Thank you to Penguin Teen for sending me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes included in this review are from an unfinished copy of the book.

4/5 stars. “That’s my teammate, this is my team, and this is how we fly.”

This is How We Fly is a book I would highly recommend to fans of Harry Potter and Fangirl. This is How We Fly is a YA contemporary book revolving around quidditch- however, despite being based on Harry Potter, the book doesn’t hesitate to call J.K. Rowling out. 

This book follows Ellen, a biracial vegan feminist, who has just graduated high school. After one of her best friends ditches her, she is quickly swept into the competitive world of quidditch by her other friend. 

With a fun but easy-to-read style, this book quickly drew me into a story about family, friendship, lighter romance, and what it means to be part of a team. What I enjoyed most about this book was that it was messy- the friendships, the family dynamic, the romance. None of it goes perfectly, and the messiness made it realistic. This YA coming-of-age story was the perfect break I needed from fantasy, and I’m so happy I got to pick it up!

A cute coming-of-age story about a girl finding quidditch after graduating and questioning where she fits into this world.

This book was a sweet coming of age story featuring Ellen after graduating high school. I really enjoyed reading this and definitely recommend picking this book up! It’s so much more than what you think it’s about!

As a Harry Potter fan this book was absolutely amazing! I loved everything about it! The characters were intriguing and I liked the way it was written

This Is How We Fly charmed me for sure: Ellen’s just graduated from high school, which means she’s one muggy summer away from a whole new life. That’s a good thing because her current life kind of stinks: Her two best friends both seem to be pulling away, her evil stepmother is determined to make this a terrible summer, and no one can ever seem to remember that Ellen’s a vegan. When her friend drags her along to Quidditch — a very Muggle version of the magical Harry Potter game — Ellen’s surprised by how much she enjoys this crazy sport and the people who play it. In fact, Quidditch might be the best thing that’s ever happened to her.

This is very much a YA coming-of-age story, and Ellen is very much a person figuring out what matters to her and how to live a life that reflects what matters. Conflicted Harry Potter fans will appreciate that Ellen, too, struggles to balance her love of the Potter-verse with the comments of its author. My problem with the book is that it bills itself as a “loose Cinderella retelling,” and while it definitely features an evil (for no apparent reason) stepmother, that storyline is the least interesting and least resolved of all the threads in the story. Honestly, I think the book would have been better if it had been cut completely. Still, I’m all in for books about how literature saves us in the real world, and this one definitely fits the bill.

This is How We Fly
Anna Meriano

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 fun one I enjoyed!

My latest teen read is This is How We Fly by Anna Meriano. Young adult reads have changed a great deal over the years. While marketed as teen reads, there is much to be learned for all ages from this genre. That's definitely the case with This is How We Fly. 

This is the last summer before Ellen heads off to college. She and her two besties aren't headed to the same places, so she is looking forward to spending the summer with them. But, the best laid plans....

Instead, one friend wants to cut the ties now and Ellen herself is grounded - for the entire summer. Thanks to her stepmother Connie, Ellen will be doing a list of chores every day. And her dad backs Connie up. (A little bit of Cinderella there...) 

I loved Ellen and her passion for her own beliefs, whether it's feminism, veganism or climate control, she is determined to make the world a better place. Connie and Dad really irked me. Connie is well, mean, and her dialogue had me fuming. We get to know bestie Melissa much more than Xiumiao, but both are well drawn with their own issues instead of just being a foil for Ellen.

When Melissa joins a Quidditch team (yup, you read that right - the Harry Potter game), Ellen gets reluctant permission to join as well. The team, the players and the game are a big focus of the plot. I thought it was a unique premise and a great vehicle to introduce so many topics, themes and situations. Friendship, gender identity, romantic relationships, sex, belonging, blended families, coming of age and acceptance can all be found in these pages. There are so many personalities introduced though the team and tournaments. I thought they were really well done and inclusive.

I've of course read all the Potter books and had a pretty good mental image of a Quidditch match. But I had no idea of how this would be played in our reality. Meriano provides great descriptions. And the title of the book is from that question...." If it's Quidditch....how do you fly?" 

I thought the writing was great and I enjoyed This is How We Fly very much. I did think the 'resolution' at the end of the book was a bit quick, but it's the right ending

1.5/5 STARS! 

I really wanted to love this book. It sounded so cute, but in the end I did DNF (Did not Finish) the book. I think I just didn't really want to read a book about anything to do with Harry Potter after everything that happened with JKR this past year. I do think that this book is probably adorable, but I don't see myself finishing the book anytime soon.

It just wasn't for me.  I couldn't get into it.
I think I'm just not a fan of sports books.  Never have been

this book was just so cute! I loved the spin on the Harry Potter sport, Quidditch and that this story was really a coming of age tale. A lot of people go through all sorts of things after graduation so it as interesting to see the dynamics suddenly shift in the friendships with Ellen, Melissa, & Xiumiao . The novel really demonstrates how people start to want different things despite being very close to one another, which is important for people to know. Great read!

CWs: Numerous references to the HP franchise and its author (and some direct mentions of the author's harmful ideologies), some implied homophobia, toxic parent-child dynamics, near instances of assault, some descriptions of physical injury

First off, let me just be clear in saying that I will not be assigning this book a rating and I will not be speaking about or promoting this book on my various social media outlets. That is not to say it's not worthwhile or that I personally had a bad reading experience with it. In fact, Anna Meriano is one of my favorite authors and I think she continues to do tremendous work. But because the basis of the story can be triggering and harmful to a great deal of people, especially in my own communities, I will not be putting people in a position to engage with it if they choose not to. If you are reading this, it's because you have sought this review out, not because I have put it in front of your face.

With that said, I think "This is How We Fly" is a story that beautifully explores growing pains, especially for young adults, like Ellen, who are straddling that line between childhood and adulthood. Ellen is living out her last summer at home before going off to college, and tensions are definitely high in her household and with her friend group. Her friends are trying to gauge whether their connection is strong enough to go long distance, her parents seem all but eager to ship her out of the house, and Ellen is still very much questioning who she is and where she belongs.

The family dynamics and cultural dynamics rang really true to me. As an outspoken vegan feminist, it seems like Ellen's natural role is to challenge her family's ingrained ideologies and make them uncomfortable. They don't like that she doesn't quietly and neatly fit into their little box—whether it's because they have to make her a separate dish for dinner or because she'll call them out on their latent homophobia in front of her younger step-sister. They clash often, and I think there's a good exploration of how people can love each other but still disagree with each other and disappoint each other in some ways. The journey Ellen's family has to take in this story is definitely one of healing, especially after the passing of Ellen's birth mother, which they have never fully processed together.

Ellen also feels a disconnection to her heritage, as a white-passing biracial Latinx person, and I appreciated how that was touched on in the story. Whether it's her teammates giving her grief about her hyphenated last name, or how her eating preferences seem to clash and "negate" cultural tradition, Ellen has to navigate her own fraught relationship with both Latinidad and whiteness as the story progresses.

There's also some great stuff in here about gender and Ellen questioning her own gender. That's, in part, why the sport of Quidditch really unlocks something within her, because it is one of the only gender-neutral, gender-inclusive sports out there that is not arbitrarily divided by gender or sex. So being part of that community really opens up Ellen's world and allows her to meet so many people with different experiences, backgrounds, and identities, and it gives her a safe place to explore those feelings and learn how to be okay with questioning things.

The marketing for this book has also dubbed it as "a loose Cinderella re-telling," and I think that fits. You have the contentious relationship between step-mother and step-child, you have a character who's grounded all summer and doing chores from sun up to sun down, a missed connection with a cute guy, and there's some stuff about shoes at the end that I won't spoil. Although "loose" would be the right term, because it's certainly not a one-to-one, beat-for-beat retelling of the classic fairytale, I think there are certainly enough references for the reader to make that connection.

No pun intended, I flew through this book. It was charming, it was funny, and I felt so deeply for Ellen and everything she was going through. That said, it's hard for me to see myself recommending this to people, not only because of the content influencing the premise of the story, but because it's also an emotionally challenging book that really puts Ellen through the wringer. She's on the outs with some of her best friends from high school, she's feeling alienated from her family, she's constantly being blamed for something by her parents, she's struggling to make heads or tails of this new sport and solidify her place on the team. It can be hard to stomach all of that at once, even though it's a very realistic experience. Though the story is hopeful and working towards a happy ending, so to speak, it is definitely an uphill battle to get there. So if you're interested in this one, definitely keep that in mind.

As I said before, I love Anna Meriano and I appreciate her work so much. While this book is not going to be for everyone, it's definitely perfect for people who have complicated emotions about certain wizarding franchises while still appreciating the fandom. While that's not my experience, personally, I think the primary focus of the story is Ellen's journey to finding confidence and community over everything else. At the end of the day, I enjoyed this one and I look forward to reading more of Meriano's work.

Anna Meriano scores multiple goals in This Is How We Fly, and even catches her own snitch while doing so.

Ellen somehow manages to get herself grounded through the whole summer. No friends, no phone, no going out. The only thing that manages to give her some freedom, is Quidditch practice. A sport created for a series of fantasy books that in our world, doesn’t actually include flying. But with actually having to participate and work out, and having to deal with a family who doesn’t care for her, can Ellen actually survive the summer? Or will she crash into the ground before college even begins?

This Is How We Fly offered me a view into a world that was once my safe space. It’s no secret what’s happening in the literature world with JKR, the creator of Quidditch. And I think it’s important to note that I do not support her, no matter how big of a hero she was once to me, and neither does the author. The book in fact talks about her view points. And while it is fair for everyone to have their own opinion, we must all remember that some opinions are extremely hurtful especially coming from someone with a large audience. With that being said, it’s time for Quidditch!

In the beginning, I had a bit of a hard time trying to remember the large cast of characters that we’re introduced to. It’s not because the author does a bad job at it, because they were pretty self-explanatory, especially with their Quidditch positions. It’s just a personal problem that I need to work on. The main character, Ellen, obviously stands out as well as her best friends and family.

But there was one character that stood out to me more than Ellen. Her step-mother Ellen was truly the wicked step-mother, and made me dislike her more than any other character I’ve read in a long time. I know her intentions were good and she only wanted the best for her family, but the lady was truly out for blood. Not literally, but I’m sure if given the chance there would be some. Aside from her, I thought the entire cast of characters was great. Everyone had their flaws that made us dislike some more than others.

The story itself was one of my favorite parts. Ellen has to deal with her step-mother and what she feels like is her control over her own father. She has a summer left before she moves to college and she feels like she’s not being treated fairly. Through Quidditch she’s able to escape her family drama and find a new found love of sports. I’ve only ever seen Quidditch through videos but reading about it was a whole different experience. Even though Ellen finds drama within the Quidditch community, playing it was one of the best parts of the book.

It felt so action packed that I found myself wanting more Quidditch and even hoping that we could get a sequel with more Quidditch scenes. I thought it was very well done, and that the author did an amazing job at making sure the reader knew exactly what was going on and how it worked. Especially since it’s a complicated sport.

Aside from all that, I found Ellen’s story to be a true story about what it means to grow into an adult and leaving behind your younger years. We see the dangers that come with growing up as well as the good times that are promised. We see her interactions with wanting to fight for social justice and help her younger sister turn out into a good person. We see her want to feel the love from her father and friends. And we see her grow into a new person, one that believes anything is possible.

This was a really fun and quick read! Don't let Quidditch deter you from reading this book, as you don't need to know much about the sport in order to understand and enjoy the book. Ellen is a vegan and a feminist and I love her strong female role in this book! I think it's great to have a character challenge others' thinking and really give some power within the pages. I read this in one day!

This was a fun, coming-of-age YA story. It was very sweet and fun to read, but not very memorable. I also did not feel particularly attached to any of the characters.

THIS IS HOW WE FLY by Anna Meriano is a loose Cinderella retelling about a girl who plays quidditch to escape from her rocky home life. 
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I didn’t know what to expect going into this. Of course when I saw it was about quidditch, I thought it would be packed with HP references; but I was happy to find out it wasn’t. It focuses on the sport and not the books/movies. 
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There is some great conversations in here about sexuality, gender, race. There’s a lot of drama in this book, and I feel like some of it isn’t explained well. So many miscommunications, and it’s like a switch is flipped and all is well again. It was stressful at times. 😅
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Overall, this was a fine read! If you like sports books, be sure to check this out! 
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3.5/5 stars. THIS IS HOW WE FLY is available now!
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Thank you to @netgalley and @penguinteen for sending me an eARC to review!

While I enjoyed this book I do not exactly understand how it is remotely a Cinderella retelling. In this book we follow Ellen who is vegan, a feminist, and an environmentalist. She is passionate about all three things to the point of confrontation with her step-mother constantly throughout the book. She does not have any evil stepsisters, nor is her father dead or has he left her with her step-mother.

Throughout the story we see Ellen try and find herself during the summer between high school and college. A period of time when friends change and people move away. She joins a Quidditch team with one of her high school friends to pass the time and ends up finding something she loves to do and people who she loves to be around. Her world changes though when she gets grounded and is forced to do her step-mothers bidding and cleaning chores.

Overall, this book had some good discussions about feminism/environmentalism and how JKR has turned into a piece of trash. It also just shows a small slice of life and parts of what can be the real teenage experience. I know things around the Harry Potter world have become just a dumpster fire and I really tried to remove myself from that part of this book but because this book would still promote people to look into that world, I cannot recommend this book. I am not going to lower my rating because of this, I think that is unfair. This book is well written, discusses a lot of good topics, and has so very meaningful conversations in it. I just wish Ellen had joined literally any other sports team.

I was a bit skeptical going into this book, purely because I wasn't very familiar with how Quidditch is played in real life, but I ended up reading it within a day! It was such an easy, and fun read! I loved the characters, the different relationships that arose throughout, the representation, environmental, and the overarching concept of finding oneself.

The issues Ellen has with her parents, especially stepmother, are ones that I can see many relating to or having similar experiences. I personally never had issues to the same extent with my stepmother while growing up, but throughout the story it was easy to get riled up alongside Ellen and understand her point of view. 

I will say, I am not entirely sure why it is classified as a loose Cinderella retelling. I can only think of one moment where it could be considered a similarity to the original fairytale. So if you aren't into retellings, I would just ignore that comparison.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary eARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes. I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me this opportunity!

You do not have to know anything about Quidditch to enjoy this book. I adored the main character Ellen, who is a vegan and feminist. She challenges herself and others in their thinking and it makes me remember how amazing and passionate youth are. This book addresses inequalities, gender identity, graduation, race, sports, friendship and crushes. The nods to Cinderella were cute. I saw a lot of my students in Ellen’s character and I really appreciated her perspective. Excellent book that belongs in every high school library.

This book gave me the sense of Harry Potter community that I've lost after everything that has happened with the author. This is How We Fly really brought me back to my early college days where I attempted to play quidditch. This book was incredibly diverse in its cast of characters and life experiences. The struggle with gender and sexuality was really great to read because I'm sure this book will help so many college and high school students feel comfortable with their own struggles. I thoroughly enjoyed the coming of age story of this and can't wait to read more books by Anna Meriano!

I stayed up way too late last night to finish This Is How We Fly by Anna Meriano.

Ellen Lopez-Rourke just graduated high school in Texas and is not having a good summer. She's a passionate activist for social injustice, feminist, and vegan, but she can't find a job, can't stop fighting with her stepmom, and her best friends are drifting away from her.

After a blowup fight with her stepmom, Ellen gets grounded for the summer. In an effort to get out of the house and meet some people before college, she joins a local Quidditch League. 

The Quidditch matches were always my favorite part of the Harry Potter movies, so I wasn't sure what to expect since it was played on the ground. It was still fun to read about, and I loved the descriptions of the matches. The book had great Latinx and LGBTQ+ representation and overall, I thought it was a fun YA read!