It's All in How You Fall

IT'S ALL IN HOW YOU FALL is a cute YA contemporary romance. Caroline is an elite gymnast, and she has the persistence and skills to go the distance. However, her back may have other plans. Although she is only 15, a severe back injury reveals that she cannot do the gymnastic moves she needs to succeed, and the doctors, including her father, are telling her she needs to retire - at only 15. Caroline is bereft, and after one particularly discouraging evening with her brother, her brother's friend, Alex, offers to help her try out other sports, with one a week for the summer, so she can find something else to love and excel at - that won't further damage her back.

Caroline reluctantly accepts this kindness, and she wants to do something in return, like setting him up with her friend, Sunny, on whom he had a crush a couple years before. As they spend time together, Caroline begins to realize something about herself that she didn't know before - she really likes Alex. However, she wants him to have his heart's desire, even if it's Sunny. Fate may have other plans.

What I loved: This was such a cute and sweet read about kindness, generosity, finding your place, bouncing back, and healing. Caroline and Alex were ridiculously adorable together, and it was impossible not to cheer for them from the start. The book is told from Caroline's perspective, and she is a compelling character. Her life is changing forever, and she has a lot of healing to do (mentally and physically) as well as to find something new to put her passion into. At only 15, she doesn't quite yet know what she wants or a lot about herself, but this ends up being a summer of self-discovery, including realizing how she feels about Alex, and her family.

Alex was really incredible, and I loved learning more about his character as Caroline does. He is really so fantastic, and it was easy to cheer for him and his all-sports star status. Other secondary characters were really great too, including Nat, who mostly seems like an obnoxious brother until we get to see more sides to him. He really became someone that was easy for the reader to love. Similarly, Caroline's dad and friends were full of fun and brought plenty of sweet moments.

What left me wanting more: As a small thing, the beginning took a while to get going, and the pace felt a bit slow in places. I still was fully onboard by the end, but it took a bit more time than usual to read because of the early pace.

Final verdict: A sweet summery read, IT'S ALL IN HOW YOU FALL is a cute and charming YA contemporary romance.