Break the Fall

White-hot sparks of agony light down my spine, scorching over my hips and into my thighs. I grind my back teeth together and clench my fists against the pain, blunt fingernails biting into the palms of my hand.

C mon, Audrey, it s nothing. Push through it.

Pounding my knuckles against the muscles of my calves helps distract from the ache as I sit on the floor, legs spread out in a split, waiting my turn.

The only sound in the sold-out arena is the reverberating squeak of the uneven bars lifting up into the rafters. It s been like this for two days. One by one, we go up to the vault or the beam or the bars or the floor and perform while the crowd holds its breath.

I do too. If I don t, it might become too much, and I can t afford anyone noticing how much my back hurts.

Especially not him.

Coach Gibson or Gibby to those of us on the United States Gymnastics national team is patrolling the wells between the raised podiums, watching with an eagle eye for any sign of weakness. He s everywhere all at once, cold and analytical, taking in every hesitation, every flinch, homing in on our weaknesses.

He stands to my left, wearing a red, white, and blue tracksuit, arms crossed over the swishy material.

How s the back, Audrey? he asks.

Great. Ready to go.

His eyebrows rise, and he hums in disbelief, but he never looks away from my teammate and best friend, Emma Sadowsky, swinging on the uneven bars.

Gibby can stare all he wants; Emma won t screw up. He knows it, even as he makes a show of looking critically at her handstands and the distance of her releases. She s perfection.

Something as small as a wince from me, though? That s basically admitting I m in too much pain to go on.

Emma is a great gymnast, but even on her best day she s not better than me on uneven bars. Of course, she s head and shoulders better than me at everything else, which more than makes up for it. We ve trained together since we were three, when our

Jennifer Iacopelli was born in New York and has no plans to leave, ever. Growing up, she read everything she could get her hands on, but her favorite authors were L.M. Montgomery and Frances Hodgson Burnett, both of whom wrote about kick-butt girls before it was cool for girls to be kick-butt. As a high school librarian, she frolics all day with her students, books, and computers and writes at night while cheering on her beloved Yankees. Follow her @jennifercarolyn.

2021-2022 South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominee

An uplifting quest for Olympic victory. Kirkus Reviews

Readers will enjoy both the serious and sensitive discussion around sexual assault, as well as the story's more lighthearted topics of crushes, team dynamics, and the mechanics of gymnastics.   Booklist

A fraught behind-the-scenes look at the lives of young Olympic hopefuls. Particularly compelling is the international female gymnasts demonstration of unity against sexual harassment, a show of empowerment in every arena. Publishers Weekly

You will feel every tense bead of sweat, every nagging injury, every surge of adrenaline in Jennifer Iacopelli's superb gymnastics novel Break the Fall. You will also feel the tingle of first love, the heartbreak of innocence lost, and the overwhelming  joy that comes from diving into your dream, head first, and giving it all you have got. Most of all you will fall in love with honest, brave Audrey Lee and her super-shero squad Emma, Dani, and Chelsea, and wish they were yours too. This book makes you understand exactly what it is like to compete as a woman at the highest level in sport, and it is exhilarating and satisfying indeed. Holly Sorensen, Television Creator/Showrunner, Make it or Break It, Step Up
 
With an insider s eye, Jennifer Iacopelli pulls back the curtain on the world s most talented athletes, whose hard work and incredible skills are often overlooked because of their unique ability to make the impossible look so easy. The result is sporty, soapy, and addictive. Sarah Henning, author of Throw Like a Girl and the Sea Witch duology

Break the Fall is the YA gymnastics novel of my dreams, and the very human drama at the center grabbed me as Audrey Lee learns what it means to be a friend and how to stand up for what's right. I couldn't put it down!