What happens when a prospective Olympic gymnast sustains an injury during the Olympic Trials that ends up destroying her dreams of Olympic glory?

Avery Abrams had worked for hours after school at the gym and had been homeschooled so she could devote even more time to training. Her coach was Dimitri, a Russian famous for training Olympic winners. She and her best friend, Jasmine, had endured years of emotional abuse under his tutelage. He weighed them constantly and called them names if they gained any weight or ate something that he didn't approve of. He coached through cruelty and harsh treatment. They did what he asked unquestioningly and felt like failures if they couldn't perform to his expectations.

"HEAD OVER HEELS is a fascinating peek into the life of world-class athletes and how they train and prepare for the Olympics. It is also a touching tale of how one cannot allow failure to be a permanent life condition."

When Avery suffered her injury, Dimitri didn't talk to her or check on her to see how she was doing. To him, she was out of his life. And the loss of her dreams and lifelong aspirations proved too bitter a pill to swallow. When Avery went to college, she had no drive and flunked out after way too many parties.

Avery has been living with her boyfriend, a successful football player, in L.A. But when he ends the relationship --- in part due to Avery's lack of ambition --- she moves back into her parents' house in Massachusetts and into her childhood bedroom. And that's where we meet Avery, who thinks she is a failure at everything: relationships, jobs, school and life in general.

Then a call comes from Ryan, a former Olympic gymnast on whom Avery had an adolescent crush. He asks her to help coach a teen who is an Olympic possibility. Avery jumps at the chance. Hallie is 16 and has been working toward Olympic success for almost her entire life. In fact, Avery sees a lot of herself in Hallie, and Hallie is starstruck by Avery. Avery comes to realize that, while she views herself in a negative light because she wasn't able to go to the Olympics, others see her differently.

While the plot centers on Avery and Ryan, there are other important relationships that author Hannah Orenstein develops. Avery will do a lot to ensure that Hallie has the kind of training and coaching that she would have loved --- free from abuse and negativity. Hallie is a lovely young woman whose ambition ensures that she doesn't have to be pushed to work hard and train diligently. Avery also runs into Jasmine, who is now married to Dimitri.

Although Avery is in her mid-20s, she grows up a lot over the course of the novel, which Orenstein breaks up into months that are then divided into chapters. So the story begins in October 2019, and the Olympics take place in June 2020 (or they would have if a certain pandemic hadn't surprised us). In October, then, we meet Avery at her nadir, going back home to the bedroom in which she grew up.

Avery's experience with an abusive coach is similar to the real-life accounts of gymnasts who claim they endured abuse at the hands of their coaches. Another fine touch is the inclusion of Avery's self-loathing of her not-elite-gymnast body. She is no longer a finely tuned set of muscles, and she thinks too much about her soft stomach and extra few pounds.

HEAD OVER HEELS is a fascinating peek into the life of world-class athletes and how they train and prepare for the Olympics. It is also a touching tale of how one cannot allow failure to be a permanent life condition. New passions, giving to others, finding satisfaction in smaller jobs well done --- these are all important, too. And whether it's friendship or romance, or even working with an Olympic-bound athlete, there must be trust for any relationship to work.