Amultiethnic group of Midwestern teenage boys contend with soccer and sexual identity in this coming-of-age novel.

Recently dumped by his college-age girlfriend, rising senior Sebastian Hughes nonetheless is looking forward to his final summer at soccer training camp, where he intends to become team captain and immerse himself in the game he loves with teammates who are like family. The arrival of Emir Shah, a handsome British-Pakistani recruit who happens to be Sebastian’s former best friend, throws him into a tailspin. Emir has talent but a bad attitude, and if he wants to bring his team together, Sebastian must find common ground with a player to whom he is attracted and who’s not quite ready to overlook their complicated history. The most beautiful element of Winters’ debut novel is the construction of the camp as a teenage mecca where gay and straight coaches teach the players that team cohesion only happens when they are comfortable with themselves. The author knows his subject matter intimately, and the easy jocular dialogue between the players feels completely authentic. While the third-person perspective occasionally feels awkward, the author’s earnestness, which pops off the page, more than makes up for it.

A heartwarming freshman novel from an author poised to be a modern Matt Christopher for an older audience. (Fiction. 14-18)

-Kirkus Review

Three stars - good, engaging. If you enjoy YA, you'll probably enjoy this.

I personally found it a bit choppy, and while I appreciated the haphazardness as a legit artifact of teens, it was annoying. I've read YA novels just as full of angst and heart but with less... sloshing back and forth, I guess. I feel bad writing this, but I promised myself I'd be honest in reviews. I also returned the ebook because it's overpriced and I have no further use for it. There are other books I need more. ( )

4.5 stars
Full review to come. I just want to say real quick that I saw people pointing out the writing style but I guess I've been reading too much fanfic because I didn't notice. LOL. ( )

3.5 ★
I came to Running With Lions looking for a simple, lighthearted romance, and for that I don't have many complaints. It is a very simple story about teenage love, thinking about the future and figuring out who you really are. But that's pretty much it, it did it's job and I was satisfied enough.

The flaws come mostly in the writing, that really surprised me as something that went through an editorial process. We see quite repetitive dialogue, character presentation as simple as "this is x. He has this hair and is this minority", and a very unimpressive attempt at both soccer and British lingo (I get it, the character has an accent, you don't need to use the words bloody and mate in every sentence he says).

There were many plot points that showed potential but were merely nodded at, and I feel that exploring these struggles could've given greater depth to the book. Some characters are assholes just because and everyone is ok with it, they hate each other because.... I guess they do? 300 pages is comfortable enough to develop storylines.

But it was overall a good experience. I liked the main couple and the message about self-acceptance, and Sebastian's anxieties felt extremely real. It's not mesmerizing, but entertaining enough. ( )

DNFed at 35%

I picked up this book, despite soccer being the sport I hate the most, because of the bisexual representation. Turns out that that is not enough for me to like a book. I know. Shocking!
I also don't tend to read contemporary YA. I just can't seem to really get into them so I guess it's time to give up on the genre all together. Anyways, this is just to say that the book is not for me. There isn't necessarily anything wrong with it.

I am also not a teenage boy so I don't know if they overuse the word "mate", but... I wasn't liking that. At all.