Cover Image: Head Over Heels

Head Over Heels

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Member Reviews

Another fantastic Hannah Orenstein book, a perfect escape read for a gloomy weekend or sunny beach day. Characters are perfectly captivating and keep you reading.

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I loved this book so very much! After reading this I wished my parents put me in gymnastics when I was little. Even though I know it’s a tough sport and you are judged for everything. Hannah orenstein made me want to be a gymnast. Her character Avery was very relatable. I did want to know more about the coach dimitri. It made me think of the whole gymnast coach drama that was recently brought to life.
This book had so many positive messages and I would highly recommend to anyone and everyone.

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Romance, gymnastics and a coming of age story all at once. This light and fun read is perfect for when you want to feel something. This story was a whirlwind of emotions. Unlike most books, this one made me cry, laugh and cheer. Orensteins simple, passionate and compelling writing made me connect with the story despite having zero experience in gymnastics. Overall, a great novel. No complaints.

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<b> Book Status: Relished </b>
This is my first book by Hannah Orenstein and I really enjoyed it! She opened the world to gymnastics in a way that I never really thought about. Although the story was cute and there was lots of love, crushes and banter; it shed light on some serious topics in the gymnastics world that we don’t usually think about when watching the Olympics. The extreme amount of dedication and passion that goes into the sport is unreal. Orenstein also sheds light on the abuse (both physical and mental) that some gymnasts endure (and some have learned to accept), which was completely devastating to read about and I hope no one has to ever go through the emotional and physical abuse these girls have gone through.
A quick cutesy read that I’d recommend to anyone looking for a little Romance, Olympic ambition and excitement!
ARC received in exchange for an honest review.

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**Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review**
As a huge gymnastics and olympics fan, I LOVED this book, Head Over Heels by Hannah Orenstein! This book is a sweet romance about 27-year old Avery Abrams, a former gymnast who is still hung up on her disappointing performance at the Olympic trials when she was 19. After an unexpected breakup with her football player boyfriend in L.A, Avery moves back to her hometown with no job, no friends and seemingly no future. This all changes when she is offered a job coaching an elite gymnast on track to compete in the Olympic trials. Avery takes the job, co-coaching with Ryan, a former gymnast she knew back when she was competing.
What follows is Avery's uplifting journey towards making peace with the unfortunate events of her past, and possibly finding love along the way. Head Over Heels is not just your average romance read. It also deals with some of the darker side of gymnastics and parallels some of the recent events in USA gymnastics.

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Once I got into the story, I could not put it down. This is a romance, however I felt like the romance wasn’t the main part of the story. This is about a girl named Avery who almost made it to the Olympics for gymnastics, but had a career ending injury. Later in life she begins coaching. This book sucked me in and I was so invested in Hallie, who was being coached by Avery and training for the Olympics. It also delves into the struggles that girls in gymnastics deal with, for example, sexual assault. I loved everything about this book and I highly recommend you go pick it up!!

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I love gymnastics and am that person who is glued to the tv during the Summer Olympics. I've had friends who were competitive gymnasts and was always in awe of the tumbling gals )and guys) on my cheer teams. Such power an strength, it was truly magical.

During quarantine I wanted a lot of Netflix and Athlete A was on I was eager to watch. Wow. I couldn't believe it. The documentary follows a team of investigative journalists as they broke the story of Larry Nassar, the doctor for team USA, assaulting young athletes.

This story touches on this topic but follows Hallie and her coaches as she attempts to make the Olympic team. It would make a great beach read and a must read if you love gymnastics as much as I do.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

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An intriguing and thoughtful look into the world of high level competitive gymnastics. The story is marketed as a romance but this was such an in depth look at all things wrong with this intense level of training for the Olympics that it was difficult to have a romance in the background of that. Sexual scandals, emotionally abusive coaching practices, self deprecating thoughts, body image, abandonment after an injury, grooming of teenagers by coaches, lack of planning beyond the very limited career the sport offers.

Due to her childhood spent exclusively planning for the Olympics and never thinking beyond that, Avery is extremely unattractive at the start of the story. She is a college drop out with no friends, no goals, and works part time only because her boyfriend told her to. Over the course of the novel she mentally grows up and finds her place in life until she is a functional adult, however everything is offered to her by other people, she never plays an active role in her own life.

Thank you for the alternative reality this story offered where there was a 2020 when people could still travel and go to bars.

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This was such a cute read! I haven’t ever been big into gymnastics myself, but this book really made me want to watch the Olympics! This really would have been perfect timing to be released with the 2020 Olympics.

This was an easy, breezy read but I appreciated that it also touched on real issues with more depth that are connected not only to gymnastics but to many high performing athletes, especially young women. I think the author did a good job of bringing issues such as body image and sexual abuse into the storyline without making it seem like an after school special. I loved the redemption arc of our main character, Avery. This was a wholesome novel and I’m happy I got the chance to read and review it.

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Head Over Heels is sort of a combination between Women's Fiction and Sports Romance. It is about gymnastics.

I like romances that feature sports if done well. In the case of this book I like that the author was a gymnast for 15 years. So she knows about the sport.

The narrator is 27 year old former gymnast Avery. She was supposed to go to the Olympics when she was 19. But something happened. And now she has the opportunity to work with a 16 year old girl, Hallie, who has hopes for going to Tokyo 2020.

It was definitely weird reading about the Tokyo Olympics considering that they were postponed in real life.

The parts that really interested me about the book were 1) the coaching aspect and 2) seeing the Olympic Trials and Olympics.

I liked Avery. And it was interesting to read a bit about what had happened to her when she was a gymnast. I really enjoyed her friendships with the other women in the book.

Head Over Heels is a light quick read. There is romance. But it's only a partial focus of the book. I did like the romance. Although I guess the author had to balance that part of the story with the gymnastics part.

I enjoyed this book. However, it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I was hoping that there would be a lot more focus on Nationals, the Olympic Trials and/or the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. But that was not what the author chose to do. And I feel like this was a huge missed opportunity.

But overall I enjoyed the book.

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