Review: How It Feels to Fly by Kathryn Holmes

How It Feels to Fly by Kathryn Holmes

The movement is all that matters.
For as long as Samantha can remember, she’s wanted to be a professional ballerina. She’s lived for perfect pirouettes, sky-high extensions, and soaring leaps across the stage. Then her body betrayed her.
The change was gradual. Stealthy.
Failed diets. Disapproving looks. Whispers behind her back. The result: crippling anxiety about her appearance, which threatens to crush her dancing dreams entirely. On her dance teacher’s recommendation, Sam is sent to a summer treatment camp for teen artists and athletes who are struggling with mental and emotional obstacles. If she can make progress, she’ll be allowed to attend a crucial ballet intensive. But when asked to open up about her deepest insecurities, secret behaviors, and paralyzing fears to complete strangers, Sam can’t cope.
What I really need is a whole new body.
Sam forms an unlikely bond with Andrew, a former college football player who’s one of her camp counselors. As they grow closer, Andrew helps Sam see herself as he does—beautiful. But just as she starts to believe that there’s more between them than friendship, disappointing news from home sends her into a tailspin. With her future uncertain and her body against her, will Sam give in to the anxiety that imprisons her?

Publishes in US: June 14th 2016 by HarperTeen
Genre: ya contemp
Source: Harper Teen via Edelweiss
Disclaimer: I received this book as an ARC (advanced review copy). I am not paid for this review, and my opinions in this review are mine, and are not effected by the book being free.
Series? no
my review of her 1st book: The Distance Between Lost and Found

Buy it:

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | INDIEBOUND | KOBO | POWELL'S

Author stalk away:~site Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

 

I wanted to read this one because I am drawn to books about anxiety, body image as well as dancing. Sam is the main character, a ballerina who is at summer camp that claims to help with anxiety in elite teen athletes.

Sam has a hard time at camp since none of the others seem to want to make new friends and that just adds to her anxiety. She has an inner monologue going about how she is too curvy, that others are judging her, that she isn't good enough. I did like how they began to open up to each other, and gain the confidence to share what they are going through and help one another.

Andrew is older, one of the camp counselors and she feels a connection to him despite their slightly rocky meeting. The romance was there but as synopsis suggests it might not play out the best. It gives the appearance of forbidden love but I did like how it turned out, and it made a lot of sense to me. It was one-sided, and I think I can say this without being spoilery. I can see where she gets the idea as well as how Andrew is trying to be there and boost her confidence, but that he overstepped.

The counseling and strategies they used seemed to be very well thought out and realistic. I liked the main woman in charge, and how she draws them out and helps Sam even if using not so traditional seeming methods to get through to her.

Bottom Line: Emotional look at anxiety and working through it to do what you love.

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Ever been to summer camp?