5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐🎧

What a book, what an incredible woman.
The title is pure perfection.

Maggie is an inspiration. Everything she lived through, she has come out stronger for it. I can't even imagine the horror of her story, and I don't ever want to. But her strength and courage is unmatched.

Her story needed to be told in any way, whether that was with Athlete A as the voice or Maggie Nichols. It didn't take away how powerful her voice is.

All she has done to help others makes me love everything about this book more.

I am astounded at how things were handled, and I hope the people who still need to pay will have to.

I have followed Maggie’s gymnastics journey from the beginning of her elite career. I absolutely devoured this memoir, it was both heartwarming and gut wrenching but an incredibly real, honest, and vulnerable telling of her story.

Maggie Nichols has always been fearless, making her a great gymnast. Training at the elite level with her eyes on the 2016 Olympics, her dreams are dashed when she is not selected by the Olympic committee.

The gymnastics world was stunned by this, as Maggie was most certainly a top contender. Unknown to the fans and the world at large, Maggie had revealed to her coach that summer that USAG doctor Larry Nassar had been sexually abusing herself and other athletes under his care. The response by the officials at USA Gymnastics would become a scandal of epic proportions. Maggie, her coach, and her parents felt that the coverup included leaving the gymnast home from the Olympics.

Unstoppable!: My Journey from World Champion to Athlete A to 8-Time NCAA National Gymnastics Champion and Beyond is Maggie's story, in her own words. She voices the audio version of this book as well. Maggie does a good job narrating her own story, which must have been very difficult at times.

I do wish the memoir was a little better organized and a little less repetitive. The writing could have used a bit of polishing, especially with many short, choppy sentences that dotted the pages. If given the opportunity with regards to the rating system, I would give the book 3 1/2 stars.

Overall, Unstoppable! is an important read, as Maggie Nichols' courageous words can help others in similar situations. She gives voice to a challenging time in her own life and shows how it is possible to persevere.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Audio Version of Unstoppable! by NetGalley and the publisher. The decision to listen to and review this book was entirely my own.

I have always been a gymnastic fan, especially around Olympics time, and have heard of Maggie Nichols before, but I didn’t know her whole story and everything she’d been through. When I saw this book was coming out, I knew I had to read it.

In this autobiography, Maggie Nichols highlights her gymnastic career, focusing mainly on her disappointment of not making the Olympic team in 2016 and her involvement in bringing Larry Nasser to justice for what he had been doing to the gymnasts he was treating. I really enjoyed this book and learning all that Maggie had gone through. The story of why Maggie didn’t make the Olympic team is sad, but this unknowing sacrifice did so much good in the long run for others who had been put in her position with Larry Nasser and USA Gymnastics.

I love autobiographies like this and am glad that I got to read Maggie’s story. This is a good read and I’m glad I got the chance to experience it!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC audiobook version of this book! It is narrated by Maggie Nichols herself and well done.

Trigger warnings: SA, disordered eating

As a long-time fan of gymnastics, and someone who watched Maggie Nichols' meteoric rise in the sport in the 2010s, I immediately requested this audiobook when I saw it was available on NetGalley. I had never watched the Athlete A documentary, and while I was familiar with the case, I truly did not understand the egregious lack of protection of these athletes--by basically every single person in a position of authority. Maggie has a shocking and powerful story to tell, and one that is worth listening to.

She also details her early experiences in the sport, her myriad injuries, and the way she shifted her focus and goals after being left off of the 2016 Olympic team. If you do not possess a decent foundational understanding of the sport (e.g. gymnastics terminology), you may find some of the more technical details to be a little tedious. I personally didn't mind the descriptions of skills and statistics, but there is quite a bit of this sprinkled throughout the book.

While I do believe that this book is appropriate for young adults, I do caution that if you are purchasing this book for your own teenager, you may also want to read it alongside them so that you can encourage conversations about bodily autonomy, finding safe adults within your community, and knowing when to push yourself physically and mentally vs. when to allow yourself to rest.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ALC!

As someone's who followed gymnastics through 2, almost 3 full olympic cycles, I was thrilled to get an e-arc of this. Maggie covered both her gymnastic and personal arcs well, giving details we haven't heard before while also providing background information for those unfamiliar with both her story and gymnastics in general.
I do wish it had gone more in-depth, some moments felt very surface-level, and the prose was very simple.
Maggie did a wonderful job narrating!

I have followed Maggie's journey from the disappointment with the 2016 Olympic team through the Larry Nassar investigation and her journey at Oklahoma. A friend of mine is a former gymnastics coach with a daughter who competes in level 10 so we often swap stories about our daughters; mine does a different competitive sport. When Maggie wasn't named in 2016, my feed blew up with outrage and heartbreak. Our house has always been Team Maggie.

Unstoppable! is a unique book in that it's aimed at young adult readers. For this reason there is not a lot of depth into the abuse Maggie suffered or into her disordered eating. There is enough information to know what is going on but it isn't the main focus. On display is Maggie's power in gymnastics and her heart, grit and determination to never stop making new goals.

I thought the overall theme of the book was resiliency and I walked away feeling more respect for Maggie than I had before (and I had already had a lot of respect for her). Whether you follow gymnastics or not, Unstoppable! should be required reading for parents and young athletes in all sports.

Thank you NetGalley for an early review copy.

I have so much respect for Maggie Nichols both as a gymnast and as a person who came forward to try and get justice for what happened with Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics. I really wanted to love her book, but it didn’t totally live up to what I wanted from it. I understand that it was created for younger readers, but I feel like it still falls short even as a YA nonfiction book.

Much of her gymnastics career is told through pretty basic explanations and not a lot of introspection into her emotions. There were so many times with sentences along the lines of “I did my bar routine and it was great. I was excited we did well.” and so on. I just wanted more. Too often I felt like the book was drifting into cliché inspirational quotes instead of telling more about Maggie’s internal journey. You can have a memoir aimed at a YA audience and still provide a complex story with a lot of reflection.

I think the book was at its best when Maggie was going in depth with telling what was going on behind the scenes when her story about Nassar’s abuse was first reported to USA Gymnastics and what transpired after that. Her explanations of when she confided in her college coaches and team about the abuse were really impactful, along with the story of the meet against UCLA where a multitude of survivors were honored.

When I found out Maggie Nichols was coming out with a memoir, after having watched Athlete A on Netflix, I knew I had to read it. Let me preface my review by saying I have the utmost respect for Maggie and I commend her for bravely sharing her story with the world.

I had anticipated a more profound insight into her story. Although I acknowledge her courage in coming forward and sharing her narrative about her eating disorder and sexual abuse, a substantial part of the book seemed to lack the emotional depth I was hoping for.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for an advanced audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars

Maggie Nichols tells the story of being “Athlete A” and how she has advocated for other athletes who experienced abuse. She discusses her gymnastics career before and after her own abuse, and she offers advice to readers. This is aimed at a YA audience, so the advice of “tell a trusted adult” is given. The Netflix documentary, “Athlete A” is also mentioned as a companion to this memoir, and if readers have seen the documentary already much of this story is known. The talk of the abuse will draw more readers to this book, but I would have liked more of Maggie’s story to be included instead of rehashing the exact same information.

Maggie Nichols narrates most of the audiobook as well with the exception of the reading of court documents. There are some awkward pauses within sentences in the narration, but ultimately Maggie tells her own story in a clear concise manner. She portrays some emotion, but the book mostly portrays the facts after the abuse occurred. Again, I wish Maggie had discussed more of how she experienced things instead of just stating how the case was mishandled and reading her recorded testimony.

Readers who are gymnastics fans will want to pick this book up, and I would recommend it to those unfamiliar with Maggie’s story. While I’m not usually one to deter people from reading though, ultimately, I’d recommend the documentary instead.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced audio copy of this book.

Unstoppable! by Maggie Nichols is a powerful memoir that courageously exposes the abuse within the US national gymnastics team. Nichols shares her journey from a rising star to a survivor, shedding light on the trauma and cover up that plagued the sport. With an introduction by Simone Biles, the book offers an intimate perspective on elite gymnastics, the 2015 World Championships, and the heartbreaking revelation about Larry Nassar. Nichols's resilience shines through as she becomes an 8-time NCAA champion and a vocal advocate for child protection. A compelling tale of hope, trauma, and triumph that inspires and educates.

Thank you Roaring Brook Press and NetGalley for an audiobook arc of Unstoppable! by Maggie Nichols, in exchange for my honest review. I really enjoyed learning more about Maggie's story and getting an insight into the gymnastics world. I thought her narration was engaging and emotional as she retold her experience being the first gymnast to publicly come out about being abused by Larry Nasser and the following coverup from USA Gymnastics. I learned a lot about the subject that I hadn't previously known from news articles and the "Athlete A" documentary on Netflix. I think this is a really great book for those who are interested in gymnastics or want to learn more about the background of the USA Gymnastics scandal, from a firsthand perspective.

I was so excited to receive a copy of this audiobook. I also love when the author narrates their own memoirs, so I was looking forward to the emotion that usually accompanies this. The beginning felt very young, and the writing sounded juvenile. I was looking for more depth, less narcissistic feelings. The meat of the book, with her Athlete A trauma, did feel like it was geared older. While I appreciated her story, a lot of it felt like filler sentences, not as in depth as I was hoping for. I have a lot of respect for Maggie, putting her story out there. I'm a huge fan of her.