Running with Lions
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I will always be happy about an author that manages to be successful after writing fanfiction (we love fic in this house)! Great representation and diversity and I love a good friendship group but I’ll sadly say that this won’t be memorable to me…Otherwise lovely message about football/soccer needing to be more accepting towards the lgbtq+ community, which is sadly still a problem. Will give this author another read eventually!
This book truly is sweet and heartwarming. I would say it´s a light read because there is almost no real excitement going on. It is about group of teenagers who play football together. They spend their vacation in a summer camp where they train for their big game against the "Spartans". The summer camp is also the main location of this story. Sebastian, our protagonist, quickly became very dear to me. His good natured character not only inspires his team and friends, but also won me over very quickly. The team including their coach is very special because every team member is accepted for who they are. Sexuality doesn’t matter here and is a subject that everyone is comfortable at talking about. Sebastian’s best friends for one are very open about it. Mason has a girlfriend but has also had his experiences with men. Willie is gay and my absolute favorite of this book. Sebastian is also sure that he is not only into women. He is bi. Since he has to find himself first and doesn't really know exactly what love is, he doesn't bring it up yet. The time will come when he will talk about it with his friends and family. The main thing for him now is playing football and training hard with his team at this camp. In addition, he is about to be selected as the new captain. This role suits him very well, as he is always there for each team member and takes great care of the whole group. To add a little spice and drama to the story an old friend of Sebastian, Emir Shah, joins the team. There is only one problem. They’ve been the best of friends at the age of ten but at a point in their lives stopped talking to each other, which now makes Emir hold a huge grudge against Sebastian. To top that off, he doesn’t let anyone else in either. Sebastian tries very hard to break the ice. Eventually Sebastian gets him to train every day with him. Because Emir´s not very good at soccer and Sebastian is very, very persistent. Also a trait I like a lot about him. As you will have probably thought, feelings are developing. But with Emir being so angry most of the time it becomes very complicated. The team´s not fond of Emir yet, the big game gets closer and closer and Sebastian often just doesn’t know how to handle everything. He will get there though. I did enjoy reading this book but it has a few flaws. Conversations became repetitive, the drama didn’t feel relatable. Because, quite honestly? Most of what happened wasn’t that big of a deal. At least, that’s how I felt. One thing got me though. And that was how Mason talked to Grey, the Coach´s daughter, who happens do have a huge crush on him, and no one of his friends ever stopped him being such an asshole to her. She let everything happen too, which I can understand, cause I was in a similar position once. Luckily she made the cut, stopped being the victim in this, and had the guts to tell him how amazing she is and that he can’t tell her otherwise. All in all I did like the book, flaws and all. It addresses a couple of important issues. Im glad I read it, but its not gonna be one of my favourites.
Das war eine richtig unterhaltsame Coming-of-Age-Geschichte. Ich fand das Setting im Sommercamp toll und auch die Nebencharaktere waren super. Leider war ich nicht so ganz on board mit der Liebesgeschichte. Ich wurde nicht so warm mit Emir und generell bin ich ja kein Fan von enemies-to-lovers Geschichten. Nun ja. Trotzdem war es ein gutes Buch. :)
The future is only grim because people see it that way. It’s unpredictable. Life is a summer storm of insecure thoughts. There’s an umbrella of precautions to prevent insecurity, but it doesn’t always keep the rain out of your face. 4.5 stars! Aaargh, this book was so good!! I can’t believe this is a debut novel. I’m not a fan of sports and soccer isn’t something I’m interested in. I have no idea how I stumbled upon this book but I’m glad I did. The author makes it so much fun to read more about this team. There’s so much diversity here. The main character Sebastian is bisexual (and it’s ACTUALLY mentioned! No weird descriptions, it’s LITERALLY mentioned and referred to so many times!), his friends are gay/experimenting and the love interest, Emir, is a gay British-Pakistani. The friendship between these guys is amazing. There’s no toxic masculinity here. The boys cuddle and Emir adds that “Guys are beautiful. And girls are handsome. Words aren’t gender-specific. Don’t be some jock asshole about this.” I really enjoyed Sebastian as a main character. He’s so relatable and he’s awkward – there’s no perfect first kiss, it’s actually a realistic portrayal of teens. He’s insecure about his body and I can’t believe an author finally shows that no only women feel the pressure to look perfect. Sebastian’s still undecided about what to do in his future. At one point he thinks “The burden to make your parents proud while still feeling clueless about what you’re doing with your own life is a struggle.” I agree so much. In the Q&A, the author mentions that it was important to him to show Sebastian’s indecision about his future. He wanted to show young adults that it’s okay and he adds “Until then, carry on the best way you can.” I absolutely LOVE this and we need more YA books like this. Let’s continue with the author’s writing style. Personally, I’m not a fan of a third person narrator, but I’ll forgive him. There were so many pop culture references and I’m absolutely here for it! But my favourite’s gotta be “He’s enjoying the murmur of Emir’s heartbeat. It’s mellow, like that bit in ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ when everything goes from awesome guitar solo to melancholy Freddie Mercury ending.” Excuse me while I’m grinning like an idiot but I loved this comparison. They have a family dog named “Thor” and the characters listen to music of Fall Out Boy and The 1975. Comparisons like “Lately, he’s been imaging it’s something stupid, ridiculous, and utterly confusing – like Katy Perry songs. He’s not ready to venture to the dark side of comparing his feelings to Katy Perry music.” And “boxed-macaroni-and-processed-cheese-cheesiness“ made me laugh. However, Emir sounded a bit too stereotypical British to me, but that’s a minor complaint. I enjoyed this book so much and I can’t wait to read more of Julian Winters! His next book’s supposed to come out in September and I don’t think I can wait this long! :(
Das war eine richtig unterhaltsame Coming-of-Age-Geschichte. Ich fand das Setting im Sommercamp toll und auch die Nebencharaktere waren super. Leider war ich nicht so ganz on board mit der Liebesgeschichte. Ich wurde nicht so warm mit Emir und generell bin ich ja kein Fan von enemies-to-lovers Geschichten. Nun ja. Trotzdem war es ein gutes Buch. :)
I'm putting it down to fate that the library hold I had on this came around exactly when it did, because THIS BOOK WAS RIGHT FOR ME RIGHT THIS MOMENT! I was feeling deeply anxious and fearful when I opened this as a distraction and it was just perfect! I don't even know where to begin! There is BANGER diversity in here, a fierce critique of toxic masculinity and a demonstration on how it could be better, the babbling bisexual energy made me FEEL things, sex was talked about in a wonderfully normalizing, age appropriate way, the discussion of body imagery and self doubt resonated with me as did the crippling fear of the future and of responsibility and of living up to expectations, of figuring yourself out under all those weights and god how I wish I had had this book in high school. The brand of cheesy was so wonderfully self-aware, there were content warnings put up in the beginning of the book (authors/editors/publishers, take notes!), the pacing worked well for me, I enjoyed that there wasn't just build up-catastrophe-solution, but a ups-and-downs rhythm to it that captures life and emotional turmoil so much more true to how it feels in lived experience! The references and the soundtrack to the story were all me and I swear this was written for me in crisis, sent to anchor me and make me feel seen. And ON TOP OF ALL THAT this was a sports story and y'all know how I'm a sucker for sports stories and team energies and the drive and the support and great coaches with insight and heart and I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF THIS What a wonderful story about how fierce found family is and how the struggles of the world will not faze you as much, if you find your folks - will hold this near and dear to my heart <3
A very cute and wholesome book but overall it didn't caught me off guard a single time while reading. Everything felt so slow and I didn't understand who was who until the very last 100 pages. It's a good and cute book with a wholesome love story and a good team harmony but overall, I wouldn't re-read this one. It's not leaving anything behind for me
Description
Book Information
Posts
I will always be happy about an author that manages to be successful after writing fanfiction (we love fic in this house)! Great representation and diversity and I love a good friendship group but I’ll sadly say that this won’t be memorable to me…Otherwise lovely message about football/soccer needing to be more accepting towards the lgbtq+ community, which is sadly still a problem. Will give this author another read eventually!
This book truly is sweet and heartwarming. I would say it´s a light read because there is almost no real excitement going on. It is about group of teenagers who play football together. They spend their vacation in a summer camp where they train for their big game against the "Spartans". The summer camp is also the main location of this story. Sebastian, our protagonist, quickly became very dear to me. His good natured character not only inspires his team and friends, but also won me over very quickly. The team including their coach is very special because every team member is accepted for who they are. Sexuality doesn’t matter here and is a subject that everyone is comfortable at talking about. Sebastian’s best friends for one are very open about it. Mason has a girlfriend but has also had his experiences with men. Willie is gay and my absolute favorite of this book. Sebastian is also sure that he is not only into women. He is bi. Since he has to find himself first and doesn't really know exactly what love is, he doesn't bring it up yet. The time will come when he will talk about it with his friends and family. The main thing for him now is playing football and training hard with his team at this camp. In addition, he is about to be selected as the new captain. This role suits him very well, as he is always there for each team member and takes great care of the whole group. To add a little spice and drama to the story an old friend of Sebastian, Emir Shah, joins the team. There is only one problem. They’ve been the best of friends at the age of ten but at a point in their lives stopped talking to each other, which now makes Emir hold a huge grudge against Sebastian. To top that off, he doesn’t let anyone else in either. Sebastian tries very hard to break the ice. Eventually Sebastian gets him to train every day with him. Because Emir´s not very good at soccer and Sebastian is very, very persistent. Also a trait I like a lot about him. As you will have probably thought, feelings are developing. But with Emir being so angry most of the time it becomes very complicated. The team´s not fond of Emir yet, the big game gets closer and closer and Sebastian often just doesn’t know how to handle everything. He will get there though. I did enjoy reading this book but it has a few flaws. Conversations became repetitive, the drama didn’t feel relatable. Because, quite honestly? Most of what happened wasn’t that big of a deal. At least, that’s how I felt. One thing got me though. And that was how Mason talked to Grey, the Coach´s daughter, who happens do have a huge crush on him, and no one of his friends ever stopped him being such an asshole to her. She let everything happen too, which I can understand, cause I was in a similar position once. Luckily she made the cut, stopped being the victim in this, and had the guts to tell him how amazing she is and that he can’t tell her otherwise. All in all I did like the book, flaws and all. It addresses a couple of important issues. Im glad I read it, but its not gonna be one of my favourites.
Das war eine richtig unterhaltsame Coming-of-Age-Geschichte. Ich fand das Setting im Sommercamp toll und auch die Nebencharaktere waren super. Leider war ich nicht so ganz on board mit der Liebesgeschichte. Ich wurde nicht so warm mit Emir und generell bin ich ja kein Fan von enemies-to-lovers Geschichten. Nun ja. Trotzdem war es ein gutes Buch. :)
The future is only grim because people see it that way. It’s unpredictable. Life is a summer storm of insecure thoughts. There’s an umbrella of precautions to prevent insecurity, but it doesn’t always keep the rain out of your face. 4.5 stars! Aaargh, this book was so good!! I can’t believe this is a debut novel. I’m not a fan of sports and soccer isn’t something I’m interested in. I have no idea how I stumbled upon this book but I’m glad I did. The author makes it so much fun to read more about this team. There’s so much diversity here. The main character Sebastian is bisexual (and it’s ACTUALLY mentioned! No weird descriptions, it’s LITERALLY mentioned and referred to so many times!), his friends are gay/experimenting and the love interest, Emir, is a gay British-Pakistani. The friendship between these guys is amazing. There’s no toxic masculinity here. The boys cuddle and Emir adds that “Guys are beautiful. And girls are handsome. Words aren’t gender-specific. Don’t be some jock asshole about this.” I really enjoyed Sebastian as a main character. He’s so relatable and he’s awkward – there’s no perfect first kiss, it’s actually a realistic portrayal of teens. He’s insecure about his body and I can’t believe an author finally shows that no only women feel the pressure to look perfect. Sebastian’s still undecided about what to do in his future. At one point he thinks “The burden to make your parents proud while still feeling clueless about what you’re doing with your own life is a struggle.” I agree so much. In the Q&A, the author mentions that it was important to him to show Sebastian’s indecision about his future. He wanted to show young adults that it’s okay and he adds “Until then, carry on the best way you can.” I absolutely LOVE this and we need more YA books like this. Let’s continue with the author’s writing style. Personally, I’m not a fan of a third person narrator, but I’ll forgive him. There were so many pop culture references and I’m absolutely here for it! But my favourite’s gotta be “He’s enjoying the murmur of Emir’s heartbeat. It’s mellow, like that bit in ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ when everything goes from awesome guitar solo to melancholy Freddie Mercury ending.” Excuse me while I’m grinning like an idiot but I loved this comparison. They have a family dog named “Thor” and the characters listen to music of Fall Out Boy and The 1975. Comparisons like “Lately, he’s been imaging it’s something stupid, ridiculous, and utterly confusing – like Katy Perry songs. He’s not ready to venture to the dark side of comparing his feelings to Katy Perry music.” And “boxed-macaroni-and-processed-cheese-cheesiness“ made me laugh. However, Emir sounded a bit too stereotypical British to me, but that’s a minor complaint. I enjoyed this book so much and I can’t wait to read more of Julian Winters! His next book’s supposed to come out in September and I don’t think I can wait this long! :(
Das war eine richtig unterhaltsame Coming-of-Age-Geschichte. Ich fand das Setting im Sommercamp toll und auch die Nebencharaktere waren super. Leider war ich nicht so ganz on board mit der Liebesgeschichte. Ich wurde nicht so warm mit Emir und generell bin ich ja kein Fan von enemies-to-lovers Geschichten. Nun ja. Trotzdem war es ein gutes Buch. :)
I'm putting it down to fate that the library hold I had on this came around exactly when it did, because THIS BOOK WAS RIGHT FOR ME RIGHT THIS MOMENT! I was feeling deeply anxious and fearful when I opened this as a distraction and it was just perfect! I don't even know where to begin! There is BANGER diversity in here, a fierce critique of toxic masculinity and a demonstration on how it could be better, the babbling bisexual energy made me FEEL things, sex was talked about in a wonderfully normalizing, age appropriate way, the discussion of body imagery and self doubt resonated with me as did the crippling fear of the future and of responsibility and of living up to expectations, of figuring yourself out under all those weights and god how I wish I had had this book in high school. The brand of cheesy was so wonderfully self-aware, there were content warnings put up in the beginning of the book (authors/editors/publishers, take notes!), the pacing worked well for me, I enjoyed that there wasn't just build up-catastrophe-solution, but a ups-and-downs rhythm to it that captures life and emotional turmoil so much more true to how it feels in lived experience! The references and the soundtrack to the story were all me and I swear this was written for me in crisis, sent to anchor me and make me feel seen. And ON TOP OF ALL THAT this was a sports story and y'all know how I'm a sucker for sports stories and team energies and the drive and the support and great coaches with insight and heart and I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF THIS What a wonderful story about how fierce found family is and how the struggles of the world will not faze you as much, if you find your folks - will hold this near and dear to my heart <3
A very cute and wholesome book but overall it didn't caught me off guard a single time while reading. Everything felt so slow and I didn't understand who was who until the very last 100 pages. It's a good and cute book with a wholesome love story and a good team harmony but overall, I wouldn't re-read this one. It's not leaving anything behind for me