Hello and welcome to my stop on the blog tour for It’s All In How You Fall by Sarah Henning. Thank you to TBR & Beyond Tours and Net Galley for the ARC.

About the Book & Links

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance
Publishing date: May 31st, 2022

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indigo | IndieBound

Synopsis:

A contemporary young adult romance about moving on, finding your place, and recovering after life falls apart.

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

Rating -4 stars

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 loved this book, and I had a fantastic time reading it. Everything about the book was great. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a YA novel, a YA romance, or if you’ve read another book by Sarah Henning. 

Favorite Quotes

I blaze through all the suggested summer reading for sophomores at Northland (Lord of the Flies, Into the Wild, and a bunch of other work by dead white guys.)- Caroline.

Dad, it’s been weeks and I’m still four-ten. -Caroline
Live a little. Enjoy a trans fat. Consider it reentry into the world of normal people.-Nat.

I’m not as smooth as fictional Angelica Schuyler or probably a fictional nobody, but I step onto the sidewalk leading to Balan’s front door with a huge grin on my face. -Caroline

Also, you’re going to have up your game up, Zavala

Boys are allowed to love musicals, Caroline, and I love just as much as gramps and Dad, too. 

I love that song. I’ve seen the movie version more times than should be allowed. 

Playlist

My Shot-Hamilton 

Helpless-Hamilton

Never Neverland-Peter Pan

Agony- Into the Woods

About the Author & Links

Sarah Henning is a recovering journalist who has worked for the Palm Beach Post, Kansas City Star and Associated Press, among others. When not writing, she runs ultramarathons, hits the playground with her two kids, and hangs out with her husband Justin, who doubles as her long-suffering IT department. Sarah lives in Lawrence, Kansas, hometown of Langston Hughes, William S. Burroughs, and a really good basketball team. 

Sarah is the author of SEA WITCH, which was a 2018 Indies Introduce and Indie’s Next selection. Its follow up, SEA WITCH RISING, came out in 2019. THROW LIKE A GIRL, about a down-spiraling softball player who is recruited to play quarterback on her ex-boyfriend’s football team, was her first YA contemporary novel and came out in January 2020. THE PRINCESS WILL SAVE YOU, the first book in her fantasy trilogy—a feminist tale inspired by The Princess Bride—came out in July 2020. Its sequel, THE QUEEN WILL BETRAY YOU, came out on July 6, 2021.

Other upcoming projects include THE KING WILL KILL YOU, available August 2, 2022 and will be the conclusion to her Kingdoms of Sand & Sky Trilogy inspired by The Princess Bride. Also scheduled for summer 2022 is IT’S ALL IN HOW YOU FALL, available May 31, 2022, which takes place in the same fictional universe as THROW LIKE A GIRL. Slated for summer 2023 is OUT OF OUR LEAGUE, a YA anthology of contemporary short stories about girls in sports.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Check out the Blog rest of the blog and Instagram tour

July 18th
Kait Plus Books – Interview
Confessions of a YA Reader – Promotional Post
The Book View – Review & Mood Board
The someday librarian – Top 5 Reasons to Read It’s All In How You Fall

July 19th
Lost in Neverland – Review
The Candid Cover – Review & Favorite Quotes
Jen Jen Reviews – Review

July 20th
Stuck in Fiction – Promotional Post
Pages & Plots – Review
The Clever Reader – Review & Top 5 Reasons to Read It’s All In How You Fall
Little Corner Reads – Review & Favorite Quotes

July 21st
Nine Bookish Lives – Interview
Sophie Reads YA – Review
The Book Dutchesses – Promotional Post
PopTheButterfly Reads – Review

July 22nd
Midsummer Night’s Read – Review
Brinns Books – Review & Favorite Quotes
I’m All Booked Up – 15 Reactions While Reading It’s All In How You Fall

Forthenovellovers – Review

July 23rd
bookloversbookreviews – Promotional Post
Pagies of Novels – Review, Playlist & Favorite Quotes

July 24th
Whispering Stories – Interview
pluvioreads – Review & Playlist
dinipandareads – Review & Favorite Quotes
Book Briefs – Review
laura’s bookish corner – Review

July 18th
lifewithprinceman – Review & Graphic
autismreading_mom – Review
thebookviewblog – Blogger’s Choice
thesomedaylibrarian – Blogger’s Choice

July 19th
hoardingbooks.herdingcats – Review & Favorite Quotes
candidcover – Blogger’s Choice
jenjenrevies – Blogger’s Choice

July 20th
tbrandbeyond – Promotional Post
feliciareads11 – Blogger’s Choice
thecleverreader – Blogger’s Choice
littlecornerreads – Blogger’s Choice

July 21st
belle.bookcorner – Review & Favorite Quotes
ninebookishlives – Blogger’s Choice
popthebutterfly – Blogger’s Choice

July 22nd
fangirlpixiebooks – Promotional Post
wraithreads – Review, Tik Tok
brinnsbooks – Blogger’s Choice
imallbookedupya – Blogger’s Choice

July 23rd
katiereads23 – Review
pluvioreads – Blogger’s Choice
bookloversbookreviews – Blogger’s Choice
paiges_of_novels – Blogger’s Choice

July 24th
writingrosereads – Promotional Post
cozybooktraveller – Top 5 Reasons to Read It’s All In How You Fall
bookbriefs – Blogger’s Choice
booksandpops4000 – Blogger’s Choice