knack for creating extremely likable and relatable female main characters -- so much so that the romance in this book, while good, is secondary to how much we care about Avery, and cheer her on as she rebuilds her life after some pretty badly crushed dreams. This book takes place in the world of competitive gymnastics, and even briefly touches on recent headlines regarding young competitors being abused by their physicians, which adds interest to the story. Definitely recommending this to readers who are looking for rom-coms with a serious touch.

Oh my goodness, I loved this. Perfect blend of smart and sweet. Avery makes an excellent protagonist and I loved that it all took place in the world of competitive gymnastics. Heartbreaking to think of all of the Olympians who have to wait another year!

I loved the gymnastics being a part of this story, it's not that often a novel subject. I like this a lot. It was funny, sweet , and romantic. A lot of fun to read.

I didn't like the main character Avery for a big part of the book. However, the gymnastics twist was interesting and I grew to like her and the book!

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. Loving gymnastics, the Olympics and a strong female character I thought this was a slam dunk for me. Unfortunately, it was a bit too structured and predictable for me.

I wouldn’t have labeled this a RomCom as it didn’t have much laugh out loud humor and the romance aspect was more on the back burner.
The main theme was based around Avery Adams, an Olympic gymnastics hopeful, now 7yrs later struggling to make it in the world. She replays her life with an emotionally abusive coach, then boyfriend for years following a tragic injury in the Olympic trials.
Avery finds her way to her old gym, an old crush and a new dream of gymnastics coaching.

Love Hannah Orenstein, and her latest, Head Over Heels, is my most favorite to date. Fun, but also intense and really dives into the world of gymnastics. Highly recommend!

Thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Enjoyable, poignant but also encouraging, powerful, sweet reading! Get ready to dive into disciplined, passionate, hard-working gymnasts’ world!

Avery Abrahams dreamed of being Olympic gymnast for her whole life and trained for it till one day her only breaks into smithereens with one fault, one disastrous performance ended with her injury. And her best friend Jasmine took over her place, becoming Olympic champion, succeeding everything she wanted. As a final nail in her coffin: she got married with their strict, abusive coach Dimitri: The very same man, she trained with for years and the man who never called and asked her if she was okay after her big injury ended her career.

She leaves the town to move to LA for college education in UCLA but she cannot adapt in her life because getting drunk, partying too much and after dropping school, she starts dating a football star but 4 years later, he dumps her.

Now she’s coming to her home sweet home, heartbroken, jobless, aimless for living with her family house covered with her photos of her competitions, her trophies.
And the very same night, she has a family dinner mixed with their interrogation what she’s going to do with her life, she gets a phone call Ryan she has known from her training days and had a crush on him years ago. After winning gold metals, Ryan changes his career direction to become a coach and now he asks Avery to assist her training promising young gymnast named Hallie. Avery hesitates to say yes but after seeing TMZ reports of her ex-lover dating a swim-suit model and experiencing a disastrous Tinder date of her own, she feels like she has to do something with her life and she gets the offer.

This sweet, moving, emotional story reminded me of Lucy Score’s Rock Bottom Girl but this one is more thought-provoking, serious, dealing with metoo movement, abuse, self-destruction. You gotta read this as powerful women’s fiction and don’t get fooled by the cover or the name of the book because this is not romance.

I really enjoyed Ryan and Avery’s chemistry and Ryan lost his brownie points (I think he lost his all credits till he does honorable, praising things for honoring the lives of hard working and fighting women!) so many times I wanted to punch him for his obnoxious thoughts and passive manners.

This is motivational second chances, learning from your mistakes and loving yourself book with heartfelt and positive messages. It’s a great feel-good, keep smiling and finding you inner power not to give up book! I only cut one star because of romance parts. (Slow burn but also hero’s indecisive moves around heroine made me a little irritated.) But it’s still great 4 starred, remarkable and motivational reading!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for sharing this meaningful ARC with me in exchange my honest review.

I'm a big fan of Hannah Orenstein's; I follow her on social media and have loved both of her previous books. It's no surprise that I finished Head Over Heels in 24 hours, but I am astounded that it quickly became my favorite of the author's. I felt like I was in both the world of elite gymnastics and the television show Make It Or Break It. Each description of the technical gymnastics was perfect for a reader who didn't previously know a thing about the various leaps and skills. The romance was well thought-out, a bit predictable, but well worth it in the end. Overall, this is a great book with real-life connections that made it all the better.

This was a fun and surprisingly intense read. The author’s knowledge of the gymnastics world was evident in her story of a once almost Olympic athlete. Despite the sports niche, this was such a relatable read. Avery’s journey to find a new place where she belongs was inspiring and interesting. She’s an easy character to root for.

The only thing I didn’t like is how the abuse allegations from the Olympic doctor were handled. It’s such a serious topic, but it felt a little forced to me, and Avery was removed enough from it that I wasn’t sure how it fit into her story. Other than that, it was a truly enjoyable read, and a great distraction during quarantine.

I tore through Head Over Heels in a single sitting. Give me gymnastics, ambitious women, and overcoming obstacles and I am here for it - as well as for Hannah Orenstein’s engaging writing. Head Over Heels is my favorite book of hers to date. For my fellow former gymnasts, you’ll especially love it.