Reviews

It’s okay. I’m struggling to get into it I think.
I like Sebastian. He’s the mom friend (literally, he takes care of them all and it’s adorable).
Mason is a prick, especially to Grey (Gray?) and I don’t honestly think I like him that much. He’s needs to calm down and step the fuck away from Emir.
Willie is sweet and I adore him. He and Hunter are sweet together so far. I hope he doesn’t fuck up his knee (I can’t handle angst (liar)).
Emir is a dick but I love him anyway. It’s sweet how he opens up around Sebastian (now kiss).
It was sweet. I like how he got counselling and stuff. Guys got shit to work through.
I like the team as a whole. Very heartwarming.
The romantic gesture was good. Love romantic shit dude.
It was nice. I struggled to get into it and I was bored in places but I liked it overall.

moonia's review against another edition

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This book felt very poorly written. I don’t know, I just didn’t like it, which surprised me since one of my favorite books is a sports romance

3.5/5
"Who writes these stupid definitions of manly, feminine, beautiful or handsome anyways?"

I read a review where someone said this read like fanfiction, and I 100% agree. That's not exactly a negative - I'm obsessed with fanfiction (Sterek, FiKi, McShep, Destiel, Hicctooth to name a few) - but for published novels I guess I expected something different. It was something about the writing, it was simple and sometimes overly detailed - the constant descriptions of characters hair or skin or how every chapter began with a colourful description of the sky - it got old real fast. This novel is also incredibly dated (Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Iron Man). In a decade or two no one will know these pop culture references. Another language thing, what teenager uses 'whom' or refers to their parents by their names when thinking of them????

I did enjoy the characters, they were a bunch of lovely boys and I'm a sucker for found families - which this soccer team was. On a whole, the characters felt a little simplified with not much emotion going on behind the scenes, or they didn't feel real enough. They were still good and lovable characters.

I really liked Sebastian as the main character. I loved all his flaws, the way he was scared of the future and college and I especially loved seeing his insecurities about his body. It was good to see that body image issues affect everyone, regardless of gender. Also, I'm always here for a proud bisexual MC!!

The half finished sentences got really annoying. I just wanted these boys to have actual conversations about what they were feeling, instead of just assuming. Use your words, boys!

The intimate scenes between the love interests were a 'fade to black' moment, and I didn't appreciate that. If it had been a hetero couple, you would have gotten a play by play.

Even though this was about a soccer team training at a soccer camp getting ready for the new soccer season, soccer seemed to take a backseat sometimes. You heard about the practices they did but I felt like there could have been more of a focus on the sport itself.

This novel was good and simple and unproblematic. It showed athletics of the future, where no one is discriminated against and athletes can be open with their sexuality. It showed a world I'd love to live in.

hyuksuhc's review against another edition

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3.5

The book was great overall and it brushed upon topics that I feel should be included in every book. However, once it came to the ending I needed more. There was some sort of misunderstanding and it was finally solved. That was it. They talked so much about New York and I wanted to see them there and what the future was like for the two. I hope we get a bonus chapter on it or something. Also us Brits don’t only use the word ‘bloody’ - that aspect of the book was funny though.

readabookorfive's review

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4.0

But being a teenager is one good day of being a superhero, followed by a hundred days of being self conscious about every little damn thing

I love, love, love, loved Running With Lions so much. It was such a beautiful story full of so much heart, family and just overall warmth along with discussing some important issues surrounding being part of the LGBTQ+ community.

Sebastian was such a great main character to follow! He was such a good leader when it came to motivating and keep his team's spirits up. I loved following his journey with the team and with Emir. I thought he was just such a sweet character who really cared about all of these people that he calls his team - his family. I love books that involve a big group of friends or a sports team who clearly care a lot about each other so that was definitely one of my favourite elements of the story.

Emir was a character again, I really, really loved! I thought that his struggles were so genuine and he clearly did want to get better. He really reminded me of The Foxes in that aspect which obviously, hyped him up more for me. His relationship with Sebastian was such an interesting one to follow, I love ex best friends to enemies? to lovers and it was done so well with Emir and Sebastian.

The other Lions were also characters I really enjoyed. Especially the main characters around Sebastian, the only one I struggled with was Mason. I found him to be pretty horrific through the book towards certain characters and I didn't like that about him obviously. But overall, The Lions reminded me of The Foxes and it just bought me so many All For The Game feels.

I would really recommend Running With Lions and I can't wait to see what Julian Winters has in store next!