I received this one from the publisher/Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

To first get something out… I thought, based on the cover that this would be a m/m romance with gymnastics. I didn’t read the blurb, sometimes I just make decisions on the cover, haha. It took me until the characters got to gymnastics and were announced as girls to understand that this is f/f? Why did I think this? Because most of the female characters look VERY masculine/male. I was even angry at Kota in the beginning when Riley popped up and they mentioned Riley as a girl. I was like, are you basing that on the pony tail? Lots of guys have long hair. But oh, they are girls? It never really clicked for me because 1) they look masculine (and while gymnastics is a heavy sport, I know from lots of watching that almost all girls still look girlish despite the muscles) 2) Kota is a boy’s name. I don’t think in all my anime/manga watching over the years I have met a FEMALE Kota. As my mind kept being confused in the end I just saw both of them as guys and it clicked for me from there on. I am so sorry. But the art was just not working out.

Now to the good stuff.

💖 I loved the representation of Riley being hard of hearing. See ASL being used. Read how it is for Riley.
💖 Plus, I loved that nothing stopped Riley from getting to the goals they had in mind! And I am also happy that everyone was accommodating and made sure Riley could participate in all the events.
💖 Also Riley kicked some major gymnastic butts and I wished I could have seen the moves in action because Riley is SO GOOD!
💖 And we also find out about loss and how Riley (and Riley’s dad) are trying to work things out together now that they have this empty space where Riley’s other dad used to be. Even though Riley’s dad isn’t the best at conversations, I did like that he at least tried.
💖 I loved LOVED that Kota immediately went to learn ASL. OK, I did found it a bit fast, and it came across maybe as a bit desperate, but I am still happy that Kota wanted to learn this eagerly and was open to learning much more. I also learned some new things though at times the illustrations of the hands were hard to see so I am not sure if I got them all. Plus, this is ASL, so I will probably not use them as I am a Dutch girl and we have NGT, but the alphabet seems to be the same, so that is fun! Oh, and I liked how we got to see the way the signs went with arrows to make it more clear.
💖 I loved seeing them together in that special place of theirs (starting at another place at first which was also sweet) and getting to know each other. Not just by learning signing, but also by writing in that notebook, which I thought was just the most adorable thing. I loved that Kota got the idea from their dad (had a laugh there when Kota got the diary of his dad and was worried there would be kissing in it).
💖 I love the gymnastic parts! They were just oodles of fun and I love seeing the team work hard to get better. To try out new routines. Visit new competitions, get ready for bigger fish.
💖 I loved that we didn’t just find out about Riley and Riley’s hearing problems + the reason why Riley moved to this new place, but also got to know Kota more closely and see that Kota also has issues. Kota has anxiety and we see how that affects Kota’s practice + also eventually goes in Kota’s normal life as well. I loved that Kota and Riley could talk about this and that they could help each other.
💖 While the art wasn’t my thing, I did like the colours and the limited palette. Plus, seeing the palette eventually gain more colours at the end just made me so happy!
💖 The ending just made me so happy, well, OK, it did feel a bit out of the blue, but I am still happy with the snapshots we get to see of what happens afterwards with this duo.
💖 OH OH, I cannot forget the adorable blushes that the characters made, especially Riley. I was just shipping them like mad and this made me happy.

All in all, despite the art not entirely working out, this was a fun book about two people falling in love and doing gymnastics! I would still recommend it!