Scan barcode
A review by sophiegreen
Break the Fall by Jennifer Iacopelli
2.0
So this was… boring. I was really intrigued going into it as it had a great premise, and having read a similar series before, I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately it fell completely flat, there was no depth to the story at all.
We follow Audrey’s journey to the Olympics, where she dreams of winning gold with Team USA, despite having an injury to her back. She’s tough, resilient and fierce as she pushes through the pain during the trials. However, that’s to the extent we know of her. We don’t really get to see her outside the sport. The same goes for pretty much all the characters, none of them really have a personality.
The gymnastic trials were the best part of the book. These scenes were written well, very descriptive and vivid. Having read a gymnast series before, I understand a lot of the terms but I could imagine someone new to it struggling to keep up.
The grooming plot line is supposed to be a major part of the story, but to me it felt oddly sidelined since Audrey’s involvement is not very significant. We are shown the aftermath rather than the lead up. I appreciate that it was dealt with sensitively, and whilst it was impactful, I wanted more from it.
The romance subplot was lacklustre, and added no significance to the story at all.
Overall, the book suffered from a very unfortunate case of telling not showing. Any conflict that arose was resolved too quickly. The narrative made it challenging to fully connect and I found myself skimming through a lot of the pages.
We follow Audrey’s journey to the Olympics, where she dreams of winning gold with Team USA, despite having an injury to her back. She’s tough, resilient and fierce as she pushes through the pain during the trials. However, that’s to the extent we know of her. We don’t really get to see her outside the sport. The same goes for pretty much all the characters, none of them really have a personality.
The gymnastic trials were the best part of the book. These scenes were written well, very descriptive and vivid. Having read a gymnast series before, I understand a lot of the terms but I could imagine someone new to it struggling to keep up.
The grooming plot line is supposed to be a major part of the story, but to me it felt oddly sidelined since Audrey’s involvement is not very significant. We are shown the aftermath rather than the lead up. I appreciate that it was dealt with sensitively, and whilst it was impactful, I wanted more from it.
The romance subplot was lacklustre, and added no significance to the story at all.
Overall, the book suffered from a very unfortunate case of telling not showing. Any conflict that arose was resolved too quickly. The narrative made it challenging to fully connect and I found myself skimming through a lot of the pages.