Characters

Characters are one of the main reasons I read books, and It’s All In How You Fall was no different. I loved the characters because they were passionate, and they went after what they wanted. Caroline and Alex, the main characters in the novel, were so sweet, and they both really cared for each other. The supporting cast in the story was also a lot of fun to read about, and they added fun elements to the story.

Plot

I’m not much of a sports person, but the story of It’s All In How You Fall was a lot of fun. I loved exploring the different sports with Caroline and Alex and seeing both of them grow over the course of the story. There was also the added element of musicals and musical theater, which I loved because I’m a theater fan as well. There was also a sweet story of friendship. which I loved between Caroline and her gymnastics teammates.

Writing

This was my second book by Sarah Henning, and I just loved the writing. Sarah Henning has a style that I love in YA where there are some light-hearted scenes, along with some heavier scenes. The lighthearted scenes were fun because you could tell that the characters were enjoying themselves, and they were just having a blast. This book also had some heavier scenes, and heartwarming ones where you learned about the characters, and saw their journey.

Romance

This was a bit of a romance, and I loved the slow build. Caroline and Alex were so sweet, and you could tell that both of them had feelings for each other, The end of the story where they got together was so cute, and I couldn’t help but cheer for the two of them.

Enjoyment/ Recommend for

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a YA novel, a YA romance, or if you’ve read another book by Sarah Henning.

Disclaimer: I received this physical arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: It’s All In How You Fall

Author: Sarah Henning

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 5/5

Diversity: MC has spinal stenosis

Recommended For...: young adult readers, contemporary, romance, sports romance, gymnastics, tennis

Publication Date: May 31, 2022

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Age Relevance: 13+ (romance, injuries, cursing)

Explanation of Above: There is romance in this book; it’s a sports romance/in love with the brother’s best friend trope. There are injuries mentioned throughout the book from spines to other body parts but nothing is gorily depicted. There is some slight cursing, but it’s very sparring.

Publisher: Poppy/Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Pages: 303

Synopsis: Gymnast Caroline Kepler has three state balance beam titles, a new trick even most elites can’t do, and chronic, undeniable back pain. While she might never be an Olympian, she has dreams of leveling up to elite, making Nationals, and competing in college. But when one epic face-plant changes all that and Caroline’s back pain goes from chronic to career-ending, her dreams are shattered and her life is flipped upside down.

Enter Alex Zavala, a three-sport athlete who’s both incredibly cute and incredibly off-limits. He offers to give Caroline a crash course in all the sports she’s missed, and she has an offer for him in return: For every sport Alex teaches her, she’ll play matchmaker for him. Deal done, Caroline “dates” new sports with Alex for the rest of the summer, which is loads more fun than wallowing in despair. Just as Caroline starts to see herself as more than her past athletic successes, she picks up something she didn’t bargain for: a big fat crush on Alex. Turns out life was way easier when it was just layout-fulls and beam burns....

Review: This is a great palate cleanser read or a great read for anyone who is craving some sports romance. The book was well written and it immediately grabs your attention from the get-go. The book does great developing the romance and I didn’t feel like it was too rush. I loved the tropes and the book did well to play into them. The character development is amazing and the world building was well done as well.

The only issue I had with the book is that I wish there was a bit more in the book. I wanted to see more of Caroline’s journey after gymnastics, but I’ll just remain hopeful that we eventually get a side sequel with Sunny or Peregrine or Nat. I also wanted to see more of Caroline trying different sports and them going into how to play them.

Verdict: It was so good! I recommend for those looking for sports romance books!

This book will be perfect for readers who love YA and sports especially with the brother's best friend and friends to lovers trope in it!

The plot is simple, well paced and good character development as well.
I really like following Caroline's journey trying to accept the truth about her condition and trying to let go of her gymnast self for 10 years. It was a hard thing to do when it's all you know all your life then all of a sudden you gotta stop doing it.

I really enjoy her growing relationship with Alex, trying out new things to do and opening up to each other.
Alex is a really good guy who really offer a support in Caroline's life.

This book is very detail on the sports stuff. I'm not familiar with some of the words here, but it was still pretty interesting to read.
For a contemporary romance book, the romance is not there as much as I think it would be. I wish there's more cute interaction between Alex and Caroline.

Overall, it was a decent and quick read for me. I really enjoy the part where the MC is trying to find out her place in the world, but I also wish there's more romance in it😂

A huge thank you to Sarah Henning, TBR and Beyond Tour and Netgalley for giving me this digital copy of the book and allowing me to be a part of the book tour!

This was an adorable YA contemporary romance. When Caroline's gymnastic career ends due too early she feels a bit lost. It isn't until her brothers friend Alex gets her out of the house and experiencing the other sports out there that she realizes her love of sports and competition is still in reach.

I liked Caroline. I don't blame her for her fall into despair after what's kept her going for ten years is just all of a sudden gone. I thought her friends were great and enjoyed watching her all in love with not just sports but with Alex too. They just get each other and I thought their romance was great. I liked that the romance wasn't the focus and felt more realistic for their age. It was refreshing.

Alex is adorable! I really loved his support and understanding of Caroline. He let her heal both physically and mentally at her own pace while also showing her that there is more than just gymnastics out there.

I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a fun and fast-paced YA Contemporary Romance who also has a love of sports because this one nails both of them flawlessly!

This was so well written and very sweet. I love the message it gives youth about disappointment and coping with a sports injury. Sweet romance too.

Book Review
Title: It's All in How You Fall by Sarah Henning
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating: 4.5 Stars
I will be the first to hold my hands up and say that I am not a fan of contemporary books especially contemporary romance but over the last year that has been slowly changing. The opening to It’s All in How You Fall was interesting as we are introduced to a teenage gymnast, Caroline Kepler who has three competitive beam wins under her belt and chronic back pain to go with it and at only 15 she is seeking medical advice about it. Her doctor’s advice is for her to retire but she isn’t willing to do that because gymnastics is her life but when she falls in practice revealing a potential permanent injury to her spine she is forced to retire bringing her whole life crashing down around her. I get Caroline’s passion for the sport and how much she has devoted to it but the way she was injured was completely her fault since she knew her father and coach were going to get her to retire and she was showing off so it was hard to sympathise towards her and I feeling that she is going to become really snippy with people because she can’t have what she wants and I am wary at the moment but the premise was good.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Caroline isn’t adjusting well to not being able to be a gymnast anymore and she has spent weeks moping around the house and continuing her routine as best she can. Her father and brother, Nat are being to get concerned and want her to do something else even if it is just temporary to get her out of the funk she is in. Caroline fights this as hard as she can since she firmly believes that she is nothing without gymnastics but when she bumps into Nat’s best friend, Alex Zavala things begin to change. Alex initially doesn’t know about what happened to Caroline but when he does find out he makes it his mission to help her any way he can. He proposes that he will coach her in different sports since she doesn’t know how to do anything except gymnastic and he does a bit of everything and surprisingly Caroline agrees to this. The first sport is volleyball and he explains how gymnastic has given her an advantage in the sport despite her being short in height and she seems to enjoy learning about it and developing some skill, although the biggest thing for her is being able to do it without pain. There is some level of attraction between Alex and Caroline but nothing major right now since they are friends and have known each other for years so I think the attraction with feel more organic than it does it in a lot of young adult contemporary novels.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Caroline realises after their volleyball lesson that Alex has a crush on her fellow gymnast and friend, Sunny so as repayment for teaching her different sports she offers to orchestrate interactions between him and Sunny since they don’t go to the same school anymore and he agrees. Despite, this Sunny and Peregrine seem to think that Caroline has a thing for Alex since they didn’t hang out much before but she clears this up really quickly. So far, there aren’t any indications that Alex and Caroline are going to end up together but if they do I don’t want it to be rushed. The second sport Alex introduces Caroline to is tennis which is his personal best and he begins to notice some interesting things about how she easily adapts to different situations and seems to be genuinely suited to playing sports like volleyball and tennis. While Alex isn’t sure what sport he is going to introduce her to next as he needs to think about it we do see a really solid friendship building between the pair and I wouldn’t be upset if it stayed this way as I feel there is distinct lack of young adult and adult contemporary novels that focus on male/female friendship rather than relationships and I honestly want to see more of it.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Caroline decides to enlist Peregrine’s help in setting up Alex and Sunny and they engineer another meeting without telling Sunny or Alex and it doesn’t go as well as planned since Caroline and Alex are running for their third sport. On the way back Alex asks Caroline to warn him the next time she is arranging a meeting with Sunny since he came prepared to hang out with her and was blindsided by the meeting a little and she agrees. At the lake house, Sunny clocks on that something is going on but she believes there is something going on between Alex and Caroline. All three girls talk and Caroline ends up confessing that Alex has a crush on Sunny and she eventually agrees to give her number to Alex which is amazing news for Caroline. However, at the Fourth of July fireworks display Caroline runs into Alex and they end up chatting and we can see the romantic tension between them building and Alex seems less than pleased about receiving Sunny’s number but he doesn’t say anything about it. He also tells Caroline that their fourth sport is golf which is unusual since it’s normally an older man’s game but she is willing to give it a go.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Caroline and Alex play golf and it is here that she comes to realise that she does have a crush on Alex and this is hard because she has been trying to set him up with Sunny and she can’t hurt her friend like that and she isn’t sure that Alex feels that way about her yet. After golf they play a little tennis before heading out for some food and this only solidifies Caroline’s crush on Alex now she is fully aware of it despite trying to hide it and their interactions from everyone around her. Alex suggests that Caroline try out for the tennis club and some junior tournaments since she seems to like the sport and it doesn’t hurt her back to play and she is strongly considering it despite there still being a few sports for them to try out. After getting home, Nat corners Caroline asking about Alex and what they do together since he as well as others seems to believe there is something going on between them and she explains the situation to him but he seems to be the classic overprotective brother who doesn’t want his best friend and sister getting together even though it is becoming clear that they will eventually it is just a question of how. I was a little disappointed since Alex and Caroline have a really good friendship and it could have been amazing without the romance but I will just have to see how the romance plays out in the final 20% or so of the novel.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Caroline knows she feels something for Alex but doesn’t say anything as he has arranged a date with Sunny and she doesn’t want to hurt her friend. However, while she is over Alex’s house helping him understand gymnastics which is a big part of Sunny’s life she breaks down over her accident and the pair almost kiss before they are interrupted by Nat and Alex’s sister, LJ. Nat ends up talking with Caroline about it when they go home and she admits she has feelings for Alex which Nat is surprisingly ok with but he has a date with Sunny and she doesn’t want to come between them but she continues training with Alex. At their next training session he presents her with an entry form of a tournament which she doesn’t feel ready for yet but Alex is there to help her. We can obviously see there is attraction between them but neither of them is saying anything and Alex does end up going on a date with Sunny but neither Sunny or Alex mention anything about it even when they are asked which makes me think it didn’t go as well as planned or something else happened but I don’t know. Coming into the final part of the book I didn’t know how it was going to end, whether it was going to be happy or bittersweet but I couldn’t wait to find out.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, everything comes together in the best possible way not only in the relationship sense but in a sporting sense as well. I really liked the experience of watching Caroline find a new sport she loves as well as everything that comes along with it as well as developing her relationship with Alex and seeing how they each move forward in their own way. While I didn’t really like Caroline at the beginning of the novel she really grew on me throughout the book and by the end I loved her as much as I loved Alex. Found the relationship to be far more organic than in a lot of young adult novels and the emotional process Caroline goes through after her accident is completely realistic and believable. I don’t normally enjoy young adult contemporary novels especially those that are romance heavy but there were a lot of sporting and competitive elements that really balance that out in this novel. I haven’t yet checked out any of Sarah Henning’s fantasy novels but I am going to after finish this. While it wasn’t out of this world amazing, it was a really solid read with excellent writing and some very well fleshed out characters.

✨ PRINCEMAN REVIEW ✨

⚽️ Did you play sports in high school? If so, which ones? ⚾️

🙏 I am grateful to be a part of It's All in How You Fall book tour by @shhenning! You can check out all book tour details at www.tbrandbeyondtours.com.

📝 Caroline is one of the best gymnasts in the state. A little chronic back pain can't stop her, until one catastrophe fall. Now, she's no longer able to do something that has defined her whole existence. 😢 With the help of her brother's best friend, Alex, she discovers what other sports 🏀 she's missed. In return, Caroline will set Alex up with one of her best friends. What could go wrong?

What I 🤍:
💕 Brother's Best Friend
🐢 SLOW Burn
💦 Moving On After an Injury
🥰 Best Side Characters
🏐 Sports Romance

What a fun read this was! I ended up reading it in one sitting! 😊 I honestly can't think of the last time I read a book where I ADORED every single character. The best friends, siblings and families were precious. This is a great example on what healthy teenage relationships should look like.

Prince's Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Steaminess: 🔥 (Kisses)
Read If ➡️: You love YA Romance, or All the Boys I've Ever Loved

I would have loved for Caro's mental health to be more of a forefront. It would have been a great opportunity to normalize counseling for our young adults in today's culture. I also wanted to mention that these characters have a lot of privilege and access to things in their everyday life.

At the heart, I really appreciated how this story was close to the author. Sarah Henning also experienced giving up her gymnastics dream. Let's also talk about how STUNNING 🤩 this cover is by @anahardesign!!!

Thank you so much @tbrbeyondtours for allowing me to join in this tour!

🌟 #itsallinhowyoufall is available NOW!

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This was an okay read, I did enjoy the athletic aspect to it, though.

I went into this one because I loved The cover. While this seems relatively harmless, it ended up being a bit of a mistake...

It's obvious this cover is advertising a YA Contemporary, a genre I normally love. What I don't love is younger YA Contemporary. Our main character was 15, and while I mightve found her relatable when i was 13, I no longer do. She was childish, and quite irritating.

I also wasn't a fan of the conflicts. I'd expected this to be a romance, but that bit was severely lacking. The Sunny/Alex drama took up more page time than the actual romance between Alex and Caroline. Even worse, Alex and Caroline read as close friends, not romantic partners. I'd have been fine if they stayed platonic, but their romance did nothing for me.

Other than that, I don't have much to say. The characters were one dimensional, the conflicts were irritating, and not much happened. It wasn't a bad book, but not one I'd recommend.

Thanks to TBR Beyond Tours for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review

I loved this book! It was a great summer read, easy and quick to get into. I also loved the message in it as the main character goes through some self-discovery.

‘Because I know you, Caroline Kelper, and you can do anything.’

Caroline is a gymnast, but when her chronic back pain becomes a spinal injury, she is forced to give up the sport. Caroline’s whole life revolves around gymnastics, she spends all her time outside of school doing the sport. Her two best friends are part of her team, and she feels like she has her whole life sorted. When the doctor tells her she can no longer compete, it feels like her soul has been taken out and crushed, and Caroline immediately recludes herself from everyone.

‘The best parts of my play today, though, that had everything to do with the fact that you were there in the stands.’

But then we bring in Alex, Caroline’s brother’s best friend. Alex offers to introduce Caroline to new sports over the summer. Caroline notices that Alex has a slight crush on one of her best friends, so in exchange for the lessons she vows to set Alex up. Alex’s dedication to helping Caroline is clear to an outsider that maybe, just maybe, he likes her a bit more than he lets on! I loved the slow burn of their relationship and how Alex let Caroline discover which sport she felt she clicked with. I loved the development of their relationship, especially with the added tension of Caroline trying to set him up.

‘Sunny was everything I’d hoped she’d be and everything I thought I wanted. But I don’t want her. I want you.’

One of my favourite parts of this book was Caroline’s journey to find herself outside of gymnastics. I think Henning wrote this well and I will definitely be rereading her other books!

This is an adorable summer romance. I enjoyed the writing style and the friendships throughout the book. The highlight of the hole book were the supporting cast of characters they were so amazing and the conversations that were talked about with Carolina and Alex made this book so great. I overall didn’t feel like the relationship/ feelings were expressed in a way that I felt that Caroline and Alex had a relationship that I was invested in. But with the supporting characters I thoroughly enjoyed this book overall.

There are so many reasons to like this book.
It is a fun, quick read.
The story is engaging and enticing. You want to find out what's next.
The "lesson" is both figurative and literal. Sometimes your path in life changes and you need to change too.
The characters are interesting and real. They have faults and positive traits.
And sometimes our goals and abilities don't match. But there is a way forward.
Enjoy!

I’m a sucker for a gymnastics novel! It use to be the few books I would read as a tween/teen – gymnastic books and Babysitters Club lol. So I had high, fun hopes for this one. Let me just say Sarah did not disappoint. I had a blast reading this in one day and was exactly what I needed at the time. I think it was also a nice experience reading the novel when it took place – starting in July, but what were my full thoughts?

Caroline was a determined character that loved gymnastics, but was forced to stop due to a spinal injury. This injury, although career breaking, didn’t injure Caroline enough to force her to stop all types of sports, just the more contact/twisty ones. So we follow Caroline as she tries to figure out what sport she can fall in love with. This, of course, is done with the help of older brother’s best friend, Alex. Alex was the perfect cinnamon bun jock and had always felt like a perfect match for Caroline. At first we see the denial that Caroline has to go through – I felt that was mostly due to Alex being her older brother’s friend than anything else. I loved the connection we gained between these two throughout the book. I felt a huge connection to Caroline and Alex. Caroline because she has this mentality where everything feels like it needs to be transaction – you help me with something then I need to do something for you in return. I connected with Alex because of the number of sports he was in and keeping himself busy – me to a tea in high school and college.

The side characters were also great! At first we spend a lot of time learning about Caroline’s two best friends and I loved that. I would read more books with that trio any day! Nate, on the other hand, I had very little opinion on. There were a couple of times I just thought “of course you did, your the brother lol” when he did something that felt very reminiscent of something I could see my own (younger) brother doing. This is one contemporary where I wouldn’t be mad if Sarah came back and wrote companion novels for – I want one for Nate and his love interest, and one for each of Caroline’s best friends.

I loved that we got to explore a couple of sports along side Caroline, but I would have loved to have seen her try more – especially some of the winter sports that they had listed (I could see some fun times with Wrestling!). I also found the overall romance plot to be fairly predictable, but that’s what I loved about this book too – nothing to twisty or outlandish is exactly what I love in my romances.

All that being said, I really loved this book. I had a great time and it added such lightness to my reading that I haven’t had in a while. I think you would love this if you’re read Sarah’s other work, but also if you love Kasie West or Katie Cotugno as it had a similar feel to it. Similarly if you like tropes like secret dating, forbidden love, sports romance, or brother’s best friend as the love interest.

I really loved this book. I am huge gymnastics fan and you never get a book where a character massive dream needs to change. I loved how sarah tacked this topic. This is another book that focused on self discovary and also romance. This was a realy fun read that deals with unique topics. I also loved how this book was a quite romance. It also had alot of elements like how everytihng changes when your dream must end including romance and friendships and this book was such a a quick read one that i read so fast and loved the main character so much!! Such a cute read and loved the camo from the characters from throw like a girl!! prefect summer read!!

As much as I loved stories by Sarah Henning this one was bogged down by terms via gymnastics. It rally slowed the story down and things that I didn't understand were not explained. So I either had to just deal with the fact that I didn't understand what they were talking about. Or to look it up.

This was a fabulous YA! Caroline is a gymnast that has a career ending injury at age 15. Enter her brother’s best friend Alex who is an all around talented athlete. Together they explore all the sports she missed out on. I really enjoyed the approach this book takes towards sports; yes you can excel at a sport but they also can just be fun. The book is full of first love feelings and shy teen crushes. YA romance readers - don’t miss out on this!

😍loved || 💗low steam
🤟sporty, brother’s best friend, Emma references
📚Best Laid Plans, Furia
🎶Unwritten by Natasha Beddingfield

I really enjoyed this book as a fan of the sport of gymnastics and a romance fan. To tell the story of what happens when a gymnasts has to unwillingly walk away due to an injury while highlighting both the mental and physical aspect in and of itself is a great story but to grow a love story from a boy who simply wants to help a girl move on in her own way was absolutely endearing. I love how their friendship started and how it helped the main character grow into who she was after gymnastics.

I thank TBR and Beyond Tours, the author and Netgalley for a copy of the book. None of my views have been influenced, whatsoever.

Okay, so I've really mixed feelings about this book. This review may be all over the place, but so was the book, haha.

Plot:
I loved the plot, in fact it's the reason I picked up the book! It's about new beginnings and stuff, and it's really cool. I'd have loved it more had we been shown Alex and Caroline's relationship from before the injury as well.

Characters:
Caroline was.... not the best MC in a way I can't really explain. Like I loved her flaws and everything, but she still seemed a little one dimensional. And Alex was given the standard good guy jock plotline, and I wasn't really interested in that.

Writing Style:
The romance was written rather nicely, but other than that, it was more like the author was trying to figure out the characters herself, especially in the first half of the book. Oh well.

Recommend as a quick light read!

Considering this is the only book by Henning that I haven't DNFed, you could say I liked this the most out of her books. It was a sweet sports romance that featured the brother's best friend trope and a healthy dose moving forward-ness.

I liked that this book took place in the same world as Throw Like a Girl without focusing on that book. We saw some familiar characters from that book from afar and were able to meet many more new ones.

Also, I'm not a big fan of the brother's best friend trope, but I oddly liked this one. It felt milder and not so intense and dramatic as most books usually represent them. Nat was cool and caring as a big brother, and the trope wasn't the focus of the book so I didn't mind. And thank goodness Nat wasn't a meatball jock, but was aware of his surroundings and the feelings of people around him. I loathe when the brothers are clueless and just carry on with their lives like nothing happened. 10 points for Nat! On a side note, did we ever get his full name? Is Nat his full name?

Moving on...Alex, our leading man, was so stinking nice and cute. We need more nice boys in books! He was willing to do anything for Caroline but still kept a level head on himself. I loved that for him. And Caroline was pretty cool herself. She was going through a tough summer having to give up her future and dreams all at once, but she had a great support team. Watching her progress towards a new future was inspiring. She still had some things to figure out by the end of the book, but things ended hopeful and happy. I found myself rooting for her on multiple occasions.

I did find this book was lacking a bit in the romance department. I had hoped for more tension or angsty conflict or something. It was just missing that bit of fire I've come to love so much. It wasn't bad, just not great and completely satisfying either.

Overall, this was a sweet book. It wouldn't be the first book I'd think to recommend, but it was nice.

It's All in How You Fall is a sweet friends-to-lovers, brother's best friend, sports romance YA novel that I ate up. Literally all the best things rolled up in one!

Caroline's gymnastics dreams are dashed after a bad fall and Alex, her brother's best friend, offers to show her all the other sports that she's missed out on while focusing on gymnastics. Here comes the kicker: for every sport he teaches her, she'll be his matchmaker. But of course, Caroline eventually realizes that she has a crush on Alex. I love a good failed match-maker romance!

Caroline and Alex's story is a sweet and easy read, perfect for the summertime. The story focuses on more than just the romance between Caroline and Alex but also hones in on Caroline's journey on overcoming the demise of her gymnastics dream and opening up to the next chapter in her life.

Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.