By: Shawn Johnson
Release Date: June 7, 2016
Description:
From gold medalist and reality TV star Shawn Johnson comes a debut YA novel inspired by her own experiences as an elite teenage gymnast—just in time for the Summer 2016 Olympic games.
Charlie Ryland has a secret.
She may seem like your average high school sophomore—but she’s just really good at pretending.
Because outside of school Charlie spends all her waking hours training to become one of the best gymnasts in the world. And it’s not easy flying under the radar when you’re aiming for Olympic gold…especially when an irresistible guy comes along and threatens to throw your whole world off balance.
Inspired by her own experiences as a fifteen-year-old Olympic gymnast, gold medalist Shawn Johnson writes a delightfully entertaining novel about chasing big dreams and falling in love, all while trying to keep it real.
Review:
With the Olympics just around the corner, and my love for
watching the Gymnastics portion of the Olympics I couldn’t help but want to
read this book by retired gymnast Shawn Johnson. I couldn’t wait to see what her book was
about and I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed it from beginning to
end. I felt everything her main
character felt and I got excited for her all the way through. Shawn Johnson did a wonderful job writing
this story about trying to balance two aspects of her life while trying to
succeed in all her goals.
We meet Charlie/Charlotte the Olympic hopeful for Team USA
in gymnastics who is trying to lead a normal life by going to high school and
hiding what she really does from everyone there. Its tough being in high school to begin with
throw in some Olympic trials and stuff just got even harder, but Charlie really
wants that normalcy in her life. What is
normal though? I think if she was honest
in the beginning then she wouldn’t have had such a hard time from it but then
again she would have many not real friends, those are not people you need in
your lives. I enjoyed meeting her
friends and living her high school life with her. I thought it was adorable the way her friend
set her up without even knowing it.
Those chance encounters they are the ones that will get you every
time. Is it distracting? Maybe, but if anyone could handle it, Charlie
could.
Meeting Bobby was a game changer in her personal life but
not her Olympic goal version of herself.
I thought their encounters were cute and adorable and I liked their
relationship and impending doom when the truth of Charlie’s life really comes
out. There were a lot of elements in
this book that I could understand the main character going through. Again, life is tough, it’s how you deal with
it that makes you the person you are and Charlie is a champion in this
book. I enjoyed reading all the
gymnastics terminology, I even went and googled some of them just to see what
they could be.
Overall this was a great book, I actually liked the writing
and the story. I would definitely pick
up another book by Shawn Johnson. This
is the perfect book to come out so close to the Olympics and it’s really an
overall great quick and easy summer read that will make you want to google more
about gymnastics if you didn’t know a little something about it to begin with. It put a smile on my face. It had fun elements, serious elements and
showed how much if you really want something all you have to do is go for it.
I love the cover. It was absolutely adorable and eye
catching and would definitely make me want to pick it up to read what it was
about. Overall very fun.
I received this book from NetGalley and Simon and Schuster, so that I may give my honest opinion and a review. Whether it is good or not please do not let it discourage you from purchasing/reading the book yourself and forming your own opinion. What might be good for me may not be good for you and vice versa. With that said, Happy Reading Everyone!!!
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