The main character, Avery Abrams, is devastated after a break with her long time pro football boyfriend. Hurt and confused, she returned to her hometown to stay with her parents. While back in her old stomping ground, she is reminded daily of her past achievements and failures associated with her gymnastics career.  Enter Ryan Nicholson. Stupidly hot gymnastics coach who ran in the same gymnastics circuit as Avery when they were competing. He asks Avery about assisting him in coaching a young girl who is a hopeful for the Olympics. Avery has to come face to face with her past to regain control over her future.

There were times when there was more details than were necessary to get the point across. This made me skim over parts of the story to get to the meat of the narrative. And the gymnastics jargon was difficult to follow at times. I have no experience with gymnastics but it could be easier for someone who has that background. The details of the gymnastics environment appeared to be authentic but there was little in regards to the romantic relationships. I prefer to have more romance in books and I love the feeling of laughing out loud at a good rom com.

I was left with some unanswered questions at the end of things that I thought should have been tied up before the end of the book. The internal dialogue was excessive at times and hard to read through in parts. The topic of verbal and emotional abuse is used throughout the novel and it was hard to read some of that, but it was also realistic and lent to the setting and overall theme of the book.

The author did tackle some very important social topics such as abusive coaching and sexual abuse by an athlete's doctor. Given the current state of society, especially with the recent exploits of Larry Nassar, I can see this book hitting some hard spots for those impacted in real life.

It really offered a different perspective on real life situations and was enlightening. I didn't get a chance to feel a connection with Ryan as much as I would have hoped and I felt that Avery contradicted herself in her actions and thoughts at times.  I often felt like screaming at the characters from my seat. This book is also a single perspective and I think it could have worked better as a dual perspective to incorporate the elements of the romance. 

Overall, HEAD OVER HEELS is a good read and I read it over two days. But if you're looking for steamy romance, this isn't the book you want. It's not the standard rom-com that I expected. That being said, it was witty and authentic in its plot and was enjoyable. It was a unique setting that I had not read before which is what made it pop out to me.

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