dododenise's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
This was a lot of fun! The perfect lighthearted read for the summer.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, and Homophobia
Minor: Sexual content, Abandonment, and Mental illness
wardenred's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
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.
This was a really quick read for me—much quicker than I anticipated! In many ways, I would call this a rather typical YA contemporary book, with all the doubts, trials, and confusion you'd expect from a bunch of teenagers trying to figure themselves out the summer before their senior year. But the characters are incredibly compelling, the prose is warm and engrossing, and there's so much impact on found family. It was great to see a cast of character that was so diverse, so supportive of each other, and also, to see the adults in the kids' lives trying their best, like the coach and Bastian's Mom. Even though the book also deals with the ever-complicated issues of self-esteem, coming out, body issues, and more, it is ultimately super focused on acceptance and really, really heartwarming. A perfect read for a wintry day, all in all.
Oh, and also: childhood friends to enemies to lovers is probably my top favorite romance dynamic, and it was done so well here. Bastian and Emir's journey was believable and fulfilling and put a smile on my face more than once. It was messy at times, too, but aren't teenagers always?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia and Bullying
Minor: Islamophobia and Homophobia
whatifitsbooks's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Islamophobia, Fatphobia, and Body shaming
phoebebebbebe's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, and Homophobia
Moderate: Islamophobia and Fatphobia
freckled_frog_boi's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This book was - eh - alright.
It was a great book idea - with gay and bi rep, a Muslim Pakistani-British love interest, poc characters, and a few convos abt male body image - but overall, the writing reminds me of bad fanfic.
It was very character-driven, which was weird cuz the character development really sucked. The deep realizations were not new to the characters and were super basic.
Many side characters fit into stereotypes like poetic gay, mean asshole friend, meaner bully, rude teammates, The Hispanic Dude (literally 99% of his lines are just cursing in Spanish) - and the only girl is a pick-me. Please make the characters well-rounded if you were to write a book detailing the intricacies of a soccer team's inner relationships. It makes for a crappy story otherwise.
Many side characters fit into stereotypes like poetic gay, mean asshole friend, meaner bully, rude teammates, The Hispanic Dude (literally 99% of his lines are just cursing in Spanish) - and the only girl is a pick-me. Please make the characters well-rounded if you were to write a book detailing the intricacies of a soccer team's inner relationships. It makes for a crappy story otherwise.
A lot of the writing is disjointed (we never hear why he calls his mom by her first name, for one teeny tiny example - no spoilers). Nothing is truly explained - there's an argument at the end between two teams, and it's never explained why the fuck that happened, and nothing is impacted by that happening; it's just there. So I'll be honest, the humor feels like it’s slapped in and just isn’t funny. (~"someone should make a hashtag about how math sucks"~ ??)
The romance seems very sex-appeal-based, and the chemistry just doesn't seem to be there. Instead of being made to feel like they are definitely in love, we are just told that they are. I wasn’t rooting for them, really. I guess it felt more like a hook-up than a potential long-term relationship. I also think it's weird to have the MC focus on the fact that the love interest was so small and cute when he’s a grown dude. Felt a bit fetish-y to me, idk.
My best advice is if you want an amazing gay-sports book, read The Foxhole Court. (honestly this feels like a fanfic based off of it tbh, you won't miss anything) <3
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Islamophobia, Sexism, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Vomit
Minor: Religious bigotry and Panic attacks/disorders
darkmattersoybean's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Racism, and Cursing
Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, Fatphobia, and Mental illness
Minor: Medical content and Death
itshardizzy's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
[first read I rated 4.75 stars and this was my review]
this was such a heart-warming book!!!
running with lions deals with important themes such as queerness, belonging, found family, the hardships that we go thru as teenagers and the fear of the future. all of the themes really impacted me and i felt so connected with some of the struggles the characters go through.
the team is so cute and friendly. it was a refreshing take on the themes of soccer themes, when normaly there isn't that many queer individual in the team (sometimes none), and the athletes usually are repulsed by femininity in a boy (which btw this book really deals with it well, boys doing things that would be consider female). it was important to see a group of boys that support each other no matter the sexuality, they are a family and one where everyone will always be there for the other.
we also have a strong representation of Pakistani people and the struggle they go thru, talking about the prejudice people holds against them. it was heartbreaking seeing Emir talking about that.
our mc, Sebastian, was the one that i felt more connected to. he and i share a struggle: not knowing what we want for the future. in the moment I am, it felt really good and reassuring seeing this being represented in a book, and then seeing that the author wanted to talk about that because he wants teenagers to understand its normal, and everyone has its own time. and also he coming out as bi was just like "woooooah is this me?".
another point I wanna talk about is the development of the characters and how each of them accepts their flaws, and work to get better — this is visible in Mason.
but one thing that felt a bit off for me was Grey, in the beggining it felt that she doesn't really like femininity and I felt really bothered by it, but I guess later on i understood that she probably feels this way bc Mason treats her like a little girl, which made her have to be more "masculine". but in the end she really does a girlboss move (hahah) and accepts that she doesn't have to do a lot just so Mason can stop seeing her as just a little girl, and it was my fave moment of her.
this book felt like a warm hug and it was exactly what I need this new years eve. i'll most definitely reread it just to see me beautiful character again
this was such a heart-warming book!!!
running with lions deals with important themes such as queerness, belonging, found family, the hardships that we go thru as teenagers and the fear of the future. all of the themes really impacted me and i felt so connected with some of the struggles the characters go through.
the team is so cute and friendly. it was a refreshing take on the themes of soccer themes, when normaly there isn't that many queer individual in the team (sometimes none), and the athletes usually are repulsed by femininity in a boy (which btw this book really deals with it well, boys doing things that would be consider female). it was important to see a group of boys that support each other no matter the sexuality, they are a family and one where everyone will always be there for the other.
we also have a strong representation of Pakistani people and the struggle they go thru, talking about the prejudice people holds against them. it was heartbreaking seeing Emir talking about that.
our mc, Sebastian, was the one that i felt more connected to. he and i share a struggle: not knowing what we want for the future. in the moment I am, it felt really good and reassuring seeing this being represented in a book, and then seeing that the author wanted to talk about that because he wants teenagers to understand its normal, and everyone has its own time. and also he coming out as bi was just like "woooooah is this me?".
another point I wanna talk about is the development of the characters and how each of them accepts their flaws, and work to get better — this is visible in Mason.
but one thing that felt a bit off for me was Grey, in the beggining it felt that she doesn't really like femininity and I felt really bothered by it, but I guess later on i understood that she probably feels this way bc Mason treats her like a little girl, which made her have to be more "masculine". but in the end she really does a girlboss move (hahah) and accepts that she doesn't have to do a lot just so Mason can stop seeing her as just a little girl, and it was my fave moment of her.
this book felt like a warm hug and it was exactly what I need this new years eve. i'll most definitely reread it just to see me beautiful character again
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Homophobia, Antisemitism, Abandonment, Bullying, and Body shaming
reading_isalifestyle's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was a super easy binge-able read! I relate to many of the characters, they are also super realistic to teenagers in the modern day and age.
I can’t tell you how many times I belly laughed during this book. The slow burn AHHHH YESSS
I never knew how much I liked childhood friends to strangers to rivals to lovers till now.
However I didn’t like how Grey was one of those type of sports girls that reject any kind of femininity towards themselves (it’s obviously ok not to be feminine but I didn’t like how it was portrayed in this book).
But toward the end it died off and she was just Grey, none of that stuff.
So yeah that’s all lol, 4/5
I can’t tell you how many times I belly laughed during this book. The slow burn AHHHH YESSS
I never knew how much I liked childhood friends to strangers to rivals to lovers till now.
However I didn’t like how Grey was one of those type of sports girls that reject any kind of femininity towards themselves (it’s obviously ok not to be feminine but I didn’t like how it was portrayed in this book).
But toward the end it died off and she was just Grey, none of that stuff.
So yeah that’s all lol, 4/5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Homophobia
Minor: Islamophobia
alex_the_birate's review
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia, Islamophobia, Biphobia, Homophobia, and Body shaming
frantic_vampire's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I love this book! It’s so freaking good, and I don’t know why more people aren’t talking about this book! I loved that this book was just so unapologetically queer. And! This book let these boys be vulnerable, it let them cry and scream and experience their emotions without being judged for it. Running With Lions felt like one of those perfect summer days that you just don’t want to end.
The thing that I loved the most about this book was Sebastian dealing with his insecurities about his body, his fears about the future and life after high school, his fears of coming out to his parents about being bisexual and the fact that he’s falling in love with a boy for the first time. I loved Emir and all his stand-offish, painfully shy ways. I feel like he and Sebastian will make a great couple in the end.
Honestly? This book made my heart so happy. Especially with all the discussions about being lgbtqia+ in sports and just how much intolerance there is. I loved that Coach Patrick stood up for his players and gave them the chance to be themselves.
This whole book is like a hug! I just wanted to live in this little slice of summery goodness. This is getting a solid five stars. It’s just so freaking good!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Homophobia, and Islamophobia
Minor: Biphobia, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Islamophobia
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