This was a a little fun, easy read, there were some parts that I enjoyed and some parts that could have been left out.

This is a fun YA romance and I love that it highlights Quidditch as the sport. However there were moments when it felt a little twee and over the top. Still, you can’t fault the sports romance trope.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for giving me an advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I really enjoyed this book even if the timing ended up not being great for it (with JK Rowling's escapades). Anna Meriano did a good job with characters and plot and I would definitely pick up something else of hers and give it a try

THIS IS HOW WE FLY is a fun, coming of age YA read that is focused on Ellen during the summer after graduating high school, as she finds quidditch as the lifeline she may need as she grapples through friendships and identity.

This was a DNF for me. I really wasn’t a fan of the main character and didn’t care enough about the story to continue. Thank for you for chance.

This is a cute coming of age story. I was worried that I wouldn’t like the writing style but was pleasantly surprised by it. It captured the sarcastic teen spirit very well lol. While I know that people do not support the author of HP this author while using quidditch as a tool in her story does not have the same ideals as JK.

My rave review for This is How We Fly can be read on Lone Star Literary Life: https://www.lonestarliterary.com/content/lone-star-review-how-we-fly

I had received an e-copy of this book through one of the Booksparks campaigns a couple of years ago when publishing first started to have a delay in printing and an e-copy was given until the hardcover copy could come. The cover of the book is what drew me into applying for that particular Booksparks package a couple of years ago. When I have a full review, I will be sure to paste it here with all of the links, it might be a little while before I get to reading this book as I a currently catching up on other reviews.

I absolutely loved the inclusion of quidditch into this book - it made it so interesting and fun to read. Seeing Harry Potter being enjoyed in the real world and coming to life is something any Hogwarts fan wants. Anna Meriano did a great job with her characterization of the main character. Through a subtle nature, the main character grew into the person who she is. I found it really beautiful and intriguing to watch a teenage girl facing her parents, and others opinions of the world.

Unfortunately this took me forever to return to and finish. This book was just not for me. I wanted to love it - especially with the quidditch sport and all - but I just couldn’t connect to the characters

This is How We Fly has provided me with the perfect escape from my own IRL battles to Ellen’s on-the-page coming of age battles. It has been the perfect mix of cute moments, eye rolls, relatable dramas, and much more.

Anna Meriano does an excellent job of characterizing Ellen as a straight-out-of-highschool teenager absolutely filled to the brim with angst. She’s comical, snarky, and she cares a whole bunch about everything. Though I have yet to read any reviews of this book, I can practically hear the negative reviews now complaining about how “annoying” Ellen is. To some degree that may be true–Ellen has something to say about everything. But what I really appreciate regarding Ellen’s character is how bright her personality shines through in every scene. She embodies the saying “do it even if you’re scared.” She embodies speaking up for your morals and calling out poor behavior, all while doing so in less than ideal ways (most) of the time. Meriano managed to craft a character that always has the best intentions but messes up often, which is not only realistic but also incredibly relatable. It made reading Ellen’s internal dialogue fun and humorous and allowed me to sympathize with her tribulations along the way.

Aside from a shining main character, this book also addresses multiple social issues and home life challenges. The prevaling struggle Ellen navigates in this novel is the challenge that is a merged family. Ellen’s father has remarried to who is now Ellen’s stepmom after her biological mother passes away when Ellen was young. Ellen’s stepmom also has a younger daughter who she is fiercely protective over. Merged families are often incredibly delicate and clashes are bound to happen, which is a main source of stress in this book. Despite the stress, we see Ellen throughout the book try (and often fail) to keep peace with her stepmother for the sake of her father and younger stepsister. This brings up the importance of setting boundaries and communicating with family even when it is incredibly uncomfortable. Ellen and her stepmother also continously clash over flippant remarks about weight, race, and sexism.

Lastly, the other shining star of This is How We Fly is the quidditch team spirit. I’ve never been a sports player throughout my childhood or adolescence, but this book gave me a good glimpse of how challenging and eurphoric being on a sports team probably is. Though there is ample drama between the various teammates, there is also ample support and accountability which made all of it feel very human. I enjoyed getting to know the team members and their personalities, as well as learning about how quidditch works in general. I know I’m probably not the only one who read this book and never knew that this was an actual sport in the actual world!

All in all, This is How We Fly was a very wholesome and honest coming-of age young adult novel. It can be analyzed further for more social commentary, but I chose to take this book incredibly lightly and use it to escape into someone else’s problems for the time being. If you’re looking for a humorous, snarky main character who has a lot to say, and themes of friendship and family drama, college, and learning how to be a better person, this is the book for you

I DNF’d this one. I couldn’t connect to the characters and just wasn’t fully invested as I was hoping for. May try it again later.

I will not be giving feedback on this book. I started it, and was not in the right mindset for reading it. When/if I do pick it up again, I will definitely leave a thoughtful review.

I wanted to enjoy because it’s about a Quidditch sport but…… alas I did not., the writing and the plot just wasn’t for me.

Another great YA novel from Penguin Teen! This one was both fun and hard-hitting -- the Quidditch aspect added a whimsical element to the story, yet the main character's struggles kept the reader grounded in reality. I can't wait to see what this author writes next!

This was an interesting story about college students and the quidditch community. I was definitely intrigued to read this story because of the quidditch sport. I thought the story was fun but it did drag on for a little too long. If you were into sports when you were/are in high school you would enjoy this book.

* I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

This was such an interesting read! It's about a young woman named Ellen who just graduated high school and is about to start her first year of college. I really enjoyed the character development of Ellen, because she is a very relatable teenager who makes mistakes and has good/bad moments. She starts on her path to discover herself through the local quidditch team and new found friends.

It's the summer before Ellen is going off to college, and she wants nothing more than to hang out with her two bestfriends. But then, Ellen is grounded by her step-mom. With the help of her friend Melissa, Ellen convinces her father to allow her to join a muggle Quidditch team. As the summer goes on, Melissa starts to pull away from her, causing her to form connections with new people on the team.

This was a pretty average book, not much really happened in the long run. It just felt a bit lengthy and repetitive after awhile, it definitely could have been cut down and still gotten the same points across. I think that it had some great discussions surrounding homophobia, feminism, sexuality and gender. There is a lot of representation in this book, which I loved reading about. I also enjoyed how multiple characters were questioning their identities (sexual, gender and racial) and how much support they had from other people in the book. I also liked how the relationship between Connie, Ellen's step-mom, and her was resolved. I think the whole book wrapped up very nicely, but like I said, it just took so long to get to that point.

This was a cute YA novel and those into high school sports I think would definitely appreciate it more. I’m not sure if someone in their 20s/30s or older could relate to the story if they weren’t into sports during their HS years. Still it was an interesting story.